Amazon SEO: Why organic visibility matters on the world’s biggest marketplace

How important is Amazon SEO?

Although paid ads typically drive sales faster, Amazon SEO is important for two key reasons:

1. Organic sales are more profitable (lower CPA)
2. All sales boost your rankings – both organic and paid

Organic and paid sales share a reciprocal relationship on Amazon. We’ll explain this in more detail in the next section but the short answer is that Amazon SEO boosts Amazon PPC performance and vice versa.

Many Amazon advertisers underestimate the value of organic visibility on the platform. We know that most product searches start on Amazon (63% in the UK) but Amazon’s share vs Google is as high as 74% in Italy.

(Source)

Aside from this being the world’s biggest eCommerce site, keep in mind that purchase intent on Amazon is significantly higher than search engines like Google. People turn to Amazon because they want to browse and buy products.

The average Amazon conversion rate is 13.3% in the UK, compared to 3.75% on Google Ads, 2%-3% for Google Shopping campaigns and 3.3% across all eCommerce websites.

Whichever way you measure it, Amazon is a selling power machine and the top sellers all have one thing in common. They combine Amazon SEO and Amazon PPC to maximise visibility, sales and the performance of both channels.

Do I need Amazon SEO if I’m already doing PPC?

Yes, you do. Organic and paid listings are so intertwined on Amazon that you need both strategies to maximise performance. We’ll discuss Amazon’s algorithm in the next section, but the key takeaway is that selling rates are a major ranking factor.

Every sale boosts your visibility on Amazon – both for organic and paid listings.

This is the most direct way Amazon SEO and Amazon advertising enhance each other’s performance. However, this is also reinforced by other reciprocal signals, such as sales generating more customer reviews, which boosts visibility further and encourages more customers to buy (and so the cycle continues).

We can’t cover all of the ways Amazon SEO enhances ad campaigns (and vice versa) in detail, but here’s a quick summary of the key reasons:

• Organic and paid sales both increase your visibility across Amazon
• Amazon SEO builds visibility in places where ads can’t show
• Organic listings increase overall visibility and brand awareness
• Organic sales are more profitable than paid sales, thanks to lower costs-per-acquisition (CPAs)
• Organic sales can either add to your Amazon Ads profits or allow you to spend less on advertising
• Amazon SEO keeps you ranking for relevant queries and selling products (Amazon Ads revenue halts the moment you stop paying for ads)
• Optimising your product pages for SEO and CRO increases sales
• Increased sales generates more customer reviews, which boosts visibility and encourages more visitors to buy, boosts visibility even further (and so on)

Now, let’s take a moment to discuss Amazon’s ranking algorithm and how to measure Amazon SEO performance.

How Amazon’s A10 algorithm works

Amazon’s A10 algorithm is the latest version of its ranking system. It’s a much simpler algorithm than Google’s, largely thanks to the limited intent of Amazon searches.

There are four key rankings factors in Amazon’s A10 algorithm:

1. Keywords: Given the commercial intent of Amazon searches, keywords are crucial for connecting users with the most relevant product listings.
2. Sales rate: Amazon wants users to buy products so it pushes listings with high purchase rates (conversion rates, if you prefer) into higher organic and paid positions.
3. Reviews: Positive reviews and high average review scores tell Amazon that users enjoy buying from you and encourage new customers to buy from you, too.
4. Sales history: Again, sales are everything to Amazon so it makes sense to boost listings that maintain sales volumes over extended periods of time.

Of course, there are many other factors in Amazon’s A10 algorithm. For example, product relevance, buyer searches, seller authority and click-through rates all gained importance during the A10 update. However, the four signals listed above are the key drivers of campaign performance.

Unfortunately, measuring campaign performance isn’t one of Amazon’s strong points. Although it offers an analytics system for brands, only registered representatives of brands enrolled in Amazon’s Brand Registry can use it – and it’s not free.

If you make it through all of that, you can measure and optimise the following with Amazon Brand Analytics:

• Search Catalogue Performance
• Search Query Performance
• Top Search Terms
• Repeat Purchase Behaviour
• Demographics
• Market Basket Analysis
• Customer Loyalty Analytics

Alternatively, third-party tools like Semrush include a growing suite of Amazon reporting and optimisation tools.

Amazon SEO best practices to boost visibility and sales

Finally, let’s run through some Amazon SEO best practices that’ll help you increase visibility and drive more sales – both from organic and paid listings:

• Keyword research: Include relevant keywords throughout your product listings – titles, product descriptions, backend keywords, etc.
• Competitor analysis: Identify your competitors on Amazon and analyse their product listings, target keywords, organic and paid placements, customer reviews, etc.
• Product titles: Optimise product titles for CTRs with the product type, brand name and descriptive info like key specs and features.
• Product descriptions: Provide the information that helps customers make buying decisions while naturally including secondary keywords.
• Bullet points: Highlight key product details with bullet points to help them stand out from standard text.
• Back-end keywords: Add any keywords that don’t naturally fit into product pages to the product’s catalogue data to help them rank for relevant queries – visit Amazon Seller Central for guidance.
• Product images: Use high-quality product images that accurately show the exact product type on each listing (sizes, colours, model versions, etc.) and highlight key features.
• Product prices: Adjust your pricing to stay competitive and continue driving sales, paying close attention to sales rates and sales history – eg: boost sales with discounts to avoid droughts.
• Customer reviews: Deliver a customer experience that encourages people to leave positive reviews.

For more tips on optimising product listing for organic and paid campaigns, take a look at our previous article: How to optimise your Amazon product listings

Increase visibility & sales with Amazon SEO

Amazon SEO is a key component in any Amazon marketing strategy. It boosts visibility across the platform (organic and paid) and drives more sales that send all of the signals Amazon wants from high-ranking, top-performing sellers.

If you need help building a strong, more profitable organic presence on Amazon, our specialist Amazon SEO team can help. Call us on 023 9283 0281 or send us your details and our team will get back to you.