How to Find Hidden Merch Niches Using Include & Exclude Keywords

 Amazon search results can be messy.

You search for a broad niche like “dog shirt” and suddenly you're looking at hundreds or thousands of products targeting completely different audiences.

Funny shirts. Dog breeds. Puppies. Dog moms. Dog dads. Veterinarians. Groomers. Gifts. Holidays.

The problem isn't finding products.

The problem is filtering out the noise.

That's exactly where the Keywords to Include and Keywords to Exclude filters in Easy Merch Research™ Pro become powerful.

Here's how to use them to dig deeper into a niche.

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Start With a Broad Search

Let's say you're researching:

Dog shirts

Don't immediately try to find a design idea.

First, look at the bigger market.

Search for dog or dog shirt and let the results show you what's actually appearing on Amazon.

Now start looking for patterns.

You may notice that certain words repeatedly appear in successful or interesting listings.

For example:

dog mom
dog dad
puppy
rescue
groomer
veterinarian
golden retriever
dachshund

Each of these can become a new research direction.

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Step 1: Use "Keywords to Include" to Zoom In

Suppose you notice that dog mom appears frequently.

Instead of starting a completely new search, keep your broader search and add:

Keywords to include: dog mom

Now the tool focuses your results on products containing that keyword.

You've gone from:

Dog → Dog Mom

But don't stop there.

You can continue drilling down.

Maybe you discover:

dog mom + golden retriever

or:

dog mom + funny

or:

dog mom + rescue

Now you're no longer researching a huge market.

You're researching specific buyer groups and micro-niches.

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Step 2: Combine Multiple Include Keywords

This is where the filter becomes even more useful.

Imagine you're researching Father's Day.

You could start with:

Search term: father's day

Then use:

Keywords to include: dog

Now you're looking specifically at Father's Day products connected to dogs.

You could then investigate:

dog dad

Then:

golden retriever

Then:

dachshund

Each additional keyword helps you narrow the market and discover smaller audiences.

The objective isn't necessarily to find the smallest possible niche.

It's to find a niche that is:

Specific enough to target + large enough to have buyers.

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Step 3: Use Exclude Keywords to Remove the Noise

Now let's reverse the strategy.

Suppose you're researching:

gardening shirts

but Amazon is showing you lots of products related to:

• women

• men

• kids

• gifts

• mugs

• unrelated gardening terms

You can use:

Keywords to exclude

to remove unwanted results.

For example:

women, kids, mug

Now the results become much more focused.

This is particularly useful when Amazon's search results are too broad and you want to isolate a particular segment.

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Step 4: Use Include + Exclude Together

This is where you can really clean up your research.

Imagine you're researching:

nurse shirts

You want to investigate nurse mom designs, but you don't want products related to certain irrelevant terms.

You could use:

Search term: nurse

Include: mom

Exclude: kids, baby

Now you're effectively asking the tool:

Show me nurse products related to moms, but remove results containing these unwanted terms.

This can save a huge amount of manual scrolling.

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Step 5: Use the Filters to Discover Micro-Niches

Here's the important part:

Don't use the filters only to find products.

Use them to discover patterns.

Start broad.

Example:

Search: gardening

You notice:

tomato

Add:

Include: tomato

You now discover:

tomato gardener
tomato growing
tomato lover
vegetable garden
gardening humor

Now you have several potential directions.

You can repeat the process:

Gardening → Tomato → Tomato Grower → Tomato Gardening Humor

Every search can reveal the next layer.

This is how you turn a huge niche into dozens of smaller research opportunities.

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Step 6: Use Exclusions for Cleaner Competition Research

There's another clever way to use exclusions.

Suppose you're investigating a niche but a few dominant keywords are overwhelming your results.

For example, you're researching:

coffee shirts

but most results are dominated by:

coffee mom

You can temporarily exclude:

mom

Now you can see what else exists inside the coffee niche.

You might discover completely different audiences:

baristas
coffee lovers
coffee addicts
coffee shop owners
espresso enthusiasts

This is a great way to uncover opportunities that are hidden behind the biggest keyword.

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Step 7: Compare the Results

Once you've found an interesting sub-niche, don't immediately create a design.

Research it.

Try different combinations of:

Include Keywords

Exclude Keywords

Newest Arrivals

Most Reviewed

Best Sellers

Ratings

and Product Type.

You're looking for signals.

For example:

Are new products appearing?

Are there products with reviews?

Are multiple sellers targeting the same audience?

Are there several variations of the same concept?

Does the niche exist across multiple product types?

The more independent signals you find, the more interesting the niche becomes.

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A Simple Formula You Can Try

Here's an easy research formula:

BROAD NICHE

1. FIND A REPEATED KEYWORD
2. ADD IT TO "INCLUDE"
3. FIND ANOTHER REPEATED KEYWORD
4. ADD MORE SPECIFIC TERMS
5. REMOVE IRRELEVANT RESULTS WITH "EXCLUDE"
6. CHECK NEWEST + BEST SELLERS + MOST REVIEWED
7. EVALUATE THE MICRO-NICHE

This turns keyword filtering into a niche discovery process, rather than simply a way to clean up search results.

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One More Example

Let's say you want to research:

Teacher shirts

Start with:

Search: teacher

You notice many products related to:

math

Add:

Include: math

Now you discover:

math teacher

You then notice:

elementary

Add another keyword.

Now you've narrowed the research from:

Teacher → Math Teacher → Elementary Math Teacher

You can then remove unwanted segments with exclusions and compare the results using different sorting options.

You may eventually discover a very specific audience worth researching further.

That's the power of drilling down instead of searching randomly.

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Stop Searching. Start Filtering.

Finding a niche doesn't always require another keyword tool.

Sometimes the opportunity is already sitting inside the search results — buried under thousands of irrelevant products.

The Keywords to Include and Keywords to Exclude filters in Easy Merch Research™ Pro let you control what you see, isolate specific audiences, remove noise, and progressively drill into smaller niches.

Instead of looking at thousands of products and asking:

"What should I make?"

Start asking:

"What smaller markets are hiding inside this niche?"

That's where the interesting opportunities often begin.

Easy Merch Research™ Pro — search less, filter smarter, discover more.