SETTING UP A KILLER AMAZON LISTING (PLUS WHAT TO DO ORGANICALLY AFTERWARD FOR ULTIMATE OPTIMIZATION)
Amazon has over 300 million customers that browse, purchase, and review products every single day. These listings are by third-party sellers and are sold alongside Amazon products. This vast virtual shop space offers individuals and businesses of different sizes the ability to reach out to millions of customers daily. Selling your product on Amazon is quick and easy when you follow the product listing steps.
There are three different Amazon plans to suit your brand and budget best. Create your product listing with the choice of two options. You can match an existing listing if your product identifies with someone already selling the same or create a new listing for new products. Let’s take a closer look at the product listing guidelines and how you can optimize organically.
AMAZON PRODUCT LISTINGS CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. Product title
2. Images
3. Product description
4. Product features and bullet points
5. Back-end keywords (hidden)
PRODUCT TITLES
The product title is the first thing that shoppers see when browsing for products and an important deciding factor to take that first click.
Informative product titles help customers find your product when searching in the Amazon search box and improve sales. When creating a product title there are a few guidelines that Amazon has outlined to follow.
Product titles that do not follow Amazon’s requirements will not be searchable. That is why it is of utmost importance that your product title meets all the requirements.
DO
- Make sure your product title is clear. Amazon recommends fewer than 80 characters, but we will discuss this more in our optimization guidelines.
- Use numerals
- Only add what is necessary to help customers identify your product
- Make use of commas, hyphens, ampersands, and full stops
- Add different sizes and colors to the child
- ASINS
- You can add the abbreviation for measurement such as “oz’’ or ‘’cm’’
- Different product categories have different recommendations for product title lengths
- Makes sure that your title contains information that helps the customer identify your product
DON’T
- Don’t use capital letters for every word only capitalize the first letter of each word except for with, and,
- Don’t use special characters such as ®
- Do not use the following phrases ‘’100% guarantee” or ‘’free shipping”
- Don’t include your merchant’s name
- Don’t use suggestive phrases like “Best Product”
- Special characters such as !*$ are not allowed
HOW TO CREATE PRODUCT TITLES THAT STAND OUT
Now that you know what the product title requirements are from Amazon, we share our tips to optimize that title and stand out.
- Make a list of important keyword phrases you can use many online tools to do this like Helium 10 as a great tool to find out which keywords and phrases your competitors rank for
- Add these important phrase keywords to your product title, when a customer searches for any of these phrases your product will get noticed depending on how well you are ranking
- Make sure that you are using the main search phrase in the beginning of the product title
- There are 200 available characters it’s important not to keyword stack
- Next should be the most important product description information followed by another
- Make sure that every first letter of every word is capitalized
- Your product title must be readable
- Include unique selling points
HOW TO CREATE PRODUCT IMAGES THAT CONVERT
Your product images need to follow specific Amazon guidelines. Your store is a virtual one, your customer’s first interaction with your product will be through the product images. These images need to show off your product from every angle, feature, and perspective.
Infographics are a wonderful way to visually incorporate all product information such as benefits, features, and installation processes into the right amount of bite-size information.
Most customers will not have the time or patience to read through your product description and features and will want to make a quick and easy purchase. Make your infographics stand out with custom made visual representations.
WHAT ARE THE AMAZON REQUIREMENTS FOR PRODUCT IMAGES?
- Make sure that all product images are high quality 1000x1000px customer must be able to zoom into the images
- Images must be clearly visible with white background
- Product must be close up take up 80% of the space
- Minimum of 6 images showcasing your product
HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR PRODUCT IMAGES AND BOOST YOUR CLICK-THROUGH RATE
- We recommend up to 9 images for optimization from different angles, infographics and lifestyle images
- Use images that showcase unique selling points and correlate your bullet points
- Lifestyle or functionality images are a terrific way to visually show your customer how your product can solve their problem or add value they are able relate to these images best
- Use Infographics that provide a wealth of information that has been compressed into the right size that is easy for your customer to digest
- Use images that show your customer how to use the product step by step
- Make sure that your images showcase your unique selling points
- Add images that convey essential information such as product guarantees
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS
Your product description needs to be clear, relatable, and informative. Use examples in your description of the different product features and functionality. How can your product add value to your customer’s life? Your product description must include all features, uses, warranty, and instructions.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES AND OPTIMISATION:
DO
- Use short, clear, informative, and accurate
- Use complete sentences
- Write a minimum of 250 words
- Explain how your product can add value or improve your customer’s life
- Highlight your product’s functions and features
- Add keywords
- Discuss your unique selling points
- Use lifestyle examples
- Add warranty information
- Include product information
- Focus on product quality
- Your descriptions must be in line with your images
DON’T
- Use HTML tags
- Add reviews or testimonials
- Keyword stuff
PRODUCT FEATURES
Product features consist of five bullet points; these key product features highlight your product’s unique selling points and benefits. These key points help customers make that deciding factor that will choose your product over your competitors.
Bullet points should be short, concise, and easy to read. If your bullet points have too many characters your customers will have to click the “more” button to see them. Don’t overstuff with keywords as it will appear poorly written.
DO
- Make sure your five bullet points are clear and concise
- Keep the total bullet points under 1000 characters
- Highlight your product’s benefits and features
- Start each point with a capital letter
- Write all numerals
- Make sure that your points are not vague
- Use sentence fragments
- Semicolons should be used to separate phrases in single points
- Make sure that your bullet points are descriptive, short, and easy to read
DON’T
- Stuff with keywords
- Include any promotional information, stick to your features
- Use punctuation at the end of your bullet points
- Mention any pricing, business, or promotional information
WHAT ARE BACK-END KEYWORDS?
Amazon uses an A9 ranking algorithm by taking in your conversion and click-through rates. If your product generates sales and is frequently clicked your product will rise in their search results. Back-end keywords provide Amazon with descriptive information about your product listing.
Amazon’s A9 search engine indexes these keywords when added to your product listing dashboard where they are not visible to your customers. This information helps you rank higher organically in Amazon’s search results. You can choose two diverse types of back-end keywords: standard and platinum.
Standard keywords have a maximum amount of 50 characters. Platinum keywords will only be activated for indexing if you have the best-selling product and include 50 additional characters.
You have five fields to fill with a total of 250 bytes. Multiple keywords can be added and separated with spaces.
DO
- Add clear, concise information
- Use keywords that you have not used in your product title
- Use main and secondary keywords
- Use other products or variants
- Use abbreviations, singular and plural
DON’T
- Use your brand name
- Repeat product information, features or bullet points
TOOLS FOR OPTIMIZATION
There are many different keyword research and optimization tools available.
Helium 10 is a great tool to find keywords, phrases and write amazing product listings. This program allows reverse ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) searches for optimal optimization. They also offer a free trial period.
Jungle Scout has lots of free tools including an Amazon product listing grader.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Selling your first product on Amazon can be an exciting and overwhelming time. These product guidelines and optimization tips will get you set and ready to launch.
We wish you the best of luck with your new product listing!
Look out for our series of blog posts where we share additional optimization tips and tools.