What should be expected from Amazon SEO in 2018?

This article will be useful for both new Amazon sellers who are going to establish their business next year and for the professional merchants who want stay up to date with all fresh information about Amazon business development. 

This short post is devoted to Amazon search engine optimization trends we need to expect in 2018. Our primary attention will be devoted to Amazon listing optimization tricks and novelties. 

How Amazon SEO contributes Amazon listing conversion?

Well-converted Amazon listing usually contains the following five elements:

• a descriptive title;
• completing images;
• concise bullet points;
• a detailed product description;
• a competitive pricing policy. 

All these mentioned above aspects are must if you want to win an Amazon Buy Box and make your products well-purchased. 

Adding a listing to Amazon system is not a complicated task. However, it is worth to mention that each of these five elements should be carefully crafted following necessary Amazon requirements and optimization tactics. 

As the Amazon A9 ranking system becomes more and more advanced every year, we expect that Amazon SEO 2018 will require thorough market niche analysis and enhanced compliance with Amazon optimization rules. Amazon search engine optimization is what makes product listings rank higher than others in Amazon shopping searches. That is why it is essential to incorporate the targeted search terms, product and brand names in your listing. The first part of the quality Amazon optimization is devoted to keywords research, while on the second stage you need to integrate these terms strategically into your listing (especially in product titles, bullets, and description). 

However, in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice there is. Not all Amazon shoppers use the same search queries to find your products on Amazon search list. That is why Amazon keyword research can appear a stumbling block in the process of your Amazon listing optimization. It is advisable to use special online software to accelerate this process and obtain the most accurate data. Remember that Amazon differs from any other search systems, and the search terms shoppers use here to find a product they need can be different as well. That is why if you want to get the most accurate research data at once, you need to use keyword research tools specially designed for Amazon. 

Once you have obtained a list of relevant and high-volume search terms, you can proceed with listing optimization. There are two primary reasons why do you need a well-optimized Amazon product listing. First of all, if your product listing does not meet Amazon ranking guidelines, it will be flagged as low-quality and ultimately suppressed, devastating all your SEO efforts. Secondly, poor quality product listings typically do not rank high on Amazon, which also reduces chances to win a Buy Box and boost sales. 

So, to make a quality listing and adapt it to the Amazon SEO 2018 guidelines, you need to improve five basic elements of your listing. First of all, special attention should be paid to product title. I recommend you to use a proven formula for your Amazon title - “Product Brand/Description + Line/Collection + Material/Ingredient + Color/Size + Quantity.” Make sure your title is descriptive and contain only necessary information about your stuff. 

Then you need to proceed with the compelling product image. Amazon has stringent guidelines for the quality and size of the product images. These rule you can find on the official Amazon guidelines page for sellers. Make sure you follow these rules. Otherwise, it can negatively affect your search ranking or even lead to low-quality alerts. 

Moreover, make sure you have clear and concise bullet points. Here you need to present product details and key product features in a short and precise form. Particular attention should be paid to the first three bullets because shoppers check them most frequently. In addition to highlighting primary product features, you can maximize your Amazon search engine optimization by implementing targeted search terms in your list copy. I recommend using all allowed characters in each bullet to maximize your chances to attract more potential customers. However, you need to memorize that Amazon restricts any promotional texts (pricing information, promotional language, free shipping offers, etc.) in bullets. 

And finally, I would like to speak about product description. It should be maximally descriptive and well-organized. Here you can adequately describe the item you sell, answering all possible questions your potential customers might have before making a purchase. Amazon allows up to 2000 characters in your detailed product description. So, it can be a perfect opportunity for your listing optimization. Insert there all your targeted search terms and product benefits. If you know necessary HTML codes, you can also insert it here to break up paragraphs, add bold headers or even create a second bulleted list. Remember, that a smartly crafted product description is your chance to make the right impression about your brand. 

The last element in a quality Amazon listing is a competitive pricing policy. A compelling price is, as a rule, the best price on your market. Prospective Amazon sellers try to combined low price leaders, no matter how they present a product’s selling price or shipping fee. Some sellers list everything as “ship for free” but inflate the product price to cover costs. Others may have low product prices and higher shipping costs.

However, as for me, you need to keep your customers in mind and provide them with a fair and reasonable price. So, you need to include any shipping costs in your final Amazon price. Of course, if you are an Amazon FBA program participant, you can’t freely control your pricing policy. However, if you cooperate with Amazon, the combined lower-priced listing often appear higher in results, even for a brand-new seller. Moreover, you do not need to care about all routine affairs such as shipping and delivering. 

So, to make your price competitive, you need to track the average market price of your products and compare it with the price of your TOP competitors. To simplify this process, you can implement special repricing software.