Are You Using These Banned KDP Keywords?

About this video

Dale L. Roberts examines Amazon KDP’s updated backend keyword rules, prompted by Kindlepreneur’s Dave Chesson sharing the changes, and asks whether authors need to change keywords immediately. KDP provides seven backend keyword slots, up to 50 characters each, in step one of upload to help Amazon organise and surface a book. He advises using longer, specific phrases rather than broad terms like ‘self-help’ — where established authors dominate — expanding to phrases for men, women or teens, combining terms in logical order, using all seven slots, and thinking like a reader: for non-fiction focus on reader problems and solutions, for fiction on setting, character types and roles, plot themes and tone. He stresses KDP itself says sales history and bestseller rank also drive placement, so keywords alone do not create relevance — consistent sales sustain it. He summarises Kindlepreneur’s newer allocation — 1-3 slots for exact descriptive keywords, 1-2 for category-specific keywords found via Publisher Rocket, and the rest filled with relevant phrases using every character — but says he is sceptical authors need to reserve slots to secure a chosen category, having never been rejected from one. He then separates low-risk waste from truly forbidden uses. Wasteful choices KDP discourages include repeating title, subtitle, series or author name, subjective claims, generic category words like ‘book’, misspellings (Amazon corrects search typos), variants of spacing, punctuation, capitalisation or plurals, and putting keywords in quotes. Forbidden/dangerous choices include Amazon-owned names such as Kindle, KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited, any trademark you do not own or have permission for, other authors’ names who are not contributors, misleading keywords that do not describe the book, and the word ‘free’ for pricing — with a narrow exception he illustrates with a friend’s ‘gluten-free’ book cleared by support. Consequences, he says, are usually a stern email and the book returned to draft to fix, but trademark misuse in a title or misleading keywords can lead to a blocked book or account suspension/termination.

Key takeaways

• Use all seven backend slots (50 characters each) with longer, specific keyword phrases rather than broad single terms that established bestsellers dominate.
• Choose keywords like a reader: problem-and-solution phrases for non-fiction, and setting, character, plot and tone phrases for fiction; sales history, not keywords alone, drives Amazon relevance.
• Do not waste slots repeating your title, subtitle, author name or categories, or on subjective claims, generic words, misspellings, plural/spacing variants, or quoted phrases.
• Never use trademarks you do not own — including Amazon names like Kindle, KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited — or other authors’ names who are not contributors.
• Never use misleading keywords or ‘free’ as a pricing keyword; KDP will typically return the book to draft for correction, but trademark or deceptive use can get a book blocked or an account terminated.

Episode details: published June 22, 2024 · 12:15 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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