How to Do Amazon Keyword Research: 4 Tips to Boost Your Rankings
How to Do Amazon Keyword Research: 4 Tips to Boost Your Rankings
Danny Shepherd, Co-CEO • Intero Digital • March 22, 2023
Well-chosen keywords can massively impact your product’s positioning on Amazon. That’s why it’s so important to research the distinguishing philosophy for Amazon keyword research compared to other platforms. Once you understand Amazon’s SEO landscape and how to optimize it, you’ll have a better sense of how to do Amazon keyword research in the most impactful way.
Strong keywords also strengthen your positioning on Amazon by balancing keyword stuffing and readability with conversion.
Keyword stuffing serves its purpose for SEO indexing; generally, the more keywords, the better for the algorithm. (It’s worth noting that Amazon is usually more permissive than Google on keyword stuffing.) Still, keywords alone won’t get you a conversion.
Let’s say you’re selling a vacuum attachment, for example. The bullet points need to be written clearly, and the reader must understand whether this attachment will solve their issue. Having a clean name — like “garlic press” instead of “garlic press presser pressed” — will also increase the legitimacy of your product in customers’ minds. (These other keywords could still be valuable to include; they would just need to be worked into the copy on the page more naturally.)
That said, Amazon keyword research is constantly evolving. For example, Amazon now limits the number of characters allowed in titles and is placing more weight on the bullet points rather than the title of a listing. There’s also a section for backend keywords, which provides space for other languages, common misspellings, and alternative spellings.
Many Amazon sellers are catching on to the basics, making the market more competitive. You’re lagging behind if you don’t already have a strong foundation — including good images, solid copy, relevant videos, and clean titles — guiding your SEO keyword strategy. Fortunately, there’s no time like the present to learn how to do Amazon keyword research effectively and make your products stand out.
How to Choose the Right Amazon Keywords
To conduct and apply Amazon keyword research in a way that optimizes your position, you must ground your research in strategy. Start with the steps below when considering how to do Amazon keyword research.
1. Take the time to write well.
Amazon keyword research is only as good as the way you apply it. To properly optimize, write helpful, authentic titles that incorporate your keywords in meaningful ways. This step is the most time-consuming and, from an agency standpoint, among the most costly. No matter how relevant your product is to a customer, if they don’t trust it due to suspicious, unintelligible titles and descriptions, they won’t buy.
2. Get your structure right.
Consider not only search volume, but also relevancy. By getting your structure right, you’ll also rank for relevancy. The more customers value clean titles, the more Amazon gears its algorithm toward rewarding crisp, accurate language. Start with your brand name first in the title. Then, use straightforward bullet points. Nearly all sellers use “100% guarantee” — a phrase no one is actually searching — as their fifth bullet point. Still, it’s important to include it for conversions.
3. Consider negative keywords.
You need to take the time to type the keywords into the search bar to see what the consumer will see versus what they were looking for when they searched that term. Doing this vital step will ensure your keywords are selected with your target customers in mind and are attuned to their interests and needs
Let’s say you’re selling hip bands. Hip bands and exercise bands might seem similar, but when you search those two terms, you’ll find that they’re very different products with different purposes. So if you’re selling hip bands, you’ll want to avoid having “exercise bands” in the title or advertising for “exercise bands” because your product won’t be relevant to people searching those terms.
That said, because “exercise bands” has such good search volume, you might consider putting it in the backend search terms of a hip bands product.
4. Manage customer expectations.
The seller experience on Amazon is much different than on any other website. Consumers can return anything, whenever, with the click of a button. The process is so streamlined. As such, ensuring you’re setting proper expectations in your listings to minimize returns is key for profitability. Don’t rely on product guarantees alone. Set your customers’ expectations properly to reduce returns.
Now Is the Time to Begin Your Optimized Amazon Journey
As you implement these Amazon keyword research tips, it’s important to remember that not everything works every time. Just because you write a new title doesn’t guarantee that Amazon will post it or that it will effectively differentiate you from the competition. Amazon isn’t a “set it and forget it” platform. You need to check in on your Amazon listings and follow up to ensure your strategies are working. And if you don’t have time to do that, get an Amazon digital marketing partner like Intero Digital that can help you!
