The climb towards the top positions takes place thanks to the intervention work on some factors that are generally divided into on-site, for everything concerning the contents of the site and off-site for what happens outside the website.
But how does the optimization of a product catalog in Amazon work in practice and how can Google and Amazon coexist?
The positioning on Google: how it works
Every time a person performs a search, Google assigns, through its algorithm, a score to the pages of the websites that it organizes in the form of a ranking.
Google is able to probe a part of the web, (not all just a small part in reality), thanks to software called bots or crawlers that have the task of scanning the web to create a personal ranking. We do not know all the criteria used to draw up the ranking, but over the years the SEO specialists have managed to divide the factors into three categories:
· internal factors: variables internal to the site on which it is possible to intervene (contents with a keyword searched for by people inside)
· external factors : variables on which it is much more difficult to intervene (such as backlinks, sites from other sites that point to ours)
· technological factors : more technical variables such as page loading speed
And on Amazon, what changes?
Even on Amazon, being in effect a search engine, it is possible to climb the top of the results, showing products before others.
How can this be done? Always working on positioning factors which in this case are divided into two large families:
· internal factors: everything related to the presence of the products such as the contents of the catalog
· external factors: what happens outside the catalog and over which we have less control like reviews
For Amazon, the game is not played on the field of technological factors, while for Google this is an aspect that has taken on more and more value over the years.
In all of this, a question may arise: what is the main difference to keep in mind for an optimization strategy for Amazon and for Google? The answer can be summed up in one concept: research intent.
Relevance and search intent: why Amazon and Google need to collaborate
To the untrained eye it might seem that Amazon and Google share the same goal: to make a person satisfied with their search. But that's not quite the case.
How many things do we ask Google every day that aren't necessarily aimed at a purchase?
We often rely on Google only to expand our knowledge on a topic that interests us or to obtain specific information such as an address or a telephone number.
A keyword that expresses typical informational search intent on Google.
Google is therefore able to cover more of people’ssearch intent. It is not the same for Amazon whose only goal is to finalize searches in a purchase.
If for Google any search is relevant to the need it can solve, for Amazon a search is only relevant if it satisfies a purchase need.
From here we understand that Amazon cannot satisfy all the needs that exist before the sale and that people will consequently look for them in other places, namely on Google.
Think of an online shop with a blog, category pages and product sheets inside. Within a single "container" a person can find everything you need. Here because It is important in an online sales strategy to contemplate Google and Amazon , not just one of the two parts: it becomes essential to optimize the presence of the catalog on Amazon for search intentions related to the purchase and to optimize one's presence on Google to be visible to everyone the other intentions.
And with all the other intentions we refer to the more informative and navigational ones where people need a lot of information, (generic or more specific), before facing the fateful moment of purchase.
But with what criteria does Amazon choose which product is more or less detected for the purpose of a search and ? Like Google on the basis of signals from an algorithm that in the case of the most famous marketplace in the world is called A9.
A9: Amazon's algorithm and how it works
The work done by A9, the algorithm that regulates search dynamics within Amazon, begins long before a person searches for a product on the platform.
Even A9 is a work of classification results based on two concepts in particular: the performance of a product and its relevance:
· performance : the best-selling products are those that get the most visibility
· relevance : as we have already seen, the products that best correspond to a person's purchase need are those that are higher in the ranking
If the performances are based on more objective elements, such as the history and the sales growth trend, the relevance implies a more complex study that starts from a correct analysis of the keywords used by people.
The on-site factors on Amazon: the elements of the product sheet
The product sheet is the true queen of the marketplace.
Among the elements that compose it we can find:
· the product description (found at the end of the page)
· the search terms (a field visible only from the loading panel where we can enter the reference keywords for a product)
A9, too, determines whether a product deserves more or less exposure if it notices the presence of a keyword in specific fields. In addition to evaluating other aspects such as inventory management, pricing and logistics.
The most important advice regarding the optimization of a product sheet is to study the stylistic guidelines that Amazon creates for each product category: a sort of vademecum with practical examples on how to optimize one product rather than another.
This is why, although there is some sort of basic rule, the title of a jewel cannot be written in the same way as that of a pen. Although the rules on the presence of the keyword apply to both.
The off-site factors on Amazon: traffic and quality reviews
Reviews play a key role in the optimization process of a product even if they happen outside of our control.
The question is simple: Reviews offer social proof that a product is worth buying and that is why they are so important and difficult to obtain.
In this, marketing automation flows can help us to generate autonomously and regularly over time.
One other off-site factor not to be underestimated is the quality of external trafficthat we can bring to our catalog. Getting traffic to the catalog allows us not only to improve our positioning but also to have more opportunities to drive reviews and climb higher in the ranking of sellers.
The elements of a product sheet on Amazon.
The last tip: Amazon, Google and advertising
In this article we have seen which aspects we must take into consideration to optimize our product catalog and at the same time how useful it is to work on Google as well so as not to lose any point of contact with those who might be looking for us.
But Amazon and Google are united by one last great point in common: the presence of advertising.
An Amazon sales project needs organic traffic and paid traffic to make maximum profits. If the timing of SEO sales stretches, paid campaigns can return an immediate return on investment that to tend can be increasingly replaced by SEO and "activated" only at particular times based on seasonality.
This is why SEO and ADV create a virtuous and healthy circle over time.
And you already have a product catalog on Amazon?
Are you taking full advantage of all the optimization possibilities of your products? Furthermore, if you are seeking how to reinstate amazon buyer accountthen you must consult with us!