Optimizing Your Amazon Meta Description

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Your Amazon book listing seems like it would be front-and-center for millions of shoppers every day. Yet when you think of your book as a tiny shop on the busiest digital street in the world and nobody ever walks in, you’re left asking, “Why?” So, what’s actually happening here?

Digitally, the shop’s sign is fuzzy, the awning is half-hidden, and there’s nothing to catch people’s attention as they stroll and browse. Your meta description (and the metadata surrounding it) is essentially your shop’s sign. If it’s not correctly optimized, misspelled, or worse — in the wrong category – it doesn’t matter how great your book is because Amazon’s algorithm simply won’t show it.

BookBaby makes it easy to not only fix the problem but make sure your storefront shines. Here’s how:

Who cares about meta descriptions?

We often hear first-time authors looking to publish on Amazon say, “Don’t meta descriptions just matter for search engines? Who even uses them anymore?” As it turns out, that very same metadata is what gets your book noticed and found by Amazon.

Book metadata optimization — which includes tailoring your book’s description, keywords, categories, and more — directly influences not just whether or not your book can be found on one of the world’s biggest shopping marketplaces, but whether or not it’s compelling enough to warrant a purchase.

How BookBaby helps you optimize your Amazon description

BookBaby optimizes your Amazon description by way of customizing this metadata to help your book get found and purchased.

Metadata audit and optimization service

We offer a metadata optimization service where our Amazon listing specialists look at all of your metadata fields, including:

• Title
• Subtitle
• Author
• Bio
• Description
• BISAC codes
• Keywords

We make sure that they’re optimized for the highest possible discoverability while making sure the information inside is appealing and attention-getting to the reader.

For your Amazon page, this means your description won’t just be a generic summary. Instead, it will incorporate the most-promising keywords (without overdoing it) and will be structured for easy skimming to match readers who are “just looking.”

Description writing best practices

Your metadata description must grab the reader’s attention immediately — within the first sentence. You’ll want to highlight exactly what they’ll gain (or what they risk missing) and keep it clear and concise.

On Amazon, that means that your description will look like it’s “cut off,” so you want to make sure the “elevator pitch,” or the most promising part, comes first, followed by supporting points, and a call-to-action, like “Look inside” or “Get your copy today.”

Keyword and category alignment

Keywords matter for Amazon, since it is, at its core, one giant search engine built for shopping. For this reason, we recommend that you use phrases that readers will actually type and order them in a way that readers would type them in. For example, “French murder mystery” rather than “Murder mystery French.”

You should always avoid punctuation in backend fields. Although the meta description itself doesn’t include backend keywords, the visible description of your book does, and it’s crucial that you use natural language that weaves them in in a way that doesn’t feel robotic or forced. The rest of your metadata, like the category, BISAC or keywords, tell Amazon’s algorithms which titles to show together.

Meta updates and control

Need to update your metadata? BookBaby makes it easy. Simply log into your account, choose “Update Metadata” for your title, edit your description and any other information you wish to change, and push the changes to Amazon and other retailers. Keep in mind that it may take 10-15 days for the changes to make their way through various retailers and online stores.

You’ll want to update your metadata if you notice, for example, that your Amazon description isn’t converting. This way, you can update and tweak it (and the experts at BookBaby are here to help if you need us), rather than being “stuck” with a weak description forever.

Retail platform consistency

When you distribute via BookBaby to Amazon and other retailers, you’ll often need to provide both a short description for certain stores and a long description for others. These descriptions need to be consistent. For Amazon’s store page, you’ll want your description to work with Amazon’s algorithm, but also mesh with your broader marketing message. This way, any readers who click through from Apple Books or Barnes & Noble see the same core promise.

How to use BookBaby to optimize your Amazon meta description

First, before you even write a single word, take the time to understand your reader, including what keywords they’d use, the benefit your book promises, and what genre and category it fits into. If you choose BookBaby’s metadata optimization service, we can refine it for you. Hook the reader in the first couple of sentences, making sure that your opening is specific and compelling.

For instance, “How far would one mother go to save her child in a dystopian city already on fire?”

Without awkward phrasing, include phrases that your readers might search for, such as “post-apocalyptic survival thriller,” “single mom hero,” “urban collapse,” and so on. For your bullet points, break out the key benefits. Nonfiction books might say something like:

• Case studies from…
• Three proven strategies to…

While fiction might include:

• Secrets she uncovers…
• A twist you won’t see coming…

From there, include a call-to-action, such as “Uncover the truth,” “Start your journey,” or “Select ‘look inside’ now,” and submit the updated metadata description via your BookBaby account.

With BookBaby meta optimization, you can optimize your Amazon store page meta description into something that’s keyword-rich but uniquely human, category-accurate, but easily accessible. Turn your Amazon shop from “just there” to “can’t ignore.” Don’t let a weak description rob your book of its chance to shine!