Optimising Amazon Product Detail Pages (PDPs) is critical to ensuring your brand’s success on Amazon. Competition for traffic and customers has intensified in recent years. Optimising product detail pages (also referred to as Amazon search engine optimisation (SEO)) is critical to making sure that your brand delivers strong sales results on Amazon.
There are three reasons why optimising PDP content and visual appearance is important:
On-site discoverability relates to a brand’s ability to rank for important search terms on the Amazon search results page. On-site searches on Amazon drive as much as a third of all traffic to a PDP. The quality of the search traffic tends to be high as visitors searching for specific keywords on Amazon are usually already in “buying mode”. Depending on the keyword they typed in, they may still be trying to understand different product features and their unique selling position (USP), or they may have already reached the “buy” stage. In either case, featuring in high-ranking positions for relevant and high search volume keywords is beneficial for a brand, because it means that a user will likely consider the brand.
Ideally, a user who sees your brand on the Amazon search results page clicks through to your PDP and ends up buying your product. According to the research agency Millward Brown, the conversion rate of non-Amazon Prime members can be as high as 13% on Amazon.com and a whopping 74% for Amazon Prime members.
However, even in situations where that does not happen, it is still highly valuable for your brand to appear in Amazon search results. The reason is that popular search queries generate millions of impressions every month. Think of the Amazon search results page as a free advertising space for your brand. This is particularly the case for smaller brands or brands that specialise in well-defined niches; the lift in brand awareness generated by Amazon search is a cost-free positive side-effect of Amazon SEO.
On-site search discoverability and brand building are primarily driven by product title optimisation. To ensure that users also end up buying a product, we need to optimise the content of the PDP: the bullet points and the A+ content. Improvements in this area can help further boost conversion rates and sales as potential barriers to purchase caused by missing information can be resolved. Bullet point optimisation is particularly important, as bullet point copy is also relevant for the Amazon search algorithm.
Several factors are essential when optimising PDPs:
It may seem obvious that you need to include relevant product information. However, for this point, the devil is in the details. Consumers may require information that is not typically included in a standard product description. For a kitchen cart with 3 levels for instance, they may want to know the height of the gap between different levels. For a carry-on bag, they may want to know the height of the pull-out handle when fully extended. Failing to provide these technical details would impose a significant barrier to purchase and either reduce conversion rates, increase the return rate, or worse, both!
The key to ensuring that the Amazon search algorithm correctly matches product listings to relevant search queries is to bear relevant keywords in mind when writing product copy and product titles. The process for keyword identification depends on the state of the product listing. For existing product listings with a strong sales track record, targeting more competitive, high search volume keywords is often easier. For users with new Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (ASINs) or ASINs that have not done well in terms of sales, realistic goals need to be set: targeting more long-tail (multiple keyword) search queries with a lower monthly search volume but less competition is typically the better approach when kicking things off. Once an ASIN has gained traction, keyword targeting can be reviewed, and if appropriate, ASIN copy can be further refined.
Including the product’s USP is naturally also critical. The trick to successful product listing writing is not to unrelentingly list each and every product feature. This can lead to information overload and actually fail to convince consumers to buy. Think of the bullet point copy as an elevator pitch: you must get straight to the point. Start by highlighting the benefit a user gets from the product’s features. For example, “Space-Saving”, “Long-Lasting”, ”Hygienic”, etc. Follow up on the benefit with a proof point. For example: “Space-Saving: Stackable food storage containers to maximise shelf space utilisation in kitchen or pantry cupboard”. It is also crucial to zero in on what we refer to as the “reason to buy”. The reason to buy is a factor that differentiates one ASIN from a competing ASIN. When doing research for your product listing, also review competitors’ listings. Go through all the negative reviews to learn what users do NOT like about the product. Does the same limitation also apply to your products? If the answer is ‘no’, then you have found the “reason to buy”! Make sure this point is prominently highlighted in your PDP copy.
Following all the above advice will not guarantee sales success, as many other factors such as historical sales performance, review velocity etc., also factor in. Still, strong content is the foundation for success. At Impala Services, we have optimised tens of thousands of ASIN titles and product detail pages. Get in touch to learn how Amazon listing copywriting best practices differ for different product categories. Is it better to provide comprehensive product details to consumers looking to buy a simple drinking glass? Or is less sometimes more? Drop us an email, and we will talk you through detailed and industry-specific best practices.
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