SEO Tips For Etsy

SEO for Etsy can be tricky. There might be SO many products similar to yours – so how do you stand out to make sure your product is on page 1 of Etsy?

SEO for Etsy has interested me because I wanted to see how much of Googles algorithm rules and tactics made it’s way to Etsy’s. When figuring out the best SEO practices for a search engine, the first place to look is the search engine’s SEO guide (if they provide one). Etsy does.

I read it and while some of it sounds familiar from my work in SEO on Websites for Google’s search engine, some of it focuses on things I’m not used to focusing on. After reading Etsy’s SEO help page, the one main focus was keywords. The places they list that the recommend you have the focus keywords are your tags, categories, titles and attributes. You want these to match your shopper’s search as much as they possibly can.

Product Titles

I’ll start with titles for your products. The title for your product shouldn’t be long at all. If you’re having trouble with a title for your product, write one out don’t worry about the length. Then, re-read it til you can come up with a shorter, more precise version. I’ll do an example. One of my favorite purchases from Etsy was a mug. I didn’t just search for ‘mug’ on Etsy – I can’t image how many would come up. I searched for personalized baby face mug. I was a new mom, and saw on Instagram all these other mom’s had their baby’s face on their mug that said ‘__‘s mom’ and I thought it was the cutest. The first product to show up had over 8 thousand reviews, was marked as 50% off and was an AD. Running ADs may help your SEO, but since I’m just talking about SEO today I’ll talk about the first product that comes up on my search without AD assistance. So, I scroll down to the first seller without AD listed next to it and it just happens to be the same seller that was #1. Coincidence? Probably not – I’m sure running ads with Etsy helps boost your rankings on Etsy.com. So, like I said, over 8k reviews, on sale and has a ‘ships today’ on their first photo. Just like with Google, having reviews is EXTREMELY helpful. When you can, ask for a review. It doesn’t cost the buyer anything and helps you so much. Next is the sale aspect of this — half off is a great deal. Etsy wasn’t kidding when they said ‘have a great product’. I know having a sale isn’t easy – you need to make money, make a living and sometimes a sale just isn’t in the cards. Maybe only run a sale every once in awhile — but I would say test out the theory! See if having a sale boosts your product.

Okay – back to titles. Let’s check out this product’s title: “Custom Baby Face Mug / Baby Mug Face/Personalized Mug /Baby Face Mug /Baby Photo Mug /Gift for Mom /Mom Birthday Gift /Same Day Shipping” WOW — in my opinion, very long BUT they did not go over the character limit. And they are listed #1 on my search, so something is working. Etsy allows up to 140 and they used 136. Not bad. But you’ll notice they added in ‘Same Day Shipping’ – which is smart because some shoppers go to Etsy and look first products based off how quickly they can get to them. So, that’s a smart move. Not a lot of competition I’m sure when it comes to something personalized being shipped out the same day.

I went to the last page of this search and it brought me to a glass mug with the LA Dodgers – not what I searched AT ALL but I wanted to compare the last result to the first. The title of this product was ‘Birthday Gift Ideas’ — NEVER USE THIS! Do you know why? Because you would be competing against SO MANY products on Etsy so show up on page 1 for this search. People probably do use that search — but you’ll have to pay $$$ to get on page 1 for that type of search on Etsy I’m sure.

My next article that discusses SEO for Etsy will be about links. Inbound links. And to start off that article, I’m going to link the custom baby face mug shop I’ve purchased from here. Go check it!

-mkb