With Etsy’s increasing popularity, search results are getting crowded and it can be difficult to get eyes on your listings. So how do you cut through the noise and rank in Etsy’s search? While it’s important to note there are many factors that go into having a successful Etsy business — here we will outline how to give your Etsy shop an SEO overhaul and start ranking in search!
The first step in completing your SEO overhaul is doing market and keyword research. You want to make sure you are “speaking the same language” as your ideal customers when they are searching for items like yours. Using the right keywords will be imperative to your success! Tools like eRank and Marmalead will help you brainstorm and qualify those keywords.
A good place to get started is to ask yourself, “What keywords or groups of keywords are my customers using when searching for items like mine?”.
Here are some more helpful questions to ask while brainstorming:
- What is my item?
- Where is it used?
- Who is it for?
- When is it used?
Once you have an exhaustive list of keywords together, go to eRank or Marmalead to qualify them. You want to find keywords that have good search volume, engagement & aren’t overly saturated with competition. As part of your SEO strategy, you will want to have as many long tail keywords as possible. You can use your short tail or broad keywords to help you find or string together long tail phrases.
Short tail keywords will have much larger search volumes but don’t have great conversion rates. These are more general or broad keywords and aren’t very specific. Generally, people using short tail keywords in search are still browsing or aren’t exactly sure what they’re looking for.
Long tail keywords on the other hand, have lower search volumes but will have a much higher conversion rate! Shoppers using long tail keywords or more specific, niche keyword phrases typically know exactly what they’re looking for and when they find it they’re ready to buy! Your goal is to find as many quality, long tail keyword phrases as possible. Quality > quantity when it comes to your keyword strategy.
Now that you have a better understanding of how to brainstorm and qualify your keywords, let’s talk about how to use them. When a shopper uses Etsy’s search bar — the search algorithm first finds ALL of the items that match that particular search. Etsy will then use those keywords to determine the order of those results. Exact phrase matches are stronger than matches on individual words.
For example, a search for “banana backpack” would return all items with the words “banana” and “backpack” in the tags or title, but items with “banana backpack” in the title would be considered a closer match.
If a word or phrase in a buyer’s search appears in both the title and tags of a listing, the search algorithm considers that listing more relevant than a listing with that word or phrase in the tags or title alone. Words at the beginning of titles are also more heavily weighted than words in the middle or towards the end of your listing title.
Taking what we know of Etsy’s algorithm and how it prioritizes keywords – Take your most important and highest quality long tail keywords and put them in the beginning of your titles. You will then add them to your tags so that they are exact matches to your title keywords. These are called focus keywords. Continue this approach in order of importance to complete your titles & tags. The order of your tags isn’t relevant.
A final step in completing your SEO overhaul is making sure your item attributes are correct and completely filled out in every listing!
The key information provided in item attributes is considered similar to keywords in item tags and titles. When using attributes, select as many accurate attributes as each item has available. This will maximize your item’s exposure in search results.
This will also help customers that don’t necessarily know WHAT they’re shopping for but may know WHY they’re shopping. For example, they’re looking for a necklace to give as a birthday gift or valentine’s day gift. If you have your attributes accurately selected, this could help them potentially find you.
Make completing your Etsy SEO overhaul even more simple by downloading my Listing Audit Worksheet here!
