Amazon Tags - Popular tags vs Unique tags.

[chrisanthropic]

I've been reading a lot about the importance of tags and as we're about to begin a huge push for the "official" release of my wife's book I'm curious about their use.

Specifically, I wonder if it's better to use common tags that are likely to be searched but are also flooded with more competition (ie "fantasy") or if more specific tags with smaller competitive numbers but also a smaller chance of being searched (ie "female adventurer") would result in a better overall gain/exposure.

Those of you currently using tags have any thoughts/experiences?

Basically I want to use the tagging-thread-fairy to our best advantage.

[Lazybones]

You get seven total at Amazon, right?

I find I can usually come up with 3-5 solid tags pretty easily, so you could cover the common ones and use the rest to be more specific/unusual.

[joycedb]

There are tags, categories, and keywords. Which exactly are we talking about?

Joyce

[chrisanthropic]

I was talking about the tags used in the author tag exchange thread.

[HighRoadToTibet]

Tags are used to inform the reader about your book. For example, my travel book High Road To Tibet, I used tags such as "china travel", "travel adventure" and "great wall". These tags help your books visibility in searches. Readers can also add their own tags to describe the book.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Lazybones

You get seven total at Amazon, right?

I find I can usually come up with 3-5 solid tags pretty easily, so you could cover the common ones and use the rest to be more specific/unusual.

I just looked and I have 14 on my first book presently. I personally would put BOTH a few very common ones, and a few very specific ones. That way you get exposure in both groups.

[dtracy4]

I try to mix them up between 2- and 3-word tags.

I would not go for 1-word, genre-like tags. If you do have 1-word tags, they should be very specific keywords, e.g. cardiology, Paris.