Want to know the secret behind spotting trends before they explode? It all starts with understanding a product’s historical keyword rankings. When you know which keywords drove past sales spikes—whether seasonal or unexpected—you can double down on what works, fine-tune your PPC game, and set yourself up to win big.
Say your product is a classic summer bestseller, like a beach ball. If you’re digging through keyword data in December, you’re already too late to the party. Instead, you want to rewind to those high-heat months—June, July, August—and study which search terms had people clicking Add to Cart like there was no tomorrow. Those keywords are your golden ticket.
Same as if you were to see a competitor suddenly surges in sales. Was it luck?
Probably not. More likely, their keyword strategy evolved. By comparing their rankings before and after the spike, you can uncover the exact terms that gave them a lift—and potentially use that intel to ride the same wave.
Here’s how to uncover those keyword insights in Cerebro:
Just pop in the ASIN, head to the Historical Trend view under keyword distribution, and pick a date range you want to examine.
From there, apply filters to narrow it down, and voilà—you’ll see exactly how the product ranked for organic and sponsored keywords at that time.
Images of the coffin shelf below had a sales spike in November 2024 (I know --- biiiiggg surprise). Look at how its rankings shifted between October and November to December to reveal which keywords caught fire. You can click Compare Months and it'll provide you with presets to quickly identify keywords / phrases that could be your roadmap to replicating success.
BUT this post isn’t just about chasing spikes—it’s about avoiding slumps, too. If a competitor’s sales suddenly tanked despite being in stock, chances are they lost traction on key keywords. Reviewing their past performance can show you what not to drop the ball on.
Keywords tell a story. You just have to read it right and implement to keep the momentum.