Should You Put Keywords In Your Book Description?

Deciding whether or not to focus on finding suitable keywords to put in your book description is something that is debated widely amongst indie authors. Does it really help with visibility? 

Some authors believe that it’s a waste of time and that Amazon couldn’t care less if you’ve bothered to do so. However, this is not the case.

Don’t well and adding keywords to your description can help your book land in front of the relevant reader’s eyes. So let’s discover why this is. 

Amazon claims that they use a book description to help place that book in search results. hey don’t go into a lot more detail about how they do so but it is likely to be based upon a density word cloud. This is what they use with the review sections, so it is likely to be similar or the same process. A density word cloud works by singling out the most repetitive words in a section of text. Amazon will look for genre-specific words in your description and this will help it understand where that book is best placed. If you place certain keywords and phrases related to your genre, it is therefore going to help Amazon understand that your book really is a romance, thriller, spy novel, and so on. 

By adding keywords you are essentially providing further proof to Amazon’s algorithm that your book would be a great fit for readers of [insert genre] and will therefore be more likely to present your book as an option to readers searching within that genre. 

So why can’t you just stuff as many relative keywords into your book description as possible? The reason for this is that you still have the important purpose of persuading any reader who discovers your description that your book is worth reading. If said description is a load of nonsensical keywords and phrases shoved together, they aren’t going to be very impressed. Your description first and foremost needs to showcase your story in the most captivating way. Only if keywords can be introduced naturally into this, should they be used at all. 

You need to research your target audience and then write a book description that speaks to them. If you are a busy working woman who wants to be able to cook healthy tasty food really quickly for her family, how would you feel if you happened upon a book with a description that began, “are you too busy to cook? Think again! Discover healthy tasty recipes that can be on your table in under 30 minutes.” This book will speak to you, this book understands your problem. This book wants to help make your life easier. You will probably want to buy this book. 

The same works for fiction books. If you are a reader that loves magical fantasy fiction featuring wizards and witches if you find a book with a description that matches your interest, you are going to feel assured that you will like it, and therefore be more motivated to buy it. 

Discovering suitable keywords is all about doing your homework, but the right ones really can make a difference in terms of your book’s visibility and the ability of Amazon to suggest your book to interested readers. 

So the next time you go to write your book description, consider which keywords you can use to connect with your target readership.  You’ll write a more compelling and effective book description if you do.