Amazon Keyword Research: A Complete Guide to Boost your Book Sales

You have finished writing your book and decided to publish it through Amazon KDP. You have put your heart and soul into writing the book and would have spent hours rewriting and designing the book. It is only natural to expect that hard work to pay off. 

You can’t only upload your book in KDP and expect the sales to happen. You need to invest time and effort to make your book available for thousands of potential readers. So, how do you make your book discoverable to your potential readers? That’s where Amazon keywords come into play. Keywords is one of the key aspects of Amazon algorithm that helps you optimize the book sales page. The article will help you understand the significance of keywords and the research process to find your book’s right keywords.

What are Amazon Keywords?

Keywords are a set of words or phrases that people enter in the search engine to find the product or information related to it. For instance, we all use the Google search engine to find information about anything. 

Similarly, Amazon keywords are phrases that shoppers or users type to find the product they want on Amazon. If you are looking to buy a laptop, you type the word laptop and probably the brand if you are entirely familiar. 

If you want to sell something on Amazon, you need to choose the right keywords to discover the product. If you publish your book on Amazon, then you need to select the right keywords to reach your target audience.

For instance, you have written a sci-fi book about aliens and simply include ‘alien’ as your top keyword, and it will not miraculously appear on your target audience’s screen. It is why you have to research and include the keywords strategically so that the book’s visibility increases. 

Steps to Research & Find the Right Amazon Keywords

Amazon keywords for authors have to be long-string. You might be wondering what is long-string concerning keywords. Long-string or long-tail keywords include more than one word; they are short phrases. 

For example, when you have to find good thrillers, you would not type thrillers alone. You would type and search for “best thrillers of all times” or “good thrillers of the last decade.” Search engines like Google or even Amazon respond to such long-tail keywords rather than a single word. 

When you publish your book in KDP, you are allowed to give seven long-tail keywords. It is always better to research and find more keywords since you can use the rest in book descriptions, review pitches, etc. Now, let us look at how to research and find the keywords for your book. 

1. Find keywords that People are Searching for.

Firstly, you need to know what type of books people are searching for on Amazon. To know that, open Amazon.com, and select “Kindle Store” from the menu that appears on the left side’s search bar. 

Once you select the option, type in the word or phrase to which the book belongs. For example, if you have written a self-help book, type in the word self-help and look at the suggestions shown below. 

These long-tail keywords that appear as suggestions are the popular keywords with which people are searching. All the recommendations you see below need not be used, but it is a good way to start. 

Note down these suggestions on your notepad or Word doc so that it is easier to find them all in one place. Remember, while trying to figure out the keywords to follow the Amazon keywords guidelines as well. 

2. Find Keywords from “Also Bought” Section

When you search for a specific book on Amazon, below that book sales page, you can see the section, “customers who bought this item also bought.” You need to pay attention to the books that appear in this section as well.

Browse through this section, and you would notice that there are books almost similar to your book or belong to the same type.  It means people who are looking for these books might be interested in your book as well.

So, browse through these titles and note the titles, authors, and keywords used to get a list of popular keywords searched by the users. 

Keyword Tools to Use

The steps mentioned above would have given you a list of keywords that can be used for your book. But before you make the final call, you need to know if there are substantial searches for the keywords you have found.

There are numerous tools available to find the total number of searches for each keyword receives for each month. You can use any of these tools to make an informed choice: 

1. Keyword Tool

It is a free tool that generates keyword ideas for you. You have to type in the particular word into the search bar, and it will give hundreds of long-tail keyword suggestions and also the search volume for each long-tail keyword. You would have to purchase the pro version to know the data like search volume.

2. Google Keyword Planner

It is a free keyword tool ideal for keyword-targeted Amazon ads. It might not be much helpful in deciding the long-tail keywords for your book. But you can anyway use it to get many keyword ideas and later filter the relevant ones from the list. 

3. Keywords Everywhere

It is a browser plugin that is much easier to use. After installing the plugin, you need to enter the keyword in your Amazon search bar. The data, like search volume, etc., will automatically appear next to the search suggestions. You can check the data and choose the top keywords for your book.  

Doing keyword research and finding the right keywords for your book is a demanding job. But it is critical to do it to rank your book higher and be seen by thousands of Amazon users. You have invested so much time and effort to write the book, so it is only right to give the book the recognition it deserves. Keyword research ultimately decides your book’s success, so take that step and make your book the next bestseller.