The Ultimate Guide

to Amazon Keyword
Research
How to find traffic-pulling
keywords for your Amazon listings
May 2019
Helping Amazon sellers rise to the top.
These steps might just Ultimate Amazon Listing Optimization Guide

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11 Common Keyword Research Mistakes

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KEYWORDS AND
THEIR IMPORTANCE
Amazon has created an unparalleled E-commerce experience
for customers around the world and many other platforms do
their best to emulate its success.
However, success for Amazon sellers goes hand in hand with
how easily customers can find their products when perform-
ing searches. While people can certainly find products on the
Internet via traditional search engine browsing on Google,
Bing and others. Amazon has fundamentally changed the way
people search for and buy products. The E-commerce
landscape has crept into mainstream retail thanks to
Amazon’s perfection of using keywords to search
for products.
In this guide, you’ll learn about keywords on Amazon and
how to leverage that knowledge to bring more buyers to your
product listing.
Deciphering Customer Intention
Amazon is a search engine, like Google, Bing, or even
YouTube. However, the difference between Amazon and
other search engines is that people come to Amazon with an
expectation to buy; because of that, their search habits are
completely different.
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When people look for things on search engines like Google
or Bing, their intentions tend to be based around research.
In contrast, most customers who go directly to Amazon
are searching specifically for a product to buy rather than
information regarding a product.
Because the customer search intent on Amazon is to make a
purchase, keywords must be more directly related to a
particular kind of product to help customers find the most
relevant search result. Since more and more people are turn-
ing to Amazon to make purchases, so too are sellers flocking
to the platform to sell their products.
Amazon has seen a massive surge in new private label sellers,
which means more competition across most product niches.
With the sheer number of sellers competing in each market-
place and the majority of sales occurring on the first page of
any search result, every seller must ask themselves,
“How do I get my product in front of the customers who want
it or something like it?”
Keywords are what guide your customers to your product
in the search results, so ranking for search terms that suit
your product well is the best way to increase your visibility on
Amazon and thus your sales.
KEYWORDS:
A MARKET WITHIN A MARKET

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Just as there are competitors selling similar products in your niche, they are also competing with you for top ranking on the
most relevant and powerful keywords to attract buyers. Additionally, there are many different variants within the same niche that
can be crucial to attracting the right kind of buyer to your Amazon listing.
For example, if you’re in the pet niche and you sell dog food,
the keywords you choose to target can represent completely
different markets.
The market for “dry dog food” is completely different from
“wet dog food.” Within each of these markets are many relat-
ed keywords that, if used properly, can attract more buyers
than your competitors that are less keyword savvy.
In fact, many successful sellers actually use keywords as a
means of finding profitable products to sell. Helium 10
members can use the combined strength of Cerebro and
Magnet to discover juicy keywords in niches they may not
have even considered before.
Keyword Types
There are a few keyword types to be aware of when doing
keyword research:
„„ Short tail keywords – These keywords are typically one or two
words in length and are often the most competitive to rank for
on Amazon due to the sheer amount of search volume. Though
highly coveted, most short tail keywords are quite broad in scope
and typically cover a product niche in the most general terms. In a
pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, they can be very expensive to rank
for and will often provide little value to new sellers offering very
specific products.
„„ Example: Flashlight
Long tail keywords – These keywords are typically three or
more words in length and are often less competitive to rank
for due to their more precise nature. Because long tail
keywords are generally more relevant to a product category,
they are only used for certain product sub-niches. They offer
less competition in PPC campaigns, and thus are more
cost-effective and may be more worth your time. Long tail
keywords are great for making early sales for new sellers
since they are hyper relevant to your product.
„„ Example: Metallic tactical flashlight
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These next three keywords types can be either short or long
tail keywords, but can vary in their word choices:
Broad match – Broad match keywords tend to be all-encom-
passing and will show when someone searches your keyword
or any variation of it. Additionally, broad match keywords may
include synonyms, misspellings, and related terms to what you
want to rank for. If your main search term is “flashlight,” broad
match examples include:
„„ Hand torch (synonym)
„„ Flashlite (misspelling)
„„ Headlamp (related)
Phrase match – Phrase match keywords include your seed
keyword in some capacity, making them more relevant to your
product. Additionally, phrase match keywords typically include
singular/plural versions of the seed keyword and descriptive
words added to the seed keyword. If your main search term is
“flashlight,” phrase match examples include:
„„ Flashlights (plural)
„„ Metallic tactical flashlight (descriptive)
Exact match – Exact match keywords are word-for-word
what your product is, with virtually no variations. If your main
search term is “flashlight,” Exact match examples include:
„„ Flashlight (standard)
„„ Flash light (split)
Pro training tip: Which keyword match type should you
choose to target? While your choices will depend on your
product niche, market saturation and more, you would do well
to start with exact matches as seed keywords. From there,
you can begin expanding on seed keyword variations and
additions when making decisions on which keywords to
include in a product listing.
 Ultimate Amazon Listing Optimization Guide

UNDERSTANDING
AMAZON’S A9
ALGORITHM
Just like any other search engine that indexes search terms based on relevancy,
Amazon has its own way of organizing its products into the search results based on
keywords. However, the Amazon A9 Algorithm treats keywords a little differently due
to the customer intent trends mentioned earlier.

Amazon’s Search Results VS. Google, Bing and YouTube

First, let’s get one thing straight when it comes to search volume. Using how often
people search for a term on Google or other search engines alone to make decisions
on Amazon is a flawed thought process, and here’s why:

„„ While search volume is definitely important when choosing keywords to target, it’s that cus-
tomer intention that makes a larger impact. Why people are searching is just as important as
how often in a month. Amazon shoppers are more likely to use feature-based and
product-centric search queries, so keywords that cater to the key features of your product is
an effective strategy for attracting buyers.

„„ Like any business, Amazon wants to maximize purchases on its platform as much as possible,
and that directly affects ranking products for keyword searches. Amazon’s search algorithm
prioritizes products with a strong sales history via high click-through-rates (CTR) and
conversion rates (CR) to rank product listings that are most relevant to customer
search queries.

Bottom line: the better your product sells, the quicker your product will rise through
the rankings to page one and get maximum visibility from customers searching for
your product.

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GETTING STARTED
WITH AMAZON'S
KEYWORD RESEARCH

8

There’s a lot of conflicting (and frankly wrong) information out
there when it comes to what makes for a great keyword. You’ll
likely hear things like “relevance is the name of the game” or
“search volume is all you should pay attention to” and
everything in between.
But how do you know what to follow? In truth, it’s a
combination of the following:
Comparing Competitor ASINs
and Keywords
Are your competitors targeting your desired keywords?
If none of your top competitors are trying to rank for a certain
keyword, they may know something you don’t. Perhaps that
keyword has poor conversions in your product niche, or it is
overly competitive. Whatever the reason may be, you may
want to reconsider that keyword. Tools like Cerebro by
Helium 10 can help you see shared keywords among your
top competitors.
A great place to start is with your biggest competitors.
Their listings are established, pulling in customers and sales,
and can provide a great baseline for your keyword
research efforts.
Relevance
Is the keyword relevant to your product? The closer your
product is to your targeted keywords, the more likely Amazon
is to rank your product for said terms. Sometimes sellers will
employ black hat strategies that attempt to keyword stuff
their listing to get more listing views. Amazon doesn’t like this
behavior and has been known to discipline sellers for doing
so. Concurrently, customers will also not click on your listing if
it seems totally out of place in them search results.
How to rank any keyword to page one
•• Check out this short video about how to execute the CPR Launch Method.
•• Here’s a case study on two launches that we did during Q4 2017 that did $39,000 in
just two days.
Ultimate Amazon Listing Optimization Guide
As you find keywords in your niche that are more relevant to
your product, put those seed keywords into your Amazon
keyword research tool to find additional (and relevant)
keywords that you may not have originally thought of.
However, you have to stop and wonder: what is more
important than being relevant to Amazon? Being relevant to
the buyer! Amazon may be cutting your checks, but it’s the
buyer who is purchasing your product, so in order to get paid
in the first place, you need to inspire the customer to convert
and buy your product.
How do you know what is relevant to buyers
(your target audience)?
„„ Common sense - if suggested keywords from a tool or
Amazon’s relevancy score don’t make sense with your
product, DO NOT pursue that keyword. Find a more
appropriate keyword by doing the search test to see if a
similar product like yours shows up in the results.
„„ See what keywords are working well for your top
competitors - perform a reverse ASIN keyword search to
find this information; use Cerebro by Helium 10.
„„ Make sure to research multiple competitors to get a
consensus.
„„ Use Xray to see which sellers are doing the best in your
niche and see whatnkeywords they are targeting.
„„ Ensure that converting keywords are not specific to only
that product or brand.
„„ Always make an “apples-to-apples” comparison -
Ensure that you are comparing yourproduct to an existing
one that shares form, function and price.
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Helium 10
Search Volume
Even if your product is fairly unique, it still must become
associated with a search term that already gets search traffic.
Amazon is not the place to sell brand new inventions with
no previous search records. If no one is using your chosen
search term, choose something related that has at least some
search volume.
Something like “red water bottle with a twist cap” may be
highly relevant to your product, but how many people are
searching for it per month? The key is to find keywords with
high relevance to your product and have a high exact phrase
search volume to back it up.
Hidden Opportunities
You may be thinking, aren’t all the good keywords taken?
Not necessarily, because new products, markets and
keywords are popping up on Amazon every day.
Additionally, long tail keywords are incredibly underutilized
and are great low-hanging fruit, especially for new sellers.
As mentioned before, these multi-word search terms can be
much more precise in their relevance to your product. If your
product is, in fact, a “red water bottle with a twist cap,”
targeting a term like “twist cap water bottle” may be a very
effective keyword for your listing.
Additionally, that long tail keyword is also likely to have much
lower competition, making it easier and cheaper for you to
drive PPC traffic towards your listing. Even if your long tail
keywords have lower search volume overall, you can be
assured that those who do use it to arrive at your listing are
much more likely to be interested in buying your product.
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Keywords for a New
Product Launch
When you launch a product on Amazon, odds are you’re going
to target only one (or a few) phrases at first to get on
page one.
When you do this for a product launch, you are going to
strategically place this keyword or phrase throughout your
product listing (title, description, bullet points, metadata, etc.).
This action will show Amazon that your product should be
indexed for that keyword. As you gain sales due to this key-
word, Amazon will deem your product more relevant for your
additional keywords you wish to rank for.
This is the order of importance where strong keywords
matter most:
1. Title
2. Subject matter (backend of listing)
3. Search terms (backend of listing)
4. Bullet points
5. Description
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COMMON KEYWORD
RESEARCH MISTAKES

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By now you know, Amazon keyword research is arguably just as important as any other step to
running an Amazon business. There are a few mistakes that, if ignored, can put your business at a
severe disadvantage:

Using tools with inaccurate data - We touched on this earlier
so we’ll be brief here. Many Amazon software tools use
keyword data from other search engines. Not only are search
volumes different on Amazon, but search intent is different
as well. Be sure to use Amazon-specific tools when making
decisions on Amazon.
Focusing on high search volume keywords that are
overly generalized - Overlygeneralized keywords with high
search volume are not always well-suited for your product.
Here’s how to tell: if you do a search on Amazon using the
high-volume generalized keyword and you do not see many
(if any) products similar to the one you want to sell, do not
waste your time and money on that keyword. Find something
more specific to your specific product, likely in the form of a
long-tail keyword. Perform this test on your major keywords
to ensure that the traffic you are hoping to attract has a better
likelihood of conversion.
Relying on “Relevancy Scores” to choose keywords -
Amazon’s “Relevancy” score is not as accurate as many have
come to believe, issuing keywords in auto campaigns that
actually have little to no actual relevance to specific types of
products. Helium 10 has not used this metric due to its inaccu-
racy and unreliability. For example, if you are selling a healthful
skin product under “skin toner” as your keyword, Amazon’s
relevancy scores may rate something like “ink toner,” as in for
a copying machine, as very relevant when in fact it is not, so
using your best judgement will help to weed these out if you
decide to run an auto campaign for Amazon PPC.
Trusting “Keyword Scores” from tools that claim to use
Amazon data - Don’t totally rely on keyword scores given
by tools. These scores are visual representations of data
gathered. While they can be helpful in narrowing down rel-
evant keywords to your product, other factors such as high
conversions and common sense should play more significant
roles in your decision-making process. Beware of metrics
that claim to be “from Amazon” since the company typically
keeps its important keyword data hidden from the public eye;
this is evident in the closing of Amazon’s exact search volume
data point. Many of these tools, including Amazon itself, that
use Amazon’s “relevancy score” provide information based
on relationships between keywords. Let your actual product
ranking and sales do the talking for you when it comes to
whether or not a keyword is working for you.
Using tools that claim to use “Real Amazon Data - Sellers
should be very cautious when considering any tool that claims
to incorporate “real Amazon data” into its system. Helium 10
makes accurate estimations of Amazon keywords based on
a wide variety of other data points that are derived from ob-
servable Amazon trends. Our system also uses a proprietary
algorithm to avoid mistakes in relevancy and other metrics.
Many tools claiming to use Amazon data do not describe how
they got the data or in what context they obtained it. Amazon
does not give out specific keyword information to the highest
bidder, so such claims should not be trusted.

Seller Trademarks
Amazon loves trademarked brands! Seller Trademarks helps you protect your intellectual prop-
erty by providing an easy, one-stop process to getting trademarked.
Benefits Include legal protection, brand gating, protection from hi-jackers, brand registry, and
increase of company value.

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 Ultimate Amazon Listing Optimization Guide

Copying your competitor’s listing - Not only is copying your Copying and pasting keyword list into listings for other
competitor’s listing lazy, but it can land you in hot water too. marketplaces - do not plug your US listing keywords into a
Feel free to take inspiration from others who you aspire to translator and use those for non-English speaking countries.
emulate, but make sure to create an original listing with Effective keywords may not be the same in those marketplac-
original content. No one likes a copycat, including Amazon. es in terms of conversions.Additionally, do not just copy and
paste your US listing keywords to Amazon Canada or Amazon
Using tools with inaccurate data - We touched on this earlier UK. Just because the listings may be in English doesn’t mean
so we’ll be brief here. Many Amazon software tools use American words in America will rank well outside the US. The
keyword data from other search engines. Not only are search spelling of words between American English and British and/
volumes different on Amazon, but search intent is different or Canadian English may be different, so take that into
as well. Be sure to use Amazon-specific tools when making consideration (ex. Color [American] VS. Colour [British]).
decisions on Amazon. Vernacular and labels for things may also be different in other
cultures (ex. “Toilet” in America versus “loo” in Britain)
Focusing only on major keywords - Sure, Tactical Flashlight
may be the number one keyword in your market, but can your
business compete with huge sellers who are already on page
1 for that phrase? Chances are, unless you have deep
pockets...probably not. It’s important to remember, it takes
sales to rank on page one. And the bigger the keyword, the
more sales it will take for you to rank, meaning you’ll have to
have enough inventory on hand to rank and stay in stock to
sustain that rank position. Instead of focusing your efforts
on the number one keyword phrase in your market, don’t be
afraid to go after phrases with less search volume. These
phrases are often overlooked by your larger competitors and
give smaller sellers a great opportunity to enter the market.

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Freedom Ticket is an eight-week training course by seven-figure seller and
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seller, learn game-changing methods to grow your business.

13
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APPENDIX

14

ALL-IN-ONE
Amazon Seller Analytics Software Suite.
Black Box
Black Box is your magic mirror for deep product research. Access
a massive database of over 450+ million products in seconds with
advanced filters to find a winning product or niche.
Xray
Xray is a browser extension tool that validates potential product
opportunities directly on your browser. Reveal key market infor-
mation such as revenue estimates, price, sales trends, sponsored
ad analytics and much more.
Magnet
Magnet removes the guesswork from your keyword research.
Pull the most traffic-generating keywords within a few clicks.
Throttle any listing’s Amazon SEO strategy with a perfect lineup
of high-performing keywords.
Misspellinator
Misspellinator extracts commonly misspelled alternative versions
of your main keywords in seconds. Plug them into your listing
backend to boost your listing’s ranking.
Ultimate Amazon Listing Optimization Guide
Profitability
Calculator
Profitability Calculator is a browser extension tool that gives you
the power to check if a certain product will turn a profit before
it’s sourced. Look up products that are close to the product you
want to sell and get insights such as dimension and weight, FBA
storage fees, profit margin percentages, shipping fees, current
item price, product sizing and more.
Trendster
Trendster quickly analyzes product seasonality and revenue
trends. See clear market trends to find opportunity and
take advantage.
Cerebro
Cerebro dives deep into competitor data to identify winning
keywords. Compare multiple ASINS to reveal must-have data
points such as estimated keyword phrase search volume,
estimated broad keyword phrase search volume, and more.
Spy on your competitors’ best keyword strategies and leave
nothing to chance.
Frankenstein
Frankenstein stitches traffic-generating keywords together by
sorting through large sets of unorganized keywords. Use
deduplication filters, remove unwanted characters and words,
sort by popularity, and more to create a perfect keyword list for
your listing.
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Helium 10
Index Checker
Index Checker verifies if your keywords are being indexed by
Amazon. It can also be used to spy on your competitors’
keyword strategy by checking which keywords are being
indexed on their listing or not. Get indexed and make your
product visible.
Keyword
Tracker
Keyword Tracker helps you outpace your competitors’ key-
word optimization strategy. Track the organic and sponsored
position of your product listing for your main keywords. Also,
track high-impact keywords in real time—including those
used by the competition. Assess ranking, percentage ranking
changes, trends over time, and estimated monthly searches to
stay informed and ahead.
Inventory
Protector
Inventory Protector protects your listing against scammers
and hi-jackers who can wipe out your entire inventory during
promotions. Control the maximum order quantity across all
your products and keep your margins safe.
Profits
Profits analyzes what’s most important to your business—
profits. Crunch your financials to see key data at a glance
such as gross revenue, net profit, net sales, storage fees, and
more. Get savvy with your cash flow.
Subscribe to the Helium 10 YouTube channel for tips, strategies
and guidance on getting the most out of Helium 10 tools.
Visit Helium10.com and sign up for a free account today, if you
haven’t already.
16
Scribbles
Scribbles makes sure that the most important keywords are
never left out from your listing. Automate keyword organiza-
tion for titles, descriptions, and bullet points. Optimize any
product listing to maximize organic traffic.
Alerts
Alerts actively monitors your product pages, titles, images,
prices, and BSR with a full security system. Be promptly
alerted to any unwanted changes made to a listing. Prevent
hijacking and fraudulent takeovers without making worrying a
priority.
Follow-Up
Follow-Up is a customizable email autoresponder that makes
streamlined customer service easy to do. Communicate with
your customers based on delivery triggers to ask for valuable
feedback, reviews, and more.
Refund Genie
Refund Genie locates highly accurate estimates of lost or
damaged inventory that can be reimbursed by Amazon.
Detailed reimbursement reports are instantly generated for
submission. Recoup your losses quickly without having to
spend hours digging through old records.
 Ultimate Amazon Listing Optimization Guide

Review ASIN Grabber

Downloader
Review Downloader allows you to sort product reviews by
desired criteria to uncover valuable customer insights.
Learning from these insights can help you create products that
aredifferentiated and better than your competitor’s products.
ASIN Grabber allows you to quickly see a quick snapshot of key
estimated market data for top ASINs, which is especially helpful
to analyze a given day or specific holiday.

Inventory Level Index Checker

Inventory Level allows you to see how much inventory other
sellers have in stock and to capitalize on competitor’s low
inventory levels.
Review Downloader allows you to sort product reviews
by desired criteria to uncover valuable customer insights.
Learning from these insights can help you create products
that are differentiated and better than your competitor’s
products.

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following our social media channels. Also talk strategy with us
and other Helium 10 users on our Facebook users page.

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