Amazon has two places for longer copy: the plain “Product description” field, which any seller can fill in, and A+ Content made of image and text modules, which requires a role on a brand enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry. Once A+ Content is approved, shoppers see the modules in that spot instead of your description text. What belongs where, what Amazon actually says about search – and why mandatory information should never sit only in the description.
Two fields, one spot on the page
The product description is a plain text field in the listing. A+ Content is built in the A+ Content Manager in Seller Central from modules: images with text, comparison charts and, with Premium A+, videos and carousels. Both appear in the same area of the product page, below the bullet points.
- Product description
- Plain text, for any listing, no Brand Registry needed
- A+ Content (basic)
- Modules with images, text and comparison charts; for brands in Brand Registry, free of charge
- Premium A+
- Adds larger images, videos, interactive hotspots and carousels; only for brands that meet Amazon’s extra criteria
- Brand Story
- A module about the brand shown across all of the brand’s products
The sentence that matters was put plainly by an Amazon staff member in the Seller Forums in 2026: “A+ Content replaces your product description”. Once A+ Content is live, shoppers no longer see your description text on the product page. The title and bullet points stay visible.
The product description: length and format
- Length: the usual maximum is 2,000 characters. Seller Central shows the binding limit for your category in the listing form and the inventory file template; Amazon’s help pages are only readable after signing in, so check the number there.
- No HTML: Amazon announced in the Seller Forums that HTML tags on detail pages would no longer be supported after 8 June 2021. Lines containing HTML are removed or shown without formatting. The product detail page rules, as quoted by sellers in the forums, name line breaks (the br tag) in the description as the exception.
- No Markdown: asterisks, hash signs and dashes show up as literal characters. Structure the text with short paragraphs instead.
- No contact details, links, prices, shipping or availability information: Amazon’s product detail page rules exclude them from titles, bullet points and descriptions.
Three or four short paragraphs work well: what the product is for and who it suits; materials and construction; dimensions, what is in the box and care. The Amazon description examples show what that looks like for four product types.
A+ Content: requirements, review, language
- Brand Registry: your brand name, or a logo containing it, must be permanently applied to the product or its packaging, and you need a pending or registered trademark. Brand Registry itself is free.
- Account and role: Amazon requires a Professional selling account and a Brand Representative or Reseller role for a brand enrolled in Brand Registry; its US seller site also names sellers with generic products as eligible. A+ Content can only be applied to brand-owned ASINs.
- Review: Amazon reviews every submission; according to Amazon in the Seller Forums this takes up to 7 business days, longer at busy times.
- Language: A+ Content only appears in the language it was published in. For Amazon.de you need a German version, and a separate submission for every other language.
- Images: Amazon recommends images of at least 1,500 pixels on the longest side. Every image needs alt text.
On its Brand Registry page Amazon quotes up to 8% more sales for basic A+ and up to 20% for well-executed Premium A+ – based on Amazon’s own internal data, not independently verified. Premium A+ has additional criteria; in 2026 an Amazon staff member named approved A+ Content on 5 or more ASINs as the typical threshold. These criteria have changed before.
What Amazon search reads – and what is unclear
Plenty of claims circulate here. Very little can be backed up with Amazon’s own statements:
- Alt text: an Amazon staff member wrote in the Seller Forums that the alt text of A+ modules is used to build search results. Write it as a real description of the image with the relevant terms, not as a keyword list.
- Text in A+ modules: whether it feeds into Amazon search is not documented on Amazon’s publicly accessible pages.
- The hidden product description: agencies say Amazon still indexes it when A+ replaces it. We found no confirmation of this from Amazon.
In practice: do not rely on the description or A+ for important search terms. They belong in the product title and Item Highlights, the bullet points and the backend search terms. Still fill in the description with care: it is visible as long as no A+ Content is approved, and without Brand Registry it is your only running text.
What goes where
- Title
- at most 75 characters since 27 July 2026: brand, product type and the attributes variants differ in
- Item Highlights
- up to 125 characters for materials, uses and further details (title and highlights)
- Bullet points
- The five facts that decide the purchase, plus mandatory information such as the fibre composition
- Product description
- Use, materials and construction, dimensions, contents, care – as calm running text
- A+ Content
- The product in use, close-up details, comparison with your own products, brand story
- Backend search terms
- Synonyms and spellings that are not in the title
- Safety fields (GPSR)
- Manufacturer, EU responsible person, warnings and safety information
Be careful with mandatory information. Under Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) 1007/2011 the fibre composition of textiles must be clearly visible before purchase, online too. For cosmetics, the Regional Court of Karlsruhe (order of 7 April 2020, 13 O 26/20) required an Amazon seller to list the ingredients in the product description. If such information sits only in the description and A+ Content replaces it, the shopper no longer sees it. Put it in a bullet point or the matching attributes, and repeat it in A+ as text – not only inside an image.
Manufacturer and EU responsible person under the GPSR go into the dedicated safety fields, not into the running text.
The same rules for text and A+
A+ Content is advertising like any other text in the listing. Whatever you may not write in the description, you may not put into an A+ module or as text in an A+ image either. The EU Cosmetics Regulation expressly covers pictures and other signs that imply effects a product does not have (Article 20(1) of Regulation (EC) 1223/2009).
| Instead of | Write |
|---|---|
| eco-friendly water bottle (umweltfreundlich) | 18/8 stainless steel bottle, polypropylene lid |
| CE-tested desk lamp (CE-geprüft) | leave CE out – the marking is mandatory, not a test seal |
| helps with eczema | cares for dry skin (only if the manufacturer can back it up) |
In Germany, generic environmental claims such as “umweltfreundlich” or “klimaneutral” have been banned since 27 September 2026 (green claims ban); “CE-geprüft” is misleading (CE and test claims); healing claims are off-limits for cosmetics (cosmetics claims). Amazon itself names unsupported claims, pricing or promotional details and mentions of competitor products or brands as common A+ pitfalls.
Check your listing
Nordova writes Amazon.de descriptions as plain text of 400 to 2,000 characters and flags HTML and Markdown as errors. For eBay and Kaufland, where basic HTML is allowed, Nordova only accepts the usual tags without attributes and flags any other tag. Nordova does not write A+ modules.
Check your current description with the free listing check – no account needed. Test single phrases for A+ images in the claims checker.