November 28, 2022

Power Up Your Amazon Business With a Smart Keyword Strategy

Amazon receives, on average, 2.5 billion visits each month. Millions of shoppers begin their product search via the platform’s search engine. So if you’re an aspiring Amazon seller or want to boost the visibility of your existing product listings, you have to understand what it is that can drive the retailer ranking algorithm in your favor.

This guide will uncover how to harness the power of research to create a successful keyword strategy for your Amazon listing.

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Amazon SEO: Why Keywords?

With over 353 million products competing for sales on its platform, Amazon uses a complex search algorithm called A9 to help customers quickly find relevant products they need. The A9 product search algorithm determines which listings dominate the search results page.

The above image shows search results for the term “coffee maker.” So why do certain products show up on top and others don’t? The key factors that affect Amazon sales rankings are:

  1. Keywords in your listing that help the platform decide whether your product deserves a notable spot on a specific search results page.
  2. Conversions - product clicks and sales (influenced by other factors like fulfillment type and pricing) - are also essential factors.
  3. Product reviews can boost your worthiness in the eyes of the search engine, given that your product’s feedback is superior to that of your competitors.

While you have limited leverage over product reviews and conversions, you can optimize your keywords for maximum performance. This is why we will focus on this strategy, which you can control, implement, and perfect.

How to Go about Keyword Strategy Implementation on Amazon

If you know a thing or two about traditional Google-related SEO, you probably know where keywords typically go. Many sellers, however, need a more specific understanding of how to use Amazon keywords.

Here are the critical areas where keywords can be a make-or-break factor for your listing’s visibility:

Product Title

Of course, product titles are the first spot that comes to mind when thinking about placement. Often, product titles are strikingly keyword-stuffed, but the marketplace doesn’t object to this strategy. So go ahead and place all your main terms right within the title.

This listing, for example, features a lot of keywords and synonyms in the title: laptop bag, shoulder bag, office bag, laptop case, etc.

Product Description

The “About this item” space and product description are other good spots for placement. While these listing elements can be more critical regarding conversions, they also offer an excellent opportunity to indicate what you're selling to Amazon one more time. Moreover, you’ll have enough space to add keyword variations that can also attract customers who run more original searches.

The above product uses several Amazon listing keywords in its product description.

Search Terms in Seller Central

One of the most underlooked spots for keyword placement is the Search Terms within your Seller Central account. As these are not visible to buyers, they are also called Amazon Hidden Keywords.

With a 250-character limit, make sure to use this space as another chance for placement.

Where to Find Amazon Keywords?

Now that you clearly understand why keywords can make a difference to your marketplace performance and where you should place them - it’s time to uncover the ins and outs of Amazon keyword research. While Amazon’s take on SEO is less sophisticated than that of Google, you can only build a successful strategy across the marketplace if you take into account the following factors:

  • High range of keyword variations and combinations used by buyers.
  • High levels of competition for very similar products.
  • Strict search term guidelines.

So, where can you find the best Amazon listing keywords?

#1 Use Amazon Keywords from Amazon Search Suggestions

Sometimes, Amazon can help you discover the best search terms for your products. Just start typing words and phrases that describe your product in the search bar. You’ll see a list of related suggestions in the drop-down menu.

#2 Search for Keywords on Google

Millions of shoppers also search for products on Google. You can type your product terms in the Google search bar and discover new ideas there.

#3 Target Complement Products

You may have noticed the Buy it With section on Amazon. The retailer shows customers related products to terms they search. These products may be frequently brought together by other customers. You can also think of related products, find their synonyms and target them in your listings. For example, if you sell peanut butter, you may target terms like jelly and bread in your Amazon keyword research. You should use the related product terms in your hidden keyword list to show up in searches indirectly.

#4 Use Amazon Keyword Research Tools

While the above suggestions are useful, they are limited to your experience. You can think of only so many search terms and related products. Even if you find a good list, it is challenging to determine which ones to prioritize. You cannot tell which ones are more popular or which have less competition. That’s where Amazon keyword research tools come in. These tools use sophisticated algorithms to do all the hard work for you. You just have to enter your product name, and the tool shows you thousands of keywords to target within seconds.

#4 Use Amazon Keyword Research Tools

Best Amazon Keyword Research Tools

We have put together a list of top tools that instantly generate a high volume of search terms. The best tool in our experience has been the Semrush Keyword Wizard.

Keyword Wizard

Keyword Wizard is a free tool designed specifically for Amazon keyword research, helping sellers to:

  • Boost search rankings on Amazon by showing the most relevant high-volume keywords around any product;
  • Suggest new ideas around your key target search term by offering a list of long-tail keywords;
  • Explore new growth avenues and beat your rivals by discovering high-impact words with the lowest competition.

Entrepreneur Tamika Richie used this tool to go from $0 to $32000 in sales from a single product in just one month—without spending a single dollar on advertising!

Below, we explain four easy steps to using the Keyword Wizard tool to enjoy similar results.

Keyword Wizard for Amazon

Make your product visible in Amazon search

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Determine your seed keyword

The first thing to do is define which search term you’re building your list around. Try to be basic about this. For example, if you’re targeting people searching for a ceramic bowl, enter this term as your seed keyword.

The Keyword Wizard tool offers three types of word grouping: broad match, phrase match, and exact match. Often, you will want to go with a broad match. However, you can choose other options:

  • Broad match implies any variation of your seed keyword or phrase in any order. This match type can reflect the widest range of possible search requests.
  • Phrase match shows search requests that contain the exact keyword or phrase in any order.
  • Exact match includes all variations around your seed term, including the exact keyword or phrase in the exact order.

For example, in the screenshot above, “ceramic bowl” is an exact match, “cereal bowl” is a phrase match, and “ceramic dog bowls large breed” is a broad match.

Filter keywords for highest impact and lowest competition

Once you have keywords, you can filter them by volume and competition. You want to target terms that have higher search volumes and lower competition. You can also exclude or include specific additional keywords.

Go Smart about Your Hidden Search Terms

Another exciting feature of the tool is the hidden keywords list generator feature. All you have to do is click on group search terms by frequency and then copy them to the clipboard. That’s it. Then you can just paste the list into Hidden search terms field in Seller Central with confidence.

Instant Keyword Research

Instant Keyword Research is another tool to streamline your Amazon keyword research. It performs two main tasks:

  1. Keyword research based on top-performing competitors
  2. Automatic compilation of the primary keyword list for your product

All you have to do is enter the seed keyword or item name in the tool. It will generate a list of top-performing competitors for that item. You can select the ones most relevant to you or let the tool analyze every single related competitor it identified.

Once you choose your competitors, click on “Get top keywords.” It will instantly generate the top 100 keywords related to your product. Best of all, you can be confident your keywords will perform as your top competitors are already successfully targeting them!

Once you have the keywords, you can select the ones you want and click copy to clipboard. You will get a perfectly compiled list of keywords for your product’s listing content or PPC campaigns.

Instant Keyword Research for Amazon

Collect your competitors’ top keywords in a click

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Ecommerce Keyword Analytics

Ecommerce Keyword Analytics is a useful tool for researching keywords to target in the ecommerce space. It lets you analyze the keyword performance for top players like Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy. You can study the results and plan a smarter marketing campaign for your own business.

Enter the retail keywords you want to target in the box. Click on the keyword analytics tab at the bottom of the screen. It will show you how the keyword performs for each major retailer across 15 countries.

You can discover any ecommerce keyword’s most important stats—search volume, clicks, and orders—to prioritize your own optimization efforts. Additionally, you can compare different keywords by domain, country, or month to pinpoint demand trends: seasonality, locales with the highest interest in that keyword, and competitors who target them.

The app lets you use keyword intel to level up your product strategy. Take data-driven decisions and get the most out of your marketing budget!

Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is another free tool that helps businesses find target terms for Google ads. You can also use it for Amazon keyword research to get new ideas. While the results are comprehensive, some terms may not be product related.

To get started, all you need is a Google account. Sign into your Google account and visit the planner in your browser. Click on discover new keywords.

Then enter your product name in the search bar. Click get results.

As you can see, some results are irrelevant, but you can use filters on the right-hand side to refine results. Another thing to note is that the search volume in the results above is Google search volume, not Amazon.

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Read further:

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