AMZN: New Search Suggestions Feature Enables Amazon.com Community to Help Customers Find What They're Looking For

New ''Search Suggestions'' Feature Enables Amazon.com Community to Help Customers Find What They're Looking For

Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) today announced "Search Suggestions," a new feature enabling customers, sellers, authors, and other members of the Amazon.com community to help customers find what they're looking for. Search Suggestions are user-submitted recommendations for connecting a product to specific keywords, as well as an explanation of why the connection is relevant. Once a Search Suggestion is approved, the product along with its relevancy explanation appears in search results the next time a customer searches using those keywords. Anyone can submit a Search Suggestion directly from the detail page for a product and there is no charge.

For example, thanks to a recent Search Suggestion from an Amazon.com customer, the Shakespeare play "Macbeth" now appears when customers search for "The Scottish Play." The customer's explanation is shown next to a link to the book: "theater superstition dictates that 'Macbeth' is referred to as 'the Scottish play.'"

"Amazon.com is all about helping customers find whatever they are looking to buy online," said Matt Round, Director of Software Development, Amazon.com. "Search Suggestions empower the broad Amazon.com community to help other customers find what they're looking for. If you're passionate about a product, help it be discovered -- make a Search Suggestion today."

Businesses that list products on Amazon.com are encouraged to use Search Suggestions to help customers find their products in new ways. Steve Weber, author of "The Home-Based Bookstore," has already started using Search Suggestions to help Amazon.com customers discover his book.

"Since I'm a book author, I immediately thought of a suggestion I could make for my title, 'The Home-Based Bookstore.' My suggestion was for Amazon to show my book when shoppers searched for 'bookselling.' Since that keyword isn't in my title, the book did not appear in those search results before," said Weber.

There are already thousands of Search Suggestions on Amazon.com helping customers find what they're looking for in new ways. Other examples include:

-- Searching for "cheryl tweedy" now finds music and posters from
the band Girl's Aloud, of which tweedy is a member

-- Searching for "stolen data" now finds the book, "I.T. Wars:
Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium"

-- Searching for 'bn-v12u charger' now finds the compatible
battery charger "ESA Battery Charger"

Search Suggestions have been launched to most Amazon.com categories, including Apparel, Automotive, Baby, Beauty, Books, Computers, Electronics, Home & Garden, Health & Personal Care, Jewelry, Loose Diamonds, Music, Musical Instruments, Office Products, Photo, Software, Sports & Outdoors, Toys, Video Games and Watches.