What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the strategy you use to rank in search results. On Etsy, it’s how you use your tags and titles to rank for buyers’ searches on the platform.
Why is Etsy SEO important?
Etsy has over 90 million buyers that are shopping annually. Getting your listings found by these buyers is one of the most efficient ways to make consistent sales without spending a lot of time marketing on social media.
Understanding how Etsy search works
The Etsy search algorithm uses a variety of factors to decide where listings should rank in the searches buyers are completing each day. You can learn more about everything that’s included by listening to this podcast episode or reading this blog post.
Keyword research for Etsy SEO
Keyword research is the first step to perfecting your SEO on Etsy. You want to use long-tail keyword phrases that buyers are using to purchase products like yours. Make sure to avoid niche jargon that your buyers won’t be typing into that search bar. You also want to avoid keywords that are so competitive that ranking for them will be really difficult.
The biggest Etsy SEO mistakes
There are some mistakes that Etsy sellers make frequently that you’ll want to avoid.
Changing your keywords too often
While your changes take effective immediately when you publish or edit a listing, it can take Etsy 30-60 days or longer to decide where you’ll rank for certain searches. So if you’re changing your keywords, tags, and titles every week or so, then you’re never giving your strategy for optimization enough time to work.
Changing your listings all at once
If you have listings that are getting some traffic from Etsy search, you don’t want to change all of your listings at the same time. Because the SEO algorithm can take some time to test your listings and start showing them to buyers, if you change everything at the same time you will tank any traffic that you’re already getting. Make sure to change listings that are already getting traffic carefully.
Not using all of your tags
You get 13 tags on each Etsy listing and you need to use them all on each listing to increase your chances of getting found.
Monitoring and tracking your Etsy SEO efforts
After you pick an SEO strategy, you’ll want to monitor your results to measure how successful it is. To do that, you’ll want to track your “Etsy Search” traffic on your stats page. You’ll also want to trac, the keywords you’re being found for regularly and what listings are getting the most traffic. I recommend measuring your stats 30, 60, and 90 days after making changes to your keywords, titles, or tags.
