Amazon keyword research in 2026: free tools and where each keyword goes

Amazon keyword research is finding the words shoppers type into Amazon's search box when they look for a product like yours, then deciding which field of the listing each of those words goes in. Amazon's own guide for sellers describes it in three stages: research the keywords, work them into the listing, then watch how they perform and adjust.

The second stage is the one that changed. Since July 27, 2026 titles in every category except media must fit in 75 characters, Item Highlights adds a 125-character line beside them, and the hidden search terms field still takes fewer than 250 bytes. A keyword plan written for 200-character titles packed several phrases into the title; under the new limit most of them need another field. This guide covers the keyword search tools that show what shoppers really type, most of them free, a method for turning their output into a short ranked list, and where each keyword goes, with a planner you can paste your own list into.

How Amazon uses your keywords

A product appears for a search only when its listing matches it. Amazon matches searches against the title, Item Highlights, bullet points, description, search terms and attributes, then orders the matching products, largely by what shoppers click and buy. Amazon SEO in 2026 explains both steps. For keyword research, three things follow:

• Every keyword needs a field. A search that the listing holds neither in words nor in meaning is a search it does not appear for.
• A word counts once. Amazon indexes the fields together, so a word that is already in the title gains nothing from a second place in the bullets or the search terms. Every repeat is room another search could have used.
• Relevance comes before volume. Ranking learns from what shoppers do after a search, so a popular search for a slightly different product is worth less than a smaller one that describes yours exactly.

Short-tail, long-tail and branded keywords

Amazon's guide sorts keywords by length and by brand:

Long-tail searches are more specific and less contested, so they are easier to rank for. Amazon's guide calls keywords that are relevant to the product but face less competition golden keywords, and the long tail is the place to look for them.

Your own brand goes in the brand field and at the start of the title. Other brands' names go nowhere: Amazon's rules keep them out of the detail page and out of the search terms.

Free Amazon keyword tools

The most reliable data on Amazon searches comes from Amazon, and most of it costs nothing:

Brand Analytics needs a Professional selling account and the Brand Representative role for a brand enrolled in Brand Registry. The ads tools cost nothing to open, but the search term report only covers searches where your ads ran, and the clicks in it are paid for.

Third-party keyword search tools

Keyword suites from other companies estimate search volume from their own data, suggest related terms and track rank over time; Amazon's guide mentions Helium 10 and Jungle Scout among them, and some offer free plans. Treat their volumes as estimates, because only Amazon has the real numbers. For the copy itself there are two free tools on this site: the listing checker tests a draft against Amazon's 2026 limits and rules, and the byte counter measures the search terms field in bytes.

How to do keyword research for Amazon, step by step

1. Write the seed list. What the product is, what people call it, what it is made of, who it is for, what it is used for and what it works with. For a stainless steel bottle: water bottle, flask, canteen, insulated, stainless steel, gym, hiking.
2. Expand it in the search box. Type each seed into Amazon's search box and note the suggestions. They come from what shoppers search, and they show the word order people actually use.
3. Read the listings that already sell. Search the main phrase and read the titles, Item Highlights and bullets on the first page. Words that recur across them are the vocabulary of the category; keep the ones that are true of your product.
4. Add Amazon's numbers. With Brand Registry, Search Query Performance lists the searches that already bring shoppers to your products, and Top Search Terms ranks searches by how often they are made. Product Opportunity Explorer shows the search terms and demand of your niche. If you advertise, Amazon's ads guide suggests running an automatic Sponsored Products campaign for a couple of weeks, then reading its search term report to see which searches perform.
5. Filter. Strike every term that is not true of the product, every other brand's name and subjective claims such as best, cheapest or amazing. Drop misspellings too: Amazon's search handles common ones on the shopper's side. A big search for a different product goes, whatever its volume.
6. Rank what is left. The main phrase first: the product type in the words most shoppers use. Then the phrases that add a feature, a material or a size, then uses and occasions, then synonyms. Amazon's guide suggests a mix of around 10 to 20 relevant keywords that describe the product accurately: quality over quantity.
7. Place them, field by field, as the next section shows.
8. Measure and adjust. Once the listing is live, Search Query Performance shows whether impressions and clicks move for the searches you placed, and Search Catalog Performance shows each product's funnel from impression to purchase. Without Brand Registry, Business Reports in Seller Central show each product's traffic and sales. Change one field at a time, so you can tell what made the difference.

Where each keyword goes in a 2026 listing

The ranked list maps onto the listing from the top down:

The title carries the main phrase right after the brand, in the order shoppers type it. Amazon's guide says to work the main keyword in naturally and not to stuff the title; the 75-character limit and the rule that a word may appear at most twice leave no room for a list anyway. See the 75-character title rule.

Item Highlights is indexed like the title and shown with it, so it takes the phrases the title had no room for. Each should read as a reason to buy, not as a keyword: Item Highlights explained has the formula.

The search terms take what is left: lowercase words separated by single spaces, with no word the visible copy already holds, no brand names, no ASINs and no punctuation, at 249 bytes or fewer. The full method is in how to use all 250 bytes.

Paste your own list below, one search phrase per line and the most valuable first. The planner places the phrases in that order: the first in the title after your brand, the next two or three in Item Highlights, one per bullet after that, and the words still missing from the visible copy in the search terms, cut at 249 bytes. A phrase with a claim such as best in it, or an ASIN, goes nowhere.

The planner does the arithmetic, not the writing: every phrase still has to sit inside a sentence a shopper wants to read. Once the copy is written, run it through the listing checker before you paste it into Seller Central.

Common keyword research mistakes

1. Stuffing. Amazon's guide warns that overloading a listing with keywords does not work well and can hurt its ranking.
2. Planning for 200 characters. A title plan from before July 2026 now overflows. The phrases that no longer fit belong in Item Highlights and the bullets, not in a longer title.
3. Repeating words across fields. Each repeat is a search the listing could have matched and does not.
4. Chasing volume. A popular search for a different product brings shoppers who do not buy.
5. Other brands' names, in the copy or in the search terms.
6. Researching once. Searches change with seasons and trends, and Amazon's guide makes monitoring and adjusting part of the work, not an extra.

A keyword research checklist

• The seed list covers what the product is, what it is made of, who it is for and what it is used for
• Search box suggestions are collected for every seed
• The first page of results has been read for the category's words
• Amazon's own numbers are in: Brand Analytics, Product Opportunity Explorer or the ads search term report
• Nothing on the list is untrue, another brand's name, a subjective claim or a misspelling
• Around 10 to 20 keywords, ranked, the main phrase first
• The main phrase is in the title, after the brand, within 75 characters
• The next two or three phrases are in Item Highlights, within 125 characters
• One feature or use per bullet
• The search terms hold only words the visible copy lacks, at 249 bytes or fewer
• There is a date in the calendar to read the reports again

Where Cobalt12 fits

Cobalt12 does the research and the placement together. It reads the listings your product competes with and, for a listing already on Amazon with Brand Registry, the searches in its Search Query Performance report. Then it writes the title, Item Highlights, bullets, description and search terms within Amazon's 2026 limits, and its research report shows which field each ranked search landed in. You can try it on your own product; the first listing is free.

This article reflects Amazon's keyword research guide for sellers, the Brand Analytics and Amazon Ads documentation and Amazon's listing limits as of October 2026. Dashboards and reports differ by marketplace, so check Seller Central for yours.