Amazon Product Titles - Best Practice?

Selling on Amazon Listings and Variations
21

I suspect that you might be referring to the SHC’s (“Seller Help Content”) FBA Product Title Requirements (link, old style, will redirect to Help Hub Revision v.), which for many years has included this:

"…
2. Titles must not contain characters for decoration, such as ~ ! * $ ? _ ~ { } # < > | * ; ^ ¬ ¦
…"

To be fair, the same or similar prohibition has for many years existed in various other SHC & CHC (“Customer-facing Help Content”) pages, various BTGs (“Browse Tree Guides”) & Category-specific Style Guides - sometimes, but not invariably, with that same text as reproduced above, or in a few cases one or another variation of the specified Special Characters List - but it must be admitted that the Editorial Team has been engaged in paring down what were once detailed specifications ever since the 2018 Help Consolidation Initiative first brooked dawn - a trend which has only accelerated with the 2020 Help Hub Revision Initiative; a prominent example of this phenomenon is the evolution of the long-time ‘parent-index’ page Product Title Conventions (link, old style), which in its current version includes no Special Character List at all - merely a relatively-vague implication that such does exist, for most-any machine language one chooses to use, apparently being considered sufficient.

I’ve never been a Handmade Artisan, but I long paid attention - in the Jive & Discourse iterations of the OSFE, outside of the Closed Handmade fora - to posts by those who are; you, Image, Puppy Love, Aerides, And Then Some, Baer, Joe, Celtic, Ana, Wode, Chimanimani, Elm Street, Otis, Dreamscape, Roots, Meredith, Moonstone, Wade, MMacBabies, and many another of y’all’s compatriots have taught me much over the years by having done so - and as a result I became aware that there were/are some fairly wide variances in the Handmade & Custom Program’s requirements and/or allowances.

Still, I was not until now aware that certain Special Characters were supported for Handmade PDP (“Product Detail Page”) Titles.

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22

I added my brand name to the start of my titles probably a year ago, after being told to do so in a phone call with an Amazon rep (it was one of those things they offered). No mention of adding Handmade, and I don’t think I’ll do that, since I don’t see the benefit of adding something people don’t search for?

People do search for my brand, so that’s beneficial.

I’m also making my titles much longer as I redo them using spreadsheets. I figure if the space is there, why not? And my bigger competitors on the Marketplace side use every character.

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23

A typical title for me:
Abalone Teardrop Layered Double Chain Necklace Cultured Freshwater Pearl Sterling Silver = 88 characters including spaces, all of which are needed. This doesn’t even include the length.

Some of my titles are a little shorter, and some are longer. Adding Brand + Handmade would put most of my titles over 100 spaces, so I add it to my search terms instead.

24

Are we allowed to put our band name in the description and/or bullet points?

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25

i put mine in the key words, and I always find all my things searching just on my shop name.

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26

I have my brand name in my bullets. When I had done that 1 on 1 listing optimization phone call last year he said he loved my bullet points so I’m assuming it’s ok.

  • Brand: ModernSwitch

  • Visit the Modern Switch store for other patterns.

  • Non Prime listings take 1-2 weeks to make.

  • Currently unavailable? More Prime listings are on the way!

  • Measurements: Single: 4.5" x 2.75"

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27

So on the Merchant side, Amazon (sometimes) automatically adds the Brand Name, to non-BR listings when created. :grimacing:

Personally, I don’t think that “handmade” should count against a listing title’s character limit but should be added, prominently, whether the ASIN is in the Handmade category or not. If you’re a Handmaker, you should have a box to check for every ASIN, that would add a label to the listing (like an Amazon’s Choice-type label).

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28

I was once chastised by other sellers in the sellers forum and got told NO. That was before I was brand registered.

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Generally speaking, that chastisement was almost certainly rendered in recognition of the various prohibitions in Amazon’s published policies in regards to Seller-specific information appearing in any aspect of an Amazon Global Catalog ASIN’s PDP that is under either direct (via enjoying DPC) or indirect (by virtue of the editing contribution being available, via inflated Flat-file Upload, or XML Feed, or MYI Editor, AND actually effective for making changes) control of said Seller, rather than under Amazon’s exclusive control (like badges, placement of Sponsored Ads, the various ‘suggested purchase’ alternatives, etc.).

Typically, even membership in the Brand Registry 2.0 Program does not negate that proscribing - w/ the notable exception of the demonstrable fact that 1P Vendor & 3P Seller Accounts recognized by Amazon as being domiciled in certain of it’s current 22 Global Marketplaces are, more often than not, simply issued a hall pass for e`en egregious violations of published policy.

Still, as we’ve been discussing here in this thread, Handmade really is - and always has been - a different beast.

Were it not for the execrable exposure of the OSFE’s Closed Handmade Forum by the NSFE, I sincerely doubt that I’d have the merest clue about what the Brand Waiver Exemption even was.

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30

My experience that I shared was NOT a handmade item, it was a marketplace item.

I sell in both categories.

And it was before Amazon’s Brand Registry program 1.0…

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31

Folks, I made here late.

Best title practices look awful. Most of my titles are short
Blue lace agate and blue glass necklace

My best seller’s title is keyword stuffed. it was a best seller before it was keyword stuffed by some agency offering free SEO samples trying to get my biz.

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32

Welcome

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33

Nice to see you here!

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34

If I followed best practices, I’d lose all my sales. By the time customers wade through all the fluff to see what I’m selling, they’ve lost interest.

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35

So today when I was searching for Ceiling Fans on amazon, I could have sworn in search results that amazon used to show a brand name under neath an item title. Now I was a bit frustrated because I had to keep scrolling past all the ones who put their “keyboard mashed” brand name in the title (as I have found most companies who do this are just drop shippers or junk importers), but some who don’t have their brand name I would click on the listing, and still see they are keyboard mashers. Ended up just getting one from Home Depot. I don’t know how many people think like me, so I wonder if I should put my brand name in the title so people know I’m not a keyboard masher.

Also thought it was also interesting when looking on Etsy (for something different), that sponsored ad’s no longer show the store owners name. I don’t know when that changed, because I know when I would search on Etsy for something I liked, I wouldn’t click the ad I would just opena new window and type the store name to not cost the seller money. Makes me think now that if I was to run an ad on Etsy I would make sure my first picture was watermarked with my brand name so people could see my branding since they hide the store name.

I know a lot of these stores were wanting you to think your shopping from “etsy” or “amazon” and not a third party vendor. So it is interesting amazon is pushing this whole ‘put your shop brand in your title now’, they seem to want to differentiate and teach people that “Hey you really are not buying from amazon even if its listed on amazon and sold with prime its not amazon and we don’t want to deal with headaches”. I have no idea if my shopping habits are unique or if everyone does what I do and search elsewhere if I have a brand name?

36

I can’t recall seeing this myself. I have no idea why you would want to advertise your “brand name” if its just gobbility.

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37

What NOT to do found here:

…https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UCCPNM

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38

:man_facepalming:

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39

But what if I’m looking for ‘Pus Sope?’ :sob: :rofl:

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40

Why can’t I sell expired OTC drugs?