What are Amazon backend keywords, and what are the rules?

What are backend keywords on Amazon?

Backend keywords are the search terms you add to a listing that shoppers never see. Amazon calls them search terms, stored in the generic_keywords attribute and shown as the Generic keyword field in Seller Central. Amazon describes them as keywords "used by the search engine for lexical matching between an ASIN and a query."

They exist for words that belong in search but not in your title or bullets: synonyms, alternate spellings, abbreviations and use cases. Amazon's own example for headphones: add "earphones" and "earbuds."

What is the Amazon backend keywords limit?

Less than 250 bytes for the Generic keyword field. Amazon's attribute table lists it as 249 bytes. The rule that matters: if search terms exceed the limit, "the attribute is completely ignored by Amazon Search." For the other keyword attributes, Amazon indexes up to the limit and drops the rest.

Bytes are not characters. For a to z, A to Z and 0 to 9, one byte is one character. Characters such as the German ä can take two or more bytes. Amazon does not count spaces or punctuation, and the Seller Central field stops accepting input at the limit.

What are Amazon's search terms guidelines for backend keywords?

Amazon's own tips from Seller Central Help:

• Stay within the length limit.
• Use synonyms, and spelling variations, but not common misspellings.
• Include abbreviations.
• Use all lowercase letters.
• Avoid punctuation such as semicolons, colons and dashes; separate words with spaces.
• Avoid repetition, and use either singular or plural.
• Skip short words such as a, an, and, by, for, of, the and with.

Prohibited, with Amazon's warning that violations "may result in your ASIN being suppressed" and can put account health at risk: your brand or other brand names, ASINs, profanity, temporary statements (new, on sale now, limited time), subjective claims (best, cheapest, amazing) and offensive terms.

Effective 6 December 2023, the field is required for 23 product types, including blankets, board games, balloons, bedding sets and body care products.

Can you use competitor keywords on Amazon?

Not in your backend keywords. Brand names are prohibited, and Amazon's own examples are Apple, Nike and Amazon. Search terms with brand names can be eliminated, so competitor names waste bytes at best.

Competitor targeting belongs in advertising. Amazon Ads' Sponsored Products product targeting lets you target specific products, categories or brands, and refine category targets by brand, price range, ratings and Prime eligibility. Amazon Ads also recommends bidding on your own brand terms "as a brand defense strategy," because competitors may be bidding on them. Our Amazon PPC team runs both.

What happened to Amazon intended use keywords?

Intended Use (specific_uses_keywords) described the context a product is used in, such as gaming or bedroom. Amazon says it is primarily used in the US and "being phased out," with a 150-byte limit. Target Audience and Other Attributes are being phased out too, and Platinum Keywords are no longer used (see our Platinum Keywords guide).

So put use cases where Amazon still reads them: the Generic keyword field, plus your title, bullets and description where they fit naturally. "camping hiking travel" in search terms does the job Intended Use used to.

How do you add or update backend keywords?

1. Open the listing. In Seller Central, go to Manage Products, select the product and choose Edit from the Fix menu.
2. Find the field. Open the Product details tab and enter terms in the Generic keyword field.
3. Write within the limit. Lowercase, spaces between words, no repeats of words already in your title, no brands, no ASINs.
4. Update in bulk if needed. Download the Category Listing report (ask Selling Partner Support to enable it if missing), then upload changes with an inventory file template using partial update.
5. Check what Amazon actually uses. Amazon may not use every term you supply. Track impressions in Search Query Performance and your Sponsored Products search term report.

Backend keywords are one part of listing SEO. A full listing rebuild (title, bullets, backend terms and images) is a $500 per ASIN one-off, and included in our plans.