Keywords, Features and Benefits: Cracking the Amazon Product Title

Your product sales pitch starts at the title. Amazon’s product title rules might have you breaking your head over how and where to start, but it might actually help to think of the rules as helping you stay in line. An economical and well-written product title can entice your customer to make a buy, well before they get into the details of product features.

You have 200 characters to write your product title, and that’s more than enough space to give your customers a pretty good idea of what they’re getting and how they can use it. It’s best to make full use of the title space, before they drift off to the next product/page. Keep in mind that internet buyers have a short attention span, so it’s best to cram in as much information as you can within the first scroll. Don’t take the word ‘cram’ literally though. Product titles need to be clean, well-sequenced and readable. You shouldn’t have to look twice to make sense of it, which often happens when sellers try to throw every relatable keyword into the title.

Where to start: Being a stickler for style

• Use title case. Capitalize the first letter of every word that is not a conjunction, preposition or an article. It Looks Like This. Not like this. Conjunctions and Articles Don’t Need Capitalization. 
• Use words, not symbols. &, @ etc. belong on WhatsApp. Don’t put them into your product titles. Compel yourself to write the full word: ‘and.’
• Write numbers as numerals, not in words. 16, not sixteen.
• Avoid trying to add a sales pitch to your product titles. No prices, no promos and no seller information. I.e., don’t use words like Best, Cheapest, Fastest etc in the title. Stick to product information and features, and you’ll find that’s more than enough use of your 200 characters.
• Add color/size/variant only if it’s an essential part of product information. You don’t need to mention the color of the product if there’s only one option.

The essential formula: What goes into a product title

• Brand name
• What it is: the product name (phone/skirt/toothbrush/lipstick)
• Color/type (if relevant to product)
• Size and/or quantity
• Keywords
• Product USP

These are things you simply can’t afford to miss out on. Without them, it’s unclear what you’re selling and to whom. Amazon helps you come up with formulas based on the product, and you can build your titles from there.

Titles that ranked highly on NittyGritti’s 185-parameter AI platform for content, style and format:

Cetaphil Face Wash Gentle Skin Cleanser for Dry to Normal, Sensitive Skin, 125 ml Hydrating Face Wash with Niacinamide, Vitamin B5

They have followed the style guidelines, included useful and relevant information, and made good use of the character count to include product features and quantity. As you can see, there can be no confusion about the nature of the product or its target audience in both cases. 

Where you can go wrong: titles that ranked low on NittyGritti’s platform for style and format:

JAGUAR FOR MEN ULTIMATE POWER EDT 100ML (For Men)

Too short, unwieldy use of keywords, and most importantly, not following the style format. These errors can easily have your PDP delisted, so keep an eye out for them.

Too much vs too little: How to use keywords

In 2019, Amazon announced that titles which didn’t follow the rules would no longer be visible to customers in searches. This made the question of keywords much more relevant to sellers, as loading titles with every potentially relevant keyword is no longer an option.

To understand what qualifies as a relevant keyword, break down the information into its category:

1. What it is. Your primary keywords are the ones that define your product. Ex. Matte Lip Gloss.
2. How/where it can be used. Ex: Outdoor Cushions
3. Benefits. Ex: Waterproof Mascara
4. Product specifics – that could mean size, quantity or for whom the product is made, depending on what you’re selling. Ex: XL Pads/ Orthopaedic Shoes.

Sequence the information according to relevance, keeping in mind the basics of good grammar. Product name comes first, but adjectives before the noun. Uses and benefits should ideally follow, and size and quantity right at the end. Try and avoid repeats, especially if your product title already has the primary use/benefit/specifics mentioned.

A title that ranked highly in keyword usage on NittyGritti’s platform:

FACESCANADA Weightless Matte Finish Foundation – Beige 03, 18ml Ultra Blendable Smooth Texture, Natural Matte Finish, Anti-Ageing, Grape Extract, Shea Butter, Olive Seed Oil Enriched

The brand has tidily entered every possible relevant keyword into the title and you don’t need to look much further to make a buy. 

Words that sell: Things to think about when you’re finalizing your product titles

• Do a thorough check of keyword listings to see if there are less frequently used words that are relevant to your product. This might come in handy if you haven’t used up your 200 characters. Customers very often think in much more detail than sellers.
• Take a look at competitor product titles. Check sellers’ rankings, note the best practices and apply them to your own use of keywords.
• Audit your ASINs at regular intervals to ensure that they’re a) following regulations, b) optimized. AI services like NittyGritti can audit your entire set of product listings in one go and give you a detailed summary on product titles, images, features and more. You’ll get to know what’s wrong with your titles, what’s not in format or doesn’t follow the style guidelines, and suggestions on how and where to improve.
• Make sure your titles are readable. It might seem like a good idea to throw in every keyword that’s vaguely related and assume that customers will find you by the power of algorithm. But a garbled message is more likely to be dismissed than given attention. If your customer is struggling to find the product name in the product title, you’ve already lost them.

If you’d like more hands-on help with Amazon product titles, features, images and description, visit us at nittygritti.com and we’ll take on your entire inventory, with a simple, budget-friendly plan.