12 min read
What does search engine optimization have to do with success on Etsy? A lot, actually! The top performers are often shop owners excelling in key areas the store’s search algorithm values.
What does it take to get visible in the store? Let’s take a deeper look at how the marketplace is ranking its listings today and use some active SEO tricks for Etsy to improve your shop’s rankings.
Why To Improve SEO for Your Etsy Shop
Starting from the beginning, Etsy is a website for shop owners selling their own products. The site has been around since 2005 and continues to see massive growth.
What does this mean for shop owners?
A lot of buyers! But also, a lot of sellers. This means a lot of competition, which is probably not surprising to anyone who has been on the platform long.
Successful shop owners can drive traffic to their store using pay-per-click ads and other methods, but one of the biggest benefits of being a part of a marketplace shop like this is their search algorithm. If you’re selling products on Amazon, you ideally want people to use Amazon’s search bar to find your products. That’s why you sell in an ecosystem like this instead of exclusively on your own website.
The search bar is a powerful tool. Why? Because when you show up on the search results page, your products are showing up exactly when a user is looking for them.
This is about user-intent. When someone sees your product in a post on social media, they are scrolling past it. Maybe it catches their eye. Perhaps it is exactly something they would normally buy. However, they’re doing other things right now. They don’t feel like putting in their buying information. They decide if they feel like buying things later, and remember, maybe they’ll buy it.
With search, you are giving them something they are looking for right when they are in the mood to make a purchase. This is powerful. If your listing is great, if your product photos stand out, if your shop seems well-reviewed, and they find the product right when they’re looking to buy? They are a lot more likely to make a purchase.
User-intent is one advantage to search engine optimization for sellers. There are other reasons why it is so important to learn Etsy SEO tips.
One reason is that the site wants you to make and improve sales. That’s how they’re making money and pleasing their users (both shop owners and buyers). They have performed years of research to learn what stores and listings sell the best and worked that knowledge into how they handle their search rankings. Of course a shop owner who wants to make money should take advantage of the tips they’ve learned about buyers on this platform.
There’s another reason that is maybe a bit more obvious. Why should shop owners be looking into SEO Etsy help? Because it’s a great source of sustainable and free traffic. With properly set up search engine optimization, and a great listing with a strong conversion rate, you can count on steady sales to your store.
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How Etsy SEO Works
As with many sites, Etsy’s search algorithm is always evolving to be more effective for the store. This means sellers have to work to keep up. It also means their search becomes more powerful, so keep in mind that it’s worth the extra work to keep up to date with how it changes over the years.
The first consideration for SEO is matching the search query. There are a lot of fields for this here! There are your product and store’s titles, tags, categories, and attributes. Below you’ll find more information about how to use these to make your store shine.
The next consideration is more complex. Etsy ranks items based on how likely shoppers are to buy them. They take many factors into consideration. Some of these items include:
- The “listing quality score” (this is their term for a product’s conversion rate)
- Keyword relevance
- Cost of shipping
- Shop location (particularly for stores in the EU, Australia, and Canada)
- Language (custom translations will have better international rankings)
- Age of a listing (new items get a temporary boost)
- Context Specific Rankings (this means they factor in a buyer’s personal shopping history)
Don’t worry, all of this information will be covered more thoroughly in context with the tips below. For now, this gives you a wider understanding of the landscape.
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One more thing to keep in mind before moving forward is that you can not check your ranking on the Etsy store yourself.
Because the algorithm uses location specific information and the Context Specific Rankings (CSR), your search results will be unique to you. Your products will likely appear very highly ranked when you search yourself. That doesn’t mean it’s what anyone else in the store is seeing. Searching for your own products won’t give you any valuable information for improving your SEO.
Let’s move on to the SEO tricks for Etsy that will.
8 SEO Tips Etsy Sellers Can Use Today
1. Know Your Keywords
This is going to be a thorough tip that could probably count as several on its own, but it’s also the area where sellers get the most confused. The rest of your Etsy SEO strategy will fail without taking the time to get this right.
You’re going to spend a lot of time on this so you can do it right.
Keywords are used to describe your products to both shoppers and Etsy’s system, as well as search engines like Google.
There are two main keyword types.
- Broad keywords. These are only one to three words and target a broad category, such as “shoes”. These are used by browsers of the store and are more competitive to rank for.
- Long-tail keywords. These are four or more words long. They indicate the user is more intent on making a purchase. An example would be “red shoes four inch heels straps”. They are searched less often and have less competition.
How To Find Keywords To Really Improve Etsy SEO
Start off by setting a twenty minute timer and brainstorming a keyword list. You know your products and your niche. Simply right down as many phrases as you can can think of that a buyer might find useful.
If you’ve been selling for a while, your next step is to check your analytics on Etsy. What are people who buy your products already finding you for?
Next, you can use search engines to see what people are looking for. When you type in “shoes”, what autofill suggestions appear? When you perform a search on Google you can scroll to the bottom of the results to see a list of “Searches related to shoes”. Use these tactics on Google, Etsy, and Pinterest to brainstorm more terms. For example:
Now you’re ready to employ some tools to help you with the heavy lifting! There are two tools for Etsy SEO that are most recommended.
These tools are going to tell you things like how many searches are performed for any particular keyword, how many people are actually buying using those phrases, and how many listings there are competing for that spot. This is the real information that will help you decide on which keyword phrases to utilize in your titles, descriptions, and tags. You can only use 13 tags in each listing on your store, so you need to select wisely.
One tool for Etsy specific SEO is Erank. This tool is the cheaper of the two and has a free version. This tool has a lot of data, but is perhaps less intuitive for many users. Here is an example of the dashboard:
(Image Credit: Catherine Farber)
Marmalead is a popular tool. It costs more money and does not have a free version. This tool is fairly straightforward and will tell you what you want to know. The image below shows Marmalead’s tag tool:
(Image Credit: Marmalead)
Pro Bonus Tip: As you create your keyword lists, use a spreadsheet! Create a page for each product. Keep track of which keywords you’re using. Over time, you’ll be able to see how well a listing is doing and make decisions about swapping out keywords with fresh options. The spreadsheet will make it easier for you to see exactly what keywords you are using in each listing and make optimizing your pages in the future a lot easier.
2. Offer Free Shipping – Maybe
This is a controversial idea! Etsy has found that buyers are more likely to buy when shipping costs less, especially when it is free. As a result, they rank listings with free shipping higher. But is that right for you?
This is going to be a decision you need to make based on your niche. Research your competition! Are they offering free shipping? If not, what are they charging? This is an area, like any pricing decision, where you’ll need to balance what is most profitable for your business with what the market will tolerate.
It won’t make or break your ranking in most cases, but if it’s an affordable option, it can give you an edge! And in highly competitive niches, it may simply be the required standard.
3. Fill In Your Etsy Shop Title
Your shop title is not to be confused with your shop name. This “title” space is under your shop name and is limited to 55 characters. When your shop appears on the Google results page, your shop title will appear.
You might write something like a slogan or tagline in this space. It can also make sense to use your own name or your business name. In any case, this is an opportunity to work in a main keyword for your whole store. For example, if you are selling soap making tools you might want to have your title be Soap Making Tools:
(Image Credit: Sellbrite)
4. Practice Writing Titles For Humans And Bots
There is an art to this that takes practice!
There is space for 140 characters in an Etsy listing title. You want to use as much of that space as possible, definitely at least 100 characters to take advantage.
Many people will simply fill this with as many keywords as possible while ignoring how readable the title actually is. This is not a great idea. Garbled titles that are difficult for humans to read are less likely to get clicked on by buyers. Their eyes will skim over to the next listing written for humans.
That doesn’t mean you need to write 140 characters of one continuous idea. You can usually fit two or three ideas into a successful listing title by adding commas to separate the ideas.
Practice writing titles using the same keywords a few different ways. Ask a friend or business group which of your best efforts they find to be easiest to read. This is a good way to get started.
After you post your listing, track your results over time and make adjustments as you learn more about what works for your audience.
5. Keep Your Shop Quality Score High
While focusing on keywords, it can be easy to forget one of the more important Etsy SEO tips today: keep your shop quality score high. The algorithm is judging shops to see which ones buyers will most likely enjoy. To stay competitive, your shop will need to be viewed positively.
Have you adopted Etsy’s shop policies? You no longer need to write your own. This is a simple thing to do and will be viewed positively by the algorithm, so look it over and make that happen.
How quickly are you responding to customer questions? Ideally, replying within 24 hours is a good policy, but you need to reply within 48 hours for good customer service.
Positive reviews will help. Don’t stress about this too much! It is normal for about 10% of your buyers to leave you a review. The more you get, the better you’ll do. If you have a newsletter, this can be a great way to ask for reviews every six months or so.
6. Bring In Inbound Links
Inbound links will help you with SEO on both Etsy and Google. Of course Etsy likes it when you bring more traffic to their site. It also makes your products appear more popular with customers and counts as little votes for your store.
Whenever you are building backlinks, always remember that quality matters.
Most sellers build backlinks through blogs, their own website, and Pinterest.
With great photos and some networking, your listings may be featured in product roundups on blogs.
If you own a website, you can link to your Etsy listings. This will also help link your Etsy with your domain, which can be helpful for Google search result pages.
Pinterest is full of shoppers looking for great items. Pins will often show up in results on Google as well. Make a practice of pinning your products to your best boards to build links. Take a look at this link to an Etsy product through Pinterest:
7. Use Keywords In Your Store Sections
Sections make your shop easier for users to browse. Your section names are another great place to use your keywords, making it easier for buyers to find your store in a search.
8. Drive Traffic From Outside Etsy
Have you ever seen a shop with listing titles that don’t appear to use any keywords, and yet they’re killing it? Not just making great sales, but their listings are showing up high in the rankings?
These sellers are driving a ton of traffic from outside the store itself. This gives their store great engagement, more conversions, and with more sales come more reviews. Their shop has proven to be popular, so of course Etsy is ranking it well.
Drive traffic to your shop using Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, blogging, a mailing list, or pay-per-click advertising. Be smart with these strategies so you aren’t wasting time running in circles. Learn how to use them well. Wherever you can, use strong, readable keyword phrases when linking to your shop. The image below shows a facebook post leading to the users Etsy store:
Attractive Listings Equal High Conversions
At the end of the day, getting SEO Etsy help won’t make a difference unless your listings look great to both humans and bots. On such a competitive marketplace, this means creating a great brand with images that really sell your product.
We hope that you found this article useful.
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One of the best SEO tips Etsy sellers must always keep in mind is that listing quality comes first. No matter how much traffic you drive to your page or how expertly you research your keyword phrases, none of it matters if it doesn’t convert.
Create a beautiful listing page that stands out, mix your keywords in so they are useful to buyers and relevant for bots, and analyze your results as you go so you can optimize your listings wisely and improve your rankings.
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Diib works with hundreds of Etsy shop owners to provide metrics into their website health and overall domain authority. We can help you get your Etsy shop linked to your main website to promote traffic and help with sales of other products you offer. Here are some of the features you’ll love about the Diib Digital Dashboard:
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FAQ’s
While changes to your SEO should show up within 15 minutes, SEO results may take a bit longer. We suggest people wait 4-6 weeks to start seeing any effect from SEO efforts.
First off, you’ll obviously get more views if you have more listings or products in your shop. Positive feedback from satisfied customers will also help to grow your rank and visibility. When you have recently sold items, your listings may pop up closer to the top than shops who haven’t sold anything.
If you are a vetted Etsy shop, you may benefit more from Etsy paid ads than a shop that just opened. This is due largely to the fact that you have your product descriptions down and are likely showing up on searches more frequently.
Etsy listings generally expire after 4 months. Pattern-only listings don’t expire. If you list multiple quantities of the same item, the first listing fee is $0.20 and the listing will be renewed automatically with the same $0.20 fee for each item thereafter.
The average global conversion rate for an e-commerce site is 2.9%, however, a good conversion rate on Etsy will vary across categories and price points. In general, Etsy sellers see conversion rates of between 1-5%.
See how to easily grow your traffic!