Keyword relevance is important in ensuring product’s visibility in terms of appearing on Amazon’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page). This is a key factor to converting sales. Amazon is not only a marketplace, but also a whole new ecosystem that is driven by people’s everyday needs and collective shopping behavior.

Making steady sales and the possibility for scaling up your business require a lot of different factors but for this article, we will be focusing on keyword research and how it directly affects your customer’s shopping experience.

Definition of Terms

Search Terms – are words and phrases that users type into a search box. Shoppers or customers use search terms to find the products that they are looking for

Keywords – are what advertisers gather and use in their campaigns to help make their products appear in search results. These are words and phrases that advertisers bid on.

Long-tail Keywords – Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific keyword phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they’re closer to a point-of-purchase. Most long-tail keywords have lower search volume than short or “head” keywords.

Short-tail Keywords – are search phrases with only one or two words. Their length makes them less specific than searches with more words. They are more general and non-converting

Search Bar – A rectangular field on screen that accepts typed-in text to look up something or launch a search

Search Result – Search results refer to the list created by search engines in response to a query. In Amazon, search results can be divided into organic search results and Sponsored search results.

Conversion – Conversions are processes in online marketing that lead to a defined conclusion. A conversion can take place in a variety of ways and, alongside a purchase in an online shop, can also consist of a newsletter registration.

Title Optimization – process of improving a product’s title to appear in relevant search results, it should also make sense and give a clear idea what the product is and its specifications.

SEO – Search engine optimization refers to measures that aim to improve a website’s position in a search engine’s natural search results.

Keyword Research Tools

Sellers can use keyword research tools available online to be precise with the keywords that they can use to boost their products.

These sophisticated tools provide sellers with complete information and metrics to support their data. Sellers can also tweak and adjust these metrics depending on the information they want to know. Here are a few keyword research tools that are widely used:

Helium 10:

Cerebro

The most popular keyword research tool on Helium 10 is Cerebro. It can be used for Amazon and Walmart, it is a reverse product lookup tool that works by leveraging your competitors’ keyword ranking strategy to improve your own listing. You can also use Cerebro to gauge the most effective keywords for your product on Amazon, optimize your product listing to boost sales, and keep competitive rates on your products. Cerebro is key in successfully launching new products and bringing more awareness to your brand.

Magnet

Magnet of Helium 10 has the largest database of Amazon keywords available. When you have a search term in mind and wish to identify similar keywords, Magnet allows you to start a keyword search. It only takes one starting keyword to launch a broad search for related and relevant terms.

Sellics:

Sonar

Amazon keyword research tool that helps Amazon sellers, vendors, and agencies find all relevant keywords for their businesses, increase product listing visibility, and improve Amazon SEO. The tool only includes keywords for which the ASIN is ranking on the 1st page of Amazon search results at the time of the most recent database update. If a product is relatively new and/or is not ranking well, it may not be a part of the Sonar yet.

Google Keyword Planner

Keyword Planner helps you research keywords for your Search campaigns.

You can use this free tool to discover new keywords related to your business and see estimates of the searches they receive and the cost to target them.

Keyword Planner also provides another way to create Search campaigns that’s centered around in-depth keyword research.

Amazon Search Bar (autocomplete)

Amazon’s search bar is a free tool and a potential goldmine for search terms, you can input words and the dropdown shows related words that are most searched for in relation to the word that you typed.

There are still a lot of keyword research tools out there, some are paid and some are free, but it is crucial to choose the most accurate when it comes to data as these are what will help your products rank well in search results.

Where to Use these Keywords?

Product Title

The next step is putting these keywords into good use. Start with the title, the title should contain keywords with the highest search volume, it must be cohesive. Shoppers must have a clear idea what the product is, what it is for, who is it for, what brand, and other details just by reading the title.

A great title must have these components and it should not be too long, it should not also contain high ranking words that are irrelevant and makes the title look like a mashup of words put together by a drunk writer.

Bullets

A bullet point is a mini headline that highlights the key features and benefits of using your product. High volume keywords that were not used in the title can be utilized in the bullet points. Avoid writing long paragraphs, it is more important to maintain clarity and discuss one feature under one bullet point.

Product Description

The more product information you supply, the easier it is for customers to make educated purchasing decisions. Following Amazon’s standards for detail page descriptions and product images will also make it easier for buyers to compare your product with similar products in the Amazon catalog. It is also a place to add your long-tail keywords.

Backend Search Terms

We have a full blog post that discusses the guidelines and best practices of Amazon search terms, you can follow the link to learn more about these.

Keywords

PPC keywords can be sorted into:

1. Branded Keywords – keywords that contain your brand name and your competitor’s brand

example:

Whiskas cat food

Merrick Purrfect Bistro Grain Free Wet Cat Food

2. Generic or Product Specific Keywords – these are keywords that are related to the products or services offered

example:

organic cat food

hypoallergenic cat food

3. Related Keywords – keywords that are different from what you are selling but can complement your product

example:

slow feeder pet bowl

pet feeding mat

4. High Intent Keywords – keywords that indicate that users are far along in the buying process and pretty much ready to find something relatively quickly.

example:

Black Friday pet food sale

Christmas gift for wife

Case Study

A shopper wants to start a garden, here are some search terms that she is most likely to type on the search bar when searching for garden products to buy:

• large garden shears                                          (long-tail keywords)

• small hand shovel pink                                    (long-tail keywords)

• summer vegetable seeds                                (long-tail keywords)

• rectangle planter box durable                       (long-tail keywords)

• waterproof boots                                               (short-tail keywords)

• wide brim hat for women                                (long-tail keywords)

• rake leaves                                                           (short-tail keywords)

• regadera                                                               (short-tail keywords)

• Fiskars pruner                                                     (short-tail keywords)

• trowel wood handle                                          (long-tail keywords)

• gloves                                                                    (short-tail keywords)

• garden hose 10m                                               (short-tail keywords)

• neeling pad                                                         (short-tail keywords)

• Father’s day gardening gift set                     (long-tail keywords)

If you notice, the search terms used are in different formats, some shoppers like to be exact with the item that they are looking for, some input a series of words related to what they are searching for, some just type a common word, foreign words, and misspellings are also common.

This series of keywords give us an insight on how shoppers look for potential products to buy. A lot of thought and in-depth research is needed to be able to rank well in search results, giving your product a higher chance of showing up in search results that are relevant, thus converting these searches into sales.

Let’s try to search some of these search terms/ keywords on Amazon and see what shows up

large garden shears

• the search results show relevant results, this is due to the correct sequence of words, and the aid of descriptive words like adjectives and adverbs, in this case, large.

Regadera (Spanish for a plant watering can)

• the search result shows mostly just shower heads but “Regadera” can actually mean shower head or a plant water can , this may be because foreign words are not widely utilized yet and, the search term is only one word. We can therefore say that foreign words are underutilized and can be maximized for non-English speaking shoppers. Shoppers can also use “regadera para plantas”, “jardin regadera” or “plantas regaderas” to come up with more relevant results.

gloves

• the search results for gloves show surgical gloves and shoppers might have to scroll to the next couple of pages to be able to find gloves that are suitable for gardening. The search result shows the most searched for products when shoppers look for gloves, and in this case, there is a high-volume search for surgical gloves.

These sample searches and results show the importance of accuracy and right keyword placement for your product’s title, bullets, description, search terms and keywords to bid on when setting up an ad campaign. Shoppers must find your product in order to buy your product.