Amazon SEO tips (2026)

Overview

If you’re selling on Amazon, understanding SEO is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a must. Imagine two identical products: one sits quietly on the virtual shelf while the other seems to sell itself. The difference isn’t the product itself, it’s visibility.

Amazon’s search engine acts like a spotlight, highlighting some products while leaving others in the shadows. Even a top-quality item with glowing reviews can go unnoticed if it isn’t optimized for the platform’s ranking signals.

Amazon SEO is about how your listing performs, how shoppers interact with it, and whether the product meets buyer expectations. Every click, every conversion, and every satisfied customer feeds into the algorithm, creating a cycle where well-optimized products rise to the top. In this ecosystem, SEO isn’t just about being found, it’s about connecting the right product with the right buyer at the exact moment they’re ready to purchase. And that connection? That’s what drives real, measurable sales.

What does Amazon SEO mean

Amazon SEO is all about making your products visible to shoppers who are ready to buy. It’s not enough to have a well-written description or a catchy title, your listing needs to convince people to click, convert, and keep coming back.

Think of it like a marketplace where the most “popular” listings get prime spots. Amazon’s search engine constantly evaluates which products meet customer expectations and perform well in terms of sales, reviews, and fulfillment. The better your product performs, the more the algorithm promotes it, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.

In practice, this means that every element of your listing, from the title and images to the backend keywords and stock availability, plays a role in whether your product is discovered and purchased. Optimizing for Amazon SEO isn’t just a technical exercise; it’s about understanding buyer behavior and making your listing highly compelling to the right audience.

Does Amazon SEO work?

Yes! On Amazon, success comes from a combination of relevance, price, and performance. Your listing needs to include the right keywords so shoppers can find it, but it also needs to convince them to click, buy, and leave positive feedback.

Picture two sellers with nearly identical products. One has steady stock, glowing reviews, and competitive pricing. The other is inconsistent on all three. Even if the second seller has every possible keyword in the title, the first one will almost always come out on top. Amazon’s algorithm rewards sellers that prove they can consistently satisfy buyers.

In short, Amazon SEO isn’t just about listing optimization, it’s about performance in the real world. Think of it as a feedback loop: good listings drive sales, sales boost visibility, and visibility leads to more sales. High-performing products climb steadily, while those that underperform slowly fade into the background.

What is Amazon’s algorithm

Amazon’s search algorithm determines which products appear for a given search, balancing relevance and performance.

• Relevance reflects how well a listing matches the search terms
• Performance measures how effectively the product converts in real-world conditions, considering sales trends, reviews, and fulfillment reliability.

Unlike a simple keyword match, Amazon’s algorithm evaluates listings in context, factoring in shopper behavior and historical performance to prioritize products that are both suitable and likely to satisfy buyers. Listings that consistently deliver positive outcomes are naturally favored, making visibility a reflection of both accuracy and proven results.

What is the difference between Amazon A9 and A10

According to a majority of sources, including AMZScout, Amazon used 2 subsequent SEO algorithms: A9 and A10.

• The A9 algorithm focused primarily on keywords and historical sales data. In that system, optimizing titles, bullet points, and backend keywords could push a listing high in search results, even if seller engagement and long-term performance were inconsistent.
• The A10 algorithm is the evolution of A9. It retains the importance of relevance but adds a stronger emphasis on engagement, conversion, and buyer behavior. Metrics such as click-through rates, time spent on product pages, and overall interaction now play a significant role in ranking. A10 also introduces personalization, adjusting search results based on individual shopper preferences, past behavior, and purchase history.

A10 is a smarter, more dynamic evolution of A9, combining keyword relevance with a deep understanding of how products perform in the marketplace and how buyers interact with them. This makes the algorithm both adaptive and predictive, highlighting products that reliably meet shopper expectations.

What is the current Amazon algorithm

As of 2026, Amazon’s search algorithm operates as a complex, data-driven system designed to connect shoppers with the products they are most likely to purchase. While relevance still matters, the algorithm appears to place increasing weight on real-world performance, including conversion rates, review quality, return rates, and inventory stability.

Industry observations often refer to this evolution as “A10”, although Amazon has never officially confirmed a formal shift from A9. The system leverages machine learning and behavioral insights, making search results increasingly personalized: two shoppers entering the same query may see different products based on their history, preferences, and engagement patterns. This ensures that Amazon surfaces products that not only match search terms but are also likely to satisfy individual shoppers.

Overall, the current algorithm represents a holistic approach to ranking. It is no longer driven solely by keywords or past sales; it rewards listings that consistently prove their relevance, reliability, and ability to meet customer expectations, making A10 a highly adaptive and performance-focused engine.

How to improve SEO on Amazon

The key to improving your ranking lies in creating a listing that both attracts clicks and converts them into purchases. This begins with effective product optimization, which covers titles, bullet points, descriptions, images, and prices, everything that helps potential buyers quickly understand the product and feel confident in their decision.

Once the basics of product optimization are in place, other strategies help improve visibility and engagement. This includes thoughtful keyword research, strategic use of backend keywords, accurate categorization, consistent stock management, and smart advertising. Each of these elements contributes to visibility, engagement, and ultimately, sales performance, forming the foundation of a listing that performs reliably in the Amazon marketplace.

What is keyword research in Amazon

While Amazon SEO is about much more than keywords, understanding which terms shoppers use is still essential to ensure your listing is discoverable. Keywords are just one piece of the performance puzzle, used correctly, they guide the right buyers to your product.

GOAL: understand exactly how potential buyers search for products like yours, and to use those insights to connect your listing with the right audience.

According to the latest Amazon guide, there are several proven ways to approach this effectively.

Method 1: start directly in the Amazon search bar. Type in a variety of terms and pay attention to the suggestions in the dropdown menu. These hints reveal what customers are actively searching for and help you compile a comprehensive list of potential keywords.

Method 2: key strategy is to analyze your competitors. By examining how similar products are described and which terms they highlight, you can uncover valuable keywords that you might not have considered, capturing traffic that is already proven to be interested in products like yours.

Method 3: use professional SEO tools. They provide a deeper layer of insight. They allow you to explore search volume, demand trends, related phrases, and other data-driven signals to guide your keyword strategy.

Remember to distinguish between short-tail and long-tail keywords.

• Short-tail keywords are broad and general, like “backpacks,” “coffee makers,” “running shoes,” “smartwatches,” or “desk lamps.” They can drive high search volume but often face intense competition and may convert less efficiently.
• Long-tail keywords, misspellings, and variations, on the other hand, are more specific and often signal strong purchase intent. For example, someone searching for “wireless noise-canceling headphones for travel” is much closer to buying than someone who simply types “headphones.” These highly targeted queries may attract fewer searches, but they tend to generate higher conversion rates because the buyer’s intent is clear.

By combining these approaches, search bar exploration, competitor analysis, and SEO tools, you can build a strategically layered keyword set that balances reach, relevance, and conversion potential, giving your listing the best chance to be discovered and purchased.

What are Amazon backend keywords

Amazon backend keywords are hidden search terms you add in Seller Central to help the algorithm better understand your product.

Shoppers never see them, but Amazon does. Their purpose is not to repeat what’s already in your title or bullet points, but to extend your visibility into relevant searches that don’t naturally fit into visible content.This space is ideal for alternative phrasing, spelling variations, and closely related terms that buyers may use when searching.

That said, relevance is critical. Adding redundant keywords or unrelated terms doesn’t improve ranking and can dilute the effectiveness of this field. Every keyword should have a clear connection to the product you’re selling.

From a practical standpoint, backend keywords should be entered in a clean and efficient format. Amazon reads them as individual terms, so there’s no need for punctuation, special characters, or repeated phrases. Using lowercase text, separating words with spaces, and skipping articles or prepositions helps you make the most of the available character limit without wasting space.

The suggestion is to keep up with official Amazon documentation, which Amazon updates constantly according to the evolution of their marketplace mechanics.

What does Rufus do on Amazon?

The algorithm isn’t the only thing changing on Amazon, the way shoppers discover products is evolving too.

Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, now guide customers through a more conversational and intent-driven search experience.

The moment you type your search request in Rufus helps users find the right products by interpreting natural language questions, comparing options, and highlighting key features. For example, instead of typing generic keywords like “running shoes,” a shopper can ask “Which running shoes are best for trail running?” and get relevant recommendations instantly.

From a seller’s perspective, this makes content clarity and completeness more important than ever. Listings that clearly communicate use cases, benefits, and unique features are more likely to be surfaced by Rufus.

In other words, optimizing for Amazon SEO now also means optimizing for AI-driven discovery, connecting your products with buyers who are ready to purchase. It’s worth noting that Rufus is currently available only to Amazon Business customers via the Amazon Shopping app, while desktop or non-Business accounts access it differently.

How to add my products to Rufus Amazon AI

You don’t manually add products to Rufus, all live listings on Amazon are automatically accessible.

What determines visibility is how well your content is structured and how informative it is for AI to interpret.

To optimize your products for Rufus, make sure all components are properly handled:

• Product title

• Bullet points

• Product description

• Use cases

• High-quality images

• A+ Content

• Instructive visuals

• Reviews

• Conversions

• Stock reliability

Optimizing for Rufus means combining traditional SEO best practices with AI-friendly content so your products are not only found, but also understood and recommended in the evolving Amazon marketplace.

How do I tell what category an Amazon item is in?

Amazon organizes its catalog through a structured hierarchy of categories and subcategories, often called a browse tree.

According to Amazon’s official documentation, every product must be assigned to a category to ensure it appears in the appropriate search results, filters, and browsing paths. This system helps shoppers find products quickly and accurately, improving the overall shopping experience.

At the top level, products belong to broad departments such as Electronics, Home & Kitchen, Beauty, or Sports & Outdoors, Smart Home.

Each department contains multiple nested subcategories, allowing Amazon to narrow search results and match buyers with the products they are looking for. This structure ensures that products are displayed in the most relevant context.

You can identify a product’s category by checking the breadcrumb trail on the product page or by reviewing the category and product type information in Seller Central.

Does Amazon penalize you for running out of stock?

Amazon does not explicitly document a formal “penalty” for products that go out of stock.

However, running out of inventory can negatively affect both ranking and sales.

When a product is unavailable, it cannot generate clicks or purchases, which are essential signals that Amazon’s algorithm uses to determine visibility. Repeated stockouts interrupt the flow of conversions and engagement, making it harder for a listing to maintain or improve its position in search results.

Out-of-stock periods can also reduce historical performance metrics, such as sales velocity and customer satisfaction, which further impacts discoverability. While there is no fixed penalty, stock unavailability creates a real-world performance gap that the algorithm interprets as decreased reliability, often resulting in lower rankings over time.

How to see out of stock items on Amazon

For product-level inventory tracking, the Restock Inventory Report under Reports > Inventory highlights low-stock and out-of-stock items, providing essential insights to manage replenishment and maintain sales performance.

Sellers managing thousands of listings can benefit from a third party tool like Nembol, which allows them to track stock levels across their catalog, receive automatic alerts for out-of-stock items, and proactively manage inventory. By maintaining steady availability, sellers protect their sales performance and preserve the visibility of their listings, ensuring that high-demand periods do not result in ranking drops or lost opportunities.

How to advertise items on Amazon

Advertising on Amazon lets you go beyond organic search, putting your listings where buyers are actively looking and ready to buy.

According to Amazon’s official documentation, the core advertising tool for sellers is Sponsored Products, a cost‑per‑click (CPC) ad format that promotes individual product listings to relevant audiences across the Amazon store.

Sponsored Products ads can appear:

• Within search results
• Alongside other listings
• In the cart area
• On product detail pages
• Places where shoppers are already engaged in browsing or buying

When you create a campaign, you choose which products to promote, how much you’re willing to spend per click, and which keywords or product targets you want Amazon to match to relevant searches. This gives you control over budget and targeting so that your ads reach customers who are likely to be interested in what you sell.

Setting up a campaign doesn’t have to be complicated. In Seller Central’s Campaign Manager, you can start by selecting the products you want to advertise and then choosing whether you want to focus on keyword targeting, where your ad appears for specific search terms or product targeting, where Amazon matches your ads to shoppers based on related product detail pages.

You’ll also define your daily budget and bidding strategy, which together determine how often and where your ads are shown.

As your campaign runs, Amazon provides performance data showing impressions, clicks, click‑through rates, and conversions, allowing you to refine your strategy over time. This means monitoring what works and adjusting keywords, bids, or budgets to improve results and maximize return on ad spend.

In addition to Sponsored Products, Amazon offers other ad formats that serve different strategic purposes.

• Sponsored Brands allow you to showcase a group of products and your brand logo, helping drive broader brand awareness
• Sponsored Display helps you reach audiences both on and off Amazon based on interests and shopping behavior.
• The eligibility for these formats can depend on factors like having a Professional selling account and, for some solutions, being enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry.

What are negative keywords on Amazon

Negative keywords are a completely different concept from standard keyword research.

• Keyword research focuses on identifying the terms you want your product to appear for organically
• Negative keywords apply only to advertising campaigns and are about controlling where your ads don’t appear. They act as a filter, preventing your ads from being shown in searches that are unlikely to convert into sales.

For example, if you sell premium wireless headphones, you might exclude terms like “cheap headphones,” “kids headphones,” or “toy headphones.” Without these exclusions in your ad campaigns, your ads could appear in searches from buyers who are not your target audience. This not only wastes ad impressions but can also hurt conversion rates and reduce overall advertising efficiency.

Negative keywords are essential for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display ads. By carefully adding them, you make sure your ads only appear for searches with high purchase intent, maximizing both ad spend efficiency and the likelihood of conversions.

What are common Amazon ad mistakes

Even experienced sellers can encounter challenges that limit the effectiveness of their Amazon advertising.

Mistake 1: Targeting too broadly or using the wrong keyword match types

Problem: Ads shown to audiences that aren’t likely to buy may generate clicks but rarely convert, consuming budget without meaningful results. Neglecting negative keywords allows ads to appear for searches with low purchase intent, reducing efficiency and limiting ROI.

How to fix: Carefully refine keyword match types and incorporate negative keywords to ensure ads reach shoppers genuinely interested in your product (Amazon Ads recommendation).

Mistake 2: Misalignment between ads and product pages

Problem: Even the most carefully targeted ad will underperform if the product detail page doesn’t meet buyer expectations. Issues include unclear descriptions, poorly formatted titles, low-quality images, or uncompetitive pricing.

How to fix: Ensure consistency between ad messaging and the listing itself to maintain relevance and improve conversion rates.

Mistake 3: Poor campaign structure and budget allocation

Problem: Ads that are poorly organized or lack clear segmentation make performance harder to monitor and optimize. Budgets that are too low may limit visibility, while overbidding on low-performing keywords wastes resources.

How to fix: Organize campaigns strategically—group by product line, objective, or stage in the buying funnel. Continuously adjust bids and budgets based on performance metrics.

Mistake 4: Not analyzing and iterating campaigns regularly

Problem: Failing to monitor metrics such as impressions, click-through rates, and conversion rates results in missed opportunities to improve ads. Advertising becomes a set-and-forget activity, leading to underperformance.

How to fix: Regularly analyze campaigns to identify which keywords, ads, or products are driving results. Adapt campaigns as shopper behavior, competition, and seasonality change to ensure consistent performance and optimal ROI.