How to Find Amazon Ads Keywords for Your Book

Updated 2026-07-15

Keywords are how Amazon decides when your Sponsored Products ad shows up. For authors, the good news is that book keywords follow predictable patterns — you don't need an expensive research suite to build a solid starter list.

Start with comp titles

Comp titles (comparable titles) are books your ideal reader already buys. When someone searches for a comp title on Amazon, they are exactly the reader you want to reach. Comp title searches usually convert better than generic genre terms because the intent is so specific.

List 10–20 books that are genuinely similar to yours in genre, tone, and reader expectations. Recent releases in your subgenre often work better than mega-bestsellers, where your ad competes with hundreds of others.

Add author names

Readers search for authors as often as they search for titles. Add the authors of your comp titles as keywords. If a reader searches for an author who writes books like yours, your book showing up in the results is relevant, not intrusive.

Add genre and trope phrases

These are the phrases readers actually type when browsing: "enemies to lovers romance", "cozy mystery series", "space opera kindle". They have higher volume but lower intent than comp titles, so expect more impressions and a lower conversion rate.

Combine your subgenre with format words: kindle, paperback, ebook, audiobook, series, box set.
Use trope language your readers use in reviews and on social media.
Check Amazon's search bar autocomplete for phrases in your niche.

How many keywords do you need?

A common starting point for a Sponsored Products manual campaign is 50–200 keywords. Amazon Ads experts who work with authors often recommend continuously feeding campaigns new keywords, because most keywords get few impressions — volume comes from the aggregate.

Don't agonize over any single keyword. Launch with a broad list, let data accumulate for a couple of weeks, then cut what doesn't perform and scale what does.

Turn your list into a campaign faster

Once you have seed keywords, you still need to expand them into match-type variants and format everything for Amazon's campaign manager or bulksheet. That mechanical step is what our free tool automates: paste your comp titles and genre phrases, pick a genre, and export a ready-to-use CSV.