Kindle Keyword Research Before You Write: KDP Quick-Start Guide
This guide walks the full Kindle keyword research loop on Amzanalyst: shortlist categories with the free 499-category scanner, run a keyword competition lookup to see who holds page one, read the results, and know exactly what each step costs in credits — before you commit a single outline.
What you need before starting
The KDP line shares one credit balance with the rest of Amzanalyst, and the keyword lookup needs an account. Three things before you start:
- A free Amzanalyst account — signup grants 100 credits valid for 30 days, no credit card required. That is enough for 20 fresh keyword lookups.
- The keywords you are considering — in English, because that is what Kindle readers actually type into Amazon search.
- About five minutes per keyword. Lookups return while you wait; there is no queue to babysit.
The category scanner needs no account at all, and the category index lists all 499 category reports on one page — start there if you have not shortlisted genres yet.
Step 1 — Shortlist categories first (free)
Keyword research lands better after category research: the category decides how much competition your keyword has behind it. The free scanner scores all 499 Kindle Store best-seller categories for ease of entry:
- Ease-of-entry score (0–100) — how beatable the top rows are, weighted from the three signals below.
- Weak share — the share of the top 20 books sitting under 100 reviews; high means the front is beatable.
- Breakout books — top-15 titles with under 100 reviews in the $0.99–4.99 band, the classic self-publishing launch shape.
Every category has a deep-dive page with the full metrics, breakout table, and an honest verdict — reachable from the index or the scanner's category links.
Step 2 — Run a keyword competition lookup
After signing in, open Keyword Competition Check from the dashboard sidebar (the Verify step of the KDP Journey), type one keyword, and submit. Two scopes are available:
- Kindle eBooks — searches the Kindle Store only. The default for book keyword research.
- All Amazon — searches the whole marketplace, useful when audiobook, paperback, or adjacent products also hold the keyword.
A fresh lookup costs 5 credits and fetches live data. If anyone has fetched the same keyword within the last 12 hours you pay 1 credit for the shared cache result, and your own recent lookups replay for free — the cost is spelled out before you confirm.
Step 3 — Read the results
One lookup answers three questions about your keyword:
- Who holds page one — rank positions and which slots are sponsored, so you see ads versus organic incumbents.
- How deep the defense is — review counts and star ratings across the front page; a page of 4-star books with thousands of reviews is a different game than a scatter of under-reviewed titles.
- Whether a newcomer still fits — price bands, publication recency, and sales-rank signals that show if fresh launches are still charting.
Cross-check against the category score: a high-scoring category whose core keyword is held by thick, deep-reviewed incumbents is a false opening — and the reverse is where breakout books come from.
How credits are charged
One credit balance powers everything, charged per action:
| Action | Credits |
|---|---|
| Fresh keyword lookup | 5 per keyword |
| Keyword fetched by anyone in the last 12 hours | 1 per keyword |
| Replaying your own recent lookup | Free |
| Signup grant | 100, valid 30 days |
| AI report on scraped reviews | 150 per report |
The full billing logic — subscriptions, packs, expiry windows — is in credits and billing; current rates are on the pricing page.
After you publish: diagnose the reviews
Picking the category is step one; reading the readers is step two. Once reviews land, the same platform clusters your book's critical reviews into severity-ranked root causes, each anchored to verbatim quotes — see it applied to a full narrative-history title in the sample book review diagnosis report.
Review data comes from a cloud scrape (5 credits per page plus a 1-credit base per ASIN) — paste your book's Amazon link on the Insights page and pick your scrape mode. The AI report itself is a flat 150 credits.
Frequently asked questions
Is the keyword data live?
Fresh lookups fetch live page-one data at query time. Results fetched within the last 12 hours are shared from cache at a reduced price, and your own recent lookups replay for free. The category snapshot behind the scanner is a periodic research snapshot, refreshed on a weekly-ish cadence — research, not tracking.
Do you estimate search volume?
No. Amazon does not publish search volume for book keywords, so every volume number on the market is an estimate — we do not make estimates. The lookup reports only what can be observed: who ranks, how reviewed they are, what they cost, and which slots are ads.
How far does the signup grant go?
The 100-credit grant covers 20 fresh keyword lookups, or a mix of fresh and cached ones. An AI report costs a flat 150 credits, so generating your first report needs a subscription or a credit pack on top of the grant — rates are on the pricing page.
I also sell physical products — one account for both?
Yes. KDP tools and the seller line share one credit balance and one account. The All Amazon keyword scope works for product keywords too, and the seller-side workflow — ASIN scrape to AI report — is covered in the general quick-start guide.
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Last updated: 2026-10-11