As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
If you are new to Kindle publishing then Amazon Kindle keywords might be a little confusing for you to start off with, if that is the case then this article will hopefully help you get to grips with why you should be using them and where.
I have been doing research for a new book teaching authors how to use both Amazon Kindle book categories and keywords for their books to give maximum ‘discoverability’ and while looking for supporting evidence that the research method I use works I came across the video which is coming up shortly. Although my new book targets nonfiction authors the concept can work for fiction titles also although it is a bit more difficult to use in some respects.
In the video you will hear about how author Mark Edwards utilized this tactic to help boost sales for his book ‘Killing Cupid’. If you are pushed for time you can jump to the 11:55 point to get the juicy details on exactly what Mark did.
Original source of video: The Creative Penn
Tips to take note of:
- The cover is very important and has to look good as a thumbnail.
- The blurb (description) is also very important, rewriting his description resulted in sales doubling overnight. (But were the keyword phrase updates included at the same time as the blurb update?)
- Mark used the keyword ‘psychological thriller’ in his subtitle.
- The book is good. (Yeah, a no brainer but this is a big one!)
Mark obviously knew how to use Amazon Kindle keywords!
as we hear in the video he is a marketing marketing guy so it is of course a no brainer for him to use his knowledge to gain an advantage. How much of an advantage using this single keyword gave him is unclear as we have no idea of the timeline or order in which he carried out the things he mentioned but it is safe to say that it definitely didn’t do him any harm.
How Do We Know Kindle Search Keywords Such as ‘Psychological Thriller’ are Valuable?
Take a look at the image below.
As you can see, when I started typing out the phrase ‘psychol… Hang on! I don’t have to type it all, it’s right there in the Amazon auto-complete, all I need to do is click it.
Why do certain terms show up while others do not? It is down to what people regularly search for on Amazon Kindle. If it appears in the auto-complete you know that it is a pretty popular search which brings us to the question…
How do We Use Our Newly Found Keywords for Kindle Books?
Quite simply, the 2 best ways to take advantage of these keywords is to utilize them:
- Within our titles as Mark spoke about in the example in the video above.
- In the 7 optional search keywords field when you are on your book upload page.
Some people will also tell you to include Amazon Kindle keywords in your books description, is this correct? Yes and no is the cryptic answer I’m going to give at this time. The description does help but in my opinion not in the way that many gurus tout the benefits, that’s a subject for another day however.
Finally, what many people are not aware of is that where in your titles you have your keywords is a factor, the sooner they appear, the more power they have. Keywords within the titles are also more powerful than including them in the 7 keywords you use when you upload, all things being equal a book with the keywords in the title will show up higher in Amazons search results than a book that has only used it in the 7 upload keywords.
Hopefully this has helped you to get a better understanding of why keywords for Kindle eBooks are so important, if you have any questions or comments please shoot in the comments section below.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates.
I have been using this technique for identifying keywords for a while now. The only problem is it doesn’t tell you how many people search a month or week for those keywords. So what I do is go and look at the search volume on Google using their keyword planner.
There is no direct correlation but I think you can assume that 90K searches on Google is going to represent a proportional number on Amazon and would probably be better than say 90 searches on Google.
Just a thought and I would be interested in your take on that?
Hey Brian!
Sorry for the slow reply buddy, been promoting in my spare time and everything else gets ignored pretty much on those days! 🙂
Up until a couple of months ago I did it exactly how you do with the keyword planner to get an idea of the top traffic search terms that I had. The problem with this is they may not be searching for Kindle books (or books at all!) when they visit Google, unless it’s a pretty specific “book” search.
I’m not going to spill the beans on how I do it now, but it is all outlined in the book. I’ll say this much…
I don’t rely on the keyword planner or any keyword tools for my Kindle keyword research, although I have done it, in hindsight it seems crazy to use an unrelated search engine to do your keyword research.
I’m not saying what you (and I in the past) are doing will not work, (it does, but it can fail if you’re not careful!) I just do not believe it is the most effective method Brian.
I don’t disagree with you, as I said there is no correlation between Google and Amazon, but in the absence of a better method I think it is better than nothing.
That said I have subscribed to get a free copy of your book, so I will read your method with interest 🙂
Hey Brian,
Thanks for signing up, small problem…
You’ll probably never see this book for free again I’m afraid! I may well put it on a Kindle countdown but that won’t be for at least 3 months as I’ve used up my KDP allocation for the period.
As it stands, the book is also at the lowest price it will ever be. (Countdowns aside.) I’m looking to get a stable record of sales (hope that makes sense?) before raising the price. I’m sure you’ll find it a bargain at $2.99!
I don’t say this to try to force you to buy Brian! 😛 It’s either a long wait or an even higher price. That said, if you have signed up I don’t really send a lot of emails to that list, except for countdown, or free offers on my own books. You’ll probably see it cheaper eventually.
That is very attention-grabbing, You’re an overly professional blogger.
I’ve joined your rss feed and sit up for in the hunt for
more of your magnificent post. Also, I have shared your website in my social networks
Hey Titanium!
Well, I do try… Thank you! You’ve made me go all beetroot in a “I know you say that to all the blogs” sorta way.
Ah shit! I just slipped and deleted your link details, so sorry man!