What Are Keywords and Why Are They Important? You must include good keywords to make sure that your book shows up in the searches on Amazon. Kindle keywords are those words or phrases that a potential customer on Amazon searches to find a book. So, if your eBook has the same keyword they search for, it will show up in the search results. For example, if they are looking for a book on the history of western music, they may search for “the history of classical western music.” Books that have this keyword will show up on the search. Considering that the topic mentioned above is discussed a lot by various writers, you should make your keyword more specific for this topic. You have a better chance of getting your book to show up in the searches if you use specific keywords. The great thing about Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) [more on this later] is that you can put up to 7 different keywords. Therefore, you must think of different important parts of your book that you feel people are likely to search for. Keyword Ranking and Why It’s Important To properly understand how keywords work, you must know what it means to rank well for a particular keyword. When someone searches for a keyword that your eBook contains, it will be present in the search results page. However, what matters here is where your eBook is placed on the search results page. The position at which your eBook is on the search results page is its rank. Here is an example to help you understand how this works. Say, when a reader searches for “western history music” (a keyword that’s included in your eBook), your eBook is 10th on the list of results. This means that your eBook has rank number 10 for the keyword “history of western music.” If your eBook is ranking at 90, you should consider changing the keywords to something more specific. People will have to go through various other books before they come across yours if your eBook has a low ranking. Keyword ranking is important because the first few eBooks in the search result page get the most clicks. As a result, the top results also make the most sales. Therefore, your goal should be to get your eBook to rank in the top 10 results for the keywords you are using. Higher ranked eBooks also have more reviews, so readers will prefer an eBook that is reviewed. Also, a lot of readers don’t scroll much to find what they are looking for. They select one of the eBooks that are part of the top results on the search results page.
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