Unlocking the Power of KDP Keywords and Categories for Your Book

If you’re an independent author using KDP—Amazon’s self-publishing platform—you know that KDP keywords and categories are essential tools. The right metadata can help maximize your book’s visibility and sales; the wrong metadata can leave you languishing in obscurity.

Unfortunately, many authors don’t know how to optimize their sales pages. In this post, we’ll go over how Amazon optimization works and how you can use KDP keywords and categories to your advantage.

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Topics Covered in “Unlocking the Power of KDP Keywords and Categories for Your Book”

The Importance of KDP Keywords and Categories
How KDP Keywords and Categories Help Readers Find Your Book
How to Select Strong KDP Keywords
How to Select Strong KDP Categories
You’re Ready to Choose Your KDP Keywords and Categories!

The Importance of KDP Keywords and Categories

With millions of books available on Amazon, standing out can feel like an impossible task. The key to successful book sales is not just visibility, but visibility to the right audience. 

Luckily, the right keywords and categories can help you cut through the noise by connecting your book with readers who are specifically looking for what you have to offer. (This is why direct control of your keywords and categories is such an important benefit of self-publishing!)

Strong metadata—including keywords and categories—allows you to position your book for the readers it will resonate with the most. You can get your book to show up when readers type in certain search phrases. You can even achieve that coveted “Amazon bestseller” status.

But a well-optimized Amazon sales page doesn’t just boost sales by getting your book in front of more eyeballs. It also improves your book’s overall ranking on Amazon. 

As your sales increase, Amazon’s algorithm begins to promote your book more actively. It may suggest your book to readers in related categories or feature it in “Customers who bought this also bought” lists. This creates a positive feedback loop where increased visibility leads to more sales, which further boosts visibility.

By understanding and leveraging the power of keywords and categories, you can significantly enhance your book’s discoverability on Amazon. And it all starts with a healthy understanding of how KDP keywords and categories work.

How KDP Keywords and Categories Help Readers Find Your Book

When a reader searches for a book on Amazon, they typically search using specific words or phrases, called keywords. To determine which books to show that reader, Amazon’s algorithm scans its vast catalog for appropriate titles, descriptions, and metadata.

If your book’s title, subtitle, description, and listed keywords reflect phrases readers are using to search for books like yours, your book is more likely to appear in those search results. The more your keywords align with those search terms, the higher your book will rank in the search results.

Categories work in tandem with keywords to refine the search process. Keywords help Amazon understand what your book is about, but categories classify your book within a specific topic or genre.

When a reader browses Amazon’s storefront, they often navigate these categories and subcategories to find books that fit their interests. Amazon’s algorithm uses categories to place your book among other similar titles so it shows up for the right readers.

How to Select Strong KDP Keywords

When it comes to keywords, it’s best to focus on longer phrases—called “long-tail keywords”—rather than short phrases. A good rule of thumb is that the more specific and detailed the phrase, the better it will work for you.

Our self-publishing services company, Spoonbridge Press, uses PublisherRocket to research the best Amazon keywords for all of our publications. Created by Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur, it’s the fastest way to identify competitive, relevant, and effective keywords for your book. 

If you don’t want to pay the lifetime fee for PublisherRocket, there are other ways to find good keywords for your book:

• Start typing relevant terms related to your book into Amazon’s search bar and pay attention to the autocomplete suggestions. These suggestions are popular search terms by readers, and they can give you insights into what people are looking for.
• Examine the titles, subtitles, and descriptions of similar books in your genre or category. Note the keywords they use and consider how you can incorporate similar terms or find gaps they might have missed.
• Use Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature to explore the terms books like yours are using in their table of contents. This can give you additional keyword ideas.
• Browse Amazon’s categories and subcategories to find terms and phrases that fit your book’s content. If you spot relevant categories you’re not listing your book in (see next section), consider using them as keywords. 
• Use free tools like Google Keyword Planner to find keywords related to your book’s topic. (This list won’t reflect Amazon’s data in the same way PublisherRocket’s would, but it’s a good starting point.)
• Use your Author Central account to analyze the performance of your book and get insights into keywords that are driving traffic.

How to Select Strong KDP Categories

As of 2023, when you set up your book listing, you can select up to three categories. Too many authors choose only the most obvious categories for their book, but this is a mistake. In fact, targeting less competitive categories can increase your chances of ranking highly in those categories.

Get Specific

Some authors worry that being too specific with their categories means missing out on the larger, broader categories. Good news—when you choose a subcategory, you’ll be listed in all of the associated “upstream” categories too! 

For example, if your book is military sci-fi set in space, you might niche down into the “Space Fleet” category. Let’s look at the other categories this subcategory is connected to: 

Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Fleet

Using the category of “Space Fleet” can help attract readers who are searching for sci-fi books with these characteristics. In addition, your book will be included in the “Military Science Fiction,” “Science Fiction,” and “Science Fiction & Fantasy” categories.

And remember, you get to choose three categories per format. That means if you publish your book as a paperback and an ebook, you can shoot for six subcategories. Add in all the associated upstream categories, and you’ll have a well-positioned book.

Broaden Your Reach

If possible, try to choose niche subcategories in different higher-level categories. For example, say you’re trying to narrow these four categories down to three:

Books > Religion & Spirituality > Buddhism > Zen > Spirituality

Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties

Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Human Rights

Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Ethnic Studies > African Descent & Black > African American Studies

All of these subcategories might apply equally to your book. However, because “Civil Rights & Liberties” and “Human Rights” share so many upstream categories, you might decide to choose just one of those subcategories so you can broaden your reach.

Look at the Data

As with keywords, we use PublisherRocket to take the guess work out of choosing the best categories for our books. With PublisherRocket, we can see exactly how many sales the book would need to make per day to hit the #10 and #1 spot in each category. We rely heavily on this information when we narrow down our list of equally applicable categories. 

(If you don’t have PublisherRocket, Kindlepreneur has a great article that explains how to manually locate good categories for your book.)