Amazon Backend Search Terms: 249 Bytes, What to Put In and Leave Out

Backend search terms are a hidden field in your Amazon listing. Shoppers never see it, but Amazon uses it to match your product to searches. Most categories give you 249 bytes for it (the limit RankBuddy's checker uses; confirm it for your category in Seller Central), and it is counted in bytes, not words.

What to put in

• Words shoppers use that are not already in your title or bullets: synonyms, alternative names, spelling variants.
• Use cases and the people it suits, if they are true (for example “camping”, “gift for hikers”).
• Terms in other languages your shoppers use, if you sell in those markets.

What to leave out

• Words already in the title or bullets. Repeating them wastes bytes.
• Other companies' brand names and trademarks.
• Subjective claims such as “best” or “cheapest”.
• Commas and punctuation. Separate words with spaces.
• Words that are not true of your product. They bring clicks that do not buy.

Why bytes, not characters

Plain English letters and spaces take one byte each. Letters with accents and other alphabets take two or more bytes each, so a short field in another language can reach the limit sooner than you expect.

Example

A stainless steel water bottle with “Water Bottle, Stainless Steel Insulated, 32 oz” in the title could use: flask hydration gym hiking camping leakproof lid cold drinks hot drinks sports tumbler. That is under 100 bytes of new words that the title does not already have.