Tags on Etsy are a super important part of getting your products noticed in a busy marketplace. They act like little labels that help Etsy’s search engine match your items with the right shoppers. By picking the right tags and using them smartly, sellers can boost their shop’s visibility, attract more interested buyers, and sell more. Whether you’re just starting out or want to improve your current listings, knowing how to use tags well is key to Etsy SEO success.
Introduction to Etsy Tags
The tags section shows up underneath the attributes information and above the materials in your Etsy listings. Etsy search relies on these, as well as other information, to decide where your listings should rank for buyers on the platform when they perform searches.
Using the right tags can help you reach a wider audience and stay competitive in the marketplace.
Understanding How Tags Work
The Etsy search algorithm includes a lot of different factors. One of those includes your keyboards in your titles and tags. You have 13 tags to use in each listing. And you should plan on using every single one of those in every single listing. You don't want to waste a possible way to find more buyers.
The algorithm does correct for plurals in most searches. So generally, you do not need to include both the root word and the plural version. They also correct for misspellings most often.
Choosing the Right Tags
Choosing the right tags comes down to your keyword research process. You want to select relevant keywords that accurately describe your product and that your buyers are using on Etsy.
Your focus should be on a long tail keywords with lower competition. These are easier to rank four and help you show up for more competitive searches as well.
For example, let's take the phrase “dog portrait digital from photo.” You might be concerned when a third-party tool tells you that there isn't much demand for this term.
But you are also relevant for the other phrases within the larger phrase and those have varying levels of demand.
Ranking for the lower competition, long-tail keyword, however, is easier and faster. That leads to faster sales.
You can use third-party tools that have an Etsy tag generator, like eRank and Marmalead, to help you find the best options.
Best Practices for Creating Tags
Tags will have a 20 character limit per tag in most countries. This can be frustrating to a lot of Etsy sellers, but it's important to remember that all of your competition has the same limitation.
You will also more efficiently rank for keywords that are repeated in both your titles and your tags. So keep that in mind when you are creating your listings.
While you can repeat words in your tags, you want to make sure that you are also prioritizing variety. This is much easier to do when you have longtail keywords because they take up more space in your tags.
You do want to regularly update your tags for seasonal searches and for listings that are decreasing in traffic. Be careful not to change and tire listings at one time, however, especially listings that are getting regular traffic in sales. This can result in you taking your traffic, not just for the listing that you are there, but for the entire product line.
Optimizing Tags for Better Search Results
After you have a good amount of listings published, you'll want to take what's working for you and optimize it to work better. Make sure to analyze your water shop stats and adjust your tags accordingly to improve your search results.
For example, if you have a listing it that is showing up semi-regularly for certain search terms, but you notice you're on page 2 or later in search results, it can be much easier to increase your traffic quickly by moving to page one, then by trying to rank for a brand new search term.
Advanced Tagging Strategies
Seasonal products can be confusing to update. Trending Etsy tags during these seasons can be great for your traffic and your sales. You want to make sure that you are updating your listings in a way that doesn't hurt the listing in the long run, however. So only remove tags that aren't showing up in your shop stats when adding seasonal tags. Then make sure to remove them when the holiday is over.
You can also use tags to target specific audiences like gifts for teacher or presents for mom. These keywords can be very competitive, however, so you will want to make sure they are part of a long tail keyword.
Measuring the Success of Your Tags
Monitoring your shop stats is a very important part of the process when it comes to getting found in Etsy's search algorithm.
Make sure to check your search stats regularly to see what's showing up and where your rankings might be decreasing.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Popular Etsy Tags
Searching for popular Etsy tags or using what the big shops are ranking for and have in their titles can be a huge mistake, especially for smaller sellers. Just because a large shop is ranking for whatever is in there, title, doesn't mean that that is what they're getting traffic for. So don't skip the keyword research because ranking in Etsy search for something doesn't mean buyers are typing it into the search bar.
Check Plurals and Misspellings
Before you misspell keyboards purposely in your tags, make sure that Etsy isn't correcting for them first.
Here's a great example: If you type “paris well with becoming grandparents” into the Etsy search bar, Etsy does NOT correct that.
Most buyers that type that into the search bar, though, are probably meaning to search for “pairs” adn not “paris.” Because “paris” is a real word, however, Etsy isn't correcting for that.
Now that doesn't mean that you should necessarily include this spelling mistake as one of your best Etsy tags in that listing. But it's good to do the keyword research on it before you decide.
Don't Repeat Your Categories
The categories that you select in your listings are included in your Etsy tags. So you do not need to repeat these in your listings. You will be more likely to get traffic if you introduce additional variety instead.
Don't Use Broad Tags
You will hear advice from some people that encourages you to use a mix of niched down and Broad Etsy tags in your listings. Unfortunately, this is bad advice. Broad search terms on Etsy can have millions and millions of results. Most shops won't be able to rank for those terms or maintain the rankings if they do rank for a bit.
It's much better to use more relevant keywords that are niched down and long-tail. They will have much less competition.
They can also help you rank for the more popular Etsy tags. If you rank for something with less competition, have a great conversion rate, and improve your listing quality score because of that Etsy will be more likely to test you for the more competitive terms as well. So, incorporate relevant keywords through long-tail niche tags, not through broad, popular tags.
Listing Description
Your listing description is used in the Etsy algorithm, but only the first 1-2 sentences. The important thing to remember here is to use 1-2 of your descriptive keywords within a sentence that encourages buyers to read more. Don't keyword stuff or copy your title into the first paragraph as that looks spammy to search engines, making you less likely to climb the search results in ranking for any of your keywords.
Conclusion
Etsy tags are an incredibly important component of Etsy SEO and search results. Using them correctly helps boost your shop's visibility to buyers on the platform.
By following best practices, avoiding common mistakes, and doing proper keyword research, you can increase your sales quickly.
Want more information? Make sure to sign up for my next free, live workshop. You can find the link to save your seat here.
