Amazon counts how often shoppers search each phrase in its store and shares those counts with sellers. The catch is that the data sits inside Seller Central, and most keyword advice stops at search volume. A phrase typed thousands of times a month is worth little if the people typing it rarely buy.
Good Amazon keyword research answers three questions: how many shoppers search a phrase, whether those searches end in orders, and whether the phrase honestly describes your product. This guide covers where the numbers come from, how to read them, and a step-by-step process from seed phrase to title, bullet points and backend search terms, with a worked example.
Where Amazon keyword data comes from
Every Amazon search volume figure comes either from Amazon itself or from a third-party estimate.
- Product Opportunity Explorer. In Seller Central, under Growth. Amazon groups search terms into niches, collections of search terms and products that represent one customer need, and refreshes niche metrics at the start of each week. Each niche page lists its top search terms and their search volume.
- Brand Analytics. At the time of writing (2026), Brand Analytics needs a Professional selling account and a Brand Representative role in Brand Registry. Its Search Query Performance dashboard shows query volume, impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases, but only for your own products.
- Ad reports. The Sponsored Products search term report lists shopper searches that got at least one click on your ad (see the Amazon Ads best practices guide). Real data, but only for terms your ads already reached.
- Third-party estimates. Many tools model Amazon keyword search volume with private methods, so two tools can disagree widely about one phrase. Keep each list to one source.
The Amazon keyword research tool on eMarketInsight reads Opportunity Explorer's niche data for Amazon.com each week, so its volume is Amazon's own count, and it needs no seller account.
Etsy publishes no search volume, so research there reads demand from listing views and sales. If you sell on both marketplaces, see our guide to Etsy keyword research without search volume and the Etsy keyword research tool.
The metrics that matter and how to read them
The keyword tool shows six numbers for each search term, built from Opportunity Explorer data, with the niche's own averages at the top as your yardstick.
| Metric | What it tells you | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Search volume | How often shoppers searched the term on Amazon.com | Enough to matter, read together with units sold |
| Growth | How that volume changed, as a percentage | Positive and steady; a jump on a tiny term can be a one-off |
| Click share | The term's share of all clicks in the niche | High on the terms that name your product; small on long phrases is normal |
| Units sold | Units attributed to searches for the term | Any sales prove buyers use it; none on a busy term is a warning |
| Conversion rate | Units sold divided by searches | At or above the niche average |
| Purchase rate | Units sold divided by clicks | At or above the niche average: shoppers who click find what they want |
Read the numbers in pairs
- High volume, low conversion: shoppers browse more than they buy. Fine as a supporting phrase, risky as a title lead.
- Modest volume, high conversion: buyers who know what they want. Cheap wins for bullets and backend terms.
- High volume, low click share: most of these shoppers click products outside the niche.
- Small volume, strong growth: early demand, worth claiming before competitors do.
Compare each term with its own niche, never with numbers from another category.
Golden keywords: volume, sales and conversion together
A list sorted by volume favors busy phrases whether or not anyone buys. Golden keywords add proof of orders: in the keyword tool, a term is golden when it has 500 or more searches and also shows sales and conversions. They are your shortlist for the title and bullets.
Golden is a filter, not a verdict. You still check fit: a phrase for a different size, material or use brings clicks that do not convert. And you check competition: the Amazon product research tool shows who holds a niche's sales, how many reviews the top products carry and the leading brand's share.
How to find keywords for Amazon listings, step by step
Run this for each product before you write the listing.
- Write a seed phrase like a shopper. Two to four plain words that name the product, such as stainless steel water bottle. Leave brand names out.
- Check the niche match. Your phrase maps to the single closest Amazon niche, whose name can differ from what you typed. If it is off, try a more specific phrase.
- Note the baseline. Write down the niche's search volume, growth and average conversion and purchase rates.
- Start with golden keywords. Switch the table to its Golden view. Keep the terms that describe your product exactly and strike the rest, however good their numbers.
- Add growing terms. The Growing view lists terms with 100 or more searches that are up on the period before. Modest volume with strong growth is often easier to rank for now than later.
- Flag browse terms. High volume with below-average conversion: fine as supporting words, not as the lead.
- Collect the long tail. Terms under 500 searches that convert well, plus synonyms, go to the bullets and backend.
- Give every term a job. A lead phrase and one or two supporting phrases for the title, three to six for the bullets, the remaining words for the backend field.
- Check the margin before ordering stock. Run price, size and costs through the Amazon FBA calculator for profit per unit after referral and fulfillment fees.
The Amazon keyword tool is free: 3 lookups a day without an account and 10 with a free account.
Where each keyword goes: title, bullets and backend
Amazon's search glossary says its search does not do partial matching: the results for a query contain all of its words somewhere in their catalog data. So cover every word of your target phrases across your fields, and keep the title readable.
Title
At the time of writing (2026), Amazon's US product title requirements cap new titles at 75 characters including spaces and allow the same word no more than twice. The suggested order is brand, style, product type, key attribute, color, then size or pack count, and an Item highlights field adds 125 characters for extra details. Put your lead golden keyword right after the brand.
Bullet points
You get up to five bullets, and Amazon recommends at least three. Amazon notes that bullets are not always indexed by search, so write them for shoppers and repeat any word that matters for search in the backend field.
Backend search terms
The Generic keyword field must stay under 250 bytes in the US store, and Amazon says that if it goes over, search ignores the whole field. One English letter or digit is one byte, and spaces and punctuation do not count. Amazon's search terms guidelines ask for synonyms, spelling variations, abbreviations, lowercase words separated by spaces, no repetition, and singular or plural rather than both. Brand names (yours or anyone's), ASINs, temporary words like new and subjective claims like best are prohibited. Words already in your title gain nothing here, so spend the bytes on new ones.
Worked example: a silicone baking mat set
This is an example. The product, niche and numbers below are made up to show the process, and your own results will differ.
A seller plans a two-pack of half-sheet silicone baking mats, one printed with macaron circles, priced at $16.99. The keyword tool matches silicone baking mat to a niche with 214,000 searches, steady growth and a 1.0% average conversion rate. Seven terms make the working list:
| Search term | Searches | Growth | Click share | Units sold | Conversion | Golden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| silicone baking mat | 96,400 | +4% | 38.2% | 1,060 | 1.1% | Yes |
| baking mat | 41,800 | -2% | 14.5% | 290 | 0.7% | Yes |
| non stick baking sheet | 18,600 | -5% | 3.3% | 37 | 0.2% | Yes |
| silicone baking mat set | 8,900 | +12% | 4.1% | 125 | 1.4% | Yes |
| macaron baking mat | 3,700 | +31% | 1.6% | 70 | 1.9% | Yes |
| half sheet baking mat | 2,300 | +6% | 1.0% | 41 | 1.8% | Yes |
| baking mat for toaster oven | 380 | +22% | 0.15% | 9 | 2.4% | No |
- silicone baking mat has the biggest click share, above-average conversion and names the product exactly. It leads the title.
- baking mat is a browse term with below-average conversion, and its words sit inside the lead phrase anyway.
- non stick baking sheet is golden on paper, yet 18,600 searches bring only a 3.3% click share and 0.2% conversion. These shoppers want a metal pan. Skipped.
- silicone baking mat set and half sheet baking mat fit the two-pack and convert well, so set, 2 pack and half sheet join the title.
- macaron baking mat is growing fast and converts at nearly twice the niche average. It gets its own bullet, and macaron goes into the backend field too.
- baking mat for toaster oven converts best of all, but a half-sheet mat does not fit most toaster ovens. Skipped.
The result: a title of the brand plus Silicone Baking Mat Set, 2 Pack, Half Sheet, Non Stick Liner, which is 60 characters and leaves 14 for the brand name; bullets that open with Macaron guide, then size, cleaning and uses; and these backend terms: macaron cookie pan tray pastry fondant dough rolling oven safe dishwasher heat resistant reusable bakeware. That is 92 bytes without spaces, with no word repeated from the title.
Mistakes to avoid
- Reading search volume as sales. Volume counts searches. Units sold and conversion show whether a term pays.
- Leading with the biggest term. Head terms usually belong to listings with years of sales and thousands of reviews; a smaller golden phrase you can rank for wins.
- Stuffing the title. Amazon can correct a title that breaks its rules or keep it out of search results.
- Overfilling the backend field. Over the byte limit, the whole field is ignored, not trimmed.
- Using brand names or ASINs as search terms. They are prohibited and can get the listing suppressed.
- Expecting bid data. Our tool has no cost per click or suggested bids. Amazon Ads shows suggested bids when you build a campaign.
- Researching once. The data updates weekly. Recheck your main terms before busy seasons, and once the listing is live, compare them with your ad search term report.
FAQ
How do I find search volume for Amazon keywords?
Amazon shows it to sellers in Product Opportunity Explorer inside Seller Central, and brand owners see query volume for their own products in Brand Analytics. Without a seller account, the eMarketInsight keyword tool shows Opportunity Explorer's weekly figures for any product phrase.
Is there a free Amazon keyword tool?
Yes. The free Amazon keyword tool on eMarketInsight gives 3 lookups a day without an account and 10 with a free account, each listing every term in the matching niche with search volume, growth, click share, units sold and conversion.
How many bytes are allowed in Amazon backend search terms?
In the US store, the Generic keyword field must stay under 250 bytes at the time of writing (2026). Spaces and punctuation do not count, and if the field goes over, Amazon search ignores all of it. That figure comes from Amazon's US help pages, so check the page for the store you sell in.
What are golden keywords on Amazon?
In our tool, a golden keyword is a search term with at least 500 searches that also shows sales and conversions: real demand with proof of orders. Use them as your title and bullet shortlist, as long as each one describes your product.
