Amazon Backend Search Terms Update 2017

Over the past few months, I've been busy working with my network to unravel the mystery of the May Algorithm change. As you know it caused quite an upheaval. Many sellers plummeted in rankings and lost their indexing, becoming invisible. For many, sales took a serious hit while others received a small bump. And for a select handful, it was like nothing ever happened.

Finally, Amazon put us all out of our misery with their 250 character limit announcement.

While consultants were busy speculating from May to August, My network and I put our heads together to get a firm grip on the changes. What was the reason for those who weathered the storm, vs those who crumbled. And beyond indexing or ranking, what did it mean for sales?

The secret isn't really a secret at all. It's clearly spelled out in Amazon's update in the words "Quality of Search Results"

We're Not In Kansas Anymore Dorothy

If the above Wizard of Oz reference has you scratching your head, it means quite simply, the Amazon of today, is no longer the Amazon of the past. But you already know this. Your market is saturated. Ten years ago you were easier to spot in a crowd, but today... you're just a speck of dust. So let's say you're selling a red toaster. Ten years ago, you may have gotten away with using keywords like "green toaster" or "toaster oven", but now if you rank for those words, with your red toaster - people will simply scroll past. In fact you won’t even get onto page one! After all, there are hundreds of green toasters to choose from. If I say I want a green one... I want a green one. Simple.

Those clients who weathered the recent Algorithmic Apocalypse already knew this. The thing they all have in common - relevant keywords. Obviously the more relevant your keyword, the more chance you have of being clicked. If you're trying to rank for green toasters, but yours is red... why would I click on your listing? 

But let's go one layer deeper. 

Imagine I click on your listing. Perhaps your main image was a green box, and on entering your store I find it's a red toaster. Will I buy it? No. Will that hurt your organic rankings... yes.

The Ranking Game Explained

To rank organically on a keyphrase, you must be making sales on that phrase. And while it might be cool to include your competitors' names or other random colors in your keywords, you are less likely to get the sale. Clicks without sales is bad news! Amazon sees you as irrelevant, and you won't get that auto rankings bump.

And you can pour as much PPC into your product as you like. But again, if your target phrases are not relevant, or specific. You'll struggle with sales conversions and organic ranking. Not to mention, what a waste of advertising dollar.

So when Amazon says they're "Improving The Quality Of Search Results" by limiting you to 250 characters, this is why. A customer doesn't want to waste their time scrolling through red toasters just to find the green one they asked for. They want, what they want. Amazon's search term rule is for the shoppers.

None of this is new information. The top sellers have long known about the importance of relevancy and keeping things dialed in. So it wasn't surprising to see the top 7-Figure Sellers who held their position during the algorithm change focused on only a few relevant, high traffic, high converting phrases. And they certainly didn't max out their 5000 character count.

Now, Make The Character Limit Work In Your Favor

Thanks to the tight limits, you are now forced to think more strategically about your key phrases. And when you start doing that in the backend, I strongly suggest you start doing it for your PPC. The character limit is a training ground for you think smarter.

Do you sell a black faux fur coat? Forget adding the words brown or burgundy. Go and find every relevant word that your customer is searching for AND purchasing. Choose the words that will guarantee BOTH the click AND the sale. Spy on your competition using cool tools like Helium 10 and find out exactly which keywords hold the sales.

But don't think you have to use all 250 characters either! I have customers targeting only 10 of top performing phrases, something like only 5-10 unique keywords! And well, let's just say $100,000 isn't a bad week in sales now is it?

A Case Study: Relevancy In Action

I have a client selling key chains. Now, when it comes to key chain shopping the choice is endless and overwhelming. Logic suggests I should use key chain in my keywords. But the Amazon Algorithm says that my particular key chain is not the one 100,000 shoppers are looking for today. So they'll scroll on by, and I won't earn any great organic placement.

My key chain is teal. So now we're getting more targeted. And sure enough, a large volume of shoppers are searching teal key chain. It also has a Unicorn on it. Now, every good marketer knows that Unicorns are the hot mythical trend right now. This keychain also has a fluffy ball - another hot trend.

Teal keychain, unicorn keychain, and teal unicorn may not be the highest volume phrases, and they're certainly not used by the top 'fluffy ball' keychain sellers. But those terms got us to page one easily, they're pulling in good sales and good authentic 5-star reviews. 

As momentum builds, we can branch out and hit those higher volume phrases. And when we do, we won't get lost in the crowd, because we have already built a reputation.

The Take Home Message

So now that you find yourself with only 250 characters to play with, use it to your advantage. Without the overwhelm of so many words to choose from, you get to dial things in to the keywords that will ultimately pull the sales. Forget about being indexed for every random phrase, and instead focus on the strategic acquisition of a customer from quality phrases.