Clicks to Sales: How to Nail Marketplace SEO

Most of the time when we hear SEO, our minds jump to popular search engines like Google. And if you already have a presence online, there’s no doubt that you understand the importance of keyword rankings and SERP positions and features to drive high-quality and high-quantity traffic to your website.

But traffic isn’t the only way to get more eyes on your product, brand, or business. Most ecommerce sales today are conducted on popular marketplaces and Big Box retailers like Amazon, Target, Walmart, and eBay, where traditional SEO just doesn’t cut it.

Marketplace SEO is a different game with a new set of rules. Yes, the idea behind it is similar to traditional SEO, but there are subtle nuances that will help you rank higher and get more clicks on your products.

If you’re in the ecommerce business and looking to up your marketplace SEO strategy, keep reading for our tips on getting more clicks to sales.

What is marketplace SEO?

Marketplace SEO is the process of optimizing your product listings to boost organic clicks and in turn produce higher ecommerce conversions.

Most marketplaces have their own internal algorithms that decide which pages to showcase depending on digital consumer behavior. However, unlike traditional SEO content which emphasizes answering probable search queries, SEO for marketplaces focuses on what someone is likely to buy.

For example, if you ask Google What are the best women’s running shoes? you’ll see the first few hits are articles that answer that query exactly.

However, visitors to an online marketplace are already further down the funnel and more likely to make a purchase than those doing initial research on a search engine. They won’t type in a question but a specific keyword for the product they’re hoping to buy.

In the example below, we see that Amazon ranks ASICS and Brooks shoes high, with multiple products appearing in the top results for women’s running shoes.

Assume that any content listed will affect your SEO ranking within a marketplace depending on the keywords you include. Title and description are important, as well as product information, reviews, pricing, and more. A higher ranking in a marketplace’s search results will undoubtedly lead to more clicks and sales.

Why is marketplace SEO important?

No matter what you’re listing, your main goal is to drive sales and outperform your competitors. SEO for marketplaces is one of the easiest ways to do it organically.

Marketplace shoppers have transactional search intent and are generally ready to make a purchase. If your content is tailored to their specific needs and matches their intention, you’ll drive more sales.

Five key benefits of marketplace SEO

More clicks to your product pages lead to more sales. This in and of itself is a reason to hop on the marketplace SEO bandwagon if you’re not already doing it. But in case you needed a few more reasons to kickstart your marketplace strategy, here are five additional benefits for any ecommerce brand hoping to make an impact:

1. You can discover new ways to improve your traditional SEO

Just because a marketplace prioritizes content differently from search engines, the keywords you’ll use to optimize your listings are probably similar to those that could help your website rise in SERP rankings. In some instances, it’s 2-for-1 keyword research.

Read more: 9 Keyword Research Advantages You Only Get with Similarweb

2. Strong marketplace SEO builds trust and credibility

If you’re showing up on the first results, you can assume that buyers will trust that you’re a reliable brand. Once you’ve established credibility, you’ll build a loyal customer base that will keep returning to you and even purchase directly from your brand website next time.

3. You’ll get better reviews

If you’re using the right keywords, your product will match search intent. As long as your product meets customers’ expectations, you’ll get better reviews which will only enhance your listings further. Use our Amazon Keyword tool to get real search data from within Amazon and make sure your keyword choices are accurate.

4. It’s incredibly cost-effective

Once you know which keywords to target, it’s free to add them to your listing. As with any organic marketing tactic, results may come in time, but when they do the ROI will be exponential.

5. You’ll get a much-needed competitive edge

Online marketplaces have revolutionized the ecommerce world. Take Amazon for example, which made $9.1 billion a week in 2021, the equivalent of $903,300 per minute and $15,100 per second. If you want to get a piece of that pie, it means competing with the nearly 10 million sellers on Amazon offering different products.

A good marketplace SEO strategy is your first starting point to stand out from the competition and increase your chances of success and customer acquisition.

How is marketplace SEO different from ecommerce SEO

Marketplace SEO shouldn’t be confused with the ecommerce SEO strategy that you’ll implement on your own website.

When you’re optimizing your site for ecommerce SEO, you have total control over the content, technical aspects, and keywords you choose to target. Your main goal is to drive traffic to your products and convert visitors into customers. While as a seller your goal is the same in a marketplace, you’re competing with hundreds, if not thousands, of similar products all vying for the same keywords, meaning you have to be much more strategic and data-driven. In addition, you’re limited to what you can control based on the marketplace’s specific set of rules.

Marketplaces themselves have to appeal to both sellers and buyers, making SEO more complicated. While a marketplace is ranking your listings based on keywords vis-a-vis your main competitors, it’s also ranking you according to your relevance to buyers.

Nine tips to ace marketplace SEO

No matter where you choose to list your products, you should follow these nine ways to nail your marketplace SEO and convert more clicks to sales.

1. Start with data-driven keyword research

You probably already have a website SEO strategy, but that doesn’t mean you can skip keyword research for your marketplace. Google ranks articles higher that answer probable search queries. If we go back to our women’s shoe examples, this could be what are the best women’s running shoes or just best women’s running shoes.

Visitors to Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and other marketplaces hoping to buy a new pair of sneakers won’t ask a question. They’ll search for Nike women’s running shoes or women’s running shoes with arch support. In fact, many marketplaces disregard subjective keywords like “best” or “top” when ranking products, so having those in your listings could harm your product placement.

Similarweb’s On-Site Search Optimization tool can help you identify the right keywords for marketplace SEO, such as high-performing Amazon keywords with potential for organic and paid strategies.

Don’t be afraid to do some manual keyword research. Although a bit more time-consuming, a quick way to see in real-time what users are searching for is to just use the autofill feature in the marketplace’s search bar. Go to the search bar and start typing in a keyword to see the suggestions displayed – these are good long-tail keywords that are frequently searched.

2. Optimize all aspects of your product listing

Once you’ve determined the keywords that are most likely to satisfy consumer demand, include them in all aspects of your product listings (more on this below). If you have a well-known brand, especially among loyal customers, include it as part of the keywords you weave throughout your listing.

Here are a few tips on how to do it on Amazon:

• Amazon Product Listing Optimization Done Right [7 Expert Tips]
• Amazon SEO: Your Guide to Getting it Right

3. Follow our product title formula

The product title is the first part of your listing that people see. Because of that, you should always include top and high-performing keywords here. Marketplaces have character limits; however, we recommend using 80 characters, so your title is clear and doesn’t get cut off on mobile devices. If you need more text, just test how it looks on mobile before publishing any new listings.

A well-performing product title will follow the formula: [Brand] + [Product] + [Top Feature] + [Model or Size] + [Color]. And with a limited character count, it means you have to get creative with keyword placement.

4. Get creative with your product description

Use the product description section in your listing to detail the purpose of your product. It’s here that you can get more specific into the pain points your product solves, use cases for customers, and quantity using the most important keywords.

Because character count in the product description isn’t limited like in the product title section, weave in any long-tail keywords you found. But make the text digestible and skimmable; after all, you only have a visitor’s attention for 15 seconds.

Include all the features that buyers look for when shopping for your product. If you’re selling women’s sneakers, people might search for running shoes, trainers, running sneakers, workout sneakers, etc. Include these variations to drive success.

5. Promote your best product features

While informative, your product description should still be short, but underneath it, you can list important features to showcase. We find that bulleted lists work best for scannability.

Most readers who scroll through the features section are looking for this information to sway their purchase decision and make sure that your product will fit their specific needs. You should include:

• Product specifications
• Sizing information
• Operating facts
• General instructions or use cases

6. Use high-resolution and a variety of images

A well-chosen image will grab attention before anything else.

Once you’ve captured a click, the image quality will impact the purchase decision. Product listings with few or poor-quality images don’t elicit trust from a buyer. In addition, ensure your images aren’t too large, or your page will be heavy and slow to load.

Include high-resolution images so that when a potential buyer zooms in on your product, they can see all details. Also include product shots that showcase angles (front, back, side, above) and various use cases. Don’t forget to use an appropriate background when photographing your product.

The alt text for your images should call back to the keywords you’re targeting.

7. Create some videos for a bonus

Take the visual aspect of your listing even further with videos. Videos can go a long way for customers, especially since they can’t actually hold or feel the product. It’ll bring your product, features, and unique qualities to life.

In addition to videos that show your product in action, you can also include testimonial videos of past happy customers. As with traditional SEO, videos are an element that can increase engagement on-site. Along with images and other multimedia content, videos can optimize your listings and improve marketplace SEO.

8. Encourage product reviews

Reviews add important context to a product page because consumers tend to trust each other’s opinions more than businesses. Whereas you can rave about your product in your description, shoppers are more likely to take other customers’ word for it. In fact, 89% of consumers worldwide read reviews before buying a product.

A slew of positive reviews could be the extra push a potential customer needs to add your product to their cart and check out, and they’ll also boost your marketplace SEO in more ways than one.

Users rank and review their experiences after a purchase. The scores are then aggregated into an average for the product which will appear at the top of the listings. Marketplaces use this score as one of the ranking factors that help them determine where products will rank internally in search results. User-generated content is another way to increase the number of keywords on your listings because when customers review your product, they’ll likely mention key features, brand names, and more.

Encourage customers to write reviews by sending follow-up emails a few days after their package has been delivered. If you’re worried about negative reviews, include an option in the email to talk to customer support directly about any problems or concerns.

9. Perfect your pricing

Although pricing won’t directly impact marketplace SEO, it does affect click-through rates as price points are one of the most influential factors in a buyer’s decision process. You should first check out your competitors’ similar products to determine what your pricing strategy should be.

Most marketplaces will showcase pricing on the search results page, so shoppers can easily compare and try to find the best deal. Make sure you have a competitive price; if you’re way above the average you most likely won’t get too many clicks. If you’re way under the industry average, consumers might frequent your page, but you may be underselling yourself.

Using Similarweb to boost your marketplace SEO

Similarweb ecommerce intelligence tools help you fine-tune your marketplace search strategy and increase brand awareness and visibility. You can optimize marketplace SEO efforts and paid campaigns to make your products stand out.

Once you have data-driven keywords and search insights you can:

Identify the highest performing keywords – Monitor search volume and brand share of clicks to optimize your product pages’ content and bid on the right keywords.

Estimate keyword market potential – Analyze first-page search results to evaluate keyword potential and monitor your position.

Evaluate organic vs. paid strategies – Discover which keywords receive the largest share of clicks. Determine if you need to invest more in marketplace SEO or buy your way to the top of the search results.

Analyze brand awareness – Track branded searches in your category to evaluate your brand strength.

Ready to kickstart your marketplace SEO strategy? Get started with a free demo of Shopper Intelligence, our tool created with ecommerce, CPG, and retail experts in mind.

FAQ

What is Marketplace SEO

Marketplace SEO is the process of optimizing your product listings to boost organic clicks and produce higher conversions.

Why is Marketplace SEO important?

Besides boosting clicks and increasing conversion, a data-driven Marketplace SEO strategy will help you build customer loyalty, get better reviews, improve your traditional SEO rankings, and gain a much-needed competitive edge in today’s market

How can I optimize my marketplace SEO strategy?

First, determine the most important keywords using an on-site optimization tool like Similarweb. From there, add these keywords (long-tail included) into all aspects of your product listing, such as title, description, features, image alt text, and more. Don’t forget to showcase competitive pricing, encourage reviews, and add relevant backlinks to boost your marketplace SEO ranking further.