Product descriptions are an important section for any seller’s listing. Being able to deliver a clear and concise portion of information can be crucial in having a customer choose your product.
Amazon has made use of HTML tags for formatting to allow sellers to order and present their descriptions in a visually appealing and easy to read manner. Simple formatting can let sellers who lack brand recognition seem like a professional choice, answer questions quickly for those just scanning through the description, and draw attention to the major draw points.
How a body of text looks can influence people quite easily, as something too chunky and poorly laid out can be intimidating.
What do HTML tags do?
HTML tags can help make text a lot clearer, easier to read and add a bit of panache to give buyers that final push. Tags would allow for paragraph separation, using bold lettering or italics, and even creating bullet lists. They would let the description pop to help them stand apart.
Example with HTML Tags:
Example without HTML Tags:
It’s quite easy to see why sellers would want to make use of HTML tags. The difference is day and night. The HTML tags break apart the text and make it easier for buyers to read while letting certain bits of information stand separate from the rest.
This formatting, however, seems to be heading the way of the dinosaur as Amazon has decided to remove tags as of 30 July 2021:
What does this mean for your listings?
As said in Amazon’s statement, current listings with HTML tags will be changed. Either they will be displayed without the HTML formatting or will have lines partially removed. They suggest that sellers make the necessary updates. This is to prevent content from being reverted to a format without HTML or having sections of the product description removed.
Moving forward listings will not be posted with HTML tags. There is at least a little bit of good news. It seems that the HTML tags for line breaks ( <br> ) will still be allowed in certain cases. This will let your description still have some spacing for easier reading.
Why are they banning HTML tags?
Amazon has cited they are doing this to improve security and add accessibility to non-HTML supporting devices.
This response may be a bit vague and lack specifics, but regardless, the ban is happening. All users should take the time to make sure their content follows the updated product detail rules to ensure they do not run into issues with their product listings.
While professionals who have been approved through the Amazon Brand Registry process will be able to make use of A+ content, everyone else will have to find a way to separate themselves from the rest of the pack and stand out.