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9 Steps to Optimizing Your Amazon Listings [2023]

Whether you have months or years of experience as an Amazon seller, you still need to optimize your listings for the best sales results. Especially since Amazon’s guidelines and algorithms evolve, just like the market and your customers’ needs. 

Without a well-crafted Amazon listing, you’re missing out on a lot of potential revenue. But it takes time to carefully craft each listing – let alone optimize it for Amazon’s algorithms. That’s why we created Sellesta.com: to make optimizing your Amazon listings faster and easier so you can see an increase in profits.  

We’ll guide you through a step-by-step sequence to optimize your product listings for better rankings, more traffic, and more sales. 

What is Amazon Listing Optimization?

Amazon listing optimization is a multi-faceted process of using proven tactics to achieve higher rankings for your Amazon products. Sellers and experts analyze Amazon’s algorithm to determine what sellers need to include in their listing to end up one the first page of Amazon search results. Higher rankings boost discoverability to your target audience and, thus, improve conversion rates. 

2022 saw over $150 billion in sales for Amazon online stores. But if you didn’t know how to optimize Amazon listings, your products may not have captured that potential revenue. 

The reality is that every Amazon seller needs to be an optimization professional. Alternatively, you can hire an Amazon specialist, but that’s costly. The best alternative is to leverage Amazon optimization software to your advantage and refresh your Amazon SEO knowledge regularly. 

How Does Amazon Listing Optimization and SEO Work?

Once users type words into the search box, Amazon generates suggestions for more relevant keywords to their intent. After they run the search, Amazon’s algorithm presents them with a list of optimized listings carefully tailored to land them a spot on page one. 

Amazon’s updated A10 algorithm is highly focused on customer experience — a deviation from the previous A9’s focus on profits. It relies on three main factors: 

  • Reviews and ratings
  • Sales numbers
  • Product listing quality

Lots of work happens behind the scenes to determine product listing rankings. Amazon tends to favor the most credible sellers, aka those with consistent sales and reviews. They balance all of these factors to decide who gets first placement on the search results, who gets Best Seller banners, and more. 

Keeping all this in mind, let’s walk through Amazon’s listing optimization steps. 

9 Steps to Optimizing Your Amazon Listings

Amazon optimization is an extensive process. You can have the best product in the world, marketed with gorgeous high-res photos and beautifully embellished, written descriptions. 

But, how’s your listing quality? 

Are your keywords sharp and relevant? Do your words feel accessible to the reader? 

Do you have lots of sales and great reviews?

You’ll need to manage all that and more when you learn how to optimize Amazon listings. 

1. Keyword Research

keyword research for amazon optimization

Keyword research might feel tedious, but we invite you to keep an open mind. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What do they think? How do they talk? How do they communicate their needs?

Customer communication might be elaborate in-person, but in the search bar it’s concise and bare-bones – even if it’s a long-tail keyword. 

Keywords epitomize your customer’s innate desires for your product listings. You must conduct the proper research to predict what they’ll enter in the search bars so you can include these words in your listing. If you don’t, it’s very challenging (if not impossible) for a customer to find your products.  

Here’s an example. You sell supplements to help people sleep. So, you title your listing “sleep supplements.” But you must know that lavender, valerian, chamomile, melatonin, potassium, and calcium all have proven sleep-inducing abilities. Your customer does research, too — so they might be searching “melatonin” or “chamomile supplements” instead. 

Including all relevant and accurate keywords within your product description means customers will not only be able to find your listing, but also understand exactly what it is you’re selling. 

Here’s how to find keywords that improve discoverability for your products: 

  • Experiment by typing predictable keywords in the search bar for your products. Note any of Amazon’s suggestions in the suggestions — these are more relevant. 
  • Compare your product’s keywords with your competitors. If they’re ranking high in SERPs, what keywords do they have that you don’t?
  • Use Sellesta to see what keywords are missing from your current product listings and update your listings right from the platform. 

2. Accurate Categories

Your audience browses health and personal care categories for your supplements. So, what are your product listings doing in Amazon’s home and kitchen section? 

Categories really start to matter when you get into the nitty-gritty of sub– and sub-sub categories. Health and personal care expand to seven or eight more categories. Your job is to determine where your target audience is. Chances are, they’re in Nutrition and Wellness, so that’s where you want your product to be. 

amazon product listing categories

On top of picking the correct sub-category, you’ll have to play by each category’s optimization rules. Amazon advises us of a templated guideline for each category — you can refer to templates for product categories within your Amazon Seller account pages. 

3. Effective Product Titles

Product titles (and images) are the face of your product listing. They should be just as optimized as your longer descriptions. Amazon’s algorithm is picky with product titles, measuring every title for relevance. And you don’t have a lot of space, so you want to choose precisely the right keywords. 

Here are some tips to optimize the titles on your product listings: 

  • Don’t exceed 80 characters — 60 is ideal. 
  • Include your brand name at the beginning.
  • Ensure titles reflect what’s on your product’s packaging. 
  • Use title case, not caps; numerals, not spelled-out words.
  • Avoid subjective phrases (we know you think your product is incredible, but adding “best” or “amazing” to your title will hurt your rankings).
  • Use Sellesta’s listing optimization tool to look at competitors’ titles and to see what keywords you should have in yours. 

Remember to review the rest of Amazon’s product title requirements, too. 

4. Optimized Product Descriptions

It’s easy to get excited about your product, but the last thing your audience wants to read is a ramble. Your product description should communicate your product’s attributes and benefits clearly and succinctly. 

Here are some tips to produce stellar product descriptions: 

  • Make key features easily visible, perhaps bolded. 
  • Use bullet points to explain key benefits. 
  • Ensure product descriptions match your product’s condition, contents, and function. 
  • Include keywords at an appropriate density. 
  • Include your brand name in the field and description.

But what if you aren’t a strong writer? Or have hundreds of listings to optimize? In this case try an Amazon seller tool to optimize your listing. 

sellesta platform for listing optimization

Sellesta.com’s listing optimization platform.

5. Add Backend Search Terms

Backend search terms function similarly to keywords in how they improve discoverability. The main difference is they don’t show up in your description or title. Backend search terms help you catch audience intent apart from your chosen keywords — “vitamins” in place of “supplements,” “notepad” in place of “notebook,” and so on. 

The benefits? More conversions and visibility without keyword stuffing. 

Here are some quick tips for leveraging backend search terms for Amazon optimization: 

  • Avoid subjective words like “best” or “fantastic.”
  • Don’t include misspellings.
  • Use a keyword generator to find more keyword options to include. 

6. Quality Product Images

product image example

Sixty-five percent of people are visual learners. And it’s easy to see why — images communicate ideas (and your products) 60,000 times faster than words. 

Your audience relies on your words and images to decide on a purchase, so you want to produce delectably appealing, high-res photos. Here are some tips for using quality product images: 

  • Experiment with 3D models and AR technologies to show different angles. 
  • Take clear images with a contrasting background. 
  • Include photos and videos of the product in use if possible. 
  • Leverage Amazon’s Self-Serving Imaging Products.

7. Optimize Pricing

Forbes describes pricing as paramount to your business’s success. It’s about balancing the line between attracting and satisfying customers while still making enough to keep your business running. 

This rings especially true if you have an Amazon audience. Forty-nine percent of Americans shop on Amazon for lower prices and 79.8% choose Amazon for both fast and free shipping. 

So, you’re working with a more cost-savvy audience. Yet you still need to bring a profit. Here’s how: 

  • Conduct A/B testing to examine which prices bring you the best reviews, sales, and profits. 
  • Research dynamic pricing strategies to understand how, why, and when to change the pricing of your products 
  • Use Amazon’s Automated Pricing tool or other Amazon pricing tools to update pricing automatically based on market drivers and competitors. 

8. Use Amazon Optimization Tools

You might have noticed a few tech tips for each of these steps. That’s because AI software like Sellesta.com quickens your entire optimization process. 

Why spend hours on keyword research or thousands of dollars hiring more staff when optimization platforms like Sellesta can take care of keyword research, listing optimizations, and competitor research all at once?

You won’t only benefit from time savings, though. You’ll experience laser-sharp accuracy with our top-of-the-line artificial intelligence: no more mismatched keywords or irrelevant data. Our tool studies your market, competitors, and listings to provide the most relevant insights. 

Try our industry-leading features, including:

  1. Listing scoring: Get optimization checklists that provide insights on the main aspects of your listing: product title, product description, review count, and more. 
  2. Keyword search integrated with listing optimization: Maximize organic traffic to your listing by finding the most important keywords to include. 
  3. Listing optimization: Use our AI-driven listing optimization to improve your listing title, bullets, and generic keywords. The AI can generate these elements for you, making optimization quick and easy. 
  4. Competitive analysis: Automatically identify your direct and indirect competitors and track their BSR, prices, ranking, and listing optimization score – all in real-time. 
  5. Review analysis: Our AI analyzes key tags and the emotional tone of key tags to break down what customers really think about your (and your competitors’) products. You can see where customers are having issues with your product and make the necessary changes. And, you gain insights into why customers love or don’t love a competitor’s product, and how to adjust yours accordingly. Make your product listing stand out by addressing these concerns and emphasizing exactly what you know customers look for in this type of product. 

9. Encourage (Positive) Reviews

In his book, Ride the Amazon Wave, Amazon expert Tomer Rabinovich describes positive reviews as reality minus expectations. 

You could have a 5-star product, but a customer will expect something more and give you only 4 stars. The only solution is to make sure you offer a 6-star experience! Add extra love to your packaging, or entice positive reviews through surveys and appealing content. 

Why are positive reviews so critical? Amazon’s algorithm notices them almost as much as they see negative reviews. The review game is a bit ruthless. Look at it this way: 

  • Positive reviews: Higher rankings
  • No reviews: Lower rankings
  • Negative reviews: Even lower rankings

Here are some quick tips to encourage positive reviews: 

  • Describe products perfectly, and triple-check dimension fields.
  • Match SKU with product listings to avoid wrong shipments.
  • Ensure images depict the actual product. 
  • Don’t buy reviews — Amazon’s algorithm can catch it and your audience may notice they’re not genuine. 
  • Keep your customer service practices excellent and reply to inquiries within 24 hours. 

Best Amazon Listing Examples

1. Mountain Top Magnesium Tablets

amazon listing example

These magnesium tablets from Mountain Top fit the bill for Amazon optimization. How can we tell? For starters, they’re on page one when you search “magnesium supplements,” though you need to scroll down past the sponsored posts. 

Second, the product title meets Amazon’s guidelines. Brand first, descriptive focus, and a clear UVP for the reader (“nutrition support”). They even managed to stick the quantity in the title for ultimate transparency. The image is clear, with soft yet impactful branding on the bottle. In fact, the bottle reflects all details in the product title, offering more insights like “bone health” and “healthier muscle.”

amazon listing example

Easy, digestible bullet points with takeaways in caps — benefits are clearly outlined, which helps customers skim through the listing quickly. And the piece de resistance? Likely the 1,000+ positive reviews! 

amazon listing example

2. Amoretu Women Summer Tunic Dress

amazon listing example

This dress from Amoretu is on Amazon’s top SERPs if you search for a “red dress.” It’s also noted as a best seller, and a quick look at the photos, title, and comprehensive description below tells us why. 

Trust is huge on Amazon — customers rely on you to present your product as credible and accurate. Amoretu doesn’t only include multiple high-quality images to do so. They take an extra step and display customers’ photos of their product: 

amazon listing example

This makes it easier for customers to visualize themselves in the dress. 10 points for customer experience. The detailed size chart and measurements also offer more context: 

Product reviews are mostly positive; however, many customers lament the tight fit along the chest. While this Amazon seller adds a note in the notice regarding a 1-2cm difference, they could add another note cautioning larger-chested women to size up. Still, the reviews are clearly authentic, with varying points of satisfaction and criticism.  

3. Sunrise Alarm Clock

amazon listing example

This title might be a bit longer than Amazon’s 60 character preference. We’d say it’s borderline keyword stuffing, but it tips the edge just far enough to make page one. And you can imagine why. It captures their heavy-sleeping audience of all ages and lists top features for easy reference. 

Scrolling down, we find a comprehensive list of specs. For example, specifying batteries aren’t included is a great way to avoid a negative review from inflated expectations. 

amazon listing example

The best part? These four pages of realistic videos for the audience to imagine themselves using the product:

Use the Best Amazon Optimization Tool

Now that you know how to optimize Amazon listings, it’s time to translate that knowledge into more conversions, discoverability, traffic, and sales. 

Sellesta.com’s 100-million-keyword database, built-in listing ratings, and customer review analytic functions is an incredible time saver for your Amazon product sales tasks. 

Ready to leverage AI to boost Amazon sales to the max? 

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