Update: I did a more recent version of this article called: SEO Keywords for Self-Published Books in 2016, so go check it out.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t enthusiastic about writing this post because it was so technical and to be real, I usually ignore posts about SEO and keyword research. That’s mainly, because the subject is so boring. But after seeing the comment section in my last post, I realized I had to face an old demon. Yes, I do read the comments and I often feel your pain.
Not only did I find SEO boring, I didn’t realize the correlation between it and book marketing. But there is, keywords are an intricate part of online marketing and most of us are selling our books online so wouldn’t it be nice if we understood this mysterious creature called SEO?
Anyone can rank high in the search engines just by inserting popular words and riding on the coattails of controversy or news headlines but that easily backfire. In my own experience I’ve used the wrong keywords on this blog and ended up with a ton of bounce traffic.
In most cases, author blogs and websites need to be tagged with keywords that include:
- Title of your book
- Author Name
- Genre of your book
But you can’t just let it end there, you have to insert commonly searched terms. This is where the Google adwords search toolbar comes into play. In less than a half-hour, I was armed with the most searched terms related to fiction books.
Top search results on the word: “Books”
|
Keyword Ideas |
Number of Global Monthly Searches |
| E books | 4,090,000 |
| Online books | 2,740,000 |
| On line books | 2,240,00 |
| Books online | 2,740,000 |
| New books | 1,000,000 |
| Google books | 2,740,000 |
| Children’s Books | 823,000 |
| Kindle Book | 1,220,000 |
Top results for the term: “Fiction”
|
Keyword Ideas |
Number of Global Monthly Searches |
| Fiction Books | 673,00 |
| Adult Fiction | 201,000 |
| Historical Fiction | 135,000 |
| Top Fiction Books | 110,000 |
| Free Fiction | 90,500 |
| New Fiction | 90,500 |
| Fiction Series | 74,000 |
| Good Fiction | 60,500 |
| Romantic Fiction | 49,500 |
| Adult Fiction Novels | 40,500 |
| Gay Fiction | 40,500 |
| Flash Fiction | 33,100 |
| Horror Fiction | 22,200 |
| Christian Fiction | 27,100 |
| Contemporary Fiction | 18,100 |
Top Results for “Novel”
|
Keyword Ideas |
Number of Global Monthly Searches |
| A novel | 13,600,000 |
| The Novel | 13,600,000 |
| Novel Books | 1,220,000 |
| American Novel | 1,220,000 |
| Online Novel | 550,000 |
| Romance Novel | 368,000 |
| Fiction Novel | 368,000 |
| Best Novel | 301,000 |
| Free Novel | 368,000 |
| Romantic Novel | 165,000 |
| Novel Writing | 135,000 |
| Pandigital Novel (An iPad like eReader) | 90,500 |
| Fantasy Novel | 40,500 |
| Novel Reviews | 40,500 |
| Historical Novel | 40,500 |
| Vampire Novel | 33,100 |
Top Results for the word, “Adult Readers”
|
Keyword Ideas |
Number of Global Monthly Searches |
| Book Club | 1,220,000 |
| Books for Young Adults | 135,000 |
| Books for Girls | 368,000 |
| Books for Teens | 110,000 |
| Adult Novels | 110,000 |
Top Search Results for “Reading Books”
|
Keyword Ideas |
Number of Global Monthly Searches |
| How to read a book | 1,220,000 |
| Reading Books on line | 201,000 |
| Reading Books for Free | 135,000 |
| Where to read books online | 450,000 |
| Online Reading Books | 246,000 |
| Read Books | 1,220,000 |
Homework:
Pick out your keywords or look some up on the Google Tools page and find some unique to your book. Look up things like Science Fiction or Chick-Lit and see what you get. This will take awhile since you’ll be trying different words and combinations of phrases. That’s fine, take your time and next week, we’ll put those keywords to use.
Thanks for helping me out with this thing called SEO because I never liked it, mostly because nobody explained it well. You did, however. 😀