How To Use Keywords On Amazon KDP

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To use keywords on Amazon KDP, build your title, subtitle and seven keyword boxes around what readers type in, and skip the clever title. Pick keywords with low competition, meaning only a few hundred to under a thousand results. A free way to start is to type your topic into Amazon’s search box and look at the suggestions. Below is how I check them, using a gardening author whose clever title got no sales.

Why did a clever title get no sales?

Beth was proud of the clever title she had come up with for a gardening book, but nobody searched for it, so she got zero sales. She had gardened on the side for years, vertical gardening was popular, and she wanted to turn her hobby into a full-time writing income and leave her day job.

She had taken a course from one of the fake gurus and been hit with “do these 50 things, then these 30 things, all at the same time”. It slowed her down so much that her book stayed off the market for a while. When she finally cut it down to the title and the cover, she made the mistake many authors make. She chose a title about a “green thumb” with no vertical gardening keywords in it. Nobody was searching those words, so it showed up in no results. Once someone found the book it would have been impressive, but nobody found it.

She had also put affiliate links in the book for gardening products she liked, but nobody clicked, because nobody was buying the book. A caution if you want to copy this: Amazon’s Associates rules do not allow Amazon affiliate links in any ebook or printed material (Amazon Associates policies), so check the rules of any affiliate program before you put links in a book.

Why do keywords matter more than the cover?

Beth searched Google and found one of my posts on this exact subject. Keywords are the most important thing, and the cover comes second, but without the keywords nobody sees the cover. If you run a lot of ads, the cover becomes the most important, because it gets the person to click. If you don’t, you depend on Amazon’s search, one of the biggest search engines in the world.

When someone types “vertical gardening”, your clever title won’t show up. So think about what benefit the reader gets, and put keywords that target it in the title.

What happened when I ignored keywords myself?

I made the same mistake. When I started, I had never heard of keywords. After roughly 100 hours of learning from podcasts, videos, books, blogs and forums, I saw that I had ignored them completely. I went back, changed the titles and keywords on my old books, and sales rose a lot, just from searches people were already doing. Once I ran ads on books with the right keywords, my sales went up three to five times, and my ads have now been shown over 200 million times.

How do you find low-competition keywords?

You want keywords where there is demand and few books. A free way to start is to type your topic into the Amazon search box and look at the suggestions that drop down. Those are real searches. Then check how many results come up. A few hundred to under a thousand is what I look for.

A paid tool such as KDSPY then helps you check which of the keywords have books actually selling. That is an affiliate link, so I earn a small commission if you buy. Here is the check:

1. Look at the first page of results for the keyword and count how many books rank under 100,000 on Amazon’s sales rank (BSR).
2. Divide the total number of books by the number under 100,000. If there are 100 books and 10 are under 100,000, the ratio is 10.
3. Publish a nonfiction book only when the ratio is under 20.

The under 20 rule is my own rule of thumb, not an Amazon rule. It means people are searching and buying, and few books target that phrase. Put those phrases in your title and subtitle and you can land on page one or two of Amazon’s results. For the full method, read selling 1,000 copies in a month.

When you study competitors, ignore famous authors and free books. Readers of J.K. Rowling or Stephen King buy everything they write, so their sales don’t depend on their titles and they give you misleading information. Look at best sellers you haven’t heard of.

Amazon ads help too. If you run them, the search term report shows what readers typed before they clicked or bought, which is a good source of new keywords for your seven boxes. Publisher Rocket is the tool my team and I use to find keywords for ads (another affiliate link), and it shows the keywords your competitor authors use. Write your book description with the same phrases, because the description turns a click into a sale.

How should you fill the seven keyword boxes?

KDP gives you up to seven keywords or short phrases (KDP keywords help). A keyword here is a phrase, not a single word. “Vertical gardening for tomatoes” is one keyword. Check the character limit shown in the box. Use all seven, and don’t repeat words that are already in your title and subtitle.

To test your seven boxes against KDP’s own rules, paste them into my free KDP keyword box checker.

What makes a good KDP keyword?

A good keyword relates to the book’s content and is not vague. KDP’s example is a book called “America’s National Parks”: “Yellowstone” and “Grand Teton” would help, but “Parks” would not (KDP keywords). KDP’s metadata guidelines also say keywords must describe the book accurately and may not mention other authors, sales rank or promotions.

To pick your seven, write down 20 phrases a reader might type, put each into Amazon’s search bar and note the suggestions. Keep the ones where the books you see look like yours and have reviews, which shows people buy in that niche. Put the seven best in the seven boxes, each a different phrase. After a few weeks, swap the weakest one and watch your sales. For journals and planners, the same rule applies, and I cover it in KDP keyword research guide for low content books.

Do categories matter as well as keywords?

Yes. KDP says you can select 3 categories when you create a book, and that your categories and keywords together tell Amazon where to “shelve” your book in its store. It adds that “Keywords are often more specific and help readers find your book when they search for something unique” (KDP categories). So pick the closest categories for the broad shelf, and use your seven keywords for the specific phrases.

What goes in the title field?

KDP says the title field should contain only the title as it appears on the cover, not repeated generic keywords or terms such as “bestselling” or “free”. Put the phrase readers search for into a natural title and subtitle, which costs nothing and also shows up in Google and Bing. For adult fiction, keep keywords honest too; what KDP says about adult scenes and swearing covers the rule on misleading ones.

KDSPY can show a word cloud of the keywords the top sellers use. Unless they are famous authors, the people selling the most books are using these exact strategies, so they are telling you which keywords are profitable. The mistake Beth made is common: thinking a clever title is enough. A new author won’t be found that way.

Your cover should show the benefit too. She could have chosen a cover with forests or green plants, but we want “vertical gardening” right on it, so it looks like the bestsellers in the genre. If the main keyword is too competitive, go one step narrower, such as vertical gardening for tomatoes.

What happened when she fixed the keywords?

Beth went back, used KDSPY and emailed me. We found one keyword was unprofitable and another one was. She changed the title of her ebook, and sales started rising on both the ebook and the paperback. As they rose, she felt motivated again.

Can I change my keywords after the book is published?

Yes. KDP says “You can change keywords and descriptions as often as you like.” Open your Bookshelf, click the ellipsis next to the book, choose Edit book details, change the keywords, click Save and Continue, then click Publish on the Pricing page (KDP keywords). The title, subtitle and primary author name are different: KDP locks them on a published ebook, and you can edit them on a paperback or hardcover only within 72 hours of first publication (KDP update book details). So get the title right before you publish, and if your seven keywords are not working, test new ones before you worry about a new edition. Read more on how to get a book published.

If you would like me to look at your keywords with you, book a free 25-minute discovery session.

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