How to Find Low-Competition Keywords for Amazon KDP Books

You can write a genuinely helpful book and still struggle to find readers if nobody can discover it. On Amazon, discovery starts with search: a reader types a few words, and Amazon decides which books to show. The words you choose for your title, subtitle, description and the seven keyword boxes in your KDP setup all help Amazon understand what your book is about and who it is for.

This guide explains how to find keywords that are both relevant to your book and realistic to compete for. It will not promise rankings or sales — nobody outside Amazon can honestly do that. What it offers is a repeatable research process that replaces guesswork with evidence.

1. What Amazon KDP keywords are

When you publish a book through Kindle Direct Publishing, the details page asks for up to seven keywords or short phrases. Amazon uses these, together with your title, subtitle, description and categories, to match your book to customer searches. A good keyword describes what a reader would actually type when looking for a book like yours.

Amazon explains its keyword rules in the KDP Help Center article Make Your Book More Discoverable with Keywords. Read it before you fill in your keyword boxes — it lists what you should include and what is not allowed.

In practice, keywords help in two ways. They make your book eligible to appear for searches it might otherwise miss, and they help Amazon understand the context of your book so it is shown to the right readers. Irrelevant keywords do neither: even if a book appears for an unrelated search, shoppers rarely click or buy, which does not help the book.

2. How Amazon search differs from Google search

Many authors start with Google keyword tools, but Amazon and Google serve different intentions. Someone searching on Google is often looking for information: "how to start journaling" might lead to an article or a video. Someone searching on Amazon is usually looking for a product to buy: "gratitude journal for women" is a shopping search.

• Intent: Amazon searches are mostly purchase-oriented; Google searches are often informational.
• Phrasing: Amazon shoppers often type short descriptive phrases ("large print word search"), while Google users more often ask full questions.
• Results: Google ranks web pages; Amazon ranks products, influenced by factors such as relevance and how customers respond to listings.
• Data: search volume for the same phrase can differ a lot between Google and Amazon, and between Amazon marketplaces.

For KDP, Amazon search data is what matters most. Google data can still inspire ideas and reveal the questions readers have, but check every keyword against Amazon behavior before you rely on it.

3. Brainstorm keyword ideas from your book

Before opening any tool, write down how a reader would describe the book they want. Work through three angles:

Topic

What is the book about? List the main subject, subtopics, and the specific words readers use. A sourdough baking book might produce "sourdough bread", "sourdough starter", "artisan bread baking" and "sourdough discard recipes".

Audience

Who is it for? Age, experience level, profession or situation often appear in real searches: "for beginners", "for kids", "for seniors", "for nurses", "for new dads".

Purpose and format

What does the reader want to achieve, and in what form? Words like "workbook", "guide", "step by step", "large print", "log book", "activity book" or "gift" describe intent and format, and readers frequently include them.

Then combine the angles into phrases. For example, a puzzle book could produce:

• word search for adults
• large print word search for seniors
• word search puzzle book with themed puzzles
• word search gift for grandma

You can also collect ideas from Amazon itself. Type the start of a phrase into Amazon's search bar and note the suggestions that appear; they reflect phrases shoppers use. Look at the titles, subtitles and categories of books similar to yours, and read reviews to see how readers describe what they wanted.

4. Evaluate relevance first

A keyword is only worth using if it accurately describes your book. Ask one simple question for each phrase: if a reader searched this and found my book, would they feel they found what they were looking for?

Search the phrase on Amazon and look at the first page. If the results are books like yours, the keyword is relevant. If the results are a different kind of book — or not books at all — move on, even if the phrase looks popular.

5. Estimate demand without guessing

Demand tells you whether people actually search for a phrase. Without data, authors often choose keywords that sound right but are rarely typed. Useful signals include:

• Amazon search volume for the phrase, measured in the marketplace where you will sell.
• Whether Amazon's search bar suggests the phrase as you type.
• Whether first-page books for the phrase show healthy Best Sellers Ranks and recent reviews.

Treat these as estimates, not promises. Search volume describes interest in a phrase; it does not predict how many copies your book will sell.

6. Measure competition

A "low-competition" keyword is one where the books currently shown are beatable — not one with no results at all. For each candidate phrase, review the first page of Amazon results and note:

• How many books have very high review counts, and how many have only a few.
• Whether the top books closely match the phrase or only partially match it.
• The quality of covers, titles and descriptions.
• How many results come from large established publishers or well-known authors.

The best opportunities usually combine meaningful demand with a first page where some books sell despite weak listings or few reviews. Very broad phrases such as "cookbook" or "journal" tend to be dominated by established titles; longer, more specific phrases are often easier to compete for because fewer books target them precisely.

A worked example

Imagine you are publishing a beginner's guide to watercolor painting. "Watercolor book" is broad and likely crowded. "Watercolor for beginners" is more specific. "Watercolor painting for beginners step by step" is more specific still and matches your book exactly. Check each phrase: is it searched in your marketplace, and does the first page show books you could realistically compete with? Often the middle and longer phrases offer the best balance.

7. Use your keywords well

Once you have a short list, place keywords where they help readers and follow Amazon's rules:

• Use your seven keyword boxes for relevant phrases that are not already in your title or subtitle, so each box adds new information.
• Combine words into natural phrases readers type, rather than listing single unrelated words.
• Use your title and subtitle to describe the book clearly — Amazon's metadata guidelines prohibit stuffing them with keywords.
• Write a description that naturally uses the language readers search with, while staying honest about what the book contains.

Amazon's KDP Metadata Guidelines explain what is permitted in titles, subtitles and descriptions. Following them protects your book from problems at review.

8. Common keyword mistakes to avoid

• Using other authors' names, other book titles or trademarks you do not own — Amazon's keyword guidance specifically prohibits this.
• Adding subjective or time-sensitive claims such as "best", "new" or "on sale".
• Including Amazon program names like "Kindle Unlimited" or "free" as keywords.
• Choosing keywords only because they look popular, even though they do not describe the book.
• Repeating words already in the title, which wastes keyword space.
• Researching in one marketplace and assuming results apply to another — interest varies by country and language.
• Setting keywords once and never revisiting them. You can update them later as you learn what readers respond to.

9. Start with the niche, then the keywords

Keyword research works best after you have confirmed the niche itself has real demand and room to compete. If you have not done that yet, read our guide on how to find profitable KDP niches first, then use this article to choose the exact phrases for your listing.

10. How KDP Atlas Keyword Research can help

You can do all of the steps above manually on Amazon. The KDP Atlas Keyword Research tool is designed to make the demand and competition steps faster. It is available on paid plans.

• Enter a seed keyword and choose the Amazon marketplace you want to research.
• See Amazon search volume for that marketplace where data is available — when it is not available, the tool says so rather than showing an estimate.
• Review competition, difficulty and opportunity indicators for each keyword.
• Explore related keyword suggestions and research any of them with one click.
• Save promising keywords to your library and export results to CSV.

If you are on a paid plan, open Keyword Research in KDP Atlas and start with three or four seed phrases from your brainstorm. On the Free plan, you can still open the tool and explore its interface, and use the free AI Market Analyst to think through the audience behind your keyword ideas.

Whatever tools you use, the principle stays the same: choose phrases that honestly describe your book, that readers really search for, and where the current results leave room for a better option.