KDP Ranker: Keyword Research Tool Guide

Okay so I’ve been using KDP Ranker for like three years now and honestly it’s one of those tools that looks confusing at first but once you get it, you’re gonna wonder how you ever published without it.

First thing you gotta do is actually sign up for an account at kdpranker.com – they have different pricing tiers but I’d honestly start with whatever their basic plan is just to see if it clicks with you. I think I’m on the middle tier now because I was running out of searches on the lower one, but that was after like six months of heavy use.

The Dashboard Setup Thing

When you first log in it’s gonna look like information overload. There’s this main search bar at the top and that’s really where you’ll spend most of your time. But before you even start searching, click on your account settings – I always tell people to set your default Amazon marketplace there. Like if you’re publishing primarily to Amazon US, make sure that’s selected because the keyword data is completely different for UK or Germany or whatever.

Oh and another thing – there’s this checkbox for “show only KDP keywords” or something like that. Keep that checked. It filters out a bunch of irrelevant stuff that doesn’t actually apply to book publishing.

How I Actually Use The Search Function

So let’s say you’re trying to publish a recipe journal or meal planning book. You’d type something broad like “recipe journal” into that main search bar. Hit enter and wait like 10-15 seconds because sometimes it takes a minute to pull all the data.

What you’re gonna see is this massive table with a bunch of columns. The most important ones are:

• The keyword itself obviously
• Avg Monthly Search Volume – how many people search this term
• Competition Score – how difficult it is to rank
• Estimated Search Volume (sometimes it shows both, I dunno why)

I basically ignore any keyword with less than 200-300 monthly searches unless it’s super specific to my niche and has like zero competition. Because what’s the point right? You want people to actually find your book.

The Competition Score Is Everything

This is where people mess up. They see a keyword with 5000 searches and get all excited but the competition score is like 85 out of 100. That means you’re competing with established books, big publishers, books that have hundreds of reviews. You’re not ranking for that as a new book, just forget it.

I look for that sweet spot – competition score under 40, ideally under 30, with at least 300-500 searches monthly. Those are your money keywords. KDP Ranker color codes them too I think, like green for low competition and red for high? Or maybe that’s a setting I turned on, I can’t remember.

The Related Keywords Feature

Okay so this is where it gets actually useful. When you click on any keyword in your results, there’s usually a button or link that says “related keywords” or “similar searches.” Click that. It’s gonna open up a whole new world of keyword variations you probably never thought of.

Like I was researching gratitude journals last month – my cat kept walking on my keyboard during this which was super annoying – and I clicked on “gratitude journal for women” and found stuff like “daily gratitude journal with prompts” and “gratitude journal for anxiety” and “52 week gratitude journal.” Each of those is a potential book idea or at minimum a keyword phrase you should be using.

You can export all this data to CSV too which is clutch if you’re researching multiple niches at once. I have this whole spreadsheet system but that’s probably overkill for most people.

Wait I Forgot To Mention The ASIN Lookup

This feature is honestly why I keep my subscription. You can paste in any book’s ASIN – that’s the Amazon product ID number, you find it in the URL when you’re looking at a book listing – and KDP Ranker will show you what keywords that book is probably ranking for.

So like if you find a successful coloring book or planner in your niche, grab that ASIN and paste it into KDP Ranker. You’ll see a list of all the keywords they’re likely using. Now obviously don’t just copy them exactly because that’s lazy and also Amazon can tell, but it gives you ideas for keyword variations.

I did this with like the top 20 books in the prayer journal category when I was launching my own and found some patterns. Certain phrases kept showing up that I never would’ve thought of myself.

The Keyword Categories Thing

There’s this sidebar or menu option – I think it’s on the left side – that shows different categories. KDP Ranker organizes keywords by whether they’re for coloring books, journals, planners, logbooks, whatever. You can filter your search results by these categories.

This is helpful if you’re getting too many irrelevant results. Like if you search “daily planner” you might get stuff for software or apps, but if you filter to just “planners and organizers” category, it cleans up the results a lot.

How To Actually Pick Your Seven Keywords

Okay so Amazon gives you seven backend keyword boxes when you’re uploading your book. This is separate from your title and subtitle. Here’s my actual process using KDP Ranker:

I find 3-4 high-volume keywords (like 1000+ searches) even if competition is medium. These are your reach keywords. You probably won’t rank high for them immediately but as you get reviews and sales, you might crack the first few pages.

Then I find 3-4 low-competition keywords (under 30 competition score) even if search volume is just 200-400. These are your quick win keywords where you can actually rank on page one pretty fast.

The key thing people don’t realize – and this is gonna sound weird but – you don’t put these keywords in those seven boxes exactly as they appear. You string them together in phrases that make sense. Like if your winning keywords are “daily gratitude journal” and “mindfulness journal women” and “guided journal with prompts” you might write: “daily gratitude mindfulness journal women guided prompts”

You’re hitting multiple keyword phrases in one box. Amazon’s algorithm is smart enough to pick out the combinations. I learned this from some forum post years ago and it actually works.

The Search Volume Isn’t Always Accurate

Real talk – the numbers KDP Ranker shows you are estimates. They’re pulling from Amazon’s API and some other data sources but it’s not perfect. I’ve had keywords that showed 200 searches perform way better than ones showing 800 searches.

So don’t get too hung up on the exact numbers. Look at the trends and the competition scores more than anything. If a keyword has been consistently searched for months and competition is low, that’s probably a good bet regardless of whether it says 250 or 350 searches.

The Competitor Analysis Section

There’s this whole section where you can compare multiple books side by side. I don’t use this as much honestly but when I’m entering a brand new niche it’s helpful. You can add like 5-10 ASINs and see how they stack up in terms of estimated keywords, search rankings, all that.

It helps you understand what you’re up against. Like if all the top books in your niche have 500+ reviews and have been published for three years, you know you’re in for a longer game. Versus if the top books only have 20-30 reviews and were published recently, you can probably compete pretty quickly with a solid keyword strategy.

Oh And The Chrome Extension

KDP Ranker has a Chrome extension that I forget to mention to people. Once you install it, when you’re browsing Amazon normally, it’ll show you little data points right on the page. Like you’ll see the estimated monthly revenue of books, their BSR history, stuff like that.

I mostly use it to quickly check if a niche is worth researching deeper. If I’m browsing and see a simple logbook making $500/month according to the extension, I’ll dig into that niche with the full KDP Ranker tool.

This Is Gonna Sound Weird But Check Misspellings

Sometimes I’ll search for common misspellings of keywords in KDP Ranker. Like “gratitude journal” versus “graditude journal” – people actually search the misspelling more than you’d think. You can include those in your backend keywords and pick up some extra traffic that your competitors aren’t even thinking about.

How Often You Should Research

I probably dive into KDP Ranker deeply like once a month when I’m planning my next few books. But I’ll do quick searches weekly just to see if any trends are changing. Around September/October the holiday-related keywords start spiking and you can catch that early if you’re paying attention.

The tool also has some kind of trending keywords feature – I think it’s in the main menu – that shows you what’s getting more searches lately. During 2020 anything related to “pandemic journal” or “quarantine diary” was blowing up. You could’ve caught that trend early with this feature.

Combining It With Your Title Strategy

Your book title and subtitle are actually more important for ranking than those seven backend keywords, so whatever winners you find in KDP Ranker, try to work the absolute best ones into your title or subtitle naturally.

Like if “daily planner for women 2024” is showing great numbers, your title might be something like “Daily Planner for Women: 2024 Goal Setting and Productivity Organizer” – you’re hitting that main keyword phrase right in the title.

KDP Ranker can’t tell you what title to use obviously, but it can tell you which keyword phrases are worth building your title around.

The Learning Curve Is Real

First time I used KDP Ranker I spent like three hours just clicking around trying to figure out what I was looking at. There’s a lot of data and if you’re not used to keyword research tools it feels overwhelming. Give yourself time to just explore without any pressure.

Maybe spend your first session just looking up books you already published – see what keywords they might be ranking for, check the competition scores for terms you’re already using. That’ll give you context for understanding the data.

And honestly their customer support is pretty responsive if you get stuck. I emailed them once about some feature I couldn’t find and they got back to me same day with a video explanation.

What It Can’t Do

KDP Ranker won’t write your book descriptions or design your covers or tell you if your book idea is good. It’s purely a keyword research tool. You still gotta create quality content and have decent covers and all that.

Also it can’t guarantee you’ll rank for anything. Keywords are like 30% of the success equation – you also need reviews, consistent sales, good conversion rates on your listing, all that stuff working together.

But for that 30% of keyword strategy, it’s probably the best tool specifically for KDP publishers. I’ve tried Publisher Rocket too and honestly I think KDP Ranker gives more accurate Amazon-specific data, though Publisher Rocket has a cleaner interface.

The main thing is actually using the data you find. I see people spend hours researching perfect keywords and then they just slap together any seven phrases without thinking strategically. Take the time to organize your findings, pick keywords that actually match your book’s content, and test different combinations over time if your first batch isn’t performing.