Mobile First: The Importance of Optimising Amazon Content for a Mobile PDP

What makes mobile view so important? 

Smartphones and tablets are quick and intuitive to use, as well as being nearly always within arm’s reach. In Germany, 71% of online shoppers making purchases in 2020 did it using their phone; whilst in Spain and Italy it was nearly 83%. According to Amazon, mobile traffic accounts for between 60-80% of all traffic on their market places, depending on the product categories and country. As well as being a source of high volume traffic, it’s also rarely the case that users carefully read all the product information – rather they just glance at the first bits of information that catch their eye. If they can’t quickly and directly find out all the information they need about a product from that, customers are quick to swipe on to find their next potential purchase instead.

Content basics: The desktop structure Amazon PDP structure on Desktop

The order of content elements on a desktop Amazon PDP is well documented, regardless of the product category or country-specific marketplace. 

This order isn’t just determined by the relevance of the content but also by the relevance of the search terms: Whilst the title, bullet points, and product description are indexed on Amazon and therefore have significant influence on the SEO ranking, A+ content isn’t indexed in any way by Amazon. Since A+ plays a huge role in sales conversion and is indexed by Google anyway, we have published our own step by step guide to A+ content creation.

Content elements in mobile view

In mobile view, the order of the elements (with the exception of the title, which always appears first) can vary wildly. It’s worth stating from the outset that we can’t yet determine a strict country or category specific content order. Therefore it’s best to play it safe and ensure that each individual content order contains all the necessary important product information for the user to make a purchasing decision at a glance. In this way, you can ensure that the arrangement of the content has minimal influence on the success of the product. This not only applies when it comes to the optimisation of text elements on the PDP, but also to the optimisation of Amazon product images.

Furthermore, it appears that the operating system and whether or not products are searched for via the app or in a browser, has no influence on the order in which content elements are displayed.

Amazon content on mobile: our test

A brief note in advance – As the title and product images are always listed as carousel modules at the top of the mobile product detail page, we have excluded them from the presentation of our test results.

Category Baby: MAM

In the “Baby” category, there appear to be no differences between countries when it comes to the order of the content elements. A test with the MAM Easy Start Anti-Colic Bottle, as well as a competing product showed the content in all countries followed the same order:

1. A+ content
2. Product description
3. Bullet points

There was no separate product gallery.

For baby products, it could be that no matter for which country the Amazon PDP is optimised, special attention should be paid to the A+ content and the bullet points, as both elements are displayed in the mobile view and the desktop view directly after the initial product title and images. 

MAM Easy Start Anti-Colic 160 ml 2-Pack

Category DIY: Henkel Adhesives

An in-depth look at the DIY category reveals not only some differences between the various marketplaces, but also between individual products in these categories (as of May 2021).

UniBond RE-NEW, White Silicone Sealant for Kitchen & Bath

Pattex Crocodile Power Super glue

Whilst the layout for the super glue for the three countries in which this product is available is the same, (with the exception of the missing image gallery in Italy) the content order for the silicone sealant is very different for each market. For a start, the number of elements that are displayed on the mobile view Amazon PDP varies, but then the Amazon.de page begins with the image gallery and A+ content, whilst on the UK page, the bullets are displayed first. For Spain, the gallery and product description are missing entirely!

The differences between product subcategories are plain to see for both products on the German version of Amazon: Both have all the content elements, but they are displayed in a completely different order!

Category Beauty: NIVEA

NIVEA Creme

When it comes to the beauty category, the content appears to be laid out much the same as with the earlier baby category example: 

1. A+ Content
2. Product Description
3. Bullet points

However there is an example when it comes to the Swedish marketplace, as there the bullet points come before the description. Even competitor products in the category have their content determined by a similar order across all marketplaces.

Possible explanations for the order of Amazon content

There could be a multitude of reasons behind the various content elements in Amazon’s mobile view: 

1. Amazon-led A/B Testing

Amazon conducts many tests on its platform. An example of just one is how reviews are managed: Amazon trialed a feature where it was temporarily only possible to respond to Amazon reviews in incognito mode

The separate display of packaging sizes under the title in the search overview (see screenshot) also caught our attention: For some products, the packaging size is also displayed under the title on the search results page. This is particularly helpful if the packaging size is normally at the end of the title, but this is cut off (see 4th product).

2. Category- and market-specific preferences

Amazon could have already learned that various elements on the Amazon PDP are more important to different shoppers depending on their country and the category they’re shopping in. This could lead to higher conversion rates when these particular elements are displayed more prominently. If true, it is then even more important for sellers to make sure all their content is optimised.

Conclusion: No hard and fast rules for Amazon content

As can be seen from the above examples, there are no general rules for the ordering of content on Amazon PDPs, regardless of country or product category. Furthermore, we are assuming that Amazon is continually testing the order of products, so it’s possible that the above examples may soon no longer be up to date! 

Recommendations for content creation for a mobile view

Overall when creating content for Amazon, it’s recommended to always optimise for the smallest possible screen shoppers will use: The Amazon mobile app. To this end, the first 70 characters of the title, the first two bullet points, and the product description take on even greater importance than usual, since they are the only content elements guaranteed to be displayed.

Below we outline four recommendations to best optimise your content for mobile: 

1. The most important search terms, information, as well as packaging size should be contained within the first 70 characters of the title. In addition to that, other important search terms and product information should be mentioned in the first two bullet points. Discover more tips in our Amazon Content Hacks, our bi-weekly update on LinkedIn.

2. Every content element should provide sufficient information to draw a purchasing decision. If for example, the Amazon product description and/or image gallery isn’t shown in a few countries, then all the necessary product information should be able to be found in the bullet points or through Amazon A+ content. The same goes for the integration of search terms: To ensure the algorithm doesn’t have to search for long-winded search queries, there should be as many keywords as possible within each content element.

3. Most importantly: It pays to try it out yourself! Before starting a completely new SEO-optimised content creation from scratch, why not test randomly for products of a category, to see which element appears in which position in the mobile view. This way you (temporarily, at least) on the safe side.

4. Monitoring is the be-all and end-all: By keeping your eye on your own content and the PDPs of your competitors, you can react quickly to any potential changes and thus ensure that the content fits the structure of the PDP at all times.