Search Suppressed Amazon Listing: 6 Causes PLUS How to Recover

Last updated on November 10th, 2023

Written by faith

Amazon offers a platform for countless sellers like you to showcase your products to a global audience. However, the challenge of search suppressed Amazon listings often plagues sellers. This occurs when products disappear from search results and fail to get visibility. This problem is worrying, pushing you to try and understand why it happened and how you can fix it.

This article delves into the intricacies of suppressed Amazon listings, outlining six underlying causes that can lead to this situation—ranging from policy violations and listing errors to performance-related issues.

We will also discuss effective strategies to recover suppressed listings and restore their visibility in the digital marketplace. By understanding the complexities of suppressed Amazon listings, you'll be equipped with the knowledge and techniques to maintain a resilient and thriving presence on Amazon. So, let's begin!

What Does Search Suppressed Mean on Amazon Listing?

"Search suppressed" on Amazon listing means that the product is not easily discoverable or shown in search results on the platform.

Amazon may suppress your listings to ensure a positive customer experience, often due to incomplete or noncompliant information, resulting in reduced visibility and sales loss.

It is crucial to understand the factors leading to suppressed listings, such as missing or noncompliant main images, overlong product titles, and lack of categorization. Being aware of these issues and learning how to address them is essential. Through your knowledge, you can quickly fix suppressed listings and regain visibility on the platform.

With that, let's check out the six main causes of suppressed listings.

Missing or Noncompliant Main Image

Your product’s main image plays a crucial role when customers search for it on Amazon. It greatly influences the decision of a potential buyer to click on your product, differentiating it from rivals. 

While most search results follow Amazon's image guidelines, resulting in a similar design, you should strive for distinctive features. So, pay attention to the packaging, ensuring it stands out through color, pattern, or design. Your product’s hero shot taken slightly on a low angle can create the illusion of a proud and confident product. 

Consistently branding your hero shots by making it distinctive develops familiarity among your audience, slowly developing awareness.

For your main product image, follow these specific standards from Amazon:

the twelve Main Product Image Standards

Following these guidelines and understanding the importance of a clear and attractive main image will help set your product apart on Amazon while staying compliant.

Lack of Categorization

Proper categorization is critical for ensuring your listings' visibility on the Amazon platform. Correct categorization keeps your listings from being suppressed, helps drive more traffic, and ultimately improves your sales potential.

Ifdone incorrectly, it will bring the following negative effects:

  • When your product lacks proper categorization, it could lead to a suppressed listing and ultimately impact your sales.
  • When you don't categorize your products appropriately, they might not appear in relevant search results, making it difficult for potential customers to find and know about your products.
  • Incorrect categorization can lead to your product being listed alongside unrelated items, creating confusion and negatively impacting its organic ranking.

To enhance product visibility, these are the things you can do.

  • Study Amazon's category structure.
  • Choose the correct categories for your products.
  • Familiarize yourself with the primary and secondary categories associated with your product, as well as any subcategories that may be relevant.
  • Make sure to update your listings accordingly and monitor their performance.

Overlong Product Title

To create an effective product title and avoid suppression, include details that accurately describe what you sell. Keep the title short, as longer titles are harder to read and risk losing customers' attention.

Product Title Creation Tips
  • Keep your title 60 characters long and fewer than 80 characters.
  • Consider the preferred title lengths and styles for different product categories.
  • Refrain from using all capital letters in your titles and instead capitalize the first letter of each word, excluding prepositions, conjunctions, and articles.
  • Ensure that the title of a product starts with the brand name and includes the brand name field.
  • Use figures instead of spelling out numbers, for example, use "2" instead of "two." Do not use non-language ASCII characters like Æ, ©, or ®
  • Provide only the necessary information to identify the item without any subjective commentary like "hot item" or "best seller.”
  • Include appropriate punctuation in titles such as hyphens (-), forward slashes (/), commas (,), ampersands (&), and periods (.).
  • Use abbreviations for measurements like "cm," "oz," "in," and "kg."
  • By adhering to these guidelines, you can increase the likelihood of customers clicking on your product and prevent your Amazon listing from being search-suppressed.

    Missing Attributes

    Without complete attributes, your listing can be search-suppressed, making it difficult for customers to find you. Categorization helps you add complete product attributes, which contributes to displaying relevant and accurate information to buyers. 

    Understanding the required attributes for each product listing on Amazon is important. Some of the mandatory attributes are as follows:

    • Product Title
    • Brand
    • Product Description
    • Size
    • Color

    Selling Restricted Products

    Amazon's restricted products fall into various categories, including hazardous materials, offensive materials, or items regulated by government bodies. To avoid any complications, it is vital that you, as a seller, stay informed about the specific product guidelines and abide by them diligently.

    Restricted products are limited or banned from being sold on Amazon due to legal, regulatory, or safety reasons. Selling such products can cause your listing to be search-suppressed and may lead to penalties, account suspension, or account termination.

    To ensure the safety and integrity of the marketplace, Amazon enforces a restricted product policy, which helps maintain the platform's reputation and provides a secure environment for buyers and sellers.

    Selling Counterfeit Products

    Selling counterfeit products on Amazon is unethical and against their policies. It can lead to search suppression, listing removal, and even account suspension. These consequences can harm your sales and brand image. You'll miss on customers, and you'll find it difficult to attract them again.

    Counterfeit products are unauthorized replicas or imitations of original items. These products often try to deceive you by mimicking the original's branding, packaging, and appearance. Amazon actively monitors and removes counterfeit products from its platform. To ensure you protect your business and keep a good name on Amazon, only sell genuine products.

    7 Steps to Fix Search Suppressed Amazon Listings

    To fix suppressed listings on Amazon Seller Central, follow these seven steps:

    the first step to fix searched suppressed listing

    the second step to fix searched suppressed listing

    the third step to fix searched suppressed listing

    the fourth step to fix searched suppressed listing

    the fifth step to fix searched suppressed listing

    the sixth and seventh step to fix searched suppressed listing

    By following these steps, you can efficiently fix suppressed listings on Seller Central and improve your product visibility and sales on Amazon.

    How Your Suppressed Listing Can Rebuild Visibility

    Once you've resolved the issue that caused your Amazon suppression, you must bring the listing back on track. To rebuild visibility, check out these tips!

    Ensure Compliance

    Ensure that your suppressed listing complies with Amazon's policies. Check your Seller Central account for performance notifications, safety complaints, or policy violations. Review your product detail page and edit any non-compliant information. Make sure to upload valid product images that meet Amazon's requirements.

    Optimize Product Listings

    To increase your listing's visibility, optimize your product detail page. Write a clear and concise product title, include a detailed product description, and highlight your product's key features. This will help your listing regain search visibility and improve its overall quality in the eyes of potential customers.

    Keywords and Search Terms

    Use relevant keywords and search terms in your Amazon listing to ensure it appears in search results for the most relevant queries. Apply the best listing optimization strategies for your listing title, product description, and feature bullet points.

    Advertising and Promotions

    Leverage Amazon's advertising and promotional tools to improve the visibility of your listing, post-suppression. Run Sponsored Product campaigns, create promotions such as discounts or coupons, and participate in Amazon's Lightning Deals. These efforts can increase your listing's visibility and lead customers to your product page or Amazon store.

    Regular Maintenance

    Monitor your Amazon-suppressed listings regularly. Use the Suppressed Listing Report to identify potential issues and fix them promptly. This will help you maintain a healthy account standing and prevent further suppression.

    Monitor Competition

    Keep an eye on your competition to stay ahead of the game. Analyze their product listings, pricing strategies, and promotional tactics. Embrace change, and understand that in order to stay relevant to your customers, consistent listing updates should be included in your strategies.

    Partner With Seller Interactive

    Search suppression on Amazon occurs when a product listing does not meet the platform's guidelines, resulting in the product being hidden from search results. When your listings do not reach customers, it's going to hurt your sales and stagnate your income and profit.

    As an Amazon seller, dealing with search suppressed listings can be challenging. To save time and prevent loss of sales, consider partnering with us here at Seller Interactive. We are an expert in the field of Amazon listing optimization and management.

    Our team is well-versed with Amazon's policies and requirements, so we can identify potential issues efficiently, ensuring your listings stay compliant and visible to potential customers. Book a call with us now, so we can discuss our offers.

    Go from surviving to thriving on Amazon.

    Use the power and influence of advertising to increase sales. Learn more about how you can benefit from our management expertise.
    Book a Call

    Read More

    Landing Page for Amazon Products: A Professional Guide

    Last updated on December 18th, 2023 Written by faith For Amazon sellers, having a strong marketing strategy is crucial for boosting sales. Having a landing page for Amazon products is a strategy many successful sellers apply, and you can also do. This article will explain what a landing page is and how it can make […]

    Amazon Best Seller Rank: A Concise Guide to Boosting Sales

    Last updated on December 13th, 2023 Written by faith The Amazon Best Seller Rank (BSR) is a crucial metric sellers like you should understand to maximize your success on the platform. This ranking system reflects a product's popularity and sales performance against other products in the same category. By grasping the intricacies of BSR, you […]

    Amazon Seller Names: Essential Guide for Choosing a Winning Identity

    Last updated on December 11th, 2023 Written by faith In a bustling marketplace like Amazon, every aspect of your online presence matters, and thoughtfully chosen Amazon seller names can be one of the first steps toward building a solid brand. However, coming up with an Amazon seller name is considered trivial for most sellers. They […]

    crossmenuchevron-down