Summary: <br> Many authors believe search engine optimization (SEO) is a cryptic mystery average humans cannot solve. <br> <br> <br> <br> But SEO is simply crafting a page in such a way that it ranks high in search rankings. In this article, we’re going to explore Amazon SEO. We’ll explain why it is essential and how to apply it to your marketing plan.<br> <br> <br> <br> Dave Chesson is one of the top Amazon SEO experts. He’s the creator of <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://kindlepreneur.com/" target="_blank">Kindlepreneuer.com</a>, a website devoted to teaching advanced e-book marketing, which even Amazon KDP acknowledges as one of the best resources on optimizing your book’s marketing.<br> <br> <br> <br> Why Is Search Engine Optimization Important for Authors?<br> <br> <br> <br> Thomas Umstattd Jr.: Why is Amazon SEO so important for authors?<br> <br> <br> <br> Dave Chesson: Amazon, SEO, is about getting your book in front of the right shoppers. A shopper goes to Amazon and types what they’re looking for into the search bar. When they hit the “search” button, Amazon decides whether to show books, which books to display and the order in which those books appear in the search results.<br> <br> <br> <br> We have found that 20% to 30% of the shoppers will click on the book that appears at the top of the search results. That percentage quickly drops to single digits the farther you get from the top. Appearing at the top of the list increases your ability to get seen and your ability to make sales.<br> <br> <br> <br> Thomas: A lot of people think Google is the dominant search engine, and it is for certain kinds of searches. For example, if I’m searching for a dentist, I’ll use google. But when people are searching for products, over half of the searches happen on Amazon. <br> <br> <br> <br> More people are searching for products on Amazon than on all the other search engines combined, including Google. No one is going to Google and typing “mystery suspense writer” or “Amish romance.” For authors, Amazon is where you want to rank at the top. <br> <br> <br> <br> Dave: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/amazon-statistics/">More than 197 million people have an Amazon account</a>, which means it’s easy to make that purchase right then and there. If I find a book I want to buy on another website that sells books, the problem is that I’ve got to create an account, make a password, and enter my credit card information on a website I don’t fully trust. <br> <br> <br> <br> A lot of people will leave that website, search for it on Amazon.com and buy it there because they already have an Amazon account all set up. It’s a wonderful marketplace people trust. They know Amazon will always have what they want.<br> <br> <br> <br> Thomas: Amazon took over the market by simply caring about the customer—the book readers. The traditional publisher’s customers are Barnes and Noble and Amazon and other retail channels, but Amazon customers are the actual humans who are reading books. That has been their secret sauce. <br> <br> <br> <br> Why is SEO so hard or scary for so many authors?<br> <br> <br> <br> Three Keys to Amazon SEO<br> <br> <br> <br> Dave: SEO for Google seems to be a hard-core, billion-steps task. Amazon is more straightforward than Google. <br> <br> <br> <br> There are three keys to Amazon SEO:<br> <br> <br> <br> * Identify the target that you want your book to be shown to. When a customer types a phrase into that search bar, what are the phrases you want your book to show up for?* Identify where you want your book to be indexed.
