{"id":24713,"date":"2015-01-06T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/content26.com\/?p=24713"},"modified":"2017-02-22T10:57:07","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T18:57:07","slug":"dont-big-image-amazon-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/987654321.space\/c26_dev\/blog\/dont-big-image-amazon-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Do This: the Big Image as Amazon A+ Content"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, it\u2019s true. With a single mistake, you can alienate people with vision loss, mobile shoppers, your Amazon merchandiser, and Google. Just a single bad move–but one that is becoming increasingly common on product pages controlled via Amazon Seller Central.<\/p>\n

Recently, we\u2019ve had multiple inquiries about big images as Amazon A+ content. Instead of the rich combination of text and well-placed images that makes for smart, effective enhanced content, these companies are seeking large, static images that mimic some of the best practices of enhanced content without some of the crucial perks it brings.<\/p>\n

Here’s an example.<\/p>\n

\"Mobile-<\/a><\/p>\n

We had links to other examples in the original draft of this post, but Amazon has replaced them all with plain text. (The product description\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0used to be in giant image form, for instance.)<\/p>\n

Working with Amazon Seller Central and Vendor Central, as we\u2019ve discussed before<\/a>, carries different advantages and disadvantages. Vendor Central users are required to use the modules<\/a> to create content, which can seem restrictive until you consider the benefits it brings\u2014chiefly, mobile-friendly content, a crucial element in an age where 44 percent of retail internet minutes are spent on a smartphone<\/a>. (An additional 11 percent are spent using a tablet.)<\/p>\n

Seller Central is a bit of a third-party Wild West. Less governed, sellers are able to produce and publish content with fewer restrictions than Vendor Central imposes, which makes it possible to upload these large, static images in lieu of written content. Amazon\u2019s official stance is that they don\u2019t allow them, but many are uploaded and left alone for weeks or months (a period of time that seems even longer if you happen to be selling, say, a number one product in a very competitive category).<\/p>\n

The Many Limits of Images as Product-Page Content<\/h2>\n

While these images can be visually attractive, if you\u2019re looking at them with catalog content in mind and not the particular needs of merchandising content and the product page<\/a>, they have severe limitations that any manufacturer with real ambitions should at least pause at. When you embed informational text about your product in an image, you make vital functions of a proper webpage impossible, including:<\/p>\n