Tired of being buried on page 10? Here’s how to increase ranking on Amazon.
Ranking on Amazon can feel like an uphill battle. Sellers often find their products lost in a sea of competition. The frustration of low visibility and stagnant sales can be overwhelming.
But there’s a way to rise above the noise. With the right approach, you can transform your Amazon rankings and get your products in front of the customers who matter.
Steven Pope, founder of our Amazon agency, has helped countless sellers achieve success through proven optimization techniques. Read on to learn how his expert strategies can help boost your ranking and drive more sales.
Table of Contents
Why PPC Alone Won’t Increase Your Amazon Product Ranking
Indexing is when your product shows up in the top 300 results for a keyword on Amazon.
Ranking refers to your product moving up in the keyword rankings, ideally into the top 50, where it starts generating real traffic.
Imagine this:
You’ve been diligently investing in PPC campaigns for months, hoping to organically rank for your target keywords on Amazon. Despite consistent spending, your rankings remain stubbornly stagnant.
The high cost per click (CPC) and fierce competition seem to be working against you. Frustrated and unsure what to do next, you start to question the effectiveness of PPC alone.
It’s crucial to understand that while PPC can drive traffic, it doesn’t always translate into higher organic rankings and sales. Factors like product quality, customer reviews, sales velocity, and overall SEO strategies also significantly influence how products rank organically.
In this article, we’ll delve deeper into the interplay between PPC and SEO, exploring why a holistic approach is essential for boosting your product rankings on Amazon.
Key Reasons PPC Alone Won't Improve Ranking
PPC Focuses on Visibility, Not Ranking Movement
PPC helps get impressions for keywords, but it doesn’t directly move your product up in organic search rankings. To rank higher, you need more than just visibility; you need sales and engagement from organic traffic.
SEO is Crucial for Organic Keyword Placement
SEO efforts such as proper keyword placement in titles, bullet points, and A+ content are essential for getting indexed. PPC campaigns can only be effective if the product is already indexed for the relevant keywords.
Long-Term Ranking Requires Organic Growth
While PPC boosts visibility, sustained ranking improvement relies on organic clicks, add-to-carts, and purchases. Relying solely on PPC can be expensive without improving your long-term organic position.
The Golden Ratio of Sponsored vs. Organic Keywords
A healthy listing should have a balance of 1 sponsored keyword for every 2 organic keywords. Relying too much on PPC without building organic keyword strength can leave your product reliant on paid traffic alone.
PPC (Pay-per-Click) is One Piece of the Puzzle
PPC can help drive traffic, but to rank higher on Amazon, you need a combination of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), organic growth, and sustained sales. Optimize your listing with strong keyword placement and use PPC as a tool to complement your overall strategy.
Ad-Ready Listings + PPC Campaigns = Increased Amazon Ranking
To effectively boost your Amazon ranking, ensuring your listing is ad-ready before launching PPC campaigns is crucial. An optimized listing not only enhances visibility but also improves the chances of converting clicks into sales. Here’s a quick checklist for creating ad-ready listings:
- Craft a compelling product title.
- Add informative bullet points.
- Show attributes above the bullets.
- Write a keyword-rich product description.
- Complete your image stack.
- Gather customer reviews.
- Achieve a star rating above 3.5.
- Ensure sufficient stock.
- Set competitive pricing.
- Win the Amazon Buy Box.
- Upload optimized Amazon Enhanced Brand Content.
By addressing these elements, you position your product on Amazon for greater success in PPC campaigns, ultimately leading to improved rankings.
Ready to create ad-ready listings? Read our blog post Amazon Retail Readiness: 11 Steps To Make Ad-Ready Listings.
The Importance of Brand Story Design on Amazon
A compelling brand story is crucial for maximizing your Amazon listing’s potential. It serves as an essential part of your A+ content, providing valuable real estate on the detail page to engage customers and improve rankings. Here’s how to optimize your brand story:
Focus on Visual Appeal
Use eye-catching images and banners that resonate with your brand identity. Showcase your products in relatable contexts, ideally with people interacting with them.
Highlight Key Information
Include details about your brand’s heritage, values, and the craftsmanship behind your products. se bullet points or modules for easy readability and to emphasize important aspects.
Incorporate SEO Best Practices
Optimize your Amazon brand story with relevant keywords, making it easier for potential customers to find you. Ensure alt text for images is descriptive and relevant.
Keep It Concise
Aim for around 200-250 words that convey your brand’s essence without overwhelming the reader.
Cross Sell To Increase Average Order Value (AOV)
Incorporate links to other products or related content within your brand story, encouraging customers to explore further.
The Importance of A+ Content for SEO on Amazon Ranking
A+ Content is a powerful tool for enhancing your Amazon listings. By effectively utilizing this feature, you can significantly improve your SEO and increase your product ranking. Here’s how:
Maximize Visibility
A+ Content occupies prime space on your product detail page, allowing you to showcase your brand and products more effectively than standard descriptions.
Engage Customers
Use high-quality visuals and compelling copy to tell your brand’s story. This engages customers and keeps them on your page longer, reducing bounce rates.
SEO Benefits
Incorporate relevant keywords strategically. While text in images doesn’t impact indexing, utilizing alt text for images allows you to include keywords that enhance searchability.
Cross-Promotion Opportunities
Utilize the product grid module to link to other items in your catalog. This not only promotes additional sales but can also improve your average order value.
Brand Loyalty
A well-constructed A+ Content page can foster trust and encourage repeat purchases, as customers feel more connected to your brand.
Comprehensive Marketing Strategy
Extend your keyword strategy beyond Amazon by incorporating them into your social media posts, which can drive free traffic back to your listings.
What to Do If Your Keywords Are No Longer Profitable
If your targeted keywords are becoming unprofitable due to increased competition and costs, it’s time to reevaluate your PPC strategy. Here’s how:
Reassess Keyword Targeting
Conduct an SEO Phase 0 analysis by researching your top 10 competitors to identify high-performing keywords they are using.
Explore Alternative Opportunities
Look for new keywords that can improve visibility and reduce costs.
Diversify Marketing Tactics
Consider leveraging social media advertising or influencer partnerships to drive additional traffic and sales to your listings.
Other Strategic Ways To Improve Ranking on Amazon
Ranking on Amazon requires optimizing multiple aspects of your product listing, including keywords, images, and pricing.
Utilize Main Image for Amazon SEO Boost
A higher click-through rate (CTR) will boost your SEO ranking. More clicks result in higher traffic and conversion rates. Ensure your images clearly show the product’s use (e.g., cookies baking sheet showcasing the end product) to capture customer attention.
Add Keywords to Main Images
Include relevant keywords directly on the product packaging in the main image. Use search query performance reports to identify effective keywords.
This approach improves by making the product more appealing and directly relevant to search queries.
Here are some videos that will teach you more about creating CTR-optimized images:
Implement Pricing Strategies for Improved Ranking
Dynamic Pricing
Avoid static pricing; regularly adjust your prices based on market trends and performance. Initial pricing during the launch phase should be significantly lower (around 50%) than your target price to encourage sales during the honeymoon period.
Monitor and Adjust
Regularly review pricing history and sales performance (Amazon BSR) to identify optimal price points. Temporarily lowering prices can boost sales volume and improve ranking, even if you subsequently raise prices again.
Key Takeaways:
- Price Drops Increase Sales: A significant price reduction can boost sales velocity and improve Best Seller Rank, especially if maintained for about 10 days.
- Test Before Investing: Manually test pricing strategies first to gauge effectiveness before using expensive pricing tools.
Optimize Seller Central SEO Attributes
Keyword Optimization
Utilize the search term (generic keywords) section effectively by avoiding commas and ensuring it’s within the character limit.
Ensure all product attributes and relevant fields (title, bullet points, description, and item type keywords) to include targeted keywords.
- Utilize Misspellings and Variations
Utilize a mix of primary and secondary keywords to reach a broader audience. Including common misspellings and variations of keywords can capture additional search traffic.
- Follow Our Amazon Agency’s Four SEO Phases
Phase 1: Initial keyword optimization.
Phase 2: Backend keyword rotation.
Phase 3: Targeting strike zone keywords.
Phase 4: Market share focus.
To properly implement this system and other relevant account management tasks, we offer a Library of SOPs you can purchase.
- Crawlable Text
Ensure A+ content has text that can be crawled by Amazon’s algorithms, not just alt text.
Utilize Promotions and Discounts
Offer limited-time promotions or discounts to encourage quick sales and improve sales velocity, which can boost your ranking. Implement programs like Amazon’s Subscribe and Save to create repeat customers and increase sales frequency.
Gather Customer Reviews
After purchases, encourage customers to leave reviews. A higher volume of positive reviews can enhance your product’s credibility and visibility. Respond to negative feedback professionally and seek to resolve issues to improve customer satisfaction.
More Best Practices For Increasing Ranking on Amazon
Keep Products In Stock
There are several ways to ensure your Amazon ads are effective in driving both paid and organic growth. By implementing these strategic approaches, sellers can optimize ad performance and positively impact organic ranking.
Here are some proven strategies to drive organic growth and get the most out of your Amazon ads:Maintaining sufficient inventory levels on Amazon is essential for improving your product’s organic ranking. The first rule for sellers is clear: never go out of stock. Consistently available products meet customer demand and signal to Amazon’s algorithm that they are reliable.
Stockouts can severely harm your visibility, often requiring double or triple the advertising costs to regain lost rankings. As supply chain disruptions persist, relying on just-in-time inventory is risky.
Instead, invest in adequate warehouse space to stockpile a year’s worth of inventory. Prioritizing inventory availability protects your Amazon ranking and enhances your sales potential.
Deliver Satisfactory Customer Service
Delivering satisfactory customer service is crucial for boosting your Amazon ranking. Positive interactions lead to favorable reviews and higher seller ratings, which signal reliability to both customers and Amazon’s algorithm.
Quick response times, effective problem resolution, and a commitment to customer satisfaction enhance buyer loyalty and your product visibility. By prioritizing exceptional service, you create a strong reputation that drives sales and elevates your ranking on Amazon.
Want to learn how to ensure customer satisfaction? Enroll in MAG School’s Customer Service Training.
Consider External Traffic Sources
Use social media advertising or partner with influencers to drive traffic to your Amazon listings. Create engaging content that showcases your products and links back to your Amazon listings.
Increase Ranking on Amazon: Avoid These Mistakes
When striving to boost your product ranking on Amazon, avoid these common pitfalls:
- Avoid using rebates, two-step URLs, or any scammy SEO tactics. These can lead to de-indexing from keywords and create long-term issues.
- Don’t engage in dropshipping from platforms like Walmart. It often leads to cancellations, returns issues, and is against Amazon’s terms.
- Selling counterfeit goods or expired products can lead to immediate account bans. Always ensure the authenticity and quality of your inventory.
- Never buy reviews or incentivize them in any way. This can result in bans and significant account issues.
- Failing to respond to customer inquiries can hurt your buy box eligibility. Set notifications to ensure timely responses.
- Ensure you have a trademark before listing products. Switching brand names later creates confusion and can lead to messes.
- Use proper casing for brand names. Inconsistent branding can confuse customers and lead to alias issues.
- Instead of blaming customers for low sales, consider adjusting pricing or improving advertising strategies to increase sales velocity.
Optimize Your Brand, Increase Ranking on Amazon
Ensure your brand stands out by optimizing listings, focusing on high-quality images, infographics, and clear messaging. Competing with cheaper alternatives requires showing value through your product presentation.
Keyword and SEO Strategy
Keywords are crucial for ranking. Missing out on key terms can negatively impact visibility. Regularly audit your keywords and ensure your listings are fully optimized for SEO.
Conversion Rate Improvement
To charge premium prices, your listings must convert well. This involves a combination of optimized product pages, compelling images, and effective use of advertising.
Advertising Management
PPC costs are rising, so it’s important to ensure that your campaigns are well-optimized. Balancing advertising spend with conversions is key to staying profitable.
Listing and Deactivation Management
Regular monitoring of your listings is critical. Addressing listing deactivations quickly and understanding the reasons behind them is essential to maintaining visibility and sales.
Competitor Analysis
Keep a close eye on competitors, especially those with better photos and listings. Learn from their approach and continuously improve your own listings.
Sales Volume and Pricing
Adjust your pricing strategy based on product performance and competitive pressures. Be ready to reduce prices to stay competitive but ensure you’re not sacrificing too much margin.
Increase Ranking on Amazon FAQs
What is Amazon ranking?
Amazon ranking refers to the position a product holds in Amazon's search results, based on factors like sales, reviews, and relevance. To increase ranking on Amazon, sellers need to optimize their listings and drive sales.
What is a good ranking on Amazon?
A good ranking on Amazon is typically within the top 20 for competitive categories. It signals high visibility and sales, helping to increase ranking on Amazon further.
How to increase Amazon rankings?
To increase ranking on Amazon, focus on optimizing product listings with relevant keywords, enhancing images, and driving positive customer reviews while maintaining high sales velocity.
How to improve rating on Amazon?
Improve your product’s rating on Amazon by delivering high-quality products, excellent customer service, and encouraging satisfied customers to leave positive reviews, which also helps increase ranking on Amazon.
What is considered a good rank on Amazon?
A good rank on Amazon is one that leads to frequent sales, typically within the top 100 of a category, as it helps to increase ranking on Amazon through consistent visibility.
How to improve your Amazon best sellers rank & sales?
Improving your Amazon Best Sellers Rank involves increasing sales volume through competitive pricing, product promotions, and listing optimization, all of which can increase ranking on Amazon.
How Amazon ranking works?
Amazon ranking works by analyzing product performance metrics such as sales volume, keyword relevance, reviews, and pricing to determine which products should increase ranking on Amazon search results.
How to check Amazon ranking?
You can check your Amazon ranking by reviewing the Best Sellers Rank (BSR) listed on your product page, which can help track your efforts to increase ranking on Amazon.
Escape the Labyrinth, Ascend the Rankings!
Lost in the Amazon jungle, tangled in keyword vines, and buried by page ten oblivion? There’s a way out with the right strategies, you can get ahead and see real results!
Don’t stay stuck—get ranked and seen on Amazon.
Skip the guesswork and let our experts do the heavy lifting for you. Contact our Full Service Amazon agency today!