Are you inputting your title and subtitle incorrectly?
Update for January 2024: It’s worth noting that Amazon support has reportedly informed an author that keywords in the title and subtitle may not directly impact the platform’s search algorithm. This certainly doesn’t reflect the experience I have had, nor any other low/medium content publisher I have ever known. While Amazon’s algorithms have continued to advance rapidly and become more sophisticated, the precise inner workings remain undisclosed information to the public. Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments.
Titles and subtitles are something that I have made a mistake with in the past, (in more ways than one) and it’s something that I have recently been reminded of quite recently.
I think sometimes people feel they want to have a creative title and so they put this FIRST and that may be all they do.
They then put their keywords in the backend slots and wonder why their book isn’t showing up for any of their chosen keywords.
You want to ideally have your best keyword in the title.
Your title & subtitle are generally considered the important spots when it comes to keywords but you have to do it carefully and not in a spammy way.
If you get this wrong, it can mean your book is just not found by anyone on amazon and won’t rank in the niche you’re aiming for.
We are low content publishers and we target niches and keywords. This is vitally important for us, in order for our books to be seen. Especially if we are looking to make our initial sales without using Ads.
But even if we ARE planning to run Ads, Amazon takes info from our metadata to determine where to show our books when we run an Auto Ad. So, we want as much relevant information in that metadata as we can.
So, we need to have a well-defined niche and our target keyword needs to be right there in the no.1 slot available, which is our title.
This immediately tells the audience searching on Amazon that our book is what they are looking for.
If you have some vague and indeterminate title, that may be alluring for a fiction book but our aim as low content publishers, is to create books that people are already searching for.
But additionally, if we can fill in the subtitle without being spammy, an extra keyword or two in there can also help.
Especially if this means we may show up for some variation on our original idea.
Some people really add a lot of words in their subtitles and it looks unprofessional and wrong. People do still continue to do it, but Amazon has cracked down on it somewhat.
You should definitely avoid repeating any words from your title in your subtitle however.
Important:
- Your title must be on your cover, or on the spine text of your book.
- The title must be exactly the same on your book, as it is in the title section you fill in on the backend.
- There is no need to add things such as dimensions or the size of your book in the subtitle, so keep these in your description and it’s on the listing page anyway. **I think Amazon may have changed their terms because I can’t see any info now about not adding the dimensions…. Possibly since including low content books legitimately, they allow it now? I am currently unsure about this – let me know if you know!
Good Vs Bad Title Examples:
Apologies to any authors I’m calling out here.
I could even put myself on this list, as I have definitely created some subtitles that were too long and rambling in the beginning when I first started.
It’s just best practice to definitely avoid that and keep things as concise as you can, while still providing enough information and ideally – two or three keywords.
You don’t need to add details about the book itself, such as the size of the book or how many pages it contains.
So, you don’t want a title like the following…..
The above reads more like a list and is too long and rambling. It feels as though this person is just trying to stuff as many keywords in there as they can.
Another issue is, the book actually doesn’t match this description at all inside either.
The book, (from the first initial pages I saw anyway…)… Reads more like it’s a writing prompt book!
It didn’t appear to have anything to do with self care, mindfulness, or gratitude!
This author also has a keyword in their author name, which is definitely something you need to avoid these days.
This author name was lucky to slide through in 2021… But I imagine that even if they tried to edit this book, they would run into issues now.
I go into more info about this book, in the above video.
By contrast, the title below is fine and still manages to fit in several keywords.
By contrast the above title has a clear long-tail keyword as their title. That entire title IS something that people would type in directly to amazon.
That is the ideal scenario and ideally, it will also be the no.1 keyword they are hoping to rank for and target.
But they also manage to fit in several other keywords in the subtitle, while still sounding natural.
All of the descriptive words in the subtitle, also work well to describe the book, (as long as what it mentions actually is relevant to the book – unlike the first example).
This author also has a brand name – which isn’t a keyword. It is fine to have a brand name like this, it doesn’t have to be the name of a person.
I largely use brand names/company names myself that I come up with, but I do have the odd pen name that sounds like a person as well.
Another Example……..
The above example just doesn’t sound natural.
Again, it reads more like a list and it also includes details that Amazon now warn against using. So, the measurement of 6 x 9 and stating that it’s travel size. **Note: I am unsure if stating dimensions is now OK, as I can no longer find info about this in August 2022!
This was published in 2020, so many people were still putting the dimensions of their book in their subtitle. It’s done less so now however.
The above title still has PLENTY of information within it and several keywords as well but it is laid out in a way that makes sense.
The subtitle DESCRIBES the book, without sounding like they’re just packing in keywords.
The title again is a long-tail keyword in itself and will be something people are actively searching for.
But It’s Not Just About The Title:
You could have the best, well thought out and well formatted title on Amazon – but that won’t matter at all if your book doesn’t look any good.
Or doesn’t actually live up to customer expectations.
The number one thing you need to focus on, is creating a good looking book that people are actually going to be searching for on Amazon.
You could have a great design AND a great title… Again neither of those things matter in that case, unless the keywords you’re targeting are actually being searched for on Amazon.
Do you have a specific strategy for creating a title & subtitle on Amazon?
Let me know in the comments!
PIN ME FOR LATER!!
Kate Anderson says
I’ve just been told very explicitly that Title and Subtitle DO NOT impact the search algorithm at all! Title and subtitle are only used when people know the name of the book, but when they are searching for a type of book neither are used, only the keywords in the 7 metadata boxes are used to link their search to your book, where their search matches your keyword metadata.
I have been confused by this whole thing since I started on KDP and have had to redesign covers and play with titles to match and resubmit as new books altogether.
What you’re saying isn’t what I have just been told explicitly by KDP Support Team?
Who’s right?
Nat says
Hi Kate! Amazon’s algorithm is getting more sophisticated all the time and the exact algorithms and ranking factors they use are not publicly disclosed. Originally the title and subtitle were important aspects as far as keyword placement, (although they wouldn’t say that even then). But now, (apparently) Amazon can tell more easily what’s in your book and rank it despite what is in your title. That said, I certainly wouldn’t rely on that myself and any successful low/medium content publisher I’ve ever known has always placed importance on the title/subtitle when it comes to discoverability and ranking on Amazon. It depends what your book is but if your customer is searching for an ABC letter tracing book and your book is called something entirely irrelevant to that… Is it going to benefit you to have an obscure title, even if it does appear in the search results? Sometimes I will have a more creative title and still have my target keyword in the title or subtitle. Although, generally I’ve found the books to have my main keyword in the title, (nearest to the front) to do better overall. That could well change, as KDP changes all the time. My experience with KDP support is that they will give you a different answer depending on who you speak to – but they do not encourage you to have keywords in your title at all and never have because they are trying to avoid SPAM. So, even though “ABC tracing book for kids,” is technically a keyword – it’s OK because it’s also simply describing the book and makes sense. What they don’t like is keyword stuffing. Two or three carefully placed keywords which form a coherent title/subtitle is OK. Crafting a title which both contains one or more keywords but still looks natural, sounds good and makes sense is the way to go in my opinion. I hope that helps somewhat!
Diane M. McHugh says
Hello, 3 days ago I published a book of mazes. I’m seeing that I rank on the 16th page for one keyword, on the 14th page for a second keyword and on the 4th page for a third keyword. My other 3 keywords do not rank at all.
Yet I see some of the same maze books from other creators listed for every one of my keywords as I search.
Is this a case where ads can help ? I was hoping to get some sales without use of ads.
This time I was careful to make my title match exactly as on my book cover, but I am mystified as to how to rank higher.
I also see books where the cover title does not match the descriptive title – so is Amazon selectively enforcing this requirement ?
Nat says
Hi Diane, three days is very very early indeed. The way you can rank faster for keywords is indeed Ads. This can hopefully lead to sales, which should boost your organic ranking as well, (the ranking you have without Ads). It’s tricky to get sales without Ads unless you’re in a low competition area. If there is tonnes of competition and books with lots of reviews, your book may struggle to generate sales straight away. The prime time to get sales on your books is the first 30 days from publishing, so if you can boost your book sales in that first 30 days with Ads, you will have a better chance of making organic sales from there on. Amazon isn’t selectively enforcing it – there are one of two things going on: 1) Amazon makes a mistake and it slips through the net… This has happened to me. 2) the exact title is on the spine of their cover. That way, it does not have to be an exact match on the cover page. I hope this helps!