In Index Checker, Which Type of Index Is Most Important?

Bradley Sutton, Helium 10’s Director of Customer Success and Training, is back with more answers to your most sought-after questions. In this episode, Bradley is answering the question, “In Index Checker, which type of index is most important?”

 Neither is really more important, as long as you’re showing up for at least one type.

When it comes to Helium 10’s Index Checker tool, as long as your results show that you’re indexing for one of the available types (Field ASIN, Storefront, or Traditional), you are indeed searchable on Amazon.

For example, you might be indexed for Field ASIN, but not Traditional or Storefront – or vice versa. Again, as long as you’re showing as searchable for at least one category, you’ll be searchable from the Amazon front end.

Thus, in short, no one type is “more important” than the other. Is the last column in Index Checker – “cumulative” – checked? Then you’re good!

Don’t stop there, however – this is only the first part of why knowing if you’re indexed is helpful to you. After all, Index Checker only shows whether or not you’re searchable – invaluable information, yes, but what can you do with it? How is this helpful if you still only show up somewhere in the limbo of page 7 in search results?

Once you’re certain your ASINs are being indexed, fire up Helium 10’s Keyword Tracker tool. Here, you’ll enter the keywords you’ve determined are converting so that Keyword Tracker can track and record your progress over time. Here you can see trends and changes, especially any impact from changes you may have made to your listings, whether that be content, images, videos, etc. Drastic changes in Keyword Tracker’s reporting may also suggest outside changes, like new competition encroaching on your product space and competing against you for the same longtail keywords.

In this way, Index Checker and Keyword Tracker work together to ensure your products are live and relevant on the Amazon Marketplace. Keyword Tracker even has the option to report on your keyword rankings as often as every hour (using your allotted ‘boosts’) if you have a particular set of keywords that needs extra close monitoring.

Going back to indexing itself, however, let’s quickly review on ways to ensure you’re indexing.

One of the most important factors is relevancy. New or unethical sellers may try to ‘cheat’ the Amazon system by entering unrelated keywords or content into their listings to drive additional traffic. For example, if they’re selling “chicken dog chews,” they’ll add relevant keywords like “dog chew toys,” “chicken dog snacks,” etc. But then they might glance at the front page and see the most popular, trending items are Barbie dolls and duck pajamas for toddlers. So in their backend search terms, they enter “Barbie dolls” and “duck pajamas for toddlers.”

Amazon will recognize that these keywords are attempting to manipulate the system and will not index or even suppress your listing, making it unsearchable.

Another common issue is ensuring your product is in the correct product category. Like the irrelevant keyword manipulation above, some unethical sellers intentionally place their products in irrelevant but less competitive product categories to try to rank higher. Amazon also recognizes this and may suppress your listing accordingly.

Be sure to check on these common issues when troubleshooting indexing, and use Index Checker to ensure your ASINs are being indexed. Remember, as long as you’re indexing in at least one category, and the ‘cumulative’ column is checked, you’re golden.