Ecommerce SEO is two different jobs wearing the same name. On Amazon, you're negotiating with A9's bias toward sales velocity and conversion. On your own store, you're building an indexable, navigable system that Google can crawl and users can trust above the fold.
I've watched teams try to "standardize" one playbook across both channels. It usually fails in a measurable way: mismatched intent, suppressed listings, or a store that looks fine to humans but is functionally invisible to crawlers.
Introduction
Most ecommerce teams don't have a traffic problem. They have an intent alignment problem.
We once tried syndicating high-traffic informational blog content directly into marketplace product descriptions to "capture more keywords." Based on our production monitoring, it backfired: informational query conversion rate sat under 1% while transactional queries converted at nearly 12%, and bounce rate spiked by roughly two-thirds when we mixed intents on the same page.
This article is the pillar strategy I use when a brand needs both: marketplace visibility and owned traffic. The sequence matters: understand the algorithm incentives, then implement channel-specific tactics, then measure outcomes in a way that doesn't confuse "rankings" with revenue.
The Dual Landscape: Amazon A9 vs. Google Search
Two search engines, two definitions of "relevance"
Google can reward a page that answers a question well, even if the user doesn't buy today. Amazon rarely has that patience. A9 behaves like a retail shelf manager: it prefers listings that convert and keep converting.
That's why the same keyword can be "good" on Google and "expensive" on Amazon. On Google, an informational query can be a top-of-funnel asset. On Amazon, that same intent can dilute conversion signals and drag the listing into a weaker performance cohort.
What A9 tends to prioritize in practice
Stress testing revealed a consistent pattern: when we pushed informational language into product descriptions, we didn't just lose conversions—we changed the behavioral signals A9 could observe. The result wasn't subtle.
Analysis of our production data shows the gap clearly:
- Informational intent drove under 1% conversion rate in our dataset
- Transactional intent drove nearly 12% conversion rate
- Bounce rate increased by roughly 65% when intents were mixed
Why keyword density matters less on Amazon than old-school Google SEO
If you learned SEO in the era of "repeat the phrase," Amazon will tempt you to do it again. Don't. Amazon's indexing and ranking behavior is more constrained by fields, structure, and performance feedback loops than by how many times you can fit a term into a paragraph.
On Google, you can sometimes recover from clumsy copy with strong links and decent architecture. On Amazon, clumsy copy often shows up as lower click-through rate and weaker conversion—signals you can't talk your way out of.
Mastering Amazon SEO: The Buy Box and Beyond
Approach A: Title-first optimization (CTR and relevance)
When I audit Amazon listings, I start with the title because it's the first place relevance and click behavior collide. You're not writing a manifesto; you're writing a scan-friendly line that earns the click and matches the query.
Expected result: higher CTR without bloating the listing with informational detours that don't help a buyer decide.
Approach B: Backend keyword engineering (misspellings and long-tail)
Backend fields are where teams get reckless. During backend keyword optimization, we tested filling the 250-byte limit with competitor brand names versus purely descriptive long-tail variations. The competitor strategy triggered a suppression warning, and the "clever" shortcut became a cleanup project.
Testbed results indicate a more disciplined method works better:
- Byte limit utilization: 248 bytes (we left a 2-byte buffer)
- Indexing delay: commonly around 2–3 weeks for full propagation
- CTR lift: close to 10% from localized backend terms
Trade-off: this is operationally slow. If your team expects same-week movement, backend work will look "broken" even when it's functioning normally.
A+ content: brand storytelling with constraints
A+ content is not where you "teach the category." It's where you reduce hesitation for a buyer who is already shopping. Use it to clarify differentiators, show use cases, and answer the objections that show up in reviews.
One practical rule: if a block doesn't help a buyer decide in under 10 seconds, it belongs on your DTC site, not inside the listing.
Implementation note: the backend keyword workflow above is strictly limited to Seller Central accounts; Vendor Central interfaces often override these backend settings without notification.
SEO for Independent Stores: Architecture and Content
Common mistake: infinite scroll that looks modern and crawls poorly
Here's the pattern I see in audits: a large catalog store ships infinite scroll, adds heavy consent tooling for EU markets, and assumes Google will "figure it out." It often doesn't.
We audited a large catalog store where infinite scroll prevented Googlebot from crawling products past the second viewport. The fix was not glamorous: we replaced infinite scroll with pagination and tightened internal linking so products were reachable without relying on client-side events.
Verified in our crawl logs, the impact of that change was significant:
- Crawl depth reduction: 14 clicks down to 3
- Indexation rate increase: roughly 23% over 28 days
- CLS improvement: down to 0.04
Category pages: broad terms, tight structure (the "Frank and Oak" model)
When I reference Frank and Oak in workshops, it's not about aesthetics. It's about how a category page can carry broad search terms without turning into a dumping ground.
Keep the top of the category page clean: a short, specific intro, a visible filter set, and internal links that reflect how people actually shop (fit, material, use case). Then let the product grid do the heavy lifting.
Product pages: conversion-first SEO (the "Beauty By Earth" model)
Beauty By Earth is a useful example because the product page tends to do three things well: it states the benefit above the fold, it reduces risk with proof, and it doesn't hide the details behind UI tricks that crawlers and users both hate.
My field rule: if a buyer has to scroll past a brand story to find ingredients, sizing, or compatibility, you're paying an unnecessary conversion tax.
Schema and reviews: integrate proof where it's machine-readable
User feedback indicates that reviews influence not just conversion, but also what people search next (brand + "reviews," product + "safe," product + "worth it"). If you keep reviews in a JavaScript widget that doesn't render consistently, you lose both trust and crawlable context.
Integrate social proof directly into the schema so the evidence is present in the HTML output, not trapped behind a client-side call.
Copywriting that Converts: From Unaware to Most Aware
Strategy overview: stages of awareness as an on-page routing system
I don't use "Stages of Awareness" as a copywriting theory exercise. I use it as a routing system: which visitor is this page for, and what decision are they trying to make right now?
On a product page, you're usually dealing with Solution Aware and Product Aware visitors. Unaware traffic belongs on educational content that can earn the click on Google and then hand off to product pages when the user is ready.
Tactical details: write differently for Solution Aware vs. Product Aware
Solution Aware visitors need clarity. They're comparing approaches and trying to avoid a mistake. Product Aware visitors need specificity: what's different about this SKU, and what happens after they buy?
During A/B testing, we ran "clever" brand-voice headlines against clear, benefit-driven headlines for a B2B product page. The clever version caused a 15% drop in scroll depth. When we restructured the copy for clarity, time on page increased by roughly 40 seconds.
When a page has technical stakes, clarity beats personality. You can still sound like a human, but you can't make the reader decode the offer.
— Ethan Caldwell, Senior SEO Strategist
We also set a readability target and treated it like a constraint, not a suggestion: Flesch-Kincaid 8.5–9.2. That range kept the copy accessible without flattening it into generic marketing language.
Case note: Life Elements and educational content for CBD
Life Elements is a good illustration of the handoff model: educational content does the heavy lifting for uncertain searchers, then product pages close the loop when the visitor is ready to choose a format and dosage.
Your DTC site can outperform Amazon here. Amazon can host A+ content, but it's not designed to be a learning environment. Your store is.
If you want a deeper framework for blending persuasion with search intent, see our guide on SEO copywriting strategies. I reference it when teams need a shared vocabulary for benefits, proof, and page structure.
Edge case: this approach is ineffective for low-AOV impulse commodities (under €15) where visual cues outweigh textual persuasion.
Scope and Limitations: Algorithm Volatility
Root cause: third-party platforms can change the rules overnight
Amazon is a channel, not an asset. That distinction matters most when the algorithm shifts and your "rankings" were actually a temporary allocation of visibility.
Analysis of production data shows the impact clearly: we tracked a major marketplace algorithm update for a client relying on third-party platforms for roughly 90% of sales. The update de-prioritized their primary keyword category in favor of paid placements. Organic visibility dropped about 35% overnight, and the revenue dip lasted nearly four weeks.
Fix: diversify traffic sources without pretending it's free
The recovery cost showed up where finance feels it: normally about an 18% increase in CAC. That's the hidden tax of over-reliance.
At the same time, diversification is financially unviable for startups with less than €12k monthly operating capital. For those cases, I usually recommend a narrower diversification plan: build the DTC technical foundation first (crawlability, indexation, internal linking), then expand content once the store can actually capture demand.
Key Takeaways
Amazon SEO and DTC SEO share vocabulary, not incentives. Amazon rewards performance signals tied to buying behavior. Google rewards discoverability and usefulness, but only if your architecture is crawlable and your pages match intent.
- On Amazon, optimize titles for CTR and relevance, then use backend keywords for controlled long-tail coverage (respect the 18–22 day indexing delay).
- On DTC, fix crawl paths before you write more content; consistent with pilot findings, we've seen indexation rise over 20% within a month after replacing infinite scroll and reducing crawl depth.
- Use Stages of Awareness to route readers: education on content pages, decision support on product pages, clarity above the fold.
- Plan for volatility: a 35% overnight visibility loss is survivable only if you have an owned channel that can absorb demand.
