It seems Amazon is tweaking the product detail pages once again. As always, with the goal of offering customers a better shopping experience. The commercial giant constantly comes up with something new: Sometimes bullet points disappear, the search algorithm is updated or there is a whole package of new guidelines. However, sellers and vendors are rarely informed proactively. Often it is only when you lose your ranking or try to upload in vain that you notice that there are new rules for the
Amazon SEO. This time it seems that
Amazon is going after product descriptions.
HINTS TOWARDS THE END OF THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION ON AMAZON
According to our observations, there are some indications that the product description will soon become history:
- When uploading A+ content, some of our customers' product descriptions were overwritten.
- The online giant has been prohibiting the use of HTML in the product description for some time, but uploading it has been tolerated so far. This is no longer possible for vendors. Instead, Amazon Vendor Support recommends the use of A+ content.
- On amazon.de the product description currently appears above the A+ content. In the Amazon Shopping App, it was pushed under mobile A+ content some time ago.
- Since the beginning of 2018, the use of A+ content has been free of charge for vendors. In 2019, sellers with a brand registered in the Brand Registry also received free A+ content. Until then, they could only use Enhanced Brand Content, which was somewhat more limited than A+.
Another possibility is that the product description will be limited and will only serve for absolute basic information. This could include, for example, legally required information such as food and pet food ingredients and warnings.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SELLERS AND VENDORS?
The fall of the product description would mean the further rise of A+ Content. Here’s what to expect in that case:
A+ content as a new standard
Since A+ content is now available to all brands, more and more detail pages are shining with this feature. This makes it harder to differentiate yourself from the competition simply for having additional content. More know-how and experience in
content creation and optimization are now required.
The Rise of Premium A+ Content
Another option is using Premium A+ Content (Vendor only). This includes a variety of features such as atmospheric video loops, interactive slides and an FAQ area. Moreover, the images used are of higher quality.
Keyword relevance of A+ content?
So far it was assumed that Amazon's search algorithm doesn't index A+ content. This could change with the removal or reduction of the product description. In that case keywords from the description should be integrated into the A+. It may even be necessary to redistribute the keywords across all elements of the detail page.
We will keep you up to date on all developments around Amazon-SEO.
A second possibility is that A+ content will not become a relevant field for keywords. This assumption can be based on the premise that Amazon would like to avoid excessive placement of keywords and rather rely on high-quality and targeted content.
Shift information to A+ Content
Not only keywords have to be shifted under these circumstances - important information is also affected. Ideally, A+ content and product description should complement each other in a meaningful way so that the content does not appear redundant to customers. If the description is omitted, the contained information should find its way into the A+ content. Especially when it comes to conversion-relevant information or legally required information.
Conclusion
Regardless of whether the product description disappears completely or not, the fact is that there is no way around top-optimized A+ content. From nice to have, it has developed into an absolute must if you want to position yourself successfully on the marketplace. Additionally, A+ Content is more mobile-friendly and therefore offers a definite added value.
This in turn demands much better optimization of the contents. The key is to react to this challenge at an early stage and not to try and save resources at this point. We are happy to
support you on your way to the optimal content for your individual products. Our international Amazon Content Team has already successfully implemented more than 2500 projects in 5 languages for renowned brand manufacturers.
