Proper SEO measures are essential to succeeding at selling on e-commerce marketplaces. Each marketplace — Amazon, Rakuten Ichiba, Yahoo! Shopping, and others — has its own search algorithm, so each requires an SEO strategy suited to it. This article explains in detail why SEO matters on e-commerce marketplaces, the basic approach to take, and specific tactics for each marketplace. It also introduces effective keyword-selection methods and recommended tools. This will be a valuable resource for anyone aiming to boost sales on an e-commerce marketplace.
Why SEO Matters on E-Commerce Marketplaces, and What It's For
SEO is best known as a set of tactics for ranking higher in search engine results such as Google Search and Yahoo! Search, but SEO is also effective on e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, Rakuten Ichiba, and Yahoo! Shopping.
Since each marketplace has its own search logic, the same SEO tactics that work for search engines won't necessarily work there. Applying the right measures can raise your product page's ranking within the marketplace.
For a detailed explanation of SEO measures for search engines like Google and Yahoo!, please refer to the article below.
Why SEO Matters on E-Commerce Marketplaces
There are mainly two reasons why SEO matters on e-commerce marketplaces.
1. Many users search for products
SEO measures that increase organic search traffic are an important tactic for growing sales.
Broadly speaking, a product page's PV can be broken down into two sources: traffic from ads and traffic from organic search. In other words, to increase a product page's PV, you need to either make use of ads or increase organic search traffic.
Using ads to attract customers is of course one option, but as you can see when you consider marketplace users' purchasing behavior, many users search for products using the marketplace's built-in search function.
By getting your product page to rank higher in search results, you increase its exposure to users searching for products, which in turn increases the product page's PV.
For this reason, SEO measures that increase organic search traffic can be said to be an important tactic for growing sales.
2. It doesn't cost anything
Unlike advertising, the fact that SEO doesn't cost money is also an important point.
Of course it takes work hours, but even accounting for that, it's a tactic with a large impact on sales.
Advertising requires a certain budget, whereas SEO can be done even by businesses that have just started out, and once you've implemented it, you can expect the effects to last a long time. From a cost-effectiveness standpoint as well, SEO is an important tactic.
The Goal (Purpose) You Should Aim For
The goal to aim for with SEO on e-commerce marketplaces is to get your product page onto the first page of each marketplace's search results, ideally within the first view.
This is because the lower your search ranking falls, the more likely it is that PV will flow to competitors, or that users will bounce partway through and search a different keyword instead.
This is especially true for marketplaces where results are split across pages: PV drops off sharply after the first page compared to it, so getting onto the first page is important.
For example, on the PC version of Rakuten Ichiba, the first page of search results consists of 2–3 ad slots and 42–43 organic slots, so the target is to rank within the top 43 at minimum. (As of December 2022)
That said, barely squeezing onto the first page still yields little PV, so to increase your store's PV, aim first to get your target keyword to rank within the top 10 on any marketplace.
The Approach to SEO on E-Commerce Marketplaces
Search logic on e-commerce marketplaces is updated from time to time, so always make sure to keep up with the latest information.
With that in mind, here we'll explain the basic approach to take when implementing SEO on e-commerce marketplaces.
Understand each marketplace's search logic
First, understand the search logic of each marketplace you operate on. Understanding the search logic makes it easier to judge which SEO measures to prioritize.
For example, on Yahoo! Shopping, products with a "trusted store" label or a "trusted shipping" label are given significantly more weight in search ranking than other products. (As of December 2022)
Because of this, depending on the situation, prioritizing acquisition of the trusted-store or trusted-shipping label may have a bigger impact on sales than keyword optimization.
In this way, understanding the search logic lets you judge the priority of your measures more accurately.
Target keywords that sell, not just keywords that attract traffic
Keyword selection is what matters most when implementing SEO on e-commerce marketplaces.
When running a marketplace store, even if you gain a lot of PV, it means nothing if it doesn't lead to purchases.
For that reason, target keywords with specific search intent that's more likely to lead to a purchase, such as "supplement for women popular."
Go after mid-tail and long-tail keywords
When doing SEO, of course it's ideal to rank highly for high-volume keywords ("head" keywords). However, since marketplace search logic also factors in past sales performance, it's difficult to suddenly rank highly just by inserting head keywords into your product page.
For that reason, we recommend first targeting what are called "mid-tail" and "small/long-tail" keywords — keywords with lower search volume than head keywords, made up of multiple combined words.
There are two main reasons for this. One is that there's less competition.
Head keywords are used by many stores, so competition is fierce, whereas mid-tail and long-tail keywords are only used by stores that are conscious of SEO, so there are fewer competitors.
The other reason is that the search intent is specific and more likely to lead to a purchase.
A more specific keyword means the user's need is that much clearer, which raises the purchase rate when they find a product that matches their search intent.
Figure 1: Comparison of head keywords vs. mid-tail/small keywords
Eliminate negative factors
One thing to watch out for when implementing SEO on e-commerce marketplaces is not including special characters or platform-dependent symbols such as [、。「」!?★□] and the like.
Each marketplace has guidelines defining what keywords can be used in product names and product information, and you need to carry out SEO within those bounds.
If you violate the guidelines, not only can the rating of the product in question drop and affect its search ranking, but in some cases the store's overall rating can drop as well.
It's not just obviously inappropriate language — using keywords unrelated to the product, or certain symbols, can also count against you — so always check the marketplace's guidelines before doing SEO.
Minimum Points to Cover for In-Marketplace SEO, by Marketplace
When doing SEO, it's important to first understand what factors are being evaluated.
Since the search logic behind ranking differs by marketplace, here we'll explain the key SEO points to cover for each marketplace.
Rakuten Ichiba
Search logic characteristics
The two most important factors in Rakuten's search logic are "sales performance" and "product name (title)."
Also, compared to other marketplaces, store reviews and product review counts play a somewhat larger role as SEO factors, so review-acquisition measures are effective too.
Where to focus your SEO efforts
Here's where to focus SEO efforts on Rakuten, and how much impact each has.
Item |
Impact |
Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
Product name (title) |
◎ |
Medium |
Catch copy |
◎ |
Medium |
PC product description |
◯ |
Medium |
Smartphone/mobile product description |
◯ |
Medium |
PC sales description |
◯ |
Medium |
Tag ID |
△ |
Low |
Directory ID |
△ |
Low |
Store reviews / product reviews |
◯ |
High |
Sales performance |
◎ |
High |
*Impact | High: ◎, Medium: ◯, Low: △
Sales performance has the biggest impact on Rakuten SEO, but since sales performance is hard to control directly, prioritize the product name and catch copy first, then move on to the product description, store reviews, and product reviews.
Tag IDs and directory IDs improve searchability from a user's perspective, but they're a lower priority as SEO measures.
Yahoo! Shopping
Search logic characteristics
The three most important factors in Yahoo! Shopping's search logic are "sales performance," "trusted shipping," and "trusted store."
Sales performance being weighted heavily is the same as with Rakuten and Amazon, but what's distinctive about Yahoo! Shopping is the "trusted shipping" and "trusted store" items.
"Trusted shipping" status is granted when a product meets certain conditions, and "trusted store" status is granted when a store meets certain conditions. Both statuses have a big impact on search ranking, so actively aim to acquire them. (See the detailed conditions below.)
Conditions |
Effect |
|
|---|---|---|
Trusted shipping |
・Earliest "requested delivery date" is "order date + 2 days or less" ・Store's late-shipment rate is below a certain threshold |
・Search ranking is boosted ・A trusted-shipping label is granted |
Trusted store |
・Overall rating of 12 points or higher ・Trusted-store evaluation score above a certain level ・Trusted-shipping order share of 50% or higher |
・Search ranking is boosted ・A trusted-store label is granted |
*Information as of December 2022
Where to focus your SEO efforts
Here's where to focus SEO efforts on Yahoo! Shopping, and how much impact each has.
Item |
Impact |
Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
Product name (title) |
◎ |
Medium |
Catch copy |
◎ |
Medium |
Product description (shared for PC/smartphone) |
◯ |
Medium |
Product category |
△ |
Low |
Brand code |
△ |
Low |
Spec |
△ |
Low |
Product code (model number) |
△ |
Low |
*Impact | High: ◎, Medium: ◯, Low: △
Aside from sales performance, trusted shipping, and trusted store, the items with the biggest impact on Yahoo! Shopping SEO are "product name" and "catch copy," so prioritize these two, then move on to the product description (shared for PC/smartphone).
Items like product category and brand code, marked △ for impact in the table above, improve searchability from a user's perspective, but they're a lower priority as SEO measures.
Amazon
Search logic characteristics
As with Rakuten and Yahoo! Shopping, sales performance is fundamentally a major factor in Amazon's search logic as well.
Where Amazon differs from Rakuten and Yahoo! Shopping is that it's a marketplace-type platform rather than a tenant-type one, so if you're selling a national brand (NB) product, you can't do SEO by inserting keywords on a per-product-page basis.
If you're listing your own products, there's room for SEO, but for NB products, winning the buy box is what matters most, so keep in mind that the strategy differs between NB products and your own products.
Where to focus your SEO efforts
Since the points to address differ between NB products and your own products, we'll explain each separately.
Logic common to both NB products and your own products
What's common to both is that "sales performance" on Amazon refers to "number of orders over a given period," so to rank highly in search, it's effective to build up sales performance by also using ads.
When ads increase a product's sales volume, it becomes easier for it to rank highly in organic search as well, raising the chance of achieving a decent ranking even without ads.
For NB products
Since you can't differentiate NB products through keywords, it essentially comes down to a competition on price and points.
Amazon hasn't officially disclosed the logic behind which listing appears in the buy box on a product page, but it's believed to be judged comprehensively based on sale price and points, along with factors such as FBA usage, the store's sales track record, review record, order cancellation rate, late-shipment rate, and out-of-stock rate.
Setting the lowest price in terms of selling price and points doesn't necessarily guarantee winning the buy box — a store's operating track record has a large impact on the evaluation — so at the very least, be careful not to accumulate negative marks from things like late shipments or cancellations.
For your own products
For your own products, as long as you don't wholesale them to other sellers, you don't need to compete for the buy box on the product page, but compared to NB products, it takes more effort to rank highly in search results.
Here's where to focus SEO efforts for your own products, and how much impact each has.
Item |
Impact |
|---|---|
Product name |
◎ |
Product description |
◯ |
Keywords |
◯ |
*Impact | High: ◎, Medium: ◯, Low: △
The items above are where you can do direct, search-facing SEO, but as mentioned earlier, since sales performance is heavily weighted on Amazon, raising your product page's CVR also serves as an indirect form of SEO.
For example, it's effective to enrich not just the main thumbnail but also the sub-thumbnails, and to create enhanced product content (A+) using images, tables, and the like.
How to Find Keywords That Sell, by Marketplace
Here we'll explain how to find keywords that sell, by marketplace.
Common to all marketplaces
Analyze suggested keywords
A way to find selling keywords that's common to every marketplace is analyzing "suggested keywords."
Suggested keywords are "live" keywords that users actually searched for when looking for a product they wanted to buy, so they tend to have a relatively high CVR and lead to purchases fairly easily.
Suggested keywords change with the time of year and season, so we recommend checking them frequently.
As a tip, to beat competing stores, it helps to look not just for single keywords but for combinations of two or more words.
Rakuten Ichiba
Analyze Rakuten Search inflow improvement
Under RMS Top > Data Analysis > Sales Improvement Actions, "Rakuten Search Inflow Improvement" lets you check the search keywords, access counts, and conversion rates for your store's top 30 products.
Here you can identify the pattern behind keywords with a high conversion rate and roll that out to other products, as well as identify keywords with high access counts but low conversion rates and use that to make improvements.
Analyze RPP ad performance
RPP ads are pay-per-click ads where you bid on specified keywords for specified products.
From the RPP ad management screen, you can view ad performance by product and by keyword, which lets you select keywords with good CTR and CVR based on that data.
Check "related search keywords"
At the bottom of Rakuten search result pages, a list of "keywords related to ~" is displayed. Like suggested keywords, these reflect keywords close to the user's search intent, so use them as a reference too.
Yahoo! Shopping
Analyze Manufacturer Item Match ad performance
Manufacturer Item Match ads are pay-per-click ads where you bid on specified keywords for a specified product group.
From the Manufacturer Item Match ad management screen, you can view ad performance by product and by keyword, which lets you select keywords with good CTR and CVR based on that data.
Check "related search terms"
Below the search box on the results page, a list of "related search terms" is displayed. Like suggested keywords, these reflect keywords close to the user's search intent, so use them as a reference too.
Amazon
Make use of Brand Analytics
If you have your own products and are brand-registered on Amazon, the "Brand Analytics" feature — found under Seller Central Top > Brands > Brand Analytics > Amazon Search Terms — lets you check search frequency and CVR for inflow keywords, by product and by keyword.
Analyze Sponsored Products ad performance
Sponsored Products ads are pay-per-click ads where you bid on specified keywords for a specified product group.
There's manual targeting, where the store sets keywords from scratch, and automatic targeting, where Amazon automatically sets appropriate keywords — automatic targeting is the one we recommend.
From the management screen you can view ad performance by product and by keyword, so look at the performance of the automatically selected keywords to find ones that are more likely to lead to purchases.
Note that this feature isn't available for NB products, so keep that in mind.
Recommended tools for finding keywords
Beyond each marketplace's own features, there are tools that let you look up suggested keywords for marketplaces like Rakuten and Amazon, and export the data as a CSV.
Here we'll introduce two representative tools.
Rakko Keyword
Rakko Keyword is a free keyword research tool.
For e-commerce marketplaces, it can only retrieve data for Rakuten and Amazon. That said, it can also retrieve suggested keywords for Google Search and Google Shopping, so you can use it as a reference for those too.
With the paid premium features, you can also retrieve search volume and do competitor analysis.
Keyword Tool
Keyword Tool is a free keyword research tool.
For e-commerce marketplaces, it can only retrieve data for Amazon.
The free plan has limits on the data you can view, so if you want detailed information such as search volume and trends, sign up for a paid plan.
Summary
SEO on e-commerce marketplaces is a key factor in successful sales. As explained in this article, it's important to keep the following points in mind:
- Understand each marketplace's search logic and tailor your measures to it
- Target keywords that lead to purchases — "keywords that sell" — not just ones that attract traffic
- Start with mid-tail and long-tail keywords, and work your way up to head keywords in stages
- Follow each marketplace's guidelines and eliminate negative factors
- Prioritize the most important items first — product name, catch copy, product description, and so on
- Use suggested keywords and related search terms to find effective keywords
Also, making use of each marketplace's advertising features and analytics tools lets you carry out more precise SEO. That said, SEO isn't something you do once and finish — it requires ongoing improvement and keeping up with the latest trends.
Using the content of this article as a reference, build an SEO strategy suited to your own products and target customers, and put it into practice — doing so should lead to improved sales performance on e-commerce marketplaces. Continuing to analyze results and adjust your strategy as needed, with a long-term perspective, is the shortcut to success with SEO.
