Keywords are one of the most effective strategies for search engine optimization. Keywords can be used in a variety of ways, from metadata uses (off-page keywords, product descriptions, title and subtitle) to marketing and advertising (Google keyword campaigns and Amazon ads).
Marketing Insights provides keyword suggestions and relevance, volume, and competition data for each of your titles. These can be found in the Keywords panel next to the Product Page Scorecard.
Keyword suggestions are derived from consumer reviews and search terms for this book and other similar and competitive titles. When consumers search for and talk about this book, books like it, and related topics, what specific words and phrases might they use? These are provided as suggestions to help kick-start your thinking on potential search keywords.
Note: Our keyword suggestions are powered by Kadaxis. Marketing Insights does not assess keyword usage or rankings.
Understanding Keyword Data
For each keyword in Marketing Insights, we provide:
- Relevance: How relevant this search term is for the title based on what we can infer about the content of your book and how consumers describe the book in reviews (in downloaded reports, this is displayed as a score 0-10)
- Date updated: The latest month for which we have updated search volume and competition metrics
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Google
- Search volume: The total number of searches conducted on Google for this term in the specified month
- Avg. monthly searches: Monthly average searches for this term on Google over the past 12 months
- CPC or cost-per-click: Estimated cost (per click) to run a keyword-targeted ad on Google, to approximate how the overall market values a term and whether it’s worth advertising against
- Ad competition: How hard is it to “win” (rank higher or have your ad placed first for less) for a given term in Google Ads
- View search: A link out to see the current SERP (search engine results page) for the term on Google
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Amazon
- Search volume: Estimated number of searches conducted on Amazon for this term in the specified month
- Avg. monthly searches: Estimated monthly average searches for this term on Amazon over the past 12 months
- View search: A link out to see the current SERP (search engine results page) for the term on Amazon
All of this data can help you understand how consumers are searching on the web and in Amazon and better choose which keywords to use in off-page keywords, in copy, and to target with ads.
Note: All keyword data is specific to the market the title is tracked in, so titles being tracked in the US include US search volume and competition data, and titles tracked in the UK provide UK data.
Best Practices & Guidelines
Use the right keywords, topics, and phrases in the right places to improve discovery by aligning your book with consumer interests and intent.
- Always think like a reader. Keywords should map to identifiable consumer intent. Describe the book in the ways in which likely buyers will be looking for it.
- Include a range of keywords that highlight the breadth and depth of interest about the book. Look for different angles and think about different potential consumers.
- Don’t try to “game” the system. Keywords should always be relevant to the actual content of the book.
- Try to select keywords with a range of current search volume, including a mix of broader, more popular terms as well as more specific, niche phrases. This will help make sure your book has the best chance to find likely buyers.
What are some good keywords?
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Genres, subjects, topics, and themes
Include major themes, ideas, and concepts; related genre and category terms; and familiar character types.
EXAMPLES: young adult novel, murder mystery, historical romance, first love, friendship, single mom bible study, gluten-free cookbook, pregnancy books, cowboy children’s book
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Related people and popular characters
Real or fictional—who are the people that readers care about in the book? For non-fiction books and authors (and for historical fiction!), this may include closely associated colleagues or family members and related historical figures.
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Other related media
This may include series name and/or other very popular titles in the same series; related movies or television shows; or important related works by the subject of the book (for biographies and memoirs of actors, musicians, and artists, etc.).
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Locales, time periods, and historical eras
When and where does the book take place? Include important historical events, geographic locations, landmarks, and other markers of place and time that matter to potential readers.
EXAMPLES: victorian london, new england, world war 2, industrial revolution, books about italy
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Audience and age-range
Who is the book for? This is especially important for children's books, but not exclusively so. Consider variations and different potential audience groups (e.g. a book may be for first graders, but also for teachers, parents, or librarians). These may be coupled with other descriptive keywords in consumer search phrases.
EXAMPLES: vampire books for teens, reluctant readers, reading level 1 books, 2nd grade chapter books, books for new parents, amateur photographers handbook
Where should I use them?
Book description and other descriptive product metadata
Use relevant consumer keywords, topics, and phrases in the book description and headline as well as in your title, subtitle, in series and other descriptive elements whenever possible.
- Weave appropriate keywords into the copy in a natural way.
- Include the most relevant keywords in your headline.
- Be sure not to stuff your description with keywords. Real human beings will be reading it, and readability should always come first.
- Remember the goal is to use these phrases to align the book with real consumers—providing context they care about in a way that will resonate with them.
Retailer search keywords
You can submit keywords with your title metadata to influence search engine optimization and retail categorization. Not all retailers accept or use this field, but they are used by Amazon and are coming into increasing usage. These keywords typically do not appear on-site for consumers to see, and they are a great way to optimize for terms that you couldn’t include in the title of the book or the product description.
- Length:
- Amazon is now limiting sellers to just 250 bytes or characters, and we recommend trying to optimize to this length going forward. Longer keyword fields do not need to be shortened, but it's possible Amazon will not index longer strings in the future.
- Most metadata management systems recommend a maximum length of 400-500 characters total.
- Focus on keyword phrases, the way people search for products online, and put the most relevant, important, and “big” ones first.
- Submit keyword phrases in a single string, each separated with a semi-colon. (Note that Amazon does not differentiate between semi-colons, spaces, or other punctuation, but semi-colons are useful for other retail partners to differentiate distinct phrases.)
- You do not need to include the title, subtitle, series, author name, or BISAC category names as retailer search keywords.
- Use may want to repeat and reinforce keywords that are also used in the book description or other descriptive metadata fields.
- Include synonyms and variations for top search terms. (For example, sustainable and green; NYC and New York City; iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.) Alternate spellings are appropriate, though you do not need to include common misspellings, plurals, or variations in punctuation (e.g. with and without an apostrophe).
- Generally, more specific, detailed keyword phrases are better and help you incorporate a broader range of keywords that highlight the breadth and depth of interest about the book.
- Include specific Amazon product categories as keywords for good-fit categories that do not have an equivalent/associated BISAC code.
References & Resources
- How to Improve Your Amazon SEO Using Keywords [Marketing Insights Webinar - Free with registration]
- Best Practices for Keywords in Metadata [Book Industry Study Group (BISG) - Free download]
- Make Your Book More Discoverable with Keywords [Amazon]
- Why Keywords Are So Important [Kadaxis]
- Choosing Keywords for Discoverability [Book Industry Communication (BIC) - PDF]
- Best Practices for Keywords in Metadata [BISG - Presentation]
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