Amazon has proved to be a great way for people to make money in 2020. When a lot of traditional businesses had to close temporarily, more people began to search for ways to earn money online. Amazon FBA and affiliate marketing are two ways to generate an income from Amazon, whether you want to earn a full-time income or just earn a few more dollars per month to cover expenses. Amazon (FBA) makes it easy to start an ecommerce business. So, with this knowledge in hand, many new Amazon sellers often ask, “How can I get my products to rank higher in search?” This is a good question, because much of your success has to do with where you show up in the SERPs.

What? Amazon is a search engine? Yes, besides being one of the world’s largest marketplaces for digital and physical goods, it is also a search engine like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. When you type anything into the search box, whether it is a name (Nike) or a description (blue socks), the Amazon search engine searches the database to find it. Therefore, in order to rank your products higher, you have to follow good SEO practices.

Most often, when someone says, “SEO,” we think of Google. But SEO doesn’t only apply to the 3 major search engines, it applies to anything you want to rank. Understanding Amazon SEO will help you attract more visitors to your listing and increase your chances of making more sales. Amazon SEO involves optimizing your listings to encourage conversions, so your visitors become buyers and you sell more products. Just like optimizing your website for Google ranking, optimizing your Amazon listings does the same thing. Your product will appear higher in the list of results, be relevant, and will likely get picked first by consumers looking for that product.

What is the difference between Amazon search engine and the Google algorithm? Amazon’s search algorithm is referred to as A9. This algorithm decides the fate of your success on Amazon, so it’s a good idea to get to know it a little better. Google’s algorithm ranks quality factors to ensure the best experience for searchers and the most relevant results. Amazon’s algorithm has one main purpose, to sell products to customers. Buyers rarely go past the first or second page of results. If you rank on page 3 or lower, you’re unlikely to sell anything at all. As mentioned, Google strives to produce the most accurate and relevant results based on the keywords typed in search, as well as the user’s intent. Amazon’s algorithm is a little simpler, in that it uses keywords and keyword variations in search results. Listings are focused on conversions, and not simply supplying information or product research.

So, what should you do if you are not making sales on Amazon? If your sales are tanking because nobody can find you, you need to reevaluate what you’re doing and why it’s not working.

Competitor Research

Long-time Amazon sellers (those whose products are at the top of the page consistently) have scoured the Amazon website and devoured every shred of information there and have learned how to optimize their listing pages to bring consistent results. Just like any other effective SEO strategy, it pays to see what your competitors are doing. Look at how their listings are structured, what keywords they use, their images, and description. The ones that focus on performance and CTR are the ones that will rank consistently.

Keyword Research

This is another vital step in the process of optimizing your Amazon listing. Remember, it is the keywords you use that will help customers find you. Coming up with a fancy title won’t do it, because people don’t search by title. So keyword research is very important. There are many tools you can use (free and paid) to help you find the best search terms. There is Keywords Everywhere, SEMRUSH, Sellzone, and Amazon Autocomplete is a free keyword finder that uses a similar basis as Google Suggest.

Here are a few simple strategies you can follow to help increase your listings rank. Each one is important for ranking, so don’t skip anything.

1. Optimize your listing title. You want to front-load your main keyword here. Your listing title is one of the most important pieces of an effective Amazon listing. An optimized title has the most important keyword appearing first.
2. Price your product based on competitor research. Your prices should be similar to what your competitors are charging for the same product. If you under-charge, or over-charge, you will not make many sales.
3. Optimize your images. Make images eye-catching to stand out from the crowd. Use the ALT tags and make sure images are crisp, clear, and show your product in the best light. Make it look as attractive to buyers as possible.
4. Create compelling copy. You might think that this would be the place to spam out all of your keywords, but no. This is where you sell yourself, and your product to the customer. Create copy that grabs their attention and tells them everything they need to know about what you’re selling. Use descriptive words, bullet points, and images. Don’t just state the features. Highlight the benefits and USPs of your product in the description.
5. Work on getting social proof. Social proof is customer reviews of your product. Encourage buyers to leave honest reviews. Reviews are like popularity votes, the more you have, the better off you are. Buyers searching for products will not buy from someone who has no reviews. Reviews are proof to a buyer that they won’t be wasting their money on something that doesn’t work.
6. Utilize PPC advertising. Drive paid traffic to your product listings. Traffic shows that you’re getting activity on your listings and will help you rank better, plus you may get sales from that traffic as well that also boost you.

FBA stands for Fulfilled by Amazon, and FBM stands for Fulfilled By Merchant. Is one of these better than the other? In a manner of speaking, yes. One offers benefits that the other does not, and those using it may get an additional ranking boost. Amazon FBA allows you to get so much more out of your online sales, but only if done correctly. And it depends on what you’re selling. Not all products qualify for the program. Some Amazon sellers may not want to pay Amazon to do what they could do themselves. However, they are missing out on benefits they could be using such as Amazon Prime Eligible Shipping. FBA sellers stand out from their competition and win the sales more often because buyers don’t want to pay shipping costs on top of everything else. Since Amazon manages your sales, you don’t have to worry about packaging, shipping, or managing inventory. In addition to that, one of the benefits listed on the FBA selling plans is “Qualify for top placement on product detail pages.” Amazon will help you rank higher by being a member of this program. Plus you will also have access to tools and resources other sellers don’t. Hopefully, you will find these tips and suggestions helpful in increasing your Amazon listings rank. Millions of sellers are successful on Amazon every day, learn what it takes to get to the top.