“Why are some products showing up on the first page of the Etsy search results while others are stuck on page 7?”
“How does the Etsy search algorithm really work?”
And perhaps most importantly… “What can you do to start ranking higher in search results on Etsy?”
That’s exactly what we’ll cover today.
Ready?
Let’s dive in.
Most of the Etsy sellers I work with come to me after having worked on their own Etsy SEO for a little while and not seeing results. When I ask them: “Ok, so do you know how the algorithm works? Would you be able to briefly explain it to me in a few minutes?” – 95% of the time… they can’t, because they don’t *really* understand how it works. They have some kind of idea but it’s a bit blurry and they’re still confused about it.
And I am not shaming them or YOU if you don’t know either – that’s totally fine to not know things and that’s why I am here, to teach you – but what I am saying is that if you’re selling on Etsy and wanting to optimise for search results – you need to first understand what the rules of the game you’re playing are.
Not just “understand them a little bit” but really understand them.
Well enough that you could explain them to someone else if you wanted to. This way when you come across advice online on the topic, you can very quickly see if it makes sense (or if it is a ton of rubbish), how it works, and perhaps more importantly when Etsy updates its algorithm you UNDERSTAND what it means and how to stay on top.
So that’s what this article is aiming at. Getting you to become crystal clear on how the Etsy algorithm works – so you understand the rules of the game you’re playing.
So let’s do it!
Starting with – this lovely Ultimate Etsy SEO Guide I created for you – go download it! There is so much good stuff in there, it’s completely free and will really help you expand on what we will talk about in this video so you can get your shop in tip-top SEO shape.
free “Beyond etsy” training!
Discover how to make a full-time income and future-proof your business without spending every waking hour on social media, or having to rely on Etsy’s ever-changing platform.
Ok so –
They are two main phases to any Etsy search: query matching and ranking. Let’s take a good look at how each of these phases work.
The first is Query Matching.
This starts when someone types a few keywords in the search bar on Etsy, looking for a product to buy. Let’s say that person is looking for “baby socks” and so that’s what they typed in. This is called a “search query” which is really just a fancy way of saying “keyword”.
Etsy then uses this information to go looking for items that match this search query, hence the name “query matching”.
And so Etsy will search for any listing in its database – so any listing currently for sale on Etsy – that has “baby socks” in some way or another in:
So far so good. Someone typed “baby socks” on the platform and Etsy found a list of items that might be relevant.
At this stage though, there are still thousands and thousands of listings that Etsy could show to this shopper.
This is when phase 2, RANKING, comes into play.
So how does Etsy decide which listing to show first, and second, and third – from that list of thousands of potential candidates?
In other words, how does Etsy rank works?
Etsy’s #1 goal is to show shoppers listings or products they are likely to buy and to do that they look at a few things:
These are the 7 Etsy ranking criteria.
Let’s look at each of them and what it means for you as a seller.
Starting with…
The more closely your title, tags, attributes, and categories match the search query, the more likely your item is to show up higher in the search results because it is more “relevant”.
What does it mean for you:
Make sure to use all the opportunities to signal to Etsy that your product might be relevant by:
Now that’s easier said than done and there certainly is a bit of technique when it comes to picking tags and writing titles. I have another article called How to do TITLES and TAGS for Etsy Search (+ 5 mistakes to avoid!) that walks you through how to do this so you can read it after this one
The next ranking criteria we need to look at is the…
Etsy wants people to buy, so they want to show potential shoppers product listings that they know sell well. As soon as you list a product in your shop, Etsy keeps track of how well it is performing.
They factor in a combination of data such as clicks, views, favorites, and – by far most importantly – purchases.
… which is really just answering: “How many people who click on your product listing end up purchasing it?” That’s your listing conversion rate, and the higher it is, the more Etsy will want to show your product to potential shoppers.
On the other hand, if many people click on your listing in search results but no one ever purchases it, Etsy will start showing your listing less.
What does it mean for you:
Spend some time making sure your listings are optimized for sales.
I have an article about the Etsy Listing Quality Score which I also recommend you read to dive deeper into this and learn how to increase it for your listings.
Next up is:
When you list a new item, it gets a temporary little boost lasting from a few hours to a few days. During that period Etsy will rank this particular product a bit higher in search results. By momentarily giving more visibility to this product, Etsy can see how shoppers interact with it and gather data for that “listing quality score” we’ve just mentioned.
What does that mean for you?
Yes, newer items do get a boost but NO, this is not a viable Etsy SEO strategy. In fact, Etsy has said it black on white: “Regularly renewing your items or creating new listings just to get this small boost isn’t an effective search optimization strategy.”
It is much more important to pick the right tags and to focus on your listing quality score.
Now let’s look at the…
Etsy wants people to have the best possible experience on the platform to maintain their brand standards and encourage repeat buyers. For this reason, they look at your reputation. If you have a lot of great reviews, you’re more likely to rank higher than if you have a few open cases against your shop.
What does it mean for you?
Next up is…
Generally speaking, people don’t like paying for shipping and are more likely to buy if the shipping is cheap or even better, free.
It’s annoying for you as a seller – but it’s just something we have to deal with.
Etsy knows that from studying shoppers’ behavior, and because just like you – they want sales, they use shipping in their algorithm to favour items with lower shipping fees and rank them higher in search.
What does it mean for you?
When and if possible, try to lower your shipping fees. I know this isn’t always possible, but again, I am just giving you the facts – and this is a part of the algorithm.
You can learn more about Free Shipping on Etsy and how to decide what to do right here.
Next,
This one is pretty straightforward and most useful for those of you who want to sell to more than one country/language:
Last but certainly not least…
This is the last criteria on our list and it’s a BIGGIE, so pay close attention.
All the ranking factors we just covered help Etsy decide in which order to display search results, but there is NO SUCH THING as a unified “rank”.
Ranking is FLUID, meaning that if I type in “baby socks” and you type in “baby socks”, we will not see the same results and not in the same order. This is called Context Specific Results or CSR and was added to the Etsy search algorithm in September 2018. Etsy uses past behaviour data on the platform to show each shopper results that they are more likely to buy.
And in 2021, with the introduction of what’s called their “ X-Walk” search technology – they have doubled down on those personalization efforts.
So if you – the person reading this article – and me, Deb, type the exact same search term on Etsy, we’re not going to see the same results because the Etsy SEO search algorithm will take into consideration our past searches, our past purchases, and past things that we’ve each favorited on the platform.
So Etsy starts essentially building a profile about you and I, filled with information about what we like and don’t like and what we click on and don’t click on.
Then Etsy uses this profile to start showing you more of what you like, and showing me more of what I like.
Not only that but with X-Walk, Etsy also looks at what each shopper types into the search bar IN RELATION to what others shoppers have typed and interacted with.
What does it mean for you?
In short – You simply can’t aim at being #1 – there is no such thing anymore. Don’t “check your rank” by typing your keywords to see where your products show up because every shopper sees different results – that’s not helpful. Instead, use your shop’s stats to discover which keywords are driving the most traffic.
So – where do you start?
Well, my recommendation for you right now is to
Thanks for reading! Until next time, aurevoir!
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Thank you for this easy to understand explanation of a rather complex Etsy SEO environment 🙂
Most welcome Deb (what a great name 😉 )! I am glad it helped!
[…] Understanding Etsy SEO: Complete Guide (Tizzit) […]
Thank you so much to add me to this etsy SEO environment.
You’re welcome, Karabiroy!