The power of keywords cannot be underestimated when it comes to Amazon KDP. Тhey are rightly considered prime real estate and the surest, most efficient way to get your books found by the right audience.
Anything less than that means not making conversions or sales, and letting your no- or low-content book float into the ether without giving you the returns you expect. With this being said, some experts have identified several keyword mistakes to avoid as they relate to publishing your books on Amazon.
These critical mistakes will reduce your chances of making a passive income, but if avoided, can help you skyrocket your sales and see much higher conversions than you anticipated.
So, what are the biggest keyword mistakes?
Let’s discuss.
What Are The Biggest Keyword Mistakes?
Mistake 1: Using single-word keywords.
Result: Poor Amazon ranking
Explanation: Keywords are simple words that describe a product or service. They can be used as a single word or in a combination of words.
However, by using single-word keywords, you automatically go down lower in the Amazon algorithm, where you face much stiffer competition than if you were to niche down and focus on the particular targeted category.
For example, if you were to use only the words “sketchbook” or “children”, these would be considered much too broad and you wouldn’t get found through a user’s search because you’d be competing with thousands of other Sellers who are using long-tail keywords or keyword pairings to help narrow down the search results.
Solution: Use long-tailed keywords such as “panda sketchbook for children” and never use single keywords in each of the keyword slots.
Mistake 2: Repeating keywords
Result: Poor search visibility, poor Amazon ranking
Explanation: There’s space in the title field, subtitle field, and the series title field for keywords. However, if you use one and the same keyword throughout, it won’t really make a difference, except waste your prime real estate on Amazon.
Remember that Amazon is a search engine apart from being a marketplace. It will crawl your page and see what searches are being made. It will then compare your keywords to the searches to yield the most relevant results.
Using the same keywords over and over is not going to help you rank higher.
Solution: Use further keywords to give your KDP no- or low-content book further visibility as the Amazon algorithm doesn’t look at the number of times one keyword appears on a page but rather, the quality of the information presented.
However, this does not mean that you can’t take one word from your long-tailed keywords and repeat elsewhere. It means that you shouldn’t use the same long-tailed keywords over and over again.
Mistake 3: Keyword stuffing
Result: Poor Amazon search optimization
Explanation: Keyword stuffing entails neglecting long-tail keywords and replacing them or stuffing the slots with single-use keywords multiple times. Amazon prefers a logical order of keywords as opposed to a random jumble of keywords.
Solution: It may sound intuitive, but the solution to this problem is to use logical sounding sequences of words that mirror a user’s search intent. It would be a mistake to stuff several words in the keyword slot in the hope of getting crawled by the Amazon algorithm.
Mistake 4: Using keywords that are trademarked and/or misrepresentative (Intellectual Property)
Result: Copyright infringement claim
Explanation: Using keywords that are a trademarked phrase or word is not allowed, especially if you’re not the rights holder. This means that if you’re going to be selling a journal on any “Disney” character, you are not actually allowed to use it. However, in order to get more traction, some Sellers would resort to this practice, which in reality would be to their detriment.
Solution: Amazon has zero tolerance for misrepresentation and this applies even to your keyword slots, let alone the title or description of your page. This is why it is crucial to ensure you do not use trademarked words in your keyword sequences or any intellectual property you do not own.
Mistake 5: Not updating your keywords regularly enough
Result: Increase in BSR (best sellers rank) – sales go down
Explanation: Even if you have a manageable portfolio of evergreen books, or books that are not necessarily seasonal, you should try to keep track of their best-sellers rank (BSR) to see how well they’re performing. If you see an increase in the BSR, it’s time to give them a push by updating your keywords and using more relevant ones.
The same is true for seasonal books, especially because keywords and user intent change over time.
Solution: Focus on evergreen books and engage in some keyword tracking to help you avoid this mistake. To do so, go into your Amazon KDP account, check which books’ BSR is increasing over time and update your keywords to help improve your position on Amazon. To lock in the right keywords, log onto Book Bolt and go to the Products tool. This feature will be able to gauge the efficiency of your chosen keywords. Pick the category of the KDP product you’re selling and type in the keyword you’ve chosen to figure out whether the new keyword’s BSR is more competitive than the old one.
Bonus mistakes:
Mistake 6: Not using all the keywords boxes
Your keyword boxes, as mentioned earlier, are your “real estate” for selling on Amazon. These are the words that will ultimately help you get found. By not using all the keyword boxes you have available, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to appear higher in the Amazon rankings.
Mistake 7: Using irrelevant keywords
Keywords that are not relevant to your KDP book will simply lead to it being undiscoverable. It might also confuse Amazon’s algorithm, resulting in your book being shown to the wrong audience, thereby lowering the overall conversion rate. To avoid this, use keywords that are relevant to your book’s genre and category. If you’re not sure how to approach this particular challenge, use Book Bolt’s Cloud tool. It will give you an in-depth view of the best-performing keywords in your chosen niche.
Closing remarks
Keywords are king in the no- and low-content book publishing business. Without keywords, your sales are as good as lost. However, that does not mean that using any old keywords or stuffing a bunch of keywords together in an illogical manner will help you generate a sale.
Getting your keywords right is one of the most fundamental things you can do to boost your Amazon KDP sales. And the mistakes outlined above are some of the most common ones to be avoided.
In fact, this is one of the main reasons why we created Book Bolt. It will not only allow you to avoid mishaps, but will also help you make the best of your “prime real estate” on Amazon.