One of the WORST mistakes when it comes to selling on Amazon? Neglecting to optimize your product listings.
Many sellers assume you only need to throw together a decent title, decent product images, decent description and you’re good to go… but that’s unfortunately not how it works. Keep in mind – Amazon is highly competitive and features thousands of sellers competing with each other, so it takes high effort to stand out from the crowd and attract buyers to your listings (along with converting them into paying customers).
In this article, we’ll cover 8 strategies you can take to boost your listing visibility and generate more sales with your products – helping boost revenue and profitability on autopilot. Once you get a hang of how to fully optimize a listing… you’ll be able to apply that knowledge to every single product and have a much easier time growing your business.
Use this outline to skip to any section of this webpage:
- What is Amazon product listing optimization?
- Why is listing optimization important?
- Ways to optimize your Amazon product listings:
- Final thoughts on optimizing your Amazon product listings
What is Amazon product listing optimization?
Product Listing Optimization (PLO) is the process of optimizing your Amazon product listings to accomplish the following:
- Higher search visibility
- Higher click-through rates
- Higher conversion rates
The goal of PLO is to improve the ranking of a product listing in search results pages (SERPs), increase the number of clicks on a listing and convert as many customers as possible (conversions).
Product listing optimization refers to improving both the on-page and off-page elements of a product listing. On-page factors include elements like title, meta data, images, and descriptions. Off-page factors include things like backlinks and social signals (but only if you want your Amazon listings to rank in Google, which is possible to accomplish).
By ensuring that your product listings are accurate, complete, and keyword-rich, you’ll make it easier for potential customers to find your products and make a purchase. Additionally, optimizing your product listings can help to improve your conversion rate, as potential customers are more likely to click through and buy something that they can easily understand and feel persuaded to purchase.
Ultimately, investing in product listing optimization will pay off in the form of increased sales and revenue – and often without needing to invest in risky, expensive marketing campaigns. However, the trick is you need to learn it yourself – or bring on a specialist to help you (but you should still learn it yourself, since you need to be able to judge whether a specialist has the ability to do it as well). So if you’re looking for a way to give your Amazon store a boost, listing optimization is a phenomenal strategy.
Why is listing optimization important?
Shoppers primarily find and discover products through Amazon’s search engine. If your products aren’t optimized to appear for the relevant search queries, you’ll have a hard time driving traffic to your listings – which makes it impossible to generate sales. Many “gurus” and “experts” will tell you to simply launch your store and that’s it… but the harsh truth? You need to learn how to truly find shoppers and have them click your listings. That’s the name of the game to generate sales.
Furthermore, optimizing your Amazon product listings will increase your purchase rates with compelling and persuasive copywriting – which is the 2nd part of the game. If you drive large amounts of clicks to your listings, but your listings aren’t attractive and don’t persuade buyers to choose your product… it’s a waste of traffic.
In this article, we’ll cover the 8 ways you can optimize your listings for 1) higher clicks and 2) more purchases:
Ways to optimize your Amazon product listings:
Devote significant attention to your product title
Any business that sells products on Amazon knows that optimizing their listing for Amazon’s search engine is essential for success. But what many don’t realize is that the product title is one of the most important elements of an optimized listing. A well-crafted title can help to improve both your SEO and your conversion rate. Here are a few tips for crafting an effective Amazon product title:
- Keep it short and sweet. Your title should be no more than 50 characters, and it should be clear and to the point.
- Use keywords wisely. Include relevant keywords in your title, but don’t stuff them in. A few well-placed keywords will do the trick.
- Make it distinctive. Help your listing stand out from the crowd by using unique adjectives or descriptive phrases.
- Appeal to emotion. Use language that will resonate with potential buyers and compel them to click “add to cart.”
- Avoid using bloated or jargon-filled language. Stick to plain, straightforward language that consumers will easily understand.
Keep in mind – selling on Amazon is much different than selling on a website, which often requires marketing and advertising campaigns to bring customers to the website. This means you need to devote a large amount of effort towards ads, emails, and social media. There’s less attention put towards product pages and listing optimization… but with Amazon, your listing title is MUCH more important to generate sales, since you aren’t using email and social media. You’re mostly relying on SEO and PPC.
By following these strategies, you can create an Amazon product title that will help you to attract more visitors and boost your sales.
Target medium and long-tail keywords
Amazon is a competitive marketplace, and sellers need to do everything they can to ensure their products are seen by potential buyers. One way to do this is to optimize your listings with low competition keywords. These are keywords that are not being heavily used by other sellers, but which could still attract a fair amount of traffic.
Long tail keywords, in particular, tend to be less competitive and can be a great way to get your product noticed. To find these keywords, you can use a tool like Amazon Keyword Explorer – which allows you to enter a seed keyword and then see a list of related keywords with their corresponding search volume.
Once you’ve found some potential keywords, simply add them to your product listing in the appropriate fields. This will help to improve your visibility and attract more buyers.
Another approach is to look at the titles and descriptions of products that are similar to yours and identify any keywords that are missing from your listing. Finally, don’t forget to make use of Amazon’s auto-suggestion feature. Simply start typing in a seed keyword and see what suggestions Amazon makes.
However, you want to avoid “keyword stuffing” and making your listings sound unnatural – which can not only cause a penalty from Amazon, but also deter customers from purchasing. You want your titles, bullet points and descriptions to sound 100% normal, while also including solid keywords.
Use compelling and persuasive copywriting
As an Amazon seller, you know that optimizing your product listings is essential for successful selling on the platform. And one of the most important elements of optimization is compelling and persuasive copywriting. With well-written bullet points and descriptions, you can show potential buyers why your product is exactly what they’re looking for – and convince them to click “Add to Cart.”
Bullet points and descriptions are two important elements of an Amazon product listing, and both provide an opportunity to engage potential customers with persuasive copywriting. The key to effective copywriting is to focus on the benefits of the product, rather than simply listing its features.
For example, rather than saying “Our product is made from 100% natural cotton,” it’s more effective to say “Our product is smooth on your hands and won’t cause damage or irritation.” By highlighting the benefits of the product, you’ll be more likely to persuade potential customers to make a purchase.
In addition, it’s important to use strong verbs that convey a sense of urgency, such as “boost” “discover,” or “experience.” By using persuasive language, you can optimize your Amazon product listings and increase your chances of making a sale.
Use numbers, percentages, and other concrete details to illustrate the benefits of your product – and be honest. Don’t make false claims or exaggerate the capabilities of your product, because this will only hurt your store in the long run.
Enhance readability of text
By making titles and descriptions easier to read, you can improve your chances of getting your listing seen and clicked on by interested shoppers. Also, by improving readability, you can help convince customers that your product is worth purchasing.
There are a few key things to keep in mind when optimizing your Amazon product listings for readability. Be sure to use short, concise sentences and bullet points to make the text easier to scan. You also want plenty of white space in your description area, so that the text is easily digested. You don’t want giant walls of text – otherwise it won’t appear visually appealing and customers will bounce from your listing (nobody wants to read huge blocks of text that make it difficult on the eyes).
By following these simple readability tips, you can optimize your Amazon product listings and improve your chances of generating more revenue.
Create high-end imagery for your products
As an Amazon seller, you know that creating quality product listings is essential for success on the platform. In addition to crafting compelling copy and providing accurate product information, another key element of successful listings is high quality product images.
Product images are often the first thing that potential buyers see when they come to your listing, so it’s important to make a good impression. Luckily, there are some simple things you can do to optimize your images and give your listing a competitive edge.
- Make sure your images are clear and sharp. Blurry or low-resolution images will not only turn off potential buyers, but they can also hurt your search ranking on Amazon.
- Set your first 2-3 images as white background photos that show the most important shots. Ask yourself: what angles do customers care about the most? You can put yourself in their shoes
- Use multiple angles and close-ups to show as much detail as possible. This will help buyers envision what the product looks like in real life and make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase it.
- Consider hiring a graphic designer to make your images visually appealing, with emotional-driven edits and colors. These can inspire customers beyond your standard photo shoots – along with inserting benefits and compelling copy into the images.
- Use natural light whenever possible to create bright and inviting photos. With a little effort, you can dramatically improve the quality of your product images and make your listings more engaging and successful.
Format your product description
Optimizing your Amazon product listings is key to success on the platform. By formatting your listings with well-written descriptions, quality images, and a clear structure, you can increase your chances of conversion and drive more sales.
First, make sure your product descriptions are engaging and informative, highlighting the key features and benefits of your product. They should be an extension of your bullet points that dive deeper into the features and benefits – whereas the bullet points quickly highlight the value propositions of your product.
In addition, include high-quality images that show your product in use. Feel free to use some images from your main images in the slider, but this is also a good opportunity to include additional graphics and visual stimulation to keep buyer interest and show something new. If you repeat 100% of your images from the top, it could be perceived as a slight turnoff.
Finally, use a clear and easy-to-navigate structure that makes it easy for shoppers to find the information they need. This is where HTML structuring comes into play – since nobody wants to read full walls of text and sub-par formatting under Amazon’s regular structure. Take a look at the best-selling products – you’ll notice they have unique structuring and formatting for their description sections.
By taking these steps, you can create product descriptions that are more likely to convert, driving more sales and helping you achieve success on Amazon.
Generate more 5-star reviews
As an Amazon seller, one of the most important things you can do to optimize your product listings includes acquiring more 5-star reviews and boosting your average review rating.
Why? Because reviews are one of the main factors that buyers take into account when deciding whether or not to purchase a product. So the more positive reviews you have, the better your chances of getting clicks in the search results and ultimately making a sale.
There are a few different ways you can go about boosting your reviews:
- Offer buyers a discount or some other benefit – and once they receive it, ask if they’re interested in leaving a review (don’t say “if we give you X, will you leave a review” since that’s against Amazon’s terms).
- Make it easy for buyers to leave a review by including instructions on your packing slip and promotional inserts.
- Reach out to customers who have already made a purchase and ask them if they’d be willing to leave a review.
By taking these simple steps, you can encourage more customers to leave positive reviews, which will in turn help boost your sales.
Prevent returns with rigorous product testing
One of the most common ways to tank your sales after fully optimizing your Amazon product listings? Selling a low-quality product.
When this happens, customers begin opening up lots of returns – which signals to Amazon your product is poor quality and shouldn’t be ranked highly in their search engine. This means after hundreds or thousands of dollars put into optimizing a product listing… you could throw it all away with a low quality product.
Instead, put rigorous effort into testing out each product before you make a bulk purchase and sell it on Amazon. This might take 1-3 weeks, but it’s 100% worth avoiding the hassle and downside of pouring money into a product that ultimately fails and results in wasted inventory that won’t sell (because Amazon decides to de-rank your listing).
Final thoughts on optimizing your Amazon product listings
Keep in mind – the more time and effort you spend on optimizing your product listings, the higher chance of success in selling through Amazon.
An optimized listing has persuasive copywriting that speaks directly to potential customers… research-backed keywords for specific search terms (so buyers can find what they need and avoid wasting their money); titles and headlines designed to attract buyers and showcase key benefits.
Beyond that, always devote high effort into sourcing quality products – which helps increase your review rating and lower your return rate. Both of these will have a large impact on optimizing your listing pages and boosting traffic + sales.
