Using MW Tools for Product Research and Listing Optimization

There are endless ways to use data to drive your company. Whether you want to connect with customers, optimize your Amazon listings or e-commerce store, or maximize ad campaign profitability, you need to have accurate and current data. Here’s a brief rundown of how you can use MerchantWords to reach the next level of e-commerce success.

Conducting Product Research

Selecting a viable product and proving its high demand is the first step to succeeding on Amazon. Even after you’ve had a successful product launch, you must re-evaluate market demand and product profitability with every successive launch. MerchantWords' Amazon keyword data provides you with a scientific and quantitative approach to product selection, so you aren’t just guessing and hoping a product will be successful.

We’ve broken down the product research into seven easy steps:

1. Take your time

2. Be solution-oriented

3. Start brainstorming

4. Build a list of keywords

5. Pay attention to search volume

6. Search for your product keywords on Amazon

7. Find a supplier you like and trust

For more detail about each of these steps, check out our blog post on product research and selection.

Amazon Listing Optimization

Amazon’s keywords aren’t like other search engine keywords. Whereas search engines like Google and Bing have research-based keywords, Amazon has purchase-based keywords.

There are two types of purchase-based keywords you can use to optimize your listings: top-of-the-funnel and long tail.

Top-of-the-funnel keywords are broad seed keywords that have high search volumes like “shirt” or “phone case.”

Long tail keywords are phrases with two or more words. They tend to have lower search volumes, but higher conversion rates, as shoppers already know what they want. These lower volume long tail phrases with little competition may help you identify niche opportunities and can drive new traffic to your detail page.

The best way to optimize your listing is to include both. Here are what keywords to consider and where:

Product Title

Your title should include top-of-the-funnel keywords that accurately describe your product. A concise and relevant title will improve search results, catch a customer’s attention, and drive traffic to your product.

You should use broad, top-of-the-funnel keywords in your title. With high search volumes, these keywords, like “chair” or “notebook,” will tell your customer what your product is without clicking into your listing. Each keyword in your title should be relevant to your product and searchable on its own. You can include information about your product’s features later on, don’t worry!

Amazon has been cracking down on title requirements, so make sure that you comply with your category’s regulations. Besides length, remember to:

• Capitalize the first letter of each word (conjunctions and prepositions do not need to be capitalized)

• Use numerals (e.g., 2 rather than two)

• Exclude phrases like “best seller” or “free shipping”

Product Features

Listed in Seller Central as “Key Product Features,” customers use the bullet points to obtain information about your product quickly, especially when shopping on mobile devices.

Each bullet point should highlight a specific feature. Make sure to use both top-of-the-funnel and long tail keywords while focusing on desired qualities and various use cases. For example, if you’re selling a notebook, you would want to detail the type of paper, how the notebook is bound, and if the pages where lined. Bullet points should be short to convey the most relevant information. Here is more advice on keeping within Amazon’s listing guidelines.

• Begin each bullet point with a capital letter

• Write with sentence fragments; no need to include ending punctuation

Product Description

This section allows you to go more in-depth on your product and your brand. You can fit in keywords that you weren’t able to use elsewhere in your listing. It can also communicate additional information about how to care for the product or any warranty information that might be viable.

Let’s continue with our notebook example. Within your description, you could list several different uses (e.g., sketching, journaling, note-keeping) for the notebook. You also can go more in-depth on the product details and build your brand awareness.

While including the proper keywords is essential for Amazon search ranking, also ensure your copy reads well! Use correct grammar and punctuation and make sure that each word or phrase you include makes sense.

Pro Tip: More people than ever are shopping on their phones. Keep your sentences short and mobile-friendly!

Search Terms (AKA “Hidden” or “Backend Keywords”)

It’s essential to place your most relevant, highly-ranked keywords into your title, description, and bullet points. For those that you can’t fit, you can include as search terms. There had been some discussion about whether to use commas or not in this section.

Recently, Amazon clarified. All you need to use are spaces to separate keywords in this section. Using commas or semicolons takes up part of your 250 bytes you’re allowed. Here are our recommendations for this section:

• Use synonyms, but not pluralizations

• Include spelling variations, but not misspellings

• Don’t use stop words (e.g., “by,” “for,” “with,” etc.), subjective terms (e.g., “best” or “cheapest”), or temporary statements (e.g., “new” or “on sale”)

Keep Up to Date

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