The Hunt for Keywords is On
When you are selling on Amazon, keywords are the first key to making your sales.
Prospective buyers need to find your product in order for the other strategies you have used to work. You may have a better product and beautiful images but if your product is buried in page 10 of the search results the buyer will never see these. Also, with Amazon constantly making changes to its protocols, keyword use can be very difficult.
Now Amazon has shortened the available space for backend keywords. You only get 249 characters to use and those spaces include everything, even punctuation. You need to be both creative and careful with your keyword use.
You are Not Alone
Whether you think your product is special, unique or not, with over 460 million products for sell on Amazon in the US alone, you certainly won’t be alone. Someone will be selling the same item. This makes using the right keywords vital. Yes, you can piggyback on brand names and competitor names but that is a bit dishonest and may hurt your reputation once the complaints start to roll in. It is best to find your own unique keywords so buyers can trust you and your site.
10 Ways to Optimize Your Keywords
Here are the tips to help you get the most out of your Amazon selling experience:
#1. Don’t waste space – since punctuation counts now, don’t use periods, commas, too many spaces between words and other characters that are not vital letters. Forget your grammar lessons and remove punctuation so you have more space for more words
#2. Hyphens are your friends – what hyphens do is make 2 words count as one. Not only do they save you a little space, they cover a multitude of keywords in one shot. For example, if you type “anti-bacteria” you will get results for ‘anti’, ‘bacteria’, ‘anti-bacteria’, ‘anti bacteria’, and ‘antibacteria’.
#3. Grammar does not matter – exclamation points are a big no-no as they restrict your product to exact matches only. Adding ‘s’ or ‘es’ to words doesn’t help. Non-plural words will cover the plural forms. The same for capitalization. You do not need it. All small case will still work for you.
E.g ‘cream’ will produce ‘creams’
‘Bat’ will produce ‘bats, Bat & Bats’
#4. Get inspiration – while piggybacking on or copying your competitors is not smart, you can still see what keywords your competitors are using and get inspiration from them. Getting ideas from the people who sell similar products is not wrong.
#5. Don’t limit yourself – Even though a product is different from yours, it may have some similar features. This means that similar keywords the other product uses will apply to your product. For example, an MP3 player shares similar characteristics to an iPod. Those similarities will give you keywords to use.
#6. Amazon isn’t the only company – by this, we are saying that other internet marketplaces, e.g. Ebay, Shopify, or Alibaba, use similar selling techniques as Amazon. Their keywords and SEO tips could help you. They can either
inspire you or provide you with new keywords.
#7. Spread your keywords out – The title is not the place to insert your keywords with Amazon.
The other keyword field carries the same amount of weight as the title does. So, you do not have to pack your keywords into one field. This means you do not have to repeat words but use unique ones in each keyword field.
#8. Free is not bad – There are some great tools out there for keywords which we will get into on a future article. But, you do not have to pay for every keyword search tool. The top bar on Amazon’s home page will provide you with suggestions without costing you a dime. Just begin typing a word and the site should provide you with a drop-down list. The key here is that you only get 3 searches a day.
#9. You can be sneaky – another way to get inspiration and help is to use the related search function on Amazon’s homepage. All you need to do is type in your basic keyword and you will get a display of related keyword searches. Mine this trick to your heart’s content. It is also free.
#10. Words, not phrases – Keyword searches are exactly as they say. They focus on key individual words and not complete phrases. You are not writing literature here but trying to get people to look at your Amazon website. Use key individual words and remember grammar does not count in keyword searches
Rules to Follow
To help you get the most out of the keywords you use, follow these rules:
- Fill the entire keyword field with keywords. if you get 249 characters, use them
- Forget filler words- such as for, with, but etc.
- Forget adjectives and adverbs- cheap, sophisticated, quickly, etc.
- Forget punctuation & quote marks
- Don’t be redundant- no need to repeat keywords
Keywords are Not Enough
Keywords are important as they bring people to your Amazon website. But keywords won’t hold your potential buyer’s attention. They need help to turn that potential buyer into a paying customer.
The other words on your website; for example, your product description, plays an integral role in keeping your potential buyer’s interest and will lead them to your ‘add to cart’ button.
Who knows how many times potential buyers have turned off a product because the English used was very poor, badly written, repetitive, sloppy and incoherent. The keywords can often be seen as a reflection of your product.
Make sure the rest of the product page is written correctly and in an interesting format. You want to attract buyers not drive them away because you paid more attention to your keywords and not enough to the other words on your webpage.
One tip we give to our customers is to review the feedback and FAQs to get an idea of the buyers concerns.
Some final words
Even with the new rule changes at Amazon, you can still effectively find and use keywords to draw potential buyers to your website. You just have to be more creative. There are always solutions to each new problem Amazon throws your way.
One of the keys to finding those solutions is that you have to be flexible. You can’t be set in your ways when it comes to operating an internet business. Keeping up with the times and making the right changes will help you get the business and sales you need.
Let us know if you have other keyword tips by posting comments below. Or If you need help with your product pages, images or graphics, feel free to contact us. We’re always happy to help.
