If your product pages aren’t showing up on Amazon, it’s possible that you’ve used a term or phrase that’s on the Amazon restricted keywords list. Amazon doesn’t publish its list of banned keywords, though, so it can be hard to know where you went wrong.

In general, Amazon frowns on marketers making unproven claims or using terms that buyers might consider “spammy.” Follow these Amazon listing best practices to make sure that your product pages don’t run afoul of Amazon’s content guidelines.

List of Amazon Banned Keywords

Although Amazon doesn’t publish its banned keywords list, using these terms means that it’s highly likely your listing won’t show up in search results. Terms in the Amazon restricted keywords list include:

• Guaranteed
• Award-winning
• Special offer
• Best price
• Black Friday
• Bonus
• Cheap
• Buy with confidence

Amazon Product Title Restrictions

Amazon has guidelines for product titles, too. Your titles:

• Can’t contain special characters, such as ?, !, or #
• Can’t exceed 200 characters in length
• Can’t contain promotional language
• Must include information specific to the product, such as color or size

Amazon Content Restrictions

Even if you’re not using terms on the Amazon restricted keywords list, your listing could disappear from Amazon search results if the page information doesn’t pass content moderation.

Guidelines include:

• Listings can’t mention price-related terms, such as “free” or “affordable”
• Listings can’t include boastful claims such as “top-rated” or “best on the market”
• Listings can’t mention Amazon refunds or returns
• Listings can’t compare your product to products from other sellers
• Specifications must be consistent with those provided by the manufacturer

Sustainability Claims Restrictions

On Amazon, sellers aren’t allowed to make claims about product sustainability without sufficient evidence. Claims you’re allowed to make, if true, include:

• Your product contains no hazardous materials
• Your product contains renewable resources
• Buyers can recycle or compost your product

How to Find Out Why Your Listings Violate Amazon Guidelines

If your items aren’t showing up in Amazon search results or your pages aren’t updating to reflect recent changes, it could mean that something’s wrong with your content. Often, Amazon won’t contact you to tell you more, so you’ll have to dig deeper to find out.

Check Seller Central

If there’s a problem with your listings, you can usually find out what it is by checking your Amazon Seller Central page. Go to the Account Health dashboard and check out your Policy Compliance rating. If your listing violates Amazon’s list of restricted products, you’ll see information about the violation on this page.

Review Your Images

Amazon images must be relevant to the product on each page. If you accidentally uploaded an image of a different product, Amazon might hide your listing until you remove it.

Look at Customer Feedback

Regularly read your customer reviews to look for problems with your listings and issues with your products that you may need to address. If customers complain that your item wasn’t as advertised, for example, the listing might include misleading language or incorrect details that you’ll need to change.

Make Sure Your Links Work

If you’ve misspelled your links or didn’t format them correctly, they could lead customers to the wrong page or not work at all. Check each link on your page to ensure that they direct buyers to the right place.

How to Write a Winning Product Description

Here’s how you can create a compelling product description that attracts customers without breaking Amazon’s content guidelines.

Include Just Enough Details

Customers won’t buy your products on Amazon if you don’t include enough details about them. Mention important information such as size, color, weight, features, and included accessories. However, don’t go overboard on details if your product doesn’t warrant it. 

For example, if you’re selling an inexpensive and simple gadget, you probably don’t need a product description that’s several paragraphs long. For a more expensive item with a lengthy feature list, though, customers will appreciate a description with plenty of details.

Add Images and Video

Every product needs at least one image, but it’s better to add more. Include photos of the product from every angle, plus pictures of any accessories included. If you’re selling clothing, photos that depict a real person modeling the garments can help customers visualize how the clothes will look on them.

Videos that show how the product works can inspire sales, too. Use high-quality videos with plenty of details and good lighting. Blurry, shaky, and low-resolution videos could make customers think that your product is poor quality, too.

Aim for Accuracy

Amazon may delist your product if the description includes inaccurate or misleading claims. Don’t say that your product has certain features or comes with accessories if it doesn’t. If you make inaccurate claims, you’re likely to get hit with negative customer feedback, which can impact your Amazon seller account.

Avoid Errors and Confusing Language

Spelling and grammar errors don’t inspire customer confidence. Likewise, make sure details about product dimensions, weight, and features are correct. It’s also best to avoid acronyms, abbreviations, and technical jargon that customers might find difficult to understand.

Regularly Review Your Listings

If your product shows up in Amazon search results but you’re not getting any sales, you might have a problem with the content in your description. Inspect your product pages and look for issues such as:

• A lack of details
• Errors
• Poor-quality images
• Misleading titles

Negative customer reviews can scare people away from buying your product, too, so it’s smart to read your recent feedback. Reviews can clue you into problems with the product or customer service that you need to fix.

Need Help with Your Amazon Listings? Contact Click Fluency!

It can be confusing and frustrating if your products don’t appear on Amazon and you’re not sure why. If your items are missing from Amazon or you’re not making sales, let Click Fluency help you! We can check for issues such as Amazon duplicate listings, errors in descriptions, or terms in the Amazon restricted keywords list that can make your product disappear from the search results.

To learn more about our Amazon ads management services, book a discovery call with us today!