Advice for Keywords on Amazon

Check out this link to get into specific categories:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A200PDGPEIQX41

If you click on Literature and Fiction you can see that there are certain words you have to use to get into different historical fiction categories.

Literary Fiction Themes/Military & War military, war
Literary Fiction Themes/School & College military & war

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I'm hoping that's a typo in the list, but it does make sense in a twisted sort of way

I've never seen that list of keywords before. I didn't read enough of the help files! Thanks for that link - it will be very helpful to me. I always wondered why certain categories were not available for selection in KDP and yet there were all these specific subcategories lists. It's good to know how to get included in them. I was not always using the right keywords.

Though that's the theory, I've never been listed in an additional category due to my keywords. So it might work, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't.

Ralyks said:

I've never seen that list of keywords before. I didn't read enough of the help files! Thanks for that link - it will be very helpful to me. I always wondered why certain categories were not available for selection in KDP and yet there were all these specific subcategories lists. It's good to know how to get included in them. I was not always using the right keywords.

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You can also contact KDP and request to be listed in a specific category. I did that and they responded within 2 days.

I also stumbled across this link where Amazon constantly updates their "most popular tags" as to what people are searching for on their site... hope this helps!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/tagging/cloud

JWoodsAuthor said:

I also stumbled across this link where Amazon constantly updates their "most popular tags" as to what people are searching for on their site... hope this helps!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/tagging/cloud

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Hm. Took a peek at that link, but it looks like something they no longer support.

"Our Tags feature has been discontinued; however, all the tags you previously created are still available under Your Profile page.

Originally, the Tags feature was to allow customers to tag items they were considering to purchase, tagging products that they have previously purchased for later recommendations, and tagging products to suggest better organization of them for Amazon. Over time Amazon has introduced new features which have replaced the Tags functionality, so you may be interested in learning more about features such as Wish Lists, Customer Reviews, and Recommendations."

There's another link though that I haven't spent too much time with myself: https://www.merchantwords.com/

Lets you input words and see how often they're used in searches.

Here's what I do: first, I come up with a list of keywords. Then I go and test them in two places:

adwords.google.co.uk is the first one (requires a Google account.) You want the Keyword Planner tool. This lets you check the search volume and traffic estimates for your keywords, and suggests related ones. This version of the tool has replaced the one I used last time I went there, so I recommend reading the how-to guides at that link.

The second is -- goddamn it. I was checking the link for you and Amazon have disabled tags. That was extremely useful because you could test keywords by typing them into the search box and comparing the volume of results. So the second doesn't exist any more, sadly.

Well, AdWords is cool, anyhow.

You could try checking tags on LibraryThing or shelves on GoodReads. While not an exact match for keywords on Amazon, it will let you know what words people are thinking of most when they think of pirate books.

http://www.librarything.com/tag/pirates
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/pirates

Another way to go at those lists is to pick a book that's very similar and look it up, see what tags/shelves people are using for it and if any of them fit yours.

Or, if your book has been added lots of times to those sites, steal your own readers' tags and shelves!