Finding keywords to enter for Amazon’s keyword choices is a challenge for many writers. Writers generally fall into one of three camps when it comes to keywords.
1. Either they don’t fill in anything at all for keyword selection because it’s not required to do so by Amazon and they haven’t a clue what kind of information to enter.
2. They do their best to fill in something. Their choices are guesswork . . . and forget about keyword phrases, that’s far outside their knowledge base.
3. Then there are those who know what to do and their books rank well because of this.
If you find yourself resonating with one of the first two camps, you’re among the majority. That’s a majority you want to leave behind if you want to have an advantage when setting up your books.
On top of learning how to find keywords, you also want to know what keywords Amazon may require of you. They have strict requirements.
For Amazon.com (US), there are requirements in these categories:
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Money
Children’s eBooks
Comics & Graphic Novels
Erotica Science Fiction & Fantasy
Health, Fitness, & Dieting
History Textbooks
LGBT
Literature & Fiction
Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Teen & Young Adult
Travel
In Amazon.co.uk (UK), there are requirements for these categories:
Biography & True Accounts
Crime, Thriller, & Mystery
Erotica
Romance
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Go here https://kdp.amazon.com/help/ and click on the category for you book and Amazon will tell you the mandated keyword or keywords for your category.
This gives you a definite advantage and may even help you choose a stronger category.
When looking at the category of ROMANCE for example, who would have thought there would be a category called ROMANTIC THEMES/AMNESIA and that a required keyword would be “amnesia?”
Can you see what an advantage you’ll have if you set your book up properly in both the right category and with the right keyword?
Looking at Amazon to make sure you’ve followed requirements is the first thing you want to do. But what about those other six keywords for your eBook and the keywords for your print book?
If you want to learn more, you can get the extended details and a printable list here: