I’m launching a few new FBA products and I’m struggling to find a reliable free keyword research tool specifically for Amazon. Most tools I try are either super limited on the free plan or focused on Google SEO instead of Amazon search. Can anyone recommend free tools or workflows that actually help uncover high-traffic, low-competition Amazon keywords for listings and PPC?
For pure Amazon keywords on a zero budget, here is what works best right now:
-
Amazon search bar + autocomplete
• Type your seed keyword and slow-type letters a, b, c, etc.
• Copy every suggestion that makes sense for your product.
• Do this on desktop and mobile, results differ sometimes.
• Use an incognito window so history does not skew results.
This gives you real shopper phrases, straight from Amazon. -
Free Cerebro inside Helium 10
• Free plan has limits, but still useful if you are strategic.
• Grab 1 to 3 top competitors ASINs.
• Run them through Cerebro.
• Sort by “Organic Rank” and “Search Volume”.
• Export and keep only terms where buyer intent is clear.
Use this once per product, not every day, so you do not hit limits too fast. -
Amazon Brand Analytics (if you have Brand Registry)
• Go to Reports then Brand Analytics then Search Terms.
• Look at “Top Search Terms” for your category.
• Pull phrases where click share and conversion share is high for products similar to yours.
This is Gold, but only if you are brand registered. -
Product page mining
• Open 10 top competitors.
• Scrape title, bullets, description, A plus text.
• Paste into a doc and highlight repeated phrases.
• Repeated phrases are usually core keywords Amazon already indexes.
Do not copy wording, only the phrases. -
Google Sheets + free extensions
• Paste all keywords into a sheet.
• De-duplicate.
• Add columns: “Relevance 1 to 3”, “Phase of funnel”, “Use in title or bullets or backend”.
• Sort by your relevance rating, not only search volume.
This helps you focus on terms that will actually convert on Amazon. -
Cheap but almost free option
If you want near free, use Helium 10 or DataDive or Jungle Scout for 1 month.
Do all research for every product in that single month.
Export everything.
Then stick to Amazon autocomplete and your saved lists for updates.
Simple workflow to follow per product:
• Start with Amazon autocomplete.
• Pull 2 or 3 main competitor ASINs and run through free Cerebro.
• Cross check with titles and bullets from page 1 listings.
• Sort by relevance, then volume.
• Use top 5 to 10 in title and bullets.
• Use long tail terms in description and backend search terms.
No fully free tool gives perfect volume data for Amazon.
So use tools for structure and Amazon itself for intent.
For a “best free tool,” I’d actually say: there isn’t one tool, there’s a stack. And I kinda disagree with @kakeru on one subtle point: relying too heavily on any single external tool (even Helium 10 on a free plan) can mislead you if you don’t sanity‑check with actual marketplace behavior.
Here are a few different free angles you can add on top of what was already shared:
- Use Amazon’s own ad console as a pseudo keyword tool
If you’re running even tiny PPC budgets:
- Create an automatic campaign for your main product.
- Let it run a few days to a week (even at $2–$5/day).
- Go to the search term report and pull what actually got impressions and clicks.
This gives you real buyer phrases tied to your ASIN, which beats guesswork.
You can then: - Promote the converting terms into exact/phrase campaigns.
- Add non‑converting but high spend terms as negatives.
Free in the sense that the “tool” is free, you just pay ad spend.
- Amazon “Categories & filters” mining
A lot of people ignore the left sidebar and filter tags:
- Search your main keyword.
- Look at the category path, subcategories, and filter labels (material, size, style, usage).
- Many of those filter labels are actually hidden long‑tail modifiers buyers use, like “for small kitchen,” “for thick hair,” “travel size,” etc.
These might not show in autocomplete, but they are powerful for longtail phrases and backend keywords.
- Global marketplaces cross‑check
If you sell in US, quickly check:
- Amazon UK / DE / CA etc with the same seed keyword.
Sometimes new angles or use cases pop up in autocomplete and in the top titles there that are not yet saturated in the US. I’ve pulled some very nice longtails this way like “for rental property” or “for camper van” that didn’t show in US suggestions at first.
- Google is not totally useless for Amazon
Yes, most “free” tools are focused on Google, but you can still exploit that:
- Use Google Keyword Planner just to find “use cases” and “modifier” words around your product.
- Then plug those modifiers back into Amazon search to see if they actually exist as phrases there.
Example: Google shows “for arthritic hands” for your product type. Then you type “[product] for arthritic hands” in Amazon and see if: - It autocompletes.
- It has relevant results with good BSRs.
If yes, it’s now a meaningful Amazon keyword, regardless of Google origin.
- Review & Q&A mining (super underused)
Pick 5–10 top competitors and:
- Scan reviews and Q&A for repeated wording buyers use.
You’re not just looking for pain points, but actual phrases that sound like search queries: - “for elderly parents,” “for tiny apartments,” “does this fit a 32oz bottle,” etc.
These are gold for: - Bullet copy
- Long‑tail backend keywords
- PPC exact match tests
And you don’t need any paid tool to do it, just patience and Ctrl+F for recurring words.
- Use a “reverse funnel” spreadsheet
@kakeru talked about relevance scoring, which I agree with. Where I’d tweak it:
Instead of starting with search volume, start with intent category:
- “Main product name”
- “Problem / pain”
- “Use case / audience”
- “Feature / material”
Put each keyword into one of those buckets first. Then within each bucket, mark: - Title-worthy
- Bullet-worthy
- Backend-only
This keeps you from chasing high-volume vanity terms and forgetting the super specific money keywords like “for kids with sensory issues” that might never top a volume chart but convert far better.
- Real free “tool”: your own test listings
This sounds dumb, but:
- Put your main 5–10 core keywords in title/bullets.
- Rotate secondary long‑tail keywords in description/back-end every 2–3 weeks.
- Track which phrases start showing your ASIN in search (you can spot this just by searching them in Amazon and see where you show up).
You’re basically using Amazon’s indexing behavior as your keyword lab. Nothing to “pay” for here except time.
If you want a single answer to “what’s the best free keyword research tool for Amazon?” I’d phrase it like this:
- The best “tool” is Amazon’s own data:
- Autocomplete
- Search term reports
- Brand Analytics if you have it
- Reviews & Q&A
- Category filters
Everything else (Helium, JS, etc.) is just a temporary crutch to speed things up. Free plans are annoying and limited, but if you build a good workflow around Amazon’s own signals, you won’t be stuck when a free tier gets nerfed or your trial expires.
If you share your niche, people here can probably throw a couple of specific keyword angles at you too.