Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing: The Dirty Little Secret

About this video

Dale warns that the long Amazon search URLs authors often share — called super URLs, citing Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur — are what he calls KDP’s dirty little secret. A super URL contains the keyword you searched, but Amazon also inserts a QID, which he describes as a timestamp based on seconds since January 1 of 1970, and a book number reflecting your book’s fluctuating placement for that search. When someone clicks later, the timestamp and placement do not match, which he says flags the link to Amazon. He says people who tried stripping out the QID and book number still got flagged when unnatural search volume clicked the same product repeatedly. He says using super URLs is not explicitly stated as against the terms of service, but Amazon objects to any intent of manipulating metrics, so authors should stop using them for search optimization. Instead he gives two safe sharing methods: a clean link consisting of the marketplace domain followed by /dp/ and your ASIN for an eBook or ISBN for a print book, with nothing after it, and Amazon Associates short links. He applies the same clean-URL idea to reviews, using /gp/product-review/ followed by the ASIN or ISBN to send readers straight to the review page, without bribing or pressuring them.

Key takeaways

• Super URLs embed a QID timestamp and a book placement number that will not match when a shared link is clicked later
• Stripping those elements out did not work when it produced unnatural, repeated click volume on the same product
• Dale says super URLs are not explicitly banned, but Amazon objects to intent to manipulate metrics
• Share a clean link instead: marketplace domain plus /dp/ plus your ASIN or ISBN, with nothing after it, or use Amazon Associates links
• For reviews, use the same pattern with /gp/product-review/ plus the ASIN or ISBN to link directly to the review page

Episode details: published April 22, 2019 · 9:57 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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