Friday Focus: Amazon Keyword Changes
So a couple of weeks ago I made some changes to my keywords on Amazon based on some research I did into Amazon search optimisation. This post is an analysis of the results. Please note that this isn’t entirely scientific, but I believe it’s fairly accurate.
For the purposes of this piece, I’ll focus on Amazon.co.uk. I hadn’t had a lot of success there before my search changes. So, let’s go!
What I changed: Originally, I only used single words as my keyword terms on Amazon. This was simply based on picking words from Amazon’s KDP keyword suggestions. Then I listened to a podcast where another author described his success based on using keyword phrases. So, I changed from single words to phrases.
How I changed things: Here were some of my original phrases: Preteen, steampunk, mystery, young adult. I searched inside Amazon to see what autofill terms came up. So under “Steampunk” I noticed that “Steampunk fantasy” came up. With young adult, I found that “Free young adult books” came up. So… my new list went from:
Preteen/Steampunk/Mystery/Young adult
to
preteen novel/steampunk fantasy/free mystery/free young adult books
And these are the results:
Excuse the resolution – I’m typing on a random tiny laptop in Berlin. So I made the changes on March 18. Prior to this, I was getting one or two free units of Mrs Milliard’s Mech downloaded a day. After the changes, I’ve seen an average of 40 units a day moving. My ebook has been ranked around the 500 mark, even hitting 230 at one stage in free ebooks, where previously it was at 5,000. That’s a massive uptake. I also saw the search rankings increase for “Steampunk detective” and other terms. Getting to 1 or 2 is crucial for people to investigate further, along with reviews and a good description.
So there you go. A couple of caveats: I launched my latest novella in the middle of this test, which may have skewed the data somewhat, but it’s now been 3 weeks, so I’m happy with how things are tracking. My verdict? I think everyone should research search terms and try this approach. It’s made a big difference to my results so far.
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This is a great help! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Stephanie wrote: "This is a great help! Thank you so much for sharing this!"No worries! Hope it's helpful. :)
Alas, I'm unable to change my keywords (don't even know what they are) because I went through a small publishing house.
Marie wrote: "Alas, I'm unable to change my keywords (don't even know what they are) because I went through a small publishing house."Oh dear! How has your experience been aside from keywords? There would hopefully be some other sale channels available for you.
I wish I knew what keywords were used because I think it might have a bit to do with sales. Though Amazon still sells my titles under my publisher, technically one title's rights have reverted back to me so the publisher could pull it any time if unsatisfied with sales.
Yeah. I'm sure they'll have people far more knowledgable than I working on the keywords. I hope it works out well for you. :)
