Amazon Restricted Keywords List 2024

Over the last decade, there have been quite a few examples of when Amazon let its platform function without proper human supervision. For instance, since January, there have been thousands of cases where seller’s listings had become suspended and blocked just because the marketplace’s algorithm considered that item to be a pesticide product or pesticide device. But, of course, it had no connection whatsoever with pesticides. The thing is, the platform flags product listings as a pesticide when Amazon sellers use certain words.

In this article, we will cover Amazon keywords to avoid when selling on the platform and provide useful tips on how to recover your listings. 

What Are Amazon Restricted Keywords?

Amazon restricted keywords are words or phrases that Amazon has deemed to be either illegal, inappropriate, or otherwise in violation of their policies. These banned keywords can result in your product listings being flagged and potentially removed from the platform, affecting your ability to sell effectively. Understanding and avoiding using these specific keywords is crucial for sellers to ensure their product listings comply with Amazon’s standards and improve listing optimization.

Some common restricted keywords on Amazon include terms related to drug use, profanity, hate speech, and counterfeit products. These categories cover a broad range of words and phrases that could be considered offensive or misleading. Additionally, there is a list of banned words specifically related to pesticides and pesticide devices that sellers need to be aware of. This particular list may include scientific names, brand names, or terminology associated with harmful chemical agents, and hidden keywords that could impact search ranking negatively.

Why Amazon Has a Restricted Keyword List for Pesticides?

The reason Amazon has a specific list of restricted keywords for pesticides is to comply with government regulations and ensure the safety of their customers. Pesticides are regulated substances, and their sale is subject to strict guidelines. The use of certain keywords related to pesticides can lead to confusion or misinterpretation, posing a risk to the health and well-being of buyers, leading to potential legal issues or health hazards.

Moreover, Amazon has faced scrutiny in the past for allowing sellers to list and sell dangerous or misleading products on their platform. Reports of unsafe pesticide products reaching consumers have raised concerns among regulatory bodies and the public. In response, they have implemented stricter policies and guidelines to prevent such incidents from happening. By enforcing these restrictions and encouraging the use of relevant keywords in the product title, Amazon aims to create a safer marketplace that aligns with legal requirements and consumer protection standards. They focus on improving search ranking and avoiding issues related to using restricted keywords.

Why Are Goods That Are Not Pesticides Restricted for Pesticide Violations?

Goods in any category might be flagged as pesticides on Amazon’s platform.

In February last year, the EPA ordered AMZ to stop moving illegal pesticides on the online marketplace, highlighting the importance of staying up-to-date with Amazon’s restricted keyword list for 2024. The organization charged that the platform committed almost 4,000 violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act by allowing third-party merchants to distribute and sell from AMZ warehouses disinfectants and pesticides that the EPA hadn’t evaluated for efficacy and safety. To ensure compliance, optimize your product and be aware of words to avoid, as the restricted keyword list may change, affecting what product on Amazon can include.

To maintain a successful Amazon business, the platform has implemented several practices to stop sales of illegal pesticides. One such action is a mandatory e-learning program on federal pesticide regulations that it requires all merchants selling pesticides on the platform to take. Achieving a score higher than 80% on this end-of-course test is crucial. Additionally, Amazon sellers face the challenge of optimizing their product listings to adhere to the current restricted keyword list, ensuring that prohibited keywords are not used in product descriptions. This helps products listed on Amazon appear in search results while avoiding penalties from Amazon.

Besides a less fool-proof effort to fight sales of pesticides, the Amazon marketplace has created restrictions on specific claims or words. As time flies and EPA continues to check Amazon, it seems like different bots catching the words are becoming very sensitive. Furthermore, many of these search terms and keywords commonly appear in product listings that are not pesticide-related. As a result, listings across different categories are removed for being “illegal pesticides.” This highlights the importance of avoiding using restricted keywords in your listing. A comprehensive list of Amazon restricted keywords helps sellers on Amazon optimize their product listings. Ensuring that you avoid using prohibited keywords is essential for maintaining search ranking on Amazon, as keywords in your listing can impact the benefits of your product.

Every Amazon Product Might be Flagged As a Pesticide

How to know if your Amazon account is flagged? Selling on Amazon might turn out to be exhausting. Although utilizing the Amazon FBA service provides many opportunities to grow our e-commerce business, sellers must play by Jeff’s rules to make it work.

Sometimes Amazon listings could be suspended or removed for the weirdest reasons, often due to prohibited keywords on Amazon. So, you need to learn to fight for your rights and develop a quick plan for dealing with such situations.

Imagine you are a seller of a product unrelated to pesticide control, perhaps a standard kitchen item. To your surprise, your listing is blocked due to certain keywords used. You contact a seller support representative who advises checking your listings for words associated with pesticides. Upon review, you find three words that likely triggered the bots: fungus, antimicrobial, and antibacterial.

It’s not strange, as Amazon’s bots, although designed for efficiency, have limited actions and can mistakenly flag content for Amazon sellers. Particularly with the platform’s pesticide bot, it’s impossible to discern that a silk scarf is antimicrobial and not related to pest control without human oversight. When AMZ bots block sellers’ listings for banned or restricted due keywords, while the item isn’t a pesticide, it causes significant stress to merchants. What if that product was their bestseller? What if it was ranked on Page 1? Sellers risk losing sales, their BuyBox, and ranking without any fault of their own.

The frustrating aspect is that account owners can’t edit their listings themselves because Amazon will lock the product detail edit page in the backend to prevent the removal of any restricted or banned keywords. Consequently, the inventory remains in the marketplace’s warehouses, incurring costs. In such situations, sellers have no choice but to wait for a response from seller support, an unpredictable process. One of the challenges Amazon sellers face is optimizing content with the right keywords without triggering unnecessary blocks. As Amazon updates its restricted list, keeping up with the types of keywords that are banned or restricted is vital.

That is why it would help if you stayed away from using Amazon’s restricted words altogether. Staying up-to-date with Amazon and the 2024 update on the restricted keyword list is essential to avoid such pitfalls. Consider product listing optimization by incorporating relevant keywords carefully, ensuring they don’t fall under the restricted or banned categories. The list affects product visibility, and understanding how the list is used to help protect sellers is crucial.

How to Avoid Using Restricted Keywords in Your Amazon Listings

One potential solution to avoid using restricted keywords in your Amazon listings is using software or tools that can flag potentially problematic words before you list them. These tools not only help keep your product listings compliant with Amazon’s policies but also save time by automatically scanning and identifying restricted keywords.

Another approach is to stay updated with the current list of restricted keywords provided by Amazon. This includes regularly checking for updates and removing any prohibited words from your product listings.

Additionally, it’s crucial to carefully review and proofread your product descriptions, titles, and bullet points before submitting them on Amazon. Sometimes, a simple rephrasing or word replacement can make all the difference in avoiding violations related to restricted keywords.

It’s important to note that Amazon’s restricted keyword list is subject to change, so staying up-to-date with any revisions is crucial for maintaining compliance and avoiding penalties.

List of Amazon Restricted Keywords

To assist Amazon sellers in remaining compliant with the platform’s guidelines, we have compiled a list of commonly restricted keywords that should be avoided in product listings. Due to the dynamic nature of Amazon’s policies, it’s crucial to regularly check and update this list as changes may occur. These restricted terms often relate to products with specific regulatory requirements or potential safety concerns. Here is a detailed list of such keywords:

• Pesticide: Refers to substances used to kill pests, including insects, rodents, fungi, and unwanted plants (weeds).
• Insecticide: A type of pesticide specifically targeted to kill or manage insects.
• Fungicide: Chemicals used to destroy fungi or fungal spores.
• Rodenticide: A type of pesticide designed to kill rodents, such as rats and mice.
• EPA: Refers to the Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates many chemical products.
• Disinfectant: Products used to eliminate or reduce harmful microorganisms on surfaces.
• Antimicrobial: Agents that kill microorganisms or stop their growth.
• Antibacterial: Specifically targets bacteria, either by killing them or inhibiting their growth.
• Pest control: Techniques or products used to manage or eliminate pests.
• Weed killer: Chemicals used to control or eliminate unwanted plants.
• Bug spray: Aerosol or spray products used to repel or kill insects.
• Pest management: Strategies and products for controlling pest populations.
• Plant protection: Measures and products to protect plants from pests.
• Insect repellent: Substances applied to skin, clothing, or surfaces to deter insects.
• Mosquito control: Strategies or products specifically aimed at reducing mosquito populations.
• Termite treatment: Products or techniques used to prevent or eliminate termite infestations.

Ensuring compliance with these guidelines is vital for maintaining your seller account and preventing potential penalties or account restrictions.

Keywords to avoid

Keywords that may trigger the Amazon bot

Key words and phrases to avoid in titles

Is It Possible to Sell Pesticides on Amazon?

The Amazon Marketplace recently had to adjust its rules on selling pesticides, and the Federal Insecticide Institute has also changed its practices. Now, ONLY US-based companies are entitled to sell pest controls on the Amazon.com platform. So, if you are a resident of the United States or your business is based in the USA, you can participate in the pest control program. It will take about two weeks to become a member; then, you are good to go. Just apply for the program. Otherwise, you won’t be able to participate and must refrain from selling insecticides or anything that triggers the bug bot. For a successful business on Amazon, understanding the list of forbidden products is crucial for avoiding Amazon restricted categories.

How to Recover Your Amazon Product Listing?

We hope you’ve made a word copy of your listing content for starters. Unexpected listing suppressions and blockings are precisely why we emphasize keeping a hard copy. The next step: how to get unbanned from Amazon? Amazon sellers face the challenge of optimizing their product listings, especially when dealing with restricted due to policy violations. Then, you have two options to deal with your Pesticide Alert. First, if your goods have not been shipped, create a new AMZ listing. You will need a brand-new GTIN or UPC and SKU and make simple changes to the title to avoid using prohibited words. You need to recreate your barcodes and send them to your supplier. As your FNSKU has changed during this process, don’t forget to remove ALL potential trigger words while updating the content in product descriptions. Crafting compelling and accurate product descriptions is key to ensuring that your product listings remain compliant and visible, avoiding products that are not visible on Amazon.

How to Prevent Your Listings from Getting Flagged with SellerSonar?

Whether you are selling pesticide products on AMZ or not, check your listings against the prohibited keywords to start with. It will safeguard all of the items in your catalog from getting blocked. 

Nevertheless, you cannot secure yourself from hijackers or competitors’ black hat techniques. They can delete product descriptions, titles, and bullet points or add irrelevant ones. Even the slightest change might cause product listing suppression and loss of sales. Thus, you need to track your accounts round-the-clock. 

Luckily, there is SellerSonar that can do the job for you.

The app detects more than a dozen different changes to product listings and seller accounts. In addition, users can choose which ASINs they want to track and customize the type of alerts they wish to receive. When a corresponding change, for example, when a competitor adds a keyword associated with pesticides, is detected, the system displays an alert in the dashboard and sends a notification to the specified email. 

Sounds nice? So, why wait? Register for our 29-day free trial now and get access to smart Amazon listings monitoring.