Free tool

KDP Keyword Generator: Find the 7 Keywords Readers Actually Search

Get seven KDP-ready backend keywords plus five bonus picks from your title, blurb, and genre — each slot 50 characters or fewer.

About the tool

Seven KDP keyword slots, filled from your real metadata

The Author Atlas Keyword Generator reads your book's title, subtitle, description and genre, then suggests seven backend keywords you can paste straight into KDP's seven keyword boxes. It also gives you five bonus alternates. Each keyword is 50 characters or fewer. The tool shows how it read your book (genre, tropes, reader intent and market positioning), so you can check its reasoning before anything goes live.

7 main slots

Primary, discovery, and category-aligned phrases for the US Kindle store

5 bonus picks

Swap in alternates when a main keyword feels off

Book analysis

See genre, tropes, and reader intent before you copy anything

50-char limit

Every suggestion fits KDP's per-slot character cap

How it works

From title and blurb to copy-ready KDP keywords

Choose your book source
Enter a new book, or if you're signed in, pick a book you've already saved in your Author Atlas dashboard.
Add your metadata
Enter your book title, an optional subtitle, and your book description (at least 20 characters, up to 8,000). A fuller description gives better keywords.
Set fiction or non-fiction and genre
The genre list follows Amazon's Kindle store categories.
Generate keywords
The tool builds seven keyword slots mixing primary search phrases, discovery keyword groups, and category alignment phrases.
Review and copy
Use Copy all 7 for the main list, or copy keywords one by one. Swap in a bonus suggestion wherever a main keyword doesn't fit, then paste into KDP.

Worked example: cozy culinary mystery

Real tool output

Your inputs

Title: Murder at the Proof Box
Subtitle: A Gull Harbor Bakery Cozy Mystery
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Description: A widowed baker reopens her late husband's bakery in Maine, a food critic is found dead in her walk-in fridge, and she has a week before the summer festival to find the real killer.

Tropes the tool found

cozy mystery with a bakery setting
amateur sleuth mystery main character
small town cozy mystery series
murder investigation mystery baking secrets

Sample of your 7 KDP keywords

cozy mystery with a bakery setting amateur sleuth mystery main character small town cozy mystery series murder investigation mystery baking secrets summer festival small town intrigue neighborly cozy culinary mystery small town mystery series

Keyword 5 can read like a word jumble — many authors replace it with a bonus pick such as "food critic murder cozy mystery" for a tighter search phrase.

Editorial strategy

How to choose KDP keywords that work

What backend keywords actually do

KDP lets you add up to seven keywords or short phrases to each book, and each box holds up to 50 characters. Readers never see them. They tell Amazon's search what your book is about, alongside your title, subtitle and description. Relevant keywords, together with sales history and Best Sellers Rank, can boost your placement in search results.

Think like a reader, not like a publisher

Readers don't search for "fiction book." They search for something like "cozy mystery with a cat," "enemies to lovers fantasy romance" or "budget meal prep for beginners." Useful keyword types include setting, character types, character roles, plot themes and story tone.

Tip

Amazon recommends phrases of two to three words in natural search order — "military science fiction" rather than "fiction science military."

Use all 50 characters wisely

A longer phrase can help your book surface for several shorter searches built from the same words. For example, "dystopian YA sci fi pirate romance" covers ground that a reader searching "YA romance" or "pirate romance" might be looking for. That's why the generator includes discovery slots that combine tropes and themes.

What not to put in your keyword boxes

Words already in your title, subtitle, author name or categories.
Quality claims ("best," "bestselling"), time-sensitive words ("new," "on sale") and promotions ("free").
Other authors' names, other books' titles, or brands you don't own.
Amazon program names like "Kindle Unlimited."
Quotation marks, misspellings, and spacing or capitalisation variants of the same word.

Always check the generated list against KDP's metadata guidelines. The AI starts from your metadata, but you know your book and you're responsible for what you submit.

Test, then refresh

Before you publish, search your candidate keywords in the store and watch the autocomplete suggestions. If the results look irrelevant, change the keyword. Keywords aren't permanent — revisit them after launch, when you start ads, or when you release the next book in a series.

Keywords, categories and blurb work together

Amazon reads your keywords alongside the rest of your metadata. Once you have your seven keywords, use the Category Finder to pick categories that use the same language. Make sure your description naturally includes your main genre terms — the Book Blurb Generator can help with that.

FAQ

KDP keyword questions, answered

How many keywords can I use on Amazon KDP?

KDP gives you seven keyword boxes per book. Each one can hold a single word or a phrase of up to 50 characters. This tool returns exactly seven main keywords, all 50 characters or fewer, plus five bonus alternates.

Should KDP keywords be single words or phrases?

Phrases usually work better. Amazon recommends two-to-three-word phrases in natural search order. Longer phrases can also help you show up for shorter searches that contain the same words, as long as the words read in a logical order.

Should I repeat words from my title in my keywords?

No. Your title, subtitle and author name are already indexed, so repeating those words wastes space. Use your seven slots for angles your title doesn't cover, such as setting, tropes, character types and tone.

Can I use another author's name as a KDP keyword?

No. KDP's metadata guidelines prohibit keywords that reference other authors or their books. They also prohibit sales-rank claims like "bestselling" and promotional words like "free."

How often should I change my Amazon keywords?

You can change them any time from your KDP Bookshelf by choosing "Edit book details." Many authors review them after launch, when sales stall, or when they start running ads. Give each change enough time to show results before judging it.

Do KDP keywords affect my categories?

They can. Amazon uses your keywords and other metadata to understand where your book belongs. Keywords that match your chosen categories help keep your book on the right shelves.

Is this keyword tool free?

Yes. Guests get five free AI uses per day across Author Atlas tools, and you can sign in for free to get more and to pull metadata from books saved in your dashboard.