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If you've got your own Etsy shop, you know that selling on Etsy is a tough business. The platform is filled with sellers from all over the world, flooding the platform with goods of varying quality and taking over search results. It may seem impossible to improve your listings' rankings, but it's entirely within reach when you employ a few best practices and implement these insider tips for Etsy SEO. In this guide, we'll go over what exactly is Etsy SEO, teach you some strategies to help you improve your Etsy SEO, and give you some key insider SEO tips based on our own experience with Etsy and similar ecommerce marketplaces. Keep reading to find out how you can get more eyes on your Etsy listings and increase your sales!
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First things first, let's get some things in order – what actually is Etsy SEO? The term SEO stands for search engine optimization, and refers to a collection of strategies and practices you can implement to improve your listings' chances of ranking highly in buyer searches. The idea behind it is simple, but it means something a little different depending on the search algorithm you're optimizing for. On Etsy, you're optimizing your listings for indexing by Etsy's search algorithm so they appear in the first results of relevant buyer searches.
Etsy SEO is important because it helps you get your Etsy listings seen by more potential buyers, thereby increasing your sales and strengthening brand awareness on the platform. It's a crucial aspect of a good Etsy selling strategy because without it, your listings will quickly be lost in a sea of similar products; if no one sees your items they simply won't sell. For the most part, Etsy SEO doesn’t really require anything from you aside from time spent optimizing your existing listings and creating optimized listings in the future, making it an easy business decision with no real upfront costs.
The first thing you need to know about Etsy's algorithm is that it's constantly updating and changing. Etsy provides a general outline of what kind of data its algorithm uses to index and rank listings, but does not provide the weighting of each factor in determining the listing's ranking in relation to its competition. No one will be able to tell you outright how Etsy's algorithm works precisely for these two reasons: Etsy's algorithm is always changing, and the details of how it works are not available to the public.
That said, it is possible to get a general gist of how Etsy's algorithm works, enough to help you optimize your listings for potential buyer's Etsy searches. In general, Etsy takes into account four listing-specific factors when determining a listing's search ranking in a given buyer search: tag and title relevancy, item attribute relevancy, listing quality score, and recency. Etsy's algorithm also takes into account an Etsy Shop's location in relation to the buyer, and the account's standing according to Etsy's seller metrics.
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Here, we'll take a look at the different factors Etsy's search algorithm takes into consideration when determining how to rank a particular listing in a given search. We've categorized them a bit differently to Etsy's categorization in order to make them easier to understand and implement for both new and experienced sellers, and to give you a more general overview of the factors that affect your listings ranking.
The most basic factor Etsy's algorithm looks at to determine whether or not to show a particular listing in a given search is how relevant the item is to that particular search. The entire purpose of a search algorithm is query relevance, and the more data points you provide the algorithm, the better it can match (and rank) your listing in the most relevant searches.
Etsy's algorithm takes data from your listing's title and the product tags to determine whether it matches a certain query and if it does, how to rank in in relation to other matching results. The words at the beginning of your listing title will be given more importance than the words in the middle or end, which is why you should aim to put your main keyword towards the beginning of your title. Additionally, you should make use of all 13 listing tags for every listing, as they are equally important at determining your listing's query matches and search result placement.
Etsy assigns a hidden quality score to every listing on its site, and this score has a significant effect on your listing's search ranking. The score is determined by the engagement your listing gets when buyers interact with it. Do they click on it frequently when it is presented in search results? Do they expand the item details section to read more about your item? Do they flip through the listing images and videos? Do they add it to their favorites? All these indicate how interested buyers are in your listings, even if their interaction doesn't result in a sale, and are factored together to determine your listing's quality score.
The main factors that drive listing engagement once a buyer clicks into your listing are the listing photos and item description, in that order. Since Etsy shoppers cannot interact with your item physically as they would in a brick-and-mortar store, the only way they can experience your item is through the item photos and videos you include in your listing. The higher quality and more attractive your listing pictures are, and whether or not you include a short video of your product, all have a direct effect on shopper's engagement with your listing. Shoppers who like what they see will more often than not expand the item's description, thereby further increasing interaction and the likelihood that they'll add it to their favorites. All Etsy listings start out with a neutral listing score, and every time a buyer engages with it the score goes up or down to reflect Etsy's assessment of the listing's quality per the interaction.
Customer experience is an indirect factor on a particular listing's ranking, but it's no less important. It's simple to understand when you think about it for a moment – Etsy is more likely to prioritize listings that will result in completed, positive transactions in its search results. As such, sellers whose accounts are in good standing, who've gained positive reviews, and who consistently meet and exceed customer expectations are more likely to have better ranked listings. That's one of many reasons for keeping your Etsy account in good standing – the better your account health, the better results you can expect from your Etsy SEO efforts.
One of Etsy's considerations when ranking search results is the proximity of the buyer to the seller listings presented. But geographical proximity is only half the battle – you need to offer attractive shipping options that get orders to your buyers quickly. Your best option is to prioritize domestic buyers by offering fast and (ideally) free domestic shipping. Better shipping options not only help you rank better in general buyer searches, but also enable you to snag top spots in searches filtered by free shipping or delivery date.
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Our team here at EasyChannel has years of combined experience selling on Etsy and on other ecommerce platforms, and we've taken that wealth of experience and knowledge and compiled it into 20 insider Etsy SEO tips. Some of these tips are not directly about optimizing your Etsy listings, but rather more indirect methods for improving your Etsy SEO over time. That's because SEO on Etsy is affected by more than just the quality of your listings, with things like account standing and shipping options having a huge impact on your listings' visibility. Keep reading for 20 expert tips on how to improve your Etsy SEO and get more buyers to see your items, both on Etsy and beyond.
Any good SEO strategy starts with a clearly defined goal – in which buyer searches are you trying to rank highly? Keywords help you define just that. If you're selling personalized makeup bags, for example, you're going to want to find which keywords Etsy shoppers use to find your product. Your keywords, therefore, will include phrases like "makeup bag", alternative spellings like "make up bag," alternative terms like "cosmetics bag," and terms like "personalized" and "monogrammed."
Continuing with our example above, long tail keywords are longer search queries that are oftentimes more precise than single keywords. One example of a longtail keyword could be "women's custom makeup bag." This string of search terms narrows down buyer searches by quite a bit, excluding non-customizable makeup bags, toiletries bags for men, and other similar items. This makes them more precise, and more likely to rank better in specific buyer searches.
Etsy's search algorithm primarily looks to two spots in every listing for keywords: a listing's title and its tags. Listing titles should place the main keyword in the front, as words at the beginning of the title are given more weight than those towards the end. All listings can also include up to 13 tags, and it's important to take advantage of all of them in your listings. Listing tags are not visible to buyers, and are exclusively used by sellers to provide information to Etsy's search algorithm about what the listing is selling, which is why it's so important to make full use of them when creating your listings.
Product descriptions are important for two reasons: they provide you with another place to include keywords, and they provide you with a way to give additional information and details about the item you're selling. The former plays a major role in your Etsy SEO, while the latter is an indispensable tool for increasing conversion. Include your keywords in your product descriptions, and make them informative, detailed, and honest. Avoid making any dubious claims about your item, and make sure to use keywords naturally in the text rather than just listing off keywords in the hopes they get picked up by the algorithm.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But when it comes to improving your Etsy SEO, a picture can be worth much more. Listings with quality images are consistently ranked higher in buyer searches, and for good reason: buyers rely heavily on product images when making buying decisions online. Take the time to include well-staged and well-lit photos of your item, and include a video of your item too if you can. Your listings will not only rank better in searches, but you'll also likely notice a boost in buyer conversions, too.
As we mentioned above, Etsy is more likely to give preferential search rankings to listings with a high likelihood of resulting in sales and positive buyer experiences. In the world of online sales, one of the biggest ways to drive sales are discounts and promotions. Unlike in brick and mortar shopping, online shoppers usually don't click "add to cart" right away. They add items to their wishlists and wait for the moment they go on sale. Paired with shopping holidays like Cyber Monday and Black Friday, discounts and promotions are nothing short of expected by today's online shoppers.
As such, it's important to meet buyer expectations by regularly running promotions and offering attractive discounts that keep your buyers engaged and your listings ranked highly in searches.
Customer reviews are an important part of your ranking as an Etsy seller, which in turn has a direct effect on your Etsy SEO. Sellers who prioritize customer service and buyer experience are much more likely to receive positive customer reviews, thereby improving their Etsy listings' search rankings. One important thing to note, however, is that while you can encourage customer reviews, you're not allowed to offer buyers anything in exchange for a positive review. This means that you can ask buyers to leave you a review, but you cannot offer them a future discount in exchange for a review, for instance.
That said, we strongly recommend against sending buyers a message with a request to leave a review; instead, consider including a small card or note in the order packaging thanking your buyer for their purchase, encouraging them to contact you with any question or issue, and mentioning that their review would be appreciated.
Anyone who's spent any time online knows the power of social media. It's an effective tool for many applications, and online selling is one where its potential is virtually limitless. You can approach social media in two ways – by directly promoting your Etsy listings and store as a seller, or by partnering with influencers to promote your items and brand. We'll touch on the latter in the next section, but many Etsy sellers started out as independent creators and shared their creations online. As such, they've likely garnered an established online following of people who admire their creations, and can leverage that following to promote their Etsy shop.
If you don't have an established following or have limited experience with promoting anything through social media, we recommend collaborating with influencers to get the word out about your brand. By collaborating with influencers you'll not just skip the learning curve for promoting your Etsy shop on various social media channels, you'll reap all the benefits of social media promotion without the hard work. Since influencers already have an established following who they regularly recommend all kind so of products to, you'll be able to take advantage of their established customer base and buyer trust to promote your Etsy shop.
This may seem like an obvious one, but as a seller, it's easy to stay in your own head and not give enough thought to what a buyer may want to know about your item. When creating your Etsy listing, it's important to take a moment to put yourself in your buyer's shoes and consider what kind of information they'll want to know about the item you're selling. If you're selling a handmade leather wallet, all buyers will of course want to know the dimensions of the wallet, how many cards it can hold, and so on. Here's where you may want to consider the potential questions of certain buyers; some may be interested in the type of leather used (split leather or full grain, for example) or the way it was tanned (veg tanned or chrome tanned).
Including attributes like these has a twofold effect: it gives Etsy's algorithm another search term with which buyers can search for your products, and it gives buyers important information about your item that can help nudge them towards making a purchase.
Everything is competitive in the world of ecommerce, and that includes shipping rates. Shipping rates and handling times are frequently make-or-break when it comes to making purchase decisions, and they can mean the difference between a buyer choosing your item or opting to go with the competition. Optimize your shipping and handling times and rates by taking a look at what your competitors are doing. Are they offering free domestic shipping across the board or only over a certain amount? How much do they charge for shipping? Answering questions like these will help you understand what kind of shipping and handling buyers have come to expect for your niche on Etsy, and enables you to consistently remain competitive in that regard.
Etsy sellers with exceptional items and shops can sometimes receive an "Etsy's Pick" badge at the discretion of the platform's style editors. This badge appears on your listing, and indicates an item that is unique and sold by a reputable shop. While you cannot apply for an Etsy's Pick badge, you can follow a few guidelines on how to get one in order to increase your chances.
For starters, Etsy's style editors analyze the item's quality by assessing buyer ratings and feedback. Next, they take a look at the quality of the buying experience you offer your buyers by examining how many of your orders ship out on time, how promptly you reply to your buyers' messages, and how well you resolve problems with your buyers. Finally, Etsy's style editors will look at how well your listing photos are styled in terms of staging, lighting, and more. All these factors together can result in you getting your Etsy's Pick badge.
All Etsy sellers get access to Etsy Promoted Listings after a short 15-day waiting period. Etsy offers sellers three types of listing promotion tools: onsite ads, offsite ads, and on-site promotions and offers.
Onsite ads are simply a paid way to boost your listings' rankings in both buyer searches and across Etsy in general. They operate on a cost-per-click (CPC) model, meaning you only pay when an Etsy shopper engages with your promoted listing.
Offsite ads are listings that Etsy selects to appear in various places across the Etsy ad network. This means that people can see your listing in an ad when looking at an online recipe, for example. This type of offsite ads works on a commission, meaning that you'll only pay for the ad if it results in a sale. The more optimized your listings are, the higher your chances of Etsy picking your listing to promote off-site.
Finally, promotions and offers are tools you can use to promote your listings on Etsy itself. It includes tools like automatically sending discount codes to buyers who've added an item to their cart, as well as tools for creating attractive sales on your Etsy shop.
Etsy prioritizes listings from active shops that have a track record of successful orders, as well as listings that are regularly refreshed and updated. Maintaining a steady flow of new items, refreshing and updating old items, regularly offering promotions, and remaining engaged with your buyers is important not only for improving your Etsy SEO, but also for keeping your Etsy account in good standing overall.
Offering a varied selection of products is not just good practice overall, it's actually a great tool for improving your Etsy SEO. Offering a variety of products means that your listings apply to a wider range of buyer searches since they encompass more keywords. This gives you more opportunities to appear in Etsy shopper's searches, enabling you to establish your brand presence and solidify your reputation on the platform.
We've gone over why Etsy's listing tags are important, and how they contribute to your listing's success in buyer search rankings. As such an important tool for improving your Etsy SEO, Etsy actually helps you select listing tags by recommending you the tags it thinks will be most relevant to your listing based on the item title and description. From our experience, listings that take Etsy's advice here are much more likely to perform well in buyer searches. The only caveat here is that your listing titles and descriptions need to be keyword optimized for Etsy's listing tag suggestions to be accurate, so this doesn't completely absolve you of keyword and competitor research, but it does take the guesswork out of one aspect of your Etsy SEO journey.
Etsy's Merchandising Specialists put out periodic marketing emails in which they feature interesting Etsy shops and their unique items, as well as regular posts on Etsy's blog, the Etsy Journal. Much like with the Etsy's Pick badge, you won't be able to apply to get featured, but you can take some steps to better your chances of being selected. Etsy features shops and products that match with the theme of a particular editorial, but that doesn't mean you can't take any steps to get your shop and products noticed.
For starters, part of your regular listing updates should include adding seasonally relevant content. If you're selling women's jewelry and approaching Valentine's Day, for instance, update your listings' content to highlight your products as good Valentine's Day gift ideas. Secondly, make sure your listings are professional quality, with photos that would not look out of place in a magazine. Finally, don't forget to create compelling content for your shop, not just your listings. Take time to write an interesting shop story, and include original images that showcase your creative process and the products themselves.
Taking these steps can dramatically improve your chances of getting featured, even if your Etsy shop doesn't have a lot of sales yet. Plus, they make your shop more attractive to buyers to boot!
This is a tried and true piece of business advice in general, but it is especially important when it comes to improving your Etsy SEO. Ultimately, Etsy determines search rankings not only based on your Etsy account and listings, but also how they relate to your competitors. If your listings are less optimized than the competition's, they won't be able to rank better than your competitors in buyer searches. Avoid falling behind by researching your competitors and keeping an eye on their listings. Find out if they're including more information than you, uploading more pictures, adding product videos, or targeting keywords that you're not, and adjust your listings accordingly.
Etsy's newly-introduced search analytics tool is a powerful tool for gauging your Etsy SEO performance and understanding where you need to improve. It provides a wealth of important information about your Etsy listings' organic performance, and can be accessed through the Marketing section in Shop Manager.
The analytics tool covers much more than just search analytics; you'll be able to see a variety of KPIs here, including average order amount and total earnings. Specifically for search analytics, Etsy analytics brings together a variety of data points to help you see the big picture of your listings' search performance. Key metrics include buyer queries in which your listings were indexed and the average search result position of your listings. You'll also be able to see your listings' conversion rate, which tells you how many people made a purchase after viewing a listing, as well as the number of visits per impressions, which tells you how many buyers who saw your listings in search results clicked on them. Finally, you'll be able to see all of this data and more for each one of your listings by going to the "Listings" section.
The most important thing to keep in mind about your Etsy SEO strategy is that it should always be changing. SEO is dynamic, and changes according to many variables, so your strategy needs to adapt with it. SEO is also never a one-and-done deal; it's a never-ending and ever-evolving process of listing, updating, and optimizing. Stay on top of your analytics, always keep an eye on your competitors, and make adjustments to your listings and SEO strategy accordingly.
With so many Etsy SEO guides online, it's easy to shoot yourself in the foot with bad advice, even if it's well-meaning. Every action you take to improve your SEO requires time to take effect, and mistakes can take a while to undo. In other words, it can take a while for you to understand that you've even made a mistake, and it can take even longer for you to fix it, ultimately costing you time and sales. Here, we'll take a look at four commonly touted SEO tips that are actually detrimental to your Etsy SEO so you can avoid making them when building your SEO strategy.
Keywords trend and keywords fall, and there are always sellers trying to boost their search result rankings by using irrelevant or spammy keywords in their listings. Using these keywords is unhelpful for several reasons. Firstly, while they may boost impressions, they’re not bringing in traffic that converts. Even if buyers see your listing in search results, the likelihood of them clicking on it is small, and the likelihood of them making a purchase is even smaller. Secondly, your listing quality score will drop as a result, which will have a negative effect on your listing's ranking. In short, even if these keywords bump your rankings in the short term, they won't bring in sales and they'll only hurt your rankings in the long run.
We've discussed the importance of keeping your listings fresh above, but it's worth mentioning again. It's all too easy to create an optimized listing with the right keywords and quality photos, and then simply forget about it as it slowly begins to slide down in search rankings. Don't let your successful listings get buried by the competition; keep them updated with attractive promotions, and regularly refresh product images and videos to ensure that Etsy's algorithm prioritizes them.
Another powerful Etsy SEO tool that's often overlooked by Etsy sellers is social media channels. It's a promotional tool that can boost your listings' visibility and engagement, and have lasting effects on its listing quality score, thus further improving your listings' ranking on Etsy. Social media channels are an effective way to get the word out about your brand, too, and establishes trust and brand awareness both on and off Etsy. Whether you do it yourself or outsource it to influencers, taking advantage of the unlimited potential of social media marketing is a great way to give your Etsy SEO a boost.
The world of SEO has evolved a lot over the years, and what used to have a positive effect on your listings' rankings can actually have a detrimental effect today. One such SEO tactic is known as "keyword stuffing," and it has affected many an Etsy seller, much to the detriment of their listings. Keyword stuffing is exactly what it sounds like – cramming and shoehorning keywords as many times as possible into your listings. At face value this may seem like a good idea, but it's actually penalized by Etsy's algorithm because so many sellers tried to "game the system" over the years. Instead of trying to maximize keyword density, focus on utilizing a variety of keywords naturally in your listing content.
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In the world of ecommerce, a solid SEO strategy is a key factor in getting your listings seen by shoppers and making sales. On Etsy, SEO is influenced by a number of factors, including the quality of your listings, the health of your Etsy account, and how much time and money you spend on promoting your Etsy shop and brand on social media. There are many steps you can take to improve Etsy SEO, from optimizing your listings to offering attractive promotions that boost both visibility and buyer engagement.
Furthermore, optimizing your listings to better rank in buyer searches on Etsy can have lasting effects on your listings' success across the wider web, too. The more search engine optimized your listings are, the better their chances of being picked for promotion by Etsy for offsite ads, the more likely they are to index on third-party search engines like Google, and the better their chances of making sales and establishing brand awareness with your target audience.
Remember that every step you take towards improving your Etsy listings' search rankings will require time to take effect, however, which is why your approach to SEO on Etsy should be carefully planned, multifaceted, and constantly evolving.
If you still have some unanswered questions on how to improve Etsy SEO and boost your listings' visibility, check out these frequently asked questions for additional Etsy SEO tips and strategies to help boost your listings' visibility. Still have some unanswered questions? Let us know, and we may add your question to our Etsy SEO FAQs!
There are many strategies for improving your Etsy SEO rankings, but the most consistently successful methods are those that focus on truly improving the quality of your listings. Things like researching keywords and utilizing them in your listing content, ensuring you're using the most suitable tags, and improving your product images can make a world of difference in your Etsy SEO. Furthermore, your SEO strategy should be updated continuously, and your listings regularly refreshed and optimized for better ranking in buyer searches.
Etsy's algorithm looks at a number of listing factors in in order to match them with buyer search queries. These factors are: relevancy of the item attributes, relevancy of the listing's tags and titles, the listing's quality score, and how recently the listing was published or updated.
Furthermore, Etsy will assess a seller's account, as well as physical proximity to the Etsy shopper, or how quickly a given seller can deliver the item to them.
To optimize your Etsy listing titles for SEO, you'll need to begin by conducting thorough keyword research for each item. Once you've found your main keyword, you'll want to include it in the beginning of your listing's title, since Etsy's algorithm gives more weight to terms at the start of titles.
Listing tags build upon your keyword, and the best way to ensure you're using the right ones is to start by using the most relevant keywords. When you go to create your listing, Etsy will recommend listing tags based on these keywords. Following these recommendations will help you ensure that you're using the best tags for your listing.
SEO is important for the success of your Etsy business because it helps get your listings seen by interested shoppers so you can make sales. If no one sees your listings, you simply won't be able to make any sales. The easiest way to understand the true benefit of SEO is by thinking of it as an ongoing, multifaceted strategy for business growth that establishes trust and awareness of your brand while simultaneously encouraging sales.
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