Amazon listing audit checklist: 30 checks before you publish or relaunch

A listing rarely fails for one big reason. It leaks: a title over the limit that Amazon quietly rewrote, a bullet with an emoji that got dropped, a backend field that went over 250 bytes and stopped being indexed at all, an infographic that nobody updated after the pack changed. Each is small. Together they cost the ranking and the conversion.

This checklist walks through a listing top to bottom, the way an auditor would. Every item has a number you can check against or a yes/no you can answer. Run it before a launch, after any change Amazon makes to its rules, and once a quarter for products that matter.

Title (75 characters)

1. 75 characters or fewer, counted with spaces and the brand name. Over the limit, Amazon replaces it with an AI-written version and gives brand owners 14 days to object.
2. Brand first, product type second, with the primary keyword in its natural form.
3. One differentiator people filter by: size, count, colour, capacity.
4. No word more than twice, prepositions and articles excepted.
5. No banned characters: ! $ ? _ { } ^ ¬ ¦, no emoji, no ALL CAPS, no promotional phrases.
6. Every child variation checked, not only the parent. Variations are where old titles survive.

Details and a rewrite method: the 75-character title rule.

Item Highlights (125 characters)

1. Filled. An empty field is filled by Amazon's AI, with words you did not choose.
2. 125 characters or fewer, three to five fragments separated by a middle dot.
3. Repeats nothing from the title. The field is indexed with the title; a repeated word adds nothing.
4. Reads as reasons to buy, not as a keyword list.

More: Item Highlights explained.

Bullet points

1. At least three, ideally five, each 10 to 255 characters.
2. Capital letter first, no end punctuation, phrases separated by semicolons.
3. No emoji or symbols (™ ® © arrows check marks), no prices, promotions, shipping, guarantees, contact details, links.
4. No claim you cannot support: eco-friendly, best-selling, #1, medical claims.
5. Five different questions answered: what is it and how much, what does it do, what is in it, how to use it, who it is for.
6. No bullet repeats another or the title.

Rules and examples: bullet point rules.

Description

1. Under 2,000 characters, plain text, paragraphs separated by line breaks.
2. Covers what the bullets could not: the story, the routine, the fit, the sizing note, what is in the box.
3. No HTML formatting, no promotions, no links, no reviews quoted.
4. Brand-registered sellers: A+ Content published, and the plain description still filled because A+ replaces it on the page but not in every placement.

Backend search terms

1. Under 250 bytes, measured in bytes, not characters. Over the limit the whole field can be ignored.
2. No word that already appears in the title, Item Highlights, bullets or description.
3. No brand names, ASINs, competitor names, subjective words (best, cheapest), no punctuation, all lowercase, single spaces.

Method and a worked example: backend keywords.

Images

1. Main image: pure white background (RGB 255, 255, 255), product fills 85% or more of the frame, a photograph of the real product, no text, badges, props or accessories not in the box.
2. At least 1,000 px on the longest side for zoom; 2,000 px is comfortable. JPEG.
3. Every remaining slot used, each answering a different question: lifestyle at real scale, infographic with three to five benefits, how to use, ingredients or dimensions, back of pack.
4. Text on images matches the current pack and the current copy. Infographics outlive rewrites; an old claim on image 2 contradicts a new bullet.

Rules and suppression causes: main image requirements.

Attributes and the rest

1. Structured attributes filled: material, size, count, colour, age range, compatibility, special features. Amazon's filters and its shopping assistant read these fields before the prose, and an empty attribute is a filter the product never shows up in. See how Rufus reads a listing.
2. Category and item type are the specific ones, not the parent node. Browse-node misplacement costs more traffic than any keyword.
3. Compliance fields complete: country of origin, safety certifications, battery and hazmat declarations where relevant, expiry for consumables. A missing compliance field can suppress a listing without warning.

How to run it

• Open the listing on a phone, not only in Seller Central: that is how most shoppers see it, and the title cut-off, the highlights line and image 2 look different there.
• Check the child variations one by one. Parents get attention; children get suppressed.
• Keep a copy of every field in a document with its character or byte count. When Amazon changes a rule, you re-check counts, not rewrite from memory.
• Fix in this order: anything that can suppress the listing (images, compliance, banned words), then indexing (title, highlights, backend), then conversion (bullets, description, A+).

Where Cobalt12 fits

Cobalt12 produces all of these fields from one phone photo and a competitor audit of your category, meters each against the limit as it writes, and flags claims it cannot ground in what you told it or what is printed on the pack. You can try it on your own product; the first listing is free.

This checklist reflects Amazon's published requirements as of September 2026. Category style guides add rules of their own, so check Seller Central help for your category.