How to Implement an Effective Keyword Strategy on Amazon

Amazon is one of the largest seller platforms in the world, with 6.3 million total sellers and an incredible 1.5 million active sellers in 2021 (Marketplace Pulse). In the UK alone there are an estimated 281,257 active sellers, meaning there is tough competition.

Sellers and vendors on Amazon need to do whatever they can in order to make their listings stand out, and an effective way of doing this is by implementing a keyword strategy.

What Is an Amazon Keyword Strategy?

A keyword strategy on Amazon involves discovering high search volume keywords relevant to the products you sell and optimizing your listings with these keywords in order to rank higher on the product listing pages.

Where Do I Put Keywords on My Amazon Listing?

It is important that the keywords are incorporated into your listing in a way that seems natural. The primary goal of a listing is to make the consumer purchase, if you have stuffed keywords in such a way that the listing can no longer be understood by the consumer then you are likely to lose the sale.

Keywords can be put into a few different places on a product listing.

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Your Product’s Title

If you know anything about SEO then this is like your H1, so when it comes to keyword placement these are the first port of call. However, unlike a result in Google, you can get away with loading quite a few keywords into Amazon titles, be sure to include all of the important keywords in the title. There are guides to help with Amazon title optimisation online if you are struggling to know where to start.

In Your Product’s Description

The “About this item” section and the product description give a good space to include well-optimized copy, allowing you to create natural-looking content, whilst including the keywords and relevant variations to cover all types of searches.

In the Backend, Hidden and Search Terms (In Seller Central)

The Hidden, or Search Terms section of your Seller Central backend is often overlooked as a place that can be optimized.

While any keywords in this section will not be visible to Amazon users themselves, they do have an impact on Amazon’s ranking decisions.

There is a character limit of 250 for you to make use of, however, use it well and don’t repeat keywords already used in the listing. As this space is hidden you could include common misspellings that have a high search volume in this area, without compromising consumer trust by having a listing riddled with errors.

How to Conduct Keyword Research for Amazon

The principles for keyword research for Amazon are similar to those for Google. You want to find high-volume relevant keywords, ideally with little competition.

Step 1: Start with a list of relevant seed keywords. These will be the core terms that are most relevant to your product. For example, if you sell personalized birthday banners you will want to focus on “personalized birthday supplies” “birthday decorations” and “birthday banners” as some seed terms.

Step 2: Expand your list further by finding relevant terms that relate to each of the seed terms. Use these as the core focus and find secondary and tertiary keywords that relate.

Birthday Banners- age banners, birthday name banners, banners for birthdays, 18th birthday banners.

Doing this for each seed keyword will give you a more expansive list. You can also invest in tools such as Keyword inspector or Keywordtool.io to give you a bigger list including related keywords, questions, and propositions.

Step 3: Filter the list by removing any that are not relevant to your specific product, for example, any keywords that include a competitor’s brand name.

Step 4: Find the search volumes for these keywords and remove those with little to no volume. This will help you prioritize which keywords to use. You can find the search volume using Amazon keyword research tools.

Step 5: Optimise your listings. Try and use as many of these keywords as possible within your listing whilst maintaining a balance between listing optimization and consumer understanding.

Step 6: Repeat this process frequently to stay on top of any new, high-traffic terms consumers are using.

If you need guidance on how to effectively optimize your Amazon listings in order to increase your sales, get in touch with Arthia, an experienced Amazon consultant, who will be able to help.

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