Amazon listing optimization in 2026: titles, bullets and search terms under the new rules

If you sell on Amazon, you've probably had the same summer most sellers did. You opened Seller Central, saw a notice about titles, and realised the 180-character title you spent an afternoon on was about to be cut in half.

It wasn't a rumour. Starting 27 July 2026, product titles in all non-media categories have to be 75 characters or fewer, including spaces (Amazon Seller Central announcement). The words you used to stuff into the title need a new home, and Amazon gave them one: a new field called Item Highlights.

This guide walks through the parts of an Amazon product page you control with words: the title, Item Highlights, bullet points and backend search terms. It covers what the rules are now and how to rewrite each one without dropping the phrases buyers actually type.

What changed with Amazon titles in 2026?

Here's the short version of Amazon's announcement and its developer documentation:

• Title (item name): 75 characters max, spaces included, for non-media categories.
• Item Highlights: up to 125 characters. These are short, comma-separated phrases that show below the title, and Amazon says they're searchable.
• Title plus highlights can be up to 200 characters in total.
• If your title is still over 75 characters, Amazon will gradually rewrite it with AI. Brand owners get 14 days to review the suggested version before it goes live.

The older title rules from January 2025 still apply on top of this. Titles can't contain characters like ! $ ? _ { } ^ ¬ ¦ unless they're part of your brand name. The same word can't appear more than twice, though small words like "and", "with" and "for" don't count. Promotional phrases like "free shipping" or "best seller" aren't allowed either.

So the job has changed. You used to be squeezing keywords into 200 characters. Now you're deciding which 75 characters a buyer sees first, and moving the rest somewhere they still count.

How to write an Amazon title in 75 characters

Most sellers get stuck here. Every word feels important, and cutting any of them feels like losing search traffic. Here's a structure that works for most physical products:

Brand + what it is + the one or two details buyers filter by + size or count

Work through it in this order:

1. 1Start with the brand. It's expected, and it helps people who already know you.
2. 2Say plainly what the product is. Use the words a buyer would type, not your internal product name. "Pour Over Coffee Dripper" beats "Brew Cone Pro".
3. 3Add the deciding details. Pick the one or two things that make someone choose your item over the next result, like material, size, capacity or compatibility.
4. 4Add quantity or size if it matters. "Set of 4", "12 oz", "Fits 2-4 Cups".
5. 5Read it out loud. If it sounds like a list of search terms, buyers will scroll past it.

Leave out anything that's already shown elsewhere on the page, plus anything Amazon bans: superlatives, prices, shipping promises and ALL CAPS.

A before and after example

This is a made-up product to show the process. "Kilnhouse" isn't a real brand.

Before (170 characters):

Kilnhouse Ceramic Pour Over Coffee Dripper Cone, Best Coffee Maker for Home Office Camping, Single Cup Pour Over Coffee Maker, Hand Drip Coffee Filter Holder, Matte White

That's over twice the limit. It also uses "coffee" four times, which the repeated-word rule doesn't allow.

After (72 characters):

Kilnhouse Ceramic Pour Over Coffee Dripper, Fits 1-4 Cups, Size 2, White

Item Highlights (109 characters):

hand drip coffee maker, single cup or carafe, uses size 2 paper filters, matte glaze, for home office camping

Nothing a buyer would search for got lost. "Hand drip", "single cup", "camping" and "office" all moved to the highlights, where Amazon says they're still searchable, and the title finally reads like a product name.

How to use Item Highlights

Item Highlights are new, so there's no long track record yet. Based on Amazon's own description, a few things are clear:

• Use phrases, not sentences. Amazon's documentation describes highlights as comma-separated phrases.
• Put your strongest secondary search phrases here. These are the words that used to sit at the end of your long title.
• Don't repeat the title word for word. It wastes characters you won't get back.
• Keep it true. Highlights show on the page, so buyers read them. "Dishwasher safe" had better be true.

If you list through the API or a feed, Amazon will reject a title over 75 characters with a specific error (100476 in the developer docs). That's a handy check if you upload in bulk.

How to write Amazon bullet points

Bullet points are where most buyers decide. They'll skim the title, look at the photos and then read the bullets to answer one question: will this work for me?

Amazon tightened its bullet point rules in 2024. Bullets can't contain emojis or special characters, and they can't promise refunds or guarantees. Amazon also uses AI to rewrite bullets that break the rules. Amazon asks for at least 3 bullets, and its current guidance says bullet point character limits vary by product type, so there's no single number that fits every category. Check your category's style guide, or the "Product bullet point requirements" page in Seller Central, before you trust any number, including ours.

A pattern that works:

1. 1Lead each bullet with the benefit in a few words, then explain it. "Brews one cup or a full carafe: the wide base sits on mugs and most 4-cup carafes."
2. 2One idea per bullet. Don't cram material, size and care into one line.
3. 3Answer the questions buyers ask in reviews. If people keep asking "does it fit X?", that answer belongs in a bullet.
4. 4Use real numbers. "Holds 600 ml" says more than "large capacity".
5. 5Skip claims you can't back up. "Eco-friendly" and similar vague environmental claims get flagged.

How to fill Amazon backend search terms

Backend search terms are the hidden keywords that buyers never see. The rules are short but strict:

• Under 250 bytes. That's bytes, not characters. Plain English letters are 1 byte each, but accented letters and some symbols take 2 or more. Amazon's guidance is that if you go over the limit, the field can be ignored entirely, so going over by one word can cost you all of it (Amazon help: search terms).
• Spaces, no commas. Lowercase is fine. Amazon's FAQ says spaces and punctuation aren't counted toward the limit, but it's still safest to keep the whole string, spaces included, under 250 bytes, so you never depend on how a tool counts.
• Don't repeat words that are already in your title or highlights.
• No brand names, yours or anyone else's.
• Include synonyms, spelling variations and abbreviations buyers use. For the dripper example: "pourover filter cone manual brewer dripper kettle barista gift". Skip translations into other languages. Write search terms in the language of the store you're selling in.

A quick way to check the byte count is to paste your terms into any online byte counter. It takes 10 seconds and saves you from finding out months later that the field was never indexed.

Where to find the words buyers actually search

The rules tell you how much space you have. They don't tell you what to put in it. That comes from research, and most sellers do it the slow way:

1. 1Type your product into Amazon's search bar and write down every autocomplete suggestion.
2. 2Open the top 10 results and note which phrases keep coming up in their titles.
3. 3Read the 3-star reviews of competitors. They tell you what buyers wanted and didn't get.
4. 4Decide which phrases go in the title, which go in the highlights and which go in backend terms.

It works, but it takes a couple of hours per product, and then you get to do it again for Etsy, eBay and your own store. That repetition is the part we built YelloShelf to take off your plate. You upload your product photos, and it checks live Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Google Shopping results for products like yours, along with real monthly search numbers. Then it writes the title, bullets, search terms and a suggested price for each platform. It doesn't have a free plan or trial. You buy a credit pack, starting at $10, and your first purchase comes with a money-back guarantee. We're helping you remove the manual, tedious, time-consuming work. You still read it, edit it and paste it in yourself.

Quick checklist

• Title is 75 characters or fewer, starts with the brand and says what the product is.
• No word appears more than twice, and there are no banned characters or promo phrases.
• Item Highlights carry your best secondary phrases, without repeating the title.
• Bullets cover one idea each, use real numbers and make no guarantee claims.
• Backend search terms are under 250 bytes, with no repeats and no brand names.
• The words match what's in your photos. If the title says "white", the main image shouldn't be grey.