Amazon Keyword Research for Beginners

Just like any search engine, Amazon’s search algorithm, A9, depends on keywords to rank products in the search listing. The A9 algorithm ranks products based on multiple factors like pricing and product reviews, but keywords is an essential one. Using the right keywords for your product will help it rank higher on Amazon and result in more conversions.

It’s important to perform keyword research for your products before setting up your product pages so you can optimize all of the copywriting for searches, such as your title and product descriptions. Choosing the best keywords for your Amazon SEO strategy can be intimidating since Amazon has nearly 100 million keywords in its US database.

Your keyword strategy for Amazon should be no different than a keyword strategy you would use for a website. You need to include primary and secondary keywords in your strategy. Primary keywords broadly describe your product and have higher search volume. Secondary keywords are more specific when it comes to describing what you are trying to sell and are typically long tail and have higher conversion intent, but have lower search volume traffic. Your Amazon SEO strategy should contain a mixture of these keywords. Having both long tail and broad keywords will help more shoppers find your product whether they are searching with high intent or just browsing their options.

73 percent of Amazon shoppers click on the top listing, so appearing high in search can make or break your Amazon business. Without spending additional funds to sponsor your product, optimizing your product pages for search is the most efficient way to get clicks organically.

There are multiple ways to go about starting your keyword research. Easy and free methods include starting to type in the Amazon search bar and see what type of words appear. The list that appears is what Amazon shoppers are frequently searching for. This allows you to choose keywords that have high search volume without using a keyword planning tool that otherwise would otherwise come at additional costs.

Another way to find keywords is to look at your competitors and see keywords and phrases they are using on products that are similar to yours. Once you have developed these keywords use them to your advantage. You can use their words against them, to rank higher for products.

Another option for keyword research is to use search tools like Ahrefs, Sellics, and keywordtool.io. These tools allow you to check not only what words rank high in the top search engines, but also on Amazon. Our preferred tool is Ahrefs. Once you generate a list of keywords from your research, decide what ones are best for your product by basing it on the relevancy to the search of your target market, the average search volume (how many searches does it get a month), and making sure you can rank for the keyword based on its difficulty.

A unique element of Amazon SEO is that you are allowed to have hidden keywords within your product listings. These hidden keywords give Amazon a better description of what your product is about. These hidden keywords are similar to alt text or HTML meta keywords. Words to include in your hidden keywords include synonyms and alternate spelling of words. Do not include any misspelling or temporary words like new or on sale. For instance, if you are selling hand cream, hand moisturizer would be a synonym keyword. Spellings of flavor and flavour would count as alternate spellings, but you wouldn’t want to include a misspelling like ‘falvvor’. Hidden keywords are limited to 249 bytes. These keywords should not appear on your product page listing, as you do not want to waste a hidden keyword by already having it on your page.

Treating the SEO on your Amazon product listings just as you would a website page is important for gaining organic visibility in search (which ideally, will lead to more sales). A lot of the same keyword research can be used for your product page. Developing a keyword strategy for your products before launching a website or Amazon product page will make writing descriptions and product titles much easier and much more efficient.