Amazon keyword research: a guide to better rankings

A perfectly crafted listing is worthless if nobody finds it. On Amazon, keyword coverage determines which searches your product even comes up for – and that's the prerequisite for every sale. Yet keyword research is the step most often done superficially: a few obvious terms in the title, and that's it. Here we show how to do it properly.

Why Amazon works differently to Google.

On Google, people search for information: "why is linseed oil healthy". On Amazon, people search for products, and they're ready to buy: "organic cold-pressed linseed oil 500ml". These searches are more specific, closer to the product and often include attributes like size, colour, quantity or use.

For your research this means: you're not searching for topics, but for the language customers use to ask for your product. And that language is rarely the one you use to talk about your product yourself. A manufacturer says "food supplement with omega-3 fatty acids", the customer types "high-strength omega 3 capsules".

The five best sources for keywords.

1. Amazon itself: autocomplete

The search suggestions in the Amazon search bar are real user queries, sorted by frequency. Type in your main keyword and note down all the suggestions. Then work through the alphabet: "linseed oil a", "linseed oil b" and so on – this gives you dozens of real search terms, completely free.

2. The bestsellers' listings

Whoever ranks at the top of your category has usually chosen their keywords well. Analyse the top three to five listings: which terms are in the title, which in the bullet points? Which features are emphasised? Don't copy, but learn from it which terms are relevant in your market.

3. The search term report in Seller Central

If you're already selling, this is your most valuable source: the report shows which search terms customers actually bought from you through. These terms are proven to drive sales – they belong in the title and in your advertising.

4. Amazon advertising as a research tool

An automatic PPC campaign is the fastest way to discover unknown search terms. Amazon shows your product for terms it considers relevant – and the report shows you which of them led to clicks and purchases. These insights feed back into the listing.

5. External tools

Tools like Helium 10, Jungle Scout or Sonar provide search volume estimates and competition data. They're helpful for prioritising, but no substitute for sources one to four – the estimates sometimes differ considerably from one another. Use them for guidance, not as absolute truth.

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Our approach: first gather manually (autocomplete, competition), then prioritise with tools, then verify via PPC. That way the decision is based on real data, not on estimates.

Main, secondary and long-tail keywords.

Not every keyword is equally important. We work with three tiers:

TierCharacteristicsWhere it goes

Main keywordHigh volume, strong competition, describes the product at its coreTitle (front), main-image context, PPC exact

Secondary keywordsMedium volume, often attributes or synonymsTitle (rear), bullet points, A+ Content

Long-TailLow volume, very specific, high conversionBackend, bullets, PPC phrase

The mistake many sellers make: they fight exclusively over the two or three most contested terms and ignore long-tail searches. Yet these often add up to more sales than the main keyword – at a fraction of the advertising cost, because hardly anyone bids on them.

Where the keywords belong.

Title – the strongest terms first

The first words carry the most weight, both for the algorithm and for the customer. Structure: brand + main keyword + most important features + quantity. Keep it readable – a title that looks like a keyword list lowers the click rate.

Bullet points – combine benefits with keywords

Every bullet conveys a reason to buy and naturally includes one or two keywords in the process. Not the other way round: keywords without a benefit argument convince no one.

Backend search terms – the invisible rest

This is where synonyms, alternative spellings, typo variants and foreign-language terms go. Without commas, without repetitions, without third-party brand names – and within the given character limit; anything beyond it is ignored.

A+ Content and images

A+ Content is only indexed to a limited extent by Amazon, but has a strong effect on conversion. The text in infographics is increasingly picked up by image search – that's where the most important product features belong.

Four mistakes we see again and again.

Keyword stuffing in the title. A title full of terms with no sentence structure puts customers off. The click rate drops – and so does the ranking. Amazon also simply truncates titles that are too long.

Using competitors' brand names. This breaches the guidelines and can lead to cease-and-desist notices and suspended offers. Not permitted in the backend either.

Research once and then never again. Search behaviour changes seasonally and with the market. A listing that's been unchanged for two years gradually loses visibility.

Only looking at search volume. A term with 50,000 searches where you sit on page 8 brings nothing. A term with 800 searches in position 2 brings sales. Relevance and the chance of winning count for more than raw volume.

How to go about it in practice.

Gather

Bring together all the terms from the five sources in one table – better too many than too few.

Clean up

Delete duplicate, irrelevant and trademark-problematic terms.

Prioritise

Sort by relevance and realistic ranking chance, not by volume alone.

Distribute

Fill in title, bullets, description, backend and A+ Content according to the scheme above.

Measure

Watch rankings and search term reports, fine-tune after four to six weeks.

Keyword research isn't a project you finish – it's an ongoing process. That's exactly why it's a fixed part of our SEO management: we track our clients' rankings continuously and adjust the listings when search behaviour or competition changes.

Frequently asked questions.

How many keywords does a listing need?

There's no fixed number. What matters is coverage: all relevant main and secondary terms should appear somewhere in the listing – the strongest in the title, the rest in bullets and backend. Between 30 and 200 relevant terms is normal, depending on the product.

Do I need to repeat keywords multiple times?

No. Amazon indexes a term once – repetitions bring no advantage and waste space you could use for further search terms.

How often should I review my keywords?

At least once a quarter, plus for every season and after major changes in the competition. Search behaviour changes, new terms come along.

How do I know which keywords I rank for?

Via ranking tracking tools or – free but time-consuming – by searching manually in an incognito window. The search term report in Seller Central also shows you which terms were actually bought through.

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Amazon keyword research: how to find the terms that sell.