Tag: Google SEO

4 Huge Differences Between Google & Amazon SEO

Google vs. Amazon. The competition is fierce between the two search engines, but should companies be using the same SEO strategy for both? The short answer: No. And here’s why:

Don’t believe Amazon is a search engine? Consumers do. According to a study conducted by BloomReach, 55% of consumers begin their product search on Amazon. And, 9 out of 10 users said they will check Amazon even if they find the product they want on another retailer’s site.

Amazon may only be a product search engine, but a search engine nonetheless. Consumers will still go to Google to look up the menu of that new taco joint or to figure out what the word “lit” means, but Amazon holds the market share when it comes to product searches.

SEO Strategy Differences

So if Amazon is a search engine like Google, you should be able to market your product the same way on both and achieve the same results, right? Wrong.

Amazon SEO and Google SEO aren’t even in the same ballpark when it comes to ranking. Sure, they both operate under the same general premise of using keywords to achieve ranking, but how they go about that is drastically different. Let’s take a look at what the 4 main differences between Google and Amazon SEP are.

1. Long tail vs. Short Tail

When you’re writing a blog or reworking a webpage, most Google SEO experts know you should target one or two long tail keyword phrases throughout your copy. But Amazon SEO focuses less on long tail phrases and more on individual short tail keywords. Although keyword phrases may come naturally when writing the copy, breaking up the phrase does not limit your ability to index and rank for that phrase.

If you’re writing about a letter board and the phrase “black felt letter board” comes up as a high volume phrase in your search, you could use “letter board” in the title and “made of black felt” in the bullets and still rank for the full phrase. While maintaining full phrases is vital for Google SEO, individual keywords are the name of the game when it comes to Amazon SEO.

2. Repetition

Although keyword stuffing is no longer valuable for Google like in the early SEO days, carefully crafted repetition of your targeted phrase throughout your copy is vital. When it comes to Amazon, a single usage of a keyword is enough to get you ranking for that word. Of course, keywords used in the title will be weighted more heavily in terms of ranking, but you still have the potential to rank for a keyword used only once in the bullet points of a listing. On Google, a one time use of your targeted phrase isn’t enough if you’re looking to be on page one.

3. External Linking

When you’re trying to drive traffic and improve your Google SEO, external sites that link back to your page are incredibly important. Google has a wealth of websites at its disposal, so whether you’re sharing on social sites, have a blog that links to pages on your website or are collaborating with others in your space to share and promote content, Google places value and trust on how many external links are connected to your site or page.

Amazon, on the other hand, functions within itself. Their algorithm focuses on the keywords users are searching within their own site and whether or not your product page includes those keywords. Of course, increased brand recognition and traffic from outside of Amazon may result in increased searches, sales and ranking inside Amazon, but your external digital presence is not considered when ranking your product. Nor does Amazon allow sellers to link to external sites or product pages from their listing.

4. Clicks vs. Conversions

The final difference between Google SEO and Amazon SEO might be the biggest. Google’s algorithm was designed for selling ads, whereas Amazon’s algorithm was designed for selling products. Yes, you can purchase products through direct links on Google, and ads do exist on Amazon, but the main driving metric is different.

Google SEO places significant weight on the number of clicks your page receives, where those clicks are coming from and what your bounce rate is – i.e. how many users click into your page, then quickly click out. The longer they stay, the more relevant Google deems your page is to that search phrase.

Since Amazon SEO is focused on selling products, they want to know your conversion rate. If you’ve got the sales volume (volume, not velocity, check out our podcast about this for more info), that helps drive the desired ranking. Although other factors are considered, a phone case with 1,000 sales will inevitably rank higher than one with 10.

The Takeaway

While you may have a general understanding of Google SEO practices, applying the same SEO principles on Amazon won’t help you. In fact, it might hurt your ranking.

Treating each search engine as a distinct platform with different driving engagement metrics is the best way to achieve success on both.

If you’re still unsure how to properly integrate keywords to index and rank on Amazon, check out our listing optimization page!

The Google vs. Amazon Search Engine

Ranking. Keywords. Indexation. Integration. Optimization. 

Whether you’re creating a company website or developing your listing for Amazon, everyone’s aiming for the top, the coveted first page of results. And everyone is always looking for new tips, tricks or insider info to help land their business, blog or listing there.

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), unfortunately there’s no silver bullet. We can’t offer any magic tricks or 100% guaranteed methods. What we can say is that you should not treat Google and Amazon SEO the same.

Google vs. Amazon SEO

While Amazon and Google are both search engines, their algorithms are different, their intended purpose is different, and users look to them with different goals in mind.

User Intent

Think about it. When you visit Google, are you always searching for a product? Likely not. You might be shopping for a new phone case, but you may also be looking up the menu to that sushi place you’ve been wanting to try, or the location of a nearby tire shop, or reviews for that movie you’ve been dying to see. Simply put, Google can be a product search engine, but it’s largely a research engine.

Amazon, on the other hand, is largely a product search engine. Users who end up on Amazon are further from the research phase and closer to the ready-to-buy phase. Consumers may not have a specific brand in mind when they go to Amazon, but they likely have a product in mind that they are hoping to purchase (if it meets their expectations and is reasonably priced).

So what does that mean for Google and Amazon SEO?

It means that consumers aren’t always using the same search terms across all platforms. Someone looking for a phone case might type “iPhone case reviews” or “iPhone case comparison” into the Google search bar but type “rubber iPhone case” or “durable iPhone case” into Amazon.

That’s not to say a user would never type the latter terms into Google. However, there may be keywords relevant for Google SEO that would have little to no value on Amazon. And with 55% of consumers beginning their product search on Amazon, you don’t want to waste time on invaluable keywords that won’t help you rank.

So if you’re using Google’s Keyword Planner exclusively to generate your keyword list, you might not be getting the whole scope of keywords needed for your product on Amazon.

Google SEO Algorithm

What factors does Google consider when ranking your page or product? While your content must have some relevance and keyword compatibility with a user’s search terms, Google pulls from several other factors to determine where you rank.

Links

Since Google can take advantage of the millions of external websites at it’s disposal, links are a huge element of their algorithm. So the more external sites that link back to yours, or to a page on your site, the better.

Page Speed

Google also considers the speed and mobile compatibility of your page, the click through rate (the number of times your page is actually clicked into when viewed in search results), and the amount of unique content.

Keyword Ratio

Keyword stuffing no longer works for Google SEO. However, carefully placed repetition is still beneficial. And, you should focus on one major keyword or phrase while integrating a few other relevant words or long tail phrases.

Amazon SEO Algorithm

Amazon SEO does not abide by the same practices or consider the same factors for ranking. Because Amazon’s algorithm searches internally in their own site, external linking plays no factor in where you are ranked.

Of course, increased brand recognition and traffic from outside of Amazon may result in increased searches, sales and ranking inside Amazon. However, your external digital presence is not considered when ranking your product nor does Amazon allow sellers to link to external sites or product pages from their listing.

So what does Amazon factor in when ranking, you might ask?

Sales

While your impressions, or the number of clicks into your listing, is a valuable consideration in their algorithm, how many people actually end up purchasing your product is the major ranking metric. If you’ve got the sales volume (volume, not velocity, check out our podcast about this for more info), that helps drive the desired ranking. Although many other factors are also considered, a phone case with 1,000 sales will inevitably rank higher than one with 10.

Keyword Diversity

In terms of keyword integration, Amazon focuses more on quality and diversity than repetition. So a wider range of keywords is more beneficial than reusing or rewording the same long tail keywords.

In fact, long tail keywords are not yet necessary on Amazon at all. If “thick durable rubber iPhone case” is relevant to your product, you could use rubber iPhone case in the title, and thick or durable in separate bullet points and still rank when that term is searched.

Keep in mind that keywords used in the title carry the most weight, with keywords in the bullet points and then backend search terms following with less and less ranking power. At this point, our research has led us to believe that keywords used in the product description carry little to no ranking weight.

The Takeaway

While you may have a general understanding of Google SEO, using the same principles on Amazon won’t help you. In fact, they might hurt your ranking.

Treating each search engine, and the consumers who use them, as distinct platforms with different engagement metrics is the best way to achieve success on both.

If you’re still unsure how to use SEO to index and rank on Amazon, check out our listing optimization page and sign up to have one of our listing specialists optimize your listing for you! And, if you’re interested in selling outside of the US, Viral Launch is now offering International Listing Optimizations in select Amazon marketplaces to boost your global sales presence!

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