Backend search terms are keywords shoppers never see but Amazon uses to find your product. On Amazon.de the field must stay under 250 bytes — bytes, not characters — so 249 is the most you can use, and every German umlaut takes two of them. Words already in your title add nothing there. Here is how to fill the field so every byte counts.
Bytes, not characters
Seller Central limits the search terms field to fewer than 250 bytes, so 249 is the most you can use. The text is counted in UTF‑8: plain letters, digits and spaces take one byte each, every umlaut and “ß” takes two, and characters such as “€” or an en dash (–) take three.
- kaffeebecher becher pott
- 24 characters = 24 bytes
- spülmaschinenfest
- 17 characters = 18 bytes
- fußball größe
- 13 characters = 16 bytes
- ä, ö, ü, ß
- 1 character = 2 bytes each
A German field that looks like 240 characters can therefore be well over the limit. Whether spaces count is not clear-cut: older Amazon guidance says spaces and punctuation are not counted, while sellers report errors as soon as the text including spaces goes over 249 bytes. So count conservatively, spaces included. If the field is over the limit, Seller Central rejects it, or — as many sellers report — it is not indexed at all, and you lose every term, not only the excess.
Where to find the field
In Seller Central the “Search terms” field (“Suchbegriffe” in the German interface) is in the listing editor; in inventory files and the API the attribute is generic_keyword (generic_keywords in older templates). Older templates had up to five lines for it: the limit applies to all of them together, so more lines do not give you more room.
Each marketplace has its own search terms in that marketplace’s language. If you also sell on Amazon.fr or Amazon.it, do not translate the terms word for word — research how shoppers search there.
What belongs in the field
Use the field for words shoppers search for that do not fit naturally into title and bullet points:
- synonyms and colloquial names (“thermosflasche isolierflasche”),
- regional variants and parts of German compound words (“becher pott tasse”),
- use cases and occasions that are true for the product (“büro wandern fahrrad”),
- common misspellings, but only where shoppers really type them.
Write single words in lower case, separated by single spaces. Capitalisation does not matter. Amazon’s help suggests putting words that belong together in the order shoppers would type them; beyond that, order makes little difference.
What to leave out
- words already in the title, bullet points or another field — repeating them only wastes bytes,
- commas, semicolons and other punctuation: spaces are enough,
- brand names, your own as well as other companies’ — using someone else’s brand can also infringe their trade mark,
- ASINs and other product identifiers,
- subjective or temporary words such as “beste”, “günstig”, “neu” or “Angebot”,
- words that claim something the product is not or cannot do — hidden terms are still part of your offer,
- the same word twice.
Before and after
For a title like “Fjellmo Trinkflasche Edelstahl 750 ml, doppelwandig isoliert, auslaufsicher”:
- Before
- Fjellmo, Trinkflasche, Edelstahl, beste Flasche, NEU, isoliert, Wasserflasche, wasserflaschen
- After
- thermosflasche isolierflasche wasserflasche sportflasche fahrradflasche büro wandern schule kinder kalt heiß
The second version repeats no title word, uses no brand and no punctuation, and spends its 110 bytes on new words — the rest up to 249 bytes stays free for more genuine search terms.
Titles and bullet points have rules of their own: see Amazon title rules and bullet points.
Check your search terms
The search terms byte counter counts bytes as you type, spaces included, and shows where the limit is exceeded. Paste title and search terms into the free listing check to also see repeated title words, duplicates, punctuation and brand names. If a listing still does not show up, see the guide to suppressed Amazon listings.