3 last-minute Amazon optimization tips for the holidays

Holiday shoppers aren’t the only ones who wait until the last minute. 

If you need some optimization tips to boost your Amazon sales before the end of the year, we have some suggestions to help make an impact.  

Why product optimization is worth the effort

Many ecommerce players fight tooth and nail to get their products listed on Amazon, only to take a step back once they’ve been granted the keys to the kingdom. 

But obtaining an Amazon seller account is only half the battle. The point is to sell your products, right?

Unless Taylor Swift grants you a celebrity endorsement – about as likely as the earth no longer spinning on its axis – customers will not come to you on their own. 

You have to work for those sales. One of the most effective tools in your arsenal is product optimization.

Think it’s not worth the effort?

Consider this: Amazon sells over 12 million products.

Optimizing your Amazon product listings is crucial if you want to have any shot at standing out in a field of crowded competitors – especially during a lucrative time like the holiday season. 

3 quick Amazon optimization tips for the holidays

Improving product listings to rank higher in searches on Amazon.com is something sellers should be doing all year round. 

Doing so will result in the following benefits:

• Drive more traffic to your product listings.
• Increase product and brand visibility. 
• Improve conversion rates and boost sales.

You might be tempted to go the Sponsored Products route, as cost-per-click (CPC) ads are an effective way to promote product listings. 

However, not everybody has a professional seller account enrolled in brand registry or the budget to invest in advertising. 

Fortunately, there are other ways to optimize your products organically for the holidays without breaking the bank.

1. Pay attention to your product videos 

If you’ve got videos promoting your products, get the most out of your investment through the following tactics: 

• Capitalize on the videos being displayed in the Amazon search engine results pages. These are now showing in almost every category. 
• Amazon will play a seven-second clip from a randomly selected video in your listing. If you want to make sure Amazon chooses the right video, you may need to remove all of them except the one you are optimizing for the SERPs.
• Make sure you have a video that grabs attention quickly but doesn’t rely on audio. When the videos autoplay, they will not have any audio. Relying on visual callouts and attention-grabbing imagery is critical. But you can’t completely ignore audio because it will play if the shopper clicks watch now.

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2. Keep an eye on dynamic pricing

Amazon’s dynamic pricing model offers shoppers the lowest prices possible. 

This means prices often change depending on factors such as:

• Competitor prices.
• Supply and demand.
• Market trends. 

Prices may even change multiple times a day. That cheese grater that costs $11.99 at 7 a.m. might sell for $8.99 at noon and $13.99 by the time you go to bed. 

This is especially true around the holidays! 

A price tracker is the best way to stay on top of changing prices. It’s a seller tool that alerts you any time a product price increases or decreases, allowing you to adjust your own pricing accordingly. 

Pricing changes now more than at any other time of the year. None of your optimization strategies will matter if you aren’t priced competitively! 

Amazon offers a free tracking tool called Amazon Assistant. 

There are several free price tracker apps if you’d prefer something with more robust features, such as cashback and referral programs. Keepa, Honey, Earny, and CamelCamelCamel are all popular choices.

3. Don’t overlook keyword bids

If you have the resources for PPC, this is the best time of year to take advantage.

The following tips will help give you a boost. 

• If you don’t have bidding software, make sure you monitor your budget daily. This is especially true on big sales days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You don’t want to miss a busy shopping period because of a budget issue.
• The same can be said for keyword bids. With more competition, the cost per ad will be higher. You can’t bid to be unprofitable, but you do need to make sure you push your bids higher than normal if necessary. Using Bid+ for Amazon Sponsored Products effectively ensures you are still at the top of the search results. 

Keyword bidding optimization isn’t just centered on the cost of the bids. Take a look at the other criteria and hone in as much as possible around the right targeting.

If you haven’t looked into your keyword research since you launched the product, it would be a good time to reevaluate from a paid advertising perspective. 

Bonus tip: Offer a coupon

One last piece of advice that won’t cost you anything upfront: offer a coupon. 

Shoppers always gravitate toward deals, and coupons will help increase the CTR of your products. 

Make your holidays brighter

Like it or not, the holiday shopping season is upon us. If you’re a procrastinator, you still have time to work on these Amazon optimization tips. But the clock is ticking. 

Don’t put these off too long – or you’ll end up on the naughty list. 

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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