How to find keywords for an Amazon listing for free

Most keyword advice for Amazon starts with "sign up for this tool". If you sell a handful of products, a monthly subscription for keyword research is hard to justify, and without one you're left guessing which words buyers type.

You don't have to guess. Some of the best keyword information is open to every shopper, and some sits inside Seller Central at no extra cost. This guide goes through five free methods in the order we'd use them, then shows how to sort what you find into your title, bullets and backend search terms.

It's about finding the words. Once you have them, our Amazon backend keywords example shows how to fill the hidden search terms field, and our Amazon product title guidelines cover where the main phrase goes.

Start with what you already know

Before you open Amazon, write down how you'd describe the product to a friend, then how a buyer who's never heard of it might. You'll usually get three kinds of words:

• What it is: "water bottle", "insulated bottle", "flask".
• What makes it different: "32 oz", "straw lid", "stainless steel".
• Who or what it's for: "kids", "gym", "hiking", "school".

This list is only a starting point. The methods below tell you which of these words buyers use, and what you missed.

1. The Amazon search bar

Amazon's search bar suggests phrases as you type. Amazon doesn't publish how the suggestions are chosen, but they're the quickest free way to see the phrases that are common for your kind of product.

How to get the most out of it:

1. 1Type your main phrase slowly and note every suggestion. "insulated water bottle" will suggest sizes, lid types and uses.
2. 2Add a letter after your phrase. "insulated water bottle a", "insulated water bottle b" and so on. Each letter brings up different suggestions.
3. 3Try the words buyers put first. "kids insulated water bottle", "32 oz water bottle", "water bottle with straw".
4. 4Try "for" and "with". "water bottle for" and "water bottle with" show you the uses and features people look for.
5. 5Search inside your department. Suggestions and results change when you search within your category instead of across all of Amazon.

Write everything down in a spreadsheet as you go. You'll want to see which words come up again and again.

2. The listings that already appear

Search your top three phrases and open the first page of results. Skip the sponsored listings for this step and look at the products that show up on their own.

• Which words keep appearing in their titles? If most of the top bottles say "leak proof", buyers probably care about leaks.
• What do their highlights and bullets lead with? That's what those sellers think matters most.
• What words do they avoid? Sometimes a phrase you'd use isn't on any top listing, which is worth knowing before you build a title around it.

You're not copying anyone's listing. You're seeing which words work for the buyers in your category.

3. Reviews and customer questions

Reviews are written by buyers, in the words buyers use. Read the 3-star reviews on similar products first. They tend to be specific: "the lid leaks if you lay it flat in a bag", "too tall for my car cup holder".

Each of those is a possible keyword and a possible bullet point. "Fits car cup holder" is a phrase a buyer might search, and you'd never have thought of it at your desk.

Keyword research is only half the job. YelloShelf isn't a keyword research tool, but it writes your Amazon title, bullets and description from a product photo, based on what's already selling, so the words end up in the right places. See how it works.

4. Product Opportunity Explorer

If you have a selling account, Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer is inside Seller Central. In the main menu, select Growth, then Product Opportunity Explorer.

Amazon organises it around "niches", which it builds by grouping search terms based on the products customers view or buy after searching. Search for your product, open a niche, and you can look at its search terms and search volume. Amazon also lists customer reviews and return activity for each niche, which is useful when you write bullets.

It's also a good way to spot phrases with steady searches that the current products don't serve well. Amazon calls these unmet demand.

5. Brand Analytics, if your brand is registered

Brand Analytics needs a Professional selling account and the Brand Representative role for a brand enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry. You'll find it under Brands, then Brand Analytics. Two dashboards matter for keywords:

• Top Search Terms lists the keywords customers use across Amazon, with the top three products, categories and brands for each one.
• Search Query Performance lists the searches customers use to find your brand, with query volume, impressions, clicks, cart adds and purchases. It's the clearest view of which words already work for you.

A worked example: sorting what you find

This is a made-up product. "Cairnfield" isn't a real brand, and the phrases below are examples, not real search data.

The product is a 32 oz stainless steel insulated bottle with a straw lid. After an hour with the methods above, here's where each phrase ends up:

Title (67 characters):

Cairnfield Insulated Water Bottle with Straw Lid, 32 oz, Sage Green

Each phrase lives in one place. Nothing is repeated, and nothing a buyer types got left out. For the rules on each part, see our guides to Amazon product title guidelines, Amazon bullet points examples and the Amazon backend keywords example.

If you'd rather not sort every phrase by hand, a YelloShelf draft gives you a title and bullets to check your list against.

How often to redo it

Search habits shift with the seasons. "Kids water bottle" is likely to matter more before the school year, and gift searches before the holidays. Revisit your keywords every few months, and before your busiest season. If you have Brand Analytics, check Search Query Performance first, because it tells you what's already working. When you update a listing, a fresh YelloShelf draft is a quick way to compare your old wording with what's selling now.

If you'd rather not do this for every product

Everything above is free, and it works. The cost is time, often an hour or more per product, and longer if you sell on Etsy or eBay too, where buyers search differently. If you also sell on Etsy, our Etsy tags examples guide covers the free tools there.

YelloShelf doesn't replace this research, and it isn't a keyword tool. What it does is write the listing: you upload product photos, and it writes the title, bullets and description, researched from what's already selling for products like yours. You still read it, edit it and paste it in yourself. If the free methods above suit you, keep using them alongside it.

Quick checklist

• Search bar suggestions noted, with a letter sweep after your main phrase.
• The top listings checked for the words they share.
• 3-star reviews and customer questions read for buyer wording.
• Product Opportunity Explorer and Brand Analytics checked, if your account has them.
• Each phrase given one place: title, highlights, bullets or backend search terms.

Write your Amazon listing with YelloShelf

Once you know the words, YelloShelf can help with the writing. Upload a product photo and it writes an Amazon title, bullet points and a description, plus a suggested price, based on what's already selling. It also makes listing images sized for Amazon and the other marketplaces it supports. It doesn't publish anything, so you stay in control of what goes live.

It can make social posts for the same product too, with captions and hashtags for Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook and X.

No subscription or free trial. Pay as you go credit packs from $10, with a 7-day money-back guarantee on your first purchase.