Whether you're a new seller or an Amazon veteran, the product title can have a tremendous impact on your sales. And although the search engines are an important source of traffic, you must keep in mind that you're writing for humans. You won't convince a search engine to click on your product or buy it, and that's why having compelling, unique titles is a MUST, especially in a highly competitive market such as Amazon.
Before you start writing your title, you should consider the following:
1. Amazon's search engine will use the keywords in your title to position your product, so your title should include the keywords you want to rank for;
2. When it comes to product titles, Amazon has very strict regulations and it's very important to comply with them if you don't want to get penalized. Always check the specific guidelines for your category BEFORE listing your product;
3. The product title and picture are the first things a potential customer sees and they are key elements in his / her decision to click on your product and read more about it. That's why the title should be enticing and informative, not just a list of random keywords.
Before I started writing Amazon product pages, I did a lot of research. I watched over 15 online courses and I read a ton of books and articles on this topic. And, while everybody agrees on the importance of having an SEO-optimized product title that makes sense for the customer, there are a lot of discussions on starting it with the brand name. Some courses suggest starting the product title with your main keyword. Others (including Amazon) advise sellers to use their brand first.
For many months, I agreed with Amazon and I wrote product titles that started with the brand name. The structure was as follows:
Brand Name – Main Keyword – Benefits – Features
However, over the last two months, I've done some extensive research and I've concluded that, unless you're a renowned brand, starting your title with a keyword is the best option.
First of all, on Amazon Mobile you have less than 12 words to convince a visitor to click on your title. Instead of wasting your space with an unknown brand name, you could use it to write a few benefits of your product. In other words, give your customers a good reason to click on your title!
An even better reason to make the first words in your product title as interesting as possible is the fact that Amazon publishes only the first 6 words when it comes to Sponsored Ads.
Now, which one sounds more compelling?
The Oklahoma Baking Company Cups …
(Oklahoma Baking Company being an unknown brand)
or
Reusable, Non-stick Muffin Cups – 24 …
The first title tells me NOTHING about the product. The second one is much more compelling because it gives me some interesting information about the cups – they are reusable, easy to separate from my cupcakes and probably they're sold as a 24 pieces set. Seems like a great value for the price, right?
Getting back to business, I currently recommend this structure:
Main Keyword – Brand Name – Benefits – Features
So, based on the observations above, let's see the three actual steps to writing a KILLER title that will get ranked in the search engine and grab the attention of potential customers.
Step 1 – Take your time and run an extensive keywords research, as this is the most important step in this process. Don't skip it and don't treat it lightly because it may dramatically increase your visibility in Amazon's search engine.
Step 2 – Read all the relevant guidelines for your category and comply with them. It's true that Amazon doesn't enforce them every single time, but you want to stay on the safe side. Otherwise, they may penalize you, request you to make edits or even suspend your account.
As an example, did you know that some words, such as "free" and "guarantee" are not allowed in your title? The same restriction applies to special symbols or characters. So, if you're selling a product that is "paraben-free" and you want to use this in your title, you may want to phrase it as "no paraben".
Step 3 – Open your text editor and start writing a title that includes the most relevant keywords and makes sense for your customers. Don't forget that search engines index your product titles, but the customers read them. Keep this in mind when writing your title. Also, you will want to remove any duplicate words from your product title. Duplicate words make NO difference for the search engine AND the number of characters you can use in your title is limited. Don't waste them on duplicate words or useless punctuation!
So, let's see how a great title would look like for a pair of silicone gloves from Kitchenette (imaginary brand name):
Silicone Cooking Gloves – Heat Resistant Silicone Mitts from Kitchinette with a No-Slip Design that Keeps Your Hands and Wrists Safe at High Temperatures
Notice that I used the most relevant keywords and also made the title informative and enticing for the customer. Don't worry if you have a lot of keywords – you don't have to use ALL of them in your title. You can use them in your bullets, in your description or as back-end keywords. They will also serve you for your manual targeted campaigns, so there is NO need to stuff your title with too many keywords and make it look like a bunch of random words that make no sense for your clients.
When the characters number allow it, I like to include a call to action at the end of the title. Something like this:
Kitchenette Cooking Gloves – Heat Resistant Silicone Mitts with a No-Slip Design that Keep Your Hands and Wrists Safe at High Temperatures. Say Goodbye to Burns Now!
If you have further questions, don't hesitate to drop me a line. I am very passionate about Amazon and I never get tired to talk about it.
