Research shows that almost half of all online shopping searches lead to Amazon today. In fact, Amazon generated total revenue of $469.8 billion in 2021. This makes it the biggest e-retailer website in the U.S., which is one of the world’s greatest eCommerce markets. Online business owners who use Amazon are enjoying wider selling opportunities than ever. But this also implies that competition on Amazon is getting tougher and tougher by the day. With such fierce competition, sellers are finding it harder to gain success. One cannot afford to make any mistakes, especially in their product listings. Or else, all the efforts put into this business will be ruined! On that note, let me introduce you to the 3 Most Common Mistakes in Amazon Listings. Please steer clear of such mistakes, and make the most out of your Amazon listings!

Mistake 1: Illogical Titles Due To Excessive Keywords

This is something that I have seen repeating for ages. I cannot emphasize the importance of putting keywords in a product title. But at the same time, one cannot stuff every single keyword that you can think of into a title!

While keywords make up the basis for search terms used by Amazon shoppers, sellers should always be careful about how to insert them into their product titles. Ultimately, a product title needs to be clear, concise, and to the point. If you stuff all kinds of keywords into your product titles, you are just going to make it hard to understand.

Once shoppers have to pause and reconsider again, your listing will not be effective. Nowadays, people are having shorter and shorter attention spans. No one will be patient enough to ponder over what your product title means for more than 5 seconds. They will straightaway move on to the next product and your product will be ‘out of sight, out of mind’!

Hence, no matter what you do, always keep the listing title easy to read. Do this and you will soon find sales increasing for your products!

Mistake 2: Never Vetting The Listing Draft Before Publishing

At school, any piece of writing without a second check is not going to get you fantastic grades. The same applies to the writing of your product listings. I am often surprised by how so many sellers write their listing copy directly in the “Add a Product” section. They type it in without vetting the content and publish it without a second thought!

Some sellers may argue: “But it’s just a small typo mistake!” What they don’t realize is that these ‘small’ mistakes are going to irritate shoppers a lot. The wrong use of words may cause confusion about your product. Meanwhile, incorrect grammar and inapt sentence structure will hinder your listing’s readability. In the end, shoppers may skip your listing altogether. If you don’t believe me, put yourself in the shoes of your customers. What will happen when you come across some listings that sound illogical?

You may hesitate for a while, before deciding to give it a miss for conservative purposes. Or you may roll your eyes and give up trying to understand the listing altogether. After all, there are dozens of similar options available. Why not just scroll to the next product?



And that’s what all online business owners dread to see. For when a shopper starts to hesitate, their desire to buy will be halted. Sellers will very likely lose that sale!
As such, please be extra careful with your listing copies. Write a draft on some word processor first, and use editing apps if required. When you are done with the draft, read it out to hear what it sounds like. It will be even better if you can get others to help you vet it. Revise the content thoroughly, and upload only when you are sure that your draft is clear of almost all errors. That should do the trick!

Mistake 3: Inadequate Optimization

In case you don’t know, Amazon changes its algorithm all the time. Hence, you need to keep testing the different aspects of your listing to see if it is still effective. Saying that, many sellers often do not optimize their product listings well enough.

Take the Amazon product listing title for instance. Many sellers only know that there is a 200-character limit for an Amazon product title. But do you know that not every word within this length can be seen on the different Amazon platforms? Take a look below to see what I mean.



Now, the above images come from the same laptop stand listing. The full product title is 28 words, and 190 characters in total. From No. 1 to No. 5 image, each represents how the product title looks on a certain Amazon platform. While the product title doesn’t exceed the character limit, notice how not all words are seen?

This is because the number of words visible in a title varies for the Amazon browser edition, and on the Amazon app. The type of devices (desktop, tablet, or smartphone) shoppers use will also affect how much of a title they can see. If you place some keywords at the end of a title, shoppers looking for these words may not see them at first glance. For example, let’s say someone is looking for an adjustable laptop stand for a 17-inch laptop. If he or she comes across this listing while using the Amazon app on their smartphone, they may swipe it away, thinking that it doesn’t fit their criteria! Now, isn’t that a great loss?

From my experience, the first 70 to 80 characters of an Amazon product title are always visible. This is regardless of which platform or devices shoppers are using. What this means is that you should always insert the most useful information in this length. That way, shoppers on the various Amazon platforms will see what they need straight away. They can then decide whether to click into your listing, which is the first step to buying your product. As such, do be very mindful of how you want to write your product title!

With this, I will end my post. I hope you are more confident of avoiding these common mistakes now! Stay tuned, and continue following me if you want to know more about setting up an Amazon business!