What Does an Amazon SEO Agency Do?
An Amazon SEO agency handles the systematic optimization of your product listings for Amazon search. That sounds simple, but it is not. Amazon SEO is fundamentally different from Google SEO. The A9 algorithm evaluates different signals, ranking factors shift faster, and the connection between organic ranking and paid advertising is far tighter on Amazon than it is on Google.
What many sellers underestimate: Amazon SEO is not a one-time project. Keywords shift, competitors optimize their listings, Amazon adjusts the algorithm. An agency that rewrites your bullet points once and then disappears is not an SEO agency. It is a freelancer who completed a task. Real Amazon listing optimization is an ongoing process with regular monitoring, testing, and adjustment.
The market for Amazon SEO services is cluttered. Between freelancers on Fiverr and specialized agencies with integrated teams, there is a world of difference. This post shows you what services to expect, how to identify quality, and when investing in an Amazon SEO agency actually pays off.
Core Services of a Professional Amazon SEO Agency
A professional Amazon SEO agency covers significantly more than keyword research and listing copy. The following areas are part of the standard offering.
Keyword research and keyword strategy: Not just finding the obvious head keywords, but mapping the entire keyword landscape for each product. That includes long-tail keywords, seasonal search terms, competitor keywords, and backend keywords. A good agency works data-driven with professional tools, not with gut feeling and Amazon autosuggest alone.
Listing architecture: Title, bullet points, product description, and backend fields must function as a system. The title carries the most important keywords, bullet points deliver conversion-relevant information with secondary keywords, the description captures long-tail traffic, and the backend covers everything that does not fit in the visible area. This architecture must be developed individually for each product.
A+ Content strategy: A+ Content is not a direct ranking factor, but it massively influences conversion rate. And conversion rate is a ranking factor. An SEO agency that ignores A+ Content does not understand the connection between content and ranking. The best agencies work closely with their design team or have both capabilities in-house.
Indexation monitoring: Amazon does not automatically index every keyword you put into a listing. A good agency regularly checks which keywords are actually indexed and which are not. This sounds like a detail, but it can mean the difference between page one and invisibility.
Rank tracking and performance reporting: Where do your products stand for the most important keywords? How are rankings developing over time? Which actions produced which results? Without systematic tracking, you are working blind. A professional amazon listing optimization agency delivers this data in clear reports with actionable recommendations.
Competitive analysis: What are the top sellers in your category doing differently? Which keywords do they use that you are missing? How are their listings structured? This analysis is not a one-time exercise but must be repeated regularly because the competitive landscape constantly evolves.
Amazon SEO Agency vs. DIY: When Outsourcing Makes Sense
You can do Amazon SEO internally. The question is whether that makes economic sense. The answer depends on three factors.
Catalog size: With 5 products, you can probably manage SEO yourself. With 50 or 500 products, it becomes a full-time job. The question is whether you want to fill that position internally or whether an agency that does the same thing across hundreds of accounts works more efficiently. In most cases, the agency is faster and brings benchmark data that is not available internally.
Expertise: Amazon SEO requires specialized knowledge that constantly evolves. If your internal team does not have dedicated Amazon SEO expertise but treats SEO as one of many tasks, depth is missing. Half-hearted optimization is often worse than none because it creates a false sense of security.
Tool costs: Professional Amazon SEO tools cost between $200 and $1,000 per month. Add internal personnel costs. When you add it all up, the total investment for in-house Amazon SEO often lands in a similar range as the cost of a specialized agency, just without the experience across hundreds of accounts.
General rule: if Amazon is a significant revenue channel for you and you are doing over $100,000 in monthly revenue, professional SEO management almost always pays for itself. Whether internal or external depends on your team structure.
How to Identify a Good Amazon SEO Agency
The market is full of providers that list Amazon SEO as a service. These criteria help with the selection.
Data-driven approach: Ask which tools the agency uses and how they make keyword decisions. If the answer stays vague or boils down to "experience," the analytical foundation is missing. Good agencies can walk you through their process step by step and show which data sources they use.
Proven results: Ranking improvements, traffic increases, conversion rate optimization. Ask for specific case studies, ideally in your category or a comparable one. Be cautious with agencies that only advertise revenue growth without breaking down the SEO-specific metrics.
Understanding of the PPC-SEO connection: Amazon SEO and PPC are not separate disciplines. A good agency understands how PPC data informs the SEO strategy and vice versa. If the agency only does SEO and completely ignores PPC, a critical data stream is missing.
Regular reporting: How often are reports delivered? Which metrics are tracked? Is there a dedicated point of contact? An agency that sends a generic PDF once a quarter is not taking your project seriously enough.
Transparent communication: A good agency explains what they do and why. You do not need to be an Amazon expert, but you should understand at all times which actions are running and what results they produce. If you feel the agency is deliberately opaque, that is a red flag.
Common Mistakes When Choosing an Agency
These mistakes come up repeatedly when sellers hire an SEO agency for the first time.
Focusing only on price: The cheapest option is almost never the best. Amazon SEO requires time, tools, and expertise. If an agency wants to optimize your entire catalog for $500 a month, ask yourself how that is economically viable. Typically, you get template work without individual analysis.
Not defining clear KPIs: "We will optimize your listings" is not a KPI. Define upfront which metrics you want to track: organic traffic share, ranking positions for main keywords, indexation rate, conversion rate. Without measurable goals, you cannot evaluate whether the agency is delivering.
Giving up too quickly: Amazon SEO takes time. Ranking changes typically show after 4 to 8 weeks. If you see no results after one month and switch agencies, you restart the process every time. Give the relationship at least 3 months before making a judgment.
Treating SEO in isolation: Amazon SEO does not work in a vacuum. If your images are poor, your pricing is off, or your reviews are below 4 stars, no amount of keyword optimization can compensate. A good agency raises these points even when they fall outside their direct scope of services.
Amazon SEO and PPC: Why Both Belong Together
The separation of SEO and PPC on Amazon is artificial. Both channels influence each other, and the data from one channel is gold for the other.
PPC campaigns generate search term data that shows which keywords actually convert. This data is more valuable than any keyword research because it is based on real purchase behavior. An Amazon SEO agency that has no access to your PPC data is working with one hand tied behind its back.
The reverse is also true: when your listing is SEO-optimized and ranks well organically, the pressure on PPC decreases. You need less ad budget to maintain visibility because the organic position takes over a larger share of total traffic. That lowers your TACoS directly.
The best solution is an agency or agency setup that integrates both. If you have SEO and PPC with different providers, at minimum make sure both sides have access to each other's data and coordinate regularly. Without this bridge, you are leaving potential on the table.
When to Hire an Amazon SEO Agency
Not every seller needs an SEO agency immediately. But there are clear signals that the time has come.
Your organic rankings are stagnating or declining even though your product is good and has solid reviews. This suggests competitors are actively optimizing their listings and you are falling behind. An agency can close the gap quickly.
You regularly launch new products and each launch consumes weeks of internal capacity for listing creation and keyword research. An agency with established processes accelerates this significantly and brings launch experience from other categories.
Your PPC ACoS is rising despite optimization. Often the problem is not the campaigns but the listings. If the conversion rate is off, PPC cannot compensate. An Amazon SEO agency identifies conversion weaknesses in your listings and fixes them systematically.
You are expanding to new marketplaces. Each marketplace has its own keywords, different search behaviors, and different competitors. Simply translating listings is not enough. An agency with international expertise ensures your Amazon strategy works on every marketplace, not just your home market.
Questions about your Amazon strategy?
We manage brands with over €300 million+ in sales on Amazon. Let's talk.
