Boost Your Product Ranking Through Alexa with Amazon’s Search Engine Optimization
SEO- It’s the inescapable service swarming the world of digital marketing for anyone looking to keep their online presence visible in the eyes of search engines. There are consistently new ways to increase your SEO results, one of the latest being Amazon. Amazon’s Alexa, the company’s voice-powered digital assistant, is now changing the way consumers find products by having them say out loud what it is they are looking for. Forget the good old keyboard search and simply ask Alexa to find you that new home stereo system or the best shampoo for blonde hair. You can even use the app for Amazon’s Alexa when on the go.
Basically, life just got that much easier for consumers using Alexa and that much more competitive for third-party suppliers. If you want your products to appear at the top of Alexa’s database, you’ll need to follow the following guidelines to increase your chances of landing yourself on Amazon’s Choice program. Luckily, Amazon was kind enough to reveal what exactly those guidelines are, and how you can properly utilize Amazon’s search engine capabilities and voice search market.
Amazon’s Choice: How to Have Your Products Recognized
Keep in mind that Amazon’s Choice is not offered for all searches. These products are recommended based on popularity, rating and reviews, availability, shipping speed, and more. Products recognized by this program are marked with an Amazon’s Choice badge, confirming that these are the items Alexa will choose for users when given relevant keyword phrases.
- Make sure your item is available on Prime
Alexa has been found to redirect any keyword searches that don’t fit an Amazon’s Choice classification to a top-ranking Prime search result. If your item isn’t available via Prime, Alexa is unable to order the product for the consumer and will send it to Amazon’s Alexa app for manual purchase.
It is important to remember that in order to be a part of Prime, items typically have to be Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) where third-party merchants send their products to Amazon warehouses for delivery, returns, and customer service. The problem is that their warehouses are now full and overstocking has already been an issue in the past. This has brought about significant storage fee increases that all third-party merchants should consider.
- Send your consumers directly to Amazon for the initial sale
When the first sale is made through Amazon, it allows Alexa to track the purchase and recommend the same purchase in the future. The more consumers purchasing your product through Amazon, the more Alexa will continue recommending it.
However, there is a trick to this step. Instead of sending consumers straight to the Amazon product page through platforms such as Facebook or email, you should direct them to a landing page on your website. The landing page is where you can feature highlighted product information and selling points with a call to action link that then goes directly to the Amazon page when they are ready to buy. This is because Amazon’s SEO stagey focuses heavily on conversion rates over all else and an influx of users solely browsing the page will negatively impact the product’s organic search ranking.
- Fully Understand and Manage Shipping Expectations
Amazon is clear in stating how important shipping speed is when you are looking to gain that Amazon’s Choice badge. Amazon focuses a lot of attention on shipping overall, often offering free shipping with certain purchase totals or two-day shipping through Prime.
Your shipping depends heavily on your inventory, which can be difficult to manage when Amazon largely controls it. Do your best to keep your inventory stocked enough to fulfill orders, but not so much that warehouse fees increase.
- Keep Track of Product Reviews
Be proactive about reviews on your journey to becoming an Amazon’s Choice item as this is the most important aspect of the decision process for Alexa. Amazon is only looking to guide consumers to the highest quality products.
Encourage users to write positive reviews after purchasing and reach out to try and resolve any negative reviews. Users have the capability to remove poor reviews, so it is certainly worth a shot to reach out and try to make amends.
- Optimize, optimize, optimize for Amazon SEO
Amazon’s search engine optimization indicators are not the same as Google, so optimizing your items may require a different strategy. Google likes to focus on factors such as click-through rate, dwell time, or unique content. This isn’t the case for Amazon who instead loves to see keyword searches that result in a sale. The better you do in this department, the better your chance of landing an Amazon’s Choice badge.
Here are several options for increasing your SEO through Amazon and increasing your rankings:
Title- It’s the most important factor in ranking for certain searches. Amazon has incredible title formulas that recommend including a product color, brand, model, and size.
Keywords- It’s all about the keywords. Third party merchants are encouraged to use as many keywords as possible in the structured keyword area on the back end of a product listing. The wording order of your keywords does not matter and should be written out in a way that makes the most sense. Each variation of the keywords will help increase conversion rates for that particular keyword search.
Images– Use high-quality images along with secondary images that offer consumers a better overall product picture. Also, make sure images are zoom feature friendly for mobile and desktop users as this is a proven way to increase sales conversions.
Descriptions- Make sure your product description appears above the fold, as mobile buyers should be able to see it immediately when landing on the page.
Structured Data- Amazon allows users to filter search results. If your supply Amazon with the appropriate data, you are helping push Amazon’s Choice for certain filters.
Conversions- As we’ve said, no matter what you do, focus on conversions. You may also consider using Amazon’s sponsored ad program, similar to a PPC campaign on Google. Luckily, Amazon’s ad prices are typically less expensive than Google ads and drive high-traffic since they are shown to users already on the site.
Utilize all sales opportunities- Try other Amazon services, including Amazon Business and their Sales and Traffic Report. The more you do to increase product visibility, the better off you are.
SEO isn’t going away anytime soon, and there’s no reason not to take advantage of what it can do for your business and product sales. If you are looking for someone to handle your SEO and PPC needs, contact Kraus Marketing today on how to rank your business higher in the digital world.