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What Ranking Strategies Are Effective on Amazon in 2023?
Amazon SEO
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8
min read

Struggling to get on the first page with your Amazon listing in 2023? Work on these 8 things to start seeing your product rank well and sell more.

Tips to Rank on Amazon in 2023

What Ranking Strategies Are Effective on Amazon in 2023?
Julia Grant

September 9, 2021

Every Amazon seller is asking the same question these days: how can I rank well and get my product on the first page? The good news is - it’s not actually that complicated. Anyone can become a first-page ranking Amazon seller by implementing a few strategies that boost your product up the algorithm. 

Gif of nerdy man enthusiastically saying "yes".
Source: Giphy
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Understand the Algorithm 

Amazon is vested in rewarding listings that are likely to convert. The reason Amazon values the things they do in the algorithm is that they want quality listings that can convert to earn them more money. 

That means they are looking for posts that are:

Relevant

The more you can use applicable keywords in your product title, description, and entire post, the more relevant your listing will be to shoppers - and the more Amazon will prioritize it. 

Professional

Listings with out-of-focus pictures or unprofessional graphics/copy are not going to do well in the search results. Amazon prioritizes posts with clear photography and well-written copy.

Accurately Priced

Products that are priced too high above their competition will not rank well in the algorithm. Amazon assumes these products will have lower conversion rates.

Well Reviewed

Amazon gives higher priority to items that have positive reviews - and real reviews! Getting your customers to provide honest feedback on your items is key to ranking well.

Amazon values posts that are relevant, professional, accuately priced, and well reviewed.

8 Ways to Master the Algorithm

  • Do Your Research First
  • Utilize SEO Within Your Listings
  • Use High-Quality Graphics
  • Get Genuine Customer Reviews
  • Offer Variations
  • Register Your Brand
  • Use Price Optimization
  • Answer Customer Questions

Let’s tackle these one at a time.

Do Your Research First

The first step to ranking well on Amazon is by doing your research! Make sure you’re choosing a product that has an audience, but that isn’t in such an oversaturated market that your product will get lost in all the posts.

Additionally, you need to ensure that your supplier is reliable and affordable - without a reliable supplier, you can’t ensure that you will maintain a steady inventory. This is critical to staying in the top pages on Amazon - they will not prioritize out-of-stock items. If your supplier is not sufficiently affordable, you will not be able to price accordingly.

Lastly, you will need to research the keywords and SEO terms that should be associated with your products. This is critical to performing the next step well - using SEO in your listings. 

 

Utilize SEO Within Your Listings

Your posts need to be keyword optimized. If you’re new to SEO or keywords, check out our article here to get a solid grasp on the topic. 

Title page graphic for our EcomHub blog, "How to Master Amazon SEO and Move Your Products Up the Search Rankings This Year".

Essentially, SEO is the science of using popular search terms in all the right places to “hack” search engines and get your product, blog, or listing higher up in the search results. You do this by keyword research and finding popular “keywords” that you combine with other relevant keywords and place strategically within your post. 

Have you ever wondered why so many listing titles are so long? This is why. In order for Amazon sellers to do great Amazon SEO, you need to make full use of all fields available to you, and fill them with optimized copy and quality keywords. 

This is currently the top-ranking listing for “solar-powered cell phone charger” on Amazon. Notice how obnoxiously long their title is? Surely nobody is going to read that entire run-on sentence. But Amazon doesn’t care. They have included as many top keywords as possible to ensure that their product gets to the top of the search results.

Top listing on Amazon for "solar powered cell phone charger".

There are other ways of appearing at the top of the search results if you take Amazon PPC services. You can also generate external traffic through Facebook Ads, Google SEO or even Google Ads.

You need to do the same thing with your listing. Fill all text fields with optimized copy and quality keywords, and you’ll be soaring to the top in no time.

Use High-Quality Graphics

Let’s play a game. Head to Amazon, type literally anything (workout gear, matchbox car, dog food, etc.) into the search bar. Notice anything about almost every photo on the first page of search results?

That’s right. They are all crisp, clear, and have a professional white background. 

First page of search results on Amazon for "dog food".

With very few exceptions, this style of photography is essential to the success of your listing. Your product needs to be photographed in high resolution, in a way that showcases the product without distractions. White backgrounds are crucial for this on Amazon.

Additionally, your product should have as many photos as possible within the listing itself. Here is where you can include lifestyle photos and infographics. Any visual element to your listing should be crisp, clear, and concise. 

Image of Rachel Ray Nutrish Dog Food, showcasing the infographic used in their product listing.

These infographics help shoppers to understand the most important aspects of your product, without needing to read through all the details. Including a combination of high-quality images, infographics and white background professional photos within your listing will boost your product in the search results!

Get Genuine Customer Reviews

Your product needs reviews to make the top page. Of course, you want the majority of these reviews to be positive. That being said, a common mistake that many first-time sellers make is purchasing or chasing after only 5-star reviews. 

This may seem like it will help you - but in the long run, it will erode trust with future customers, who tend to view listings with only 5-star reviews as suspicious. 

Additionally, spend time going through your reviews and responding to negative (and positive!) reviews. This shows prospective customers that you are responsive and care about issues that your customers may have with your products. 

Offer Variations

If you have more than one color or option for your product, do not make customers view a separate listing to find it. Use the parent/child feature to include all customizations of a given product within the parent listing, rather than in a new one. 

Top listing on Amazon for "denim jacket women".

Above is the top search result for “denim jacket women.” Notice how all the variations are neatly and conveniently right within the original listing. Amazon prioritizes listings that offer variations and keep them all within plain sight for their viewers. 

If you do have variations - make sure that you keep all of them in stock. Nothing kills conversion like customers going to your page and finding that the one color they wanted is   not available, or having a lack of consistency in shipping times between variations. Ultimately, this affects conversion and your ranking as well.

So bottom line - include variations when possible, and make sure they are in the parent listing rather than listed separately. Do not run out of stock of any variations - and if you do, deactivate that option until you have it back in stock.

 

Register Your Brand

Another underrated action that can boost your brand’s search results is registering your brand with Amazon Brand Registry. The effects this can have on your search results are phenomenal. Not only does it make your brand a more trusted, authoritative brand - it ensures that Amazon is actively de-prioritizing and protecting your account from copycat listings.

Benefits of using Amazon's Brand Registry as per their website.

Registering your brand also gives you the ability to sponsor your brand (versus simply sponsoring one item). This helps to give your page itself more impressions, which assists you in gaining more organic search traffic through the algorithm. 

 

Use Price Optimization

Another tool that you must take advantage of to hack the algorithm is price optimization. You can do this manually, however you can also use third party services that will adjust your prices for you for maximum conversions.

Prices fluctuate almost daily on Amazon. And while doing your product listings you would want to put a competitive price. There is a constant battle between competitor products when it comes to what price any given item should be - and the moment one competitor slashes their price or offers a coupon, you need to be ready to adjust accordingly.

The Amazon algorithm places a lot of value on correctly priced listings. That means it shouldn’t be too much higher than other popular listings for that item. Typically, the lower the price, the more it’s pushed up in the search results. This is because the lower the price, the more their target market is going to buy.

If you choose to handle these price changes manually, you will need to be very hands on and check competitor prices and compare them with your prices from sales history daily to make sure yours are in check. Using a price change service will save you a lot of time along the way. 

Some price optimization services include: 

 

Answer Customer Questions

Taking the time to answer customer questions thoughtfully and accurately is a great way to indirectly boost your organic traffic. This impacts your conversion rate, which then impacts your search results in the algorithm. The less that prospective customers have to guess about any questions they may have, the more likely they are to purchase the product. 

Odds are, if one customer has a concern or a question about your product or product detail page, somebody else will eventually have a similar one. Not only are you assisting the person interested in buying your product right now, but you are building trust with future customers by taking the time to answer these questions. 

Example of a Seller answered question on Amazon listing.

Seeing that the seller cared enough to answer a question from a real customer not only increases customer satisfaction but also ensures your audience that you are real, concerned about their needs, and trustworthy. 

 

Conclusion

The Amazon ranking algorithm prioritizes listings that are relevant, including professional photos, have quality customer reviews and are priced correctly. By taking the 8 steps mentioned in this article, your listing will get more organic traffic, higher conversions, and soar to the top of the search page.

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What Ranking Strategies Are Effective on Amazon in 2023?

Julia Grant

Julia Grant is a copywriter specializing in e-commerce and small business, helping businesses expand their reach with copy that clearly communicates their message and converts. She is a certified translator and interpreter and prides herself on providing culturally relevant content in both English and Spanish.

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