Amazon Changed SEO Again — And No One Told You

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If you’ve been selling on Amazon for a while, you already know one truth: Amazon SEO never stays the same for long. Just when you think you’ve cracked the code, something shifts behind the scenes. The latest change? Alt-text is no longer indexing.

This means all those keywords you’ve been carefully placing in your product images’ alt-text might no longer help your products show up in Amazon search results. But don’t panic — here’s what this update really means, how it affects your listings, and what you can do right now to stay ahead.

What Happened to Alt-Text?

Until recently, alt-text (the descriptive text behind your product images) helped Amazon’s algorithm understand what your listing was about. Sellers could add keywords to alt-text, helping their products appear in relevant search results.

However, Amazon quietly changed that. As of late 2024, alt-text is no longer indexed for organic ranking. In other words, putting keywords in alt-text won’t help your SEO visibility anymore.

This update caught many sellers off guard, especially those who heavily optimized their image metadata. But the good news is — Amazon’s search algorithm isn’t ignoring your listings entirely, it’s just shifting how it measures relevance and quality.

Why Amazon Made This Change

Amazon’s SEO updates usually aim to create a better shopping experience for customers. The alt-text change likely reflects that same goal.

Here’s why this shift makes sense from Amazon’s perspective:

  • Customer-first experience: Amazon wants images that clearly describe what shoppers see — not keyword-stuffed tags meant to game the algorithm.

  • Cleaner data for AI: With AI-driven visual search becoming more common, Amazon needs clean, descriptive image data that aligns with customer queries, not SEO hacks.

  • Focus on listing accuracy: Amazon continues prioritizing listing content that accurately represents products. That means emphasizing high-quality titles, bullet points, and A+ Content over hidden metadata.

In short, Amazon wants sellers to write for humans first, algorithms second.

What This Means for Sellers

If you’ve been relying on alt-text as part of your SEO strategy, it’s time to shift your focus. But don’t worry — the fundamentals of strong listing optimization still apply.

Here’s what to expect moving forward:

  1. Alt-text still matters for accessibility. Even though it’s not indexed, alt-text still helps visually impaired shoppers understand your images — and Amazon values accessibility compliance.

  2. Keyword placement now matters more than ever in other areas:

  • Product titles

  • Bullet points

  • Descriptions

  • Backend search terms

  • A+ Content modules

  1. Images still play a huge role in conversions, even if they don’t directly impact SEO. High-quality visuals help you win clicks, improve engagement, and increase sales.

So while the SEO weight of alt-text has disappeared, your listing’s visual and written quality still determines how well you perform on Amazon.

What You Should Do Now

Here’s how to adapt your Amazon SEO strategy to this latest change:

1. Reassess Your Keyword Strategy

Review where your most important keywords live in your listings. If you’ve been depending on alt-text for indexing, move those terms into your titles, bullets, and descriptions. Use natural, benefit-driven phrasing — not keyword stuffing.

2. Focus on Backend Search Terms

Your backend keywords are more valuable than ever. Amazon uses this hidden field to help match your listings with relevant customer searches. Make sure you fill it with synonyms, misspellings, and long-tail phrases that customers might use.

3. Optimize A+ Content for Relevance

Even though A+ Content doesn’t always directly affect organic SEO, it influences conversion rates, which the algorithm does reward. Use strong visuals, concise copy, and consistent branding.

4. Maintain High-Quality Images

Alt-text may no longer drive traffic, but images still drive clicks and trust. Use multiple angles, lifestyle photos, and infographics that clearly show your product’s features and benefits.

5. Stay Updated on Amazon SEO Shifts

SEO on Amazon changes frequently, often without public announcements. Staying updated through expert resources and professional marketplace management helps you stay compliant and competitive.

Why You Shouldn’t Ignore This

Even small SEO changes can have big impacts on your sales. When keywords suddenly stop indexing, your rankings can dip — sometimes overnight. That means fewer eyes on your listings, fewer clicks, and lower conversions.

But sellers who stay flexible tend to bounce back quickly. Amazon rewards consistency and content accuracy, so if your listings are strong in every other area, this alt-text shift shouldn’t set you back for long.

In fact, this change can even help level the playing field. Sellers who relied too much on hidden keyword tricks are losing their advantage — giving high-quality listings a better chance to rise.

The Bigger Picture: Amazon SEO Is Evolving

This update is part of a larger trend: Amazon is gradually moving away from keyword-heavy tactics toward intent-based search.

That means the algorithm is getting smarter about understanding what customers actually want, not just what words they type.

Think of it this way — Amazon’s SEO today is less about “keyword density” and more about context, relevance, and trust. The better your content matches real customer needs, the better your listing will perform.

This is where many sellers struggle, especially as updates pile up. Managing your brand and listings now requires not just SEO awareness but strategic oversight — something Chief Marketplace Officer can handle effectively.


How Chief Marketplace Officer Can Help

A Chief Marketplace Officer (CMO) specializes in brand management and Amazon strategy. With so many updates, it’s easy to overlook small changes that can affect your visibility or cause compliance issues.

CMO helps by:

  • Monitoring Amazon’s algorithm changes in real time.

  • Updating your listings to stay compliant and competitive.

  • Managing your brand voice, visuals, and A+ content to ensure consistency.

  • Preventing costly listing errors and downtime.

With expert guidance, you can stay ahead of every SEO shift and focus on scaling your business instead of reacting to changes.

Final Thoughts: Adapt, Don’t Panic

Alt-text may no longer be part of Amazon’s SEO mix, but that doesn’t mean your efforts were wasted. This change simply reinforces Amazon’s ongoing message — focus on creating accurate, customer-first listings.

Keep optimizing your titles, bullets, and backend keywords. Maintain high-quality visuals. Stay compliant. And if managing these constant changes feels overwhelming, consider bringing in Chief Marketplace Officer to help guide your brand and listing management.

Amazon’s SEO will keep evolving, but sellers who stay informed, flexible, and focused on quality will always come out ahead.

Stay proactive, stay adaptable, and keep your listings ready for whatever update comes next.

Amazon package with Prime tape and logo.
By William Fikhman February 2, 2026
From the inside, Amazon looks manageable. Listings are live. Ads are running. Sales are steady. On the surface, everything appears fine. From the outside—from an agency’s vantage point—it rarely is. That gap between perception and reality is where most Amazon growth stalls. Not because brands aren’t working hard, but because they’re too close to the machine to see where it’s leaking. Agencies don’t see Amazon the way brands do. They see patterns. Brands See Their Catalog. Agencies See the System. Most brands evaluate Amazon one SKU at a time: Is this listing converting? Is this keyword ranking? Is this campaign profitable? Agencies zoom out. They see how: One weak image suppresses an entire category One inconsistent title structure confuses AI systems One risky compliance shortcut creates long-term fragility One misaligned SKU drags down brand trust across the catalog Brands optimize pieces. Agencies optimize interactions . That difference changes everything. Brands See Performance. Agencies See Signal Quality. A brand sees: Clicks ACOS Sessions Revenue An agency asks: Why did the click happen? What signal did that click send to Amazon? Did the shopper hesitate? Did the listing reinforce intent—or dilute it? Did the ad amplify clarity—or expose confusion? Two brands can have identical metrics and wildly different futures. Because Amazon doesn’t reward activity. It rewards confidence signals . Agencies are trained to read those signals early—before performance drops show up in reports. Brands Fix Symptoms. Agencies Diagnose Structure. When sales dip, brands often react tactically: Add more keywords Increase bids Swap images Rewrite bullets Launch promos Agencies step back and ask a harder question: “What’s structurally misaligned?” Is the listing trying to serve too many use cases? Is the imagery saying one thing while the copy says another? Is the brand positioning inconsistent across SKUs? Is the catalog teaching Amazon what the brand isn’t ? Most Amazon problems don’t need more effort. They need better alignment. Brands Think Like Sellers. Agencies Think Like Amazon. This is the blind spot that matters most. Brands think: “How do I sell this product?” Agencies think: “How does Amazon decide when to show, trust, and recommend this product?” That mindset shift changes how everything is built: Titles are written for interpretation, not stuffing Images are designed for recognition, not decoration A+ content resolves doubt instead of adding features Ads reinforce positioning instead of chasing volume Agencies don’t optimize for Amazon. They optimize with Amazon’s decision logic in mind. Brands See Today. Agencies See the Compounding Effect. Small inconsistencies feel harmless in isolation. Agencies see how they compound: Slight messaging drift becomes brand confusion Minor policy risks become account fragility Inconsistent visuals weaken AI confidence Short-term wins erode long-term authority Amazon rewards brands that behave predictably over time. Agencies are paid to protect that predictability—even when it means saying no to short-term gains. Brands Focus on What’s Visible. Agencies Focus on What’s Silent. Some of the most dangerous Amazon problems don’t announce themselves. Agencies notice: When conversion friction increases before revenue drops When AI visibility softens without ranking loss When shoppers hesitate instead of bouncing When ads prop up listings that should stand on their own Silence on Amazon is rarely neutral. It’s usually a warning. Why This Perspective Gap Exists Brands live inside their product. Agencies live across hundreds of catalogs, categories, and outcomes. That exposure builds pattern recognition brands can’t develop alone—no matter how smart or experienced they are. It’s not about effort. It’s about distance. From Clicks to Conversions: Partner With Experts Who See the Whole Board At Chief Marketplace Officer , we don’t just execute tasks—we interpret systems. We see Amazon the way it actually works, not the way it appears from inside a single brand. Our team of Amazon specialists: Identifies structural issues before they show up in performance reports Aligns images, copy, ads, and A+ into one clear decision signal Designs listings for AI interpretation and human confidence Protects brand trust while scaling visibility and revenue Amazon sellers don’t fail because they don’t work hard. They stall because they can’t see what’s holding them back. That’s where we come in. Ready to Turn Browsers Into Buyers? 👉 Book Your Strategy Call with CMO Now Final Thoughts Most Amazon problems aren’t obvious. They’re systemic. And the hardest part isn’t fixing them—it’s recognizing them. Agencies don’t have better ideas because they’re smarter. They have a better perspective because they’re farther away. On Amazon, distance creates clarity. And clarity is what unlocks scale. Because the brands that win aren’t the ones doing more. They’re the ones finally seeing what’s been there all along.
Laptop screen with Amazon Seller Central logo, Account Health Auditing progress bar. Shopping bags, shopping cart.
By William Fikhman February 2, 2026
After a few Amazon audits, you start spotting mistakes. After a few dozen, you recognize trends. After hundreds, you stop looking at tactics altogether. You start seeing systems. At scale, Amazon success isn’t about clever tricks or isolated optimizations. It’s about how well a brand aligns with how Amazon evaluates , trusts , and recommends products over time. And after auditing hundreds of Amazon brands across categories, price points, and maturity levels, the lessons are surprisingly consistent. Most Brands Aren’t Broken—They’re Misaligned Very few brands we audit are “bad.” Many are talented. Well-funded. Experienced. But they’re misaligned. Their listings say one thing while their images imply another. Their ads chase keywords their listings can’t support. Their A+ content adds information but removes clarity. Their catalog grows without a unifying logic. On Amazon, misalignment doesn’t just slow growth—it quietly erodes trust. And trust is the currency Amazon cares about most. Conversion Problems Rarely Start With Copy Brands often assume low conversion is a wording issue: “We need stronger bullets.” “We need better keywords.” “We need more benefits.” But audits show something different. Conversion issues usually start before the copy: Images that don’t instantly define the product Main images that blend into the search results Visual stacks that force interpretation Use cases that aren’t obvious at a glance When shoppers hesitate visually, copy never gets a chance to work. High-performing brands don’t persuade harder—they clarify sooner. Most Listings Try to Say Too Much One of the most common audit findings is over-communication. Brands try to: Serve every use case Appeal to every audience Capture every keyword Preempt every objection The result is a listing that feels busy, vague, and exhausting. Amazon—and shoppers—reward decisiveness. Listings that win audits usually: Commit to a primary outcome Clearly define who the product is for Make tradeoffs obvious instead of hidden Remove unnecessary options Clarity isn’t restrictive. It’s liberating. Ads Expose Listing Weakness Faster Than Anything Else PPC performance is one of the fastest diagnostic tools in an audit. When ads struggle, it’s rarely because: Bids are too low Keywords are wrong Campaigns aren’t complex enough It’s because the listing can’t convert the promise the ad makes. Audits repeatedly show: High CPCs tied to unclear positioning Poor ROAS driven by visual mismatch Wasted spend propping up structurally weak listings Ads don’t fix problems. They reveal them. Brand Consistency Is the Hidden Growth Lever Across hundreds of audits, one pattern stands out clearly: Brands that scale smoothly feel predictable . Not boring—predictable. Their: Titles follow a consistent logic Images reinforce the same promise A+ content repeats—not reinvents—the story Reviews validate the same outcomes Catalog feels intentional, not accidental This predictability makes Amazon confident recommending them. Inconsistent brands don’t just confuse shoppers. They confuse the algorithm. Compliance Issues Are Usually Design Problems Most compliance risks we uncover aren’t malicious or careless. They’re structural. Claims hidden in images. Implications buried in icons. Language that feels “safe” in isolation but risky in context. Brands focus on policy rules . Audits reveal the importance of policy interpretation . Listings that feel restrained, clear, and factual convert better and survive longer. Compliance isn’t the enemy of creativity. It’s the framework that protects scale. The Best Brands Think Like Teachers After hundreds of audits, one truth becomes obvious: The strongest Amazon brands teach instead of sell. They: Explain what the product does in plain language Guide shoppers toward the right choice Reduce comparison fatigue Set expectations honestly Let confidence replace hype As Amazon leans further into AI-driven discovery and decision support, this teaching mindset becomes a competitive advantage. Amazon doesn’t promote confusion. It promotes understanding. From Clicks to Conversions: Partner With Experts Who See the Patterns At Chief Marketplace Officer , we don’t audit to generate checklists—we audit to reveal systems. Our experience across hundreds of Amazon brands allows us to see: What quietly suppresses growth What signals Amazon trusts What patterns repeat across winning catalogs What breaks long before revenue does Our team of Amazon specialists: Diagnoses structural misalignment, not surface-level issues Aligns images, copy, ads, and A+ into one cohesive decision signal Builds catalog-level consistency that scales safely Designs listings for long-term trust—not short-term spikes Amazon sellers don’t need more tactics. They need perspective earned through repetition. That’s where we come in. Ready to Turn Browsers Into Buyers? 👉 Book Your Strategy Call with CMO Now Final Thoughts Auditing hundreds of Amazon brands teaches you one thing above all else: Success isn’t accidental—and failure is rarely sudden. Most outcomes are earned quietly, through alignment, restraint, and clarity. The brands that win aren’t doing more. They’re doing fewer things better —and doing them consistently. On Amazon, experience isn’t just knowledge. It’s pattern recognition. And pattern recognition is what turns effort into scale.