I’ve been collecting questions and comments I found on the internet from Etsy sellers who are frustrated with their lack of results when it comes to SEO.
It’s a weird hobby of mine.
Anyway, here’s one of my favorites so far:
“Why is Etsy SEO so 🤬 hard? It seems we can never get a clear answer from Etsy or anyone else”.
Great question! If you’ve been asking yourself the same question: “why, oh why does Etsy SEO seem so difficult?!” this is the article for you!
Let’s dive in.
I love this question.
So much to unpack.
To start…
Why is Etsy never telling us EXACTLY how things work?
Well, I’d first argue that out of the many platforms out there, Etsy does put a lot of effort into telling us as much as they possibly can about how their platform and algorithm work.
Key phrase: “as much as they possibly can”…
They will never spill ALL the beans because the moment they share exactly how the algorithm works, many sellers would do their absolute best to game the system and skew the results in their favor to always appear on page 1.
So we know enough (like the 7 criteria that come into your “rank” for example) but not quite the full story (like how much each of these criteria “weighs” overall).
OK, the next thing is….
Grab this free ETSY SEO GUIDE!
a complete guide to Understanding how etsy search (and ranking) actually works so you can make the most of it and get more views on your products.
Put simply: because SEO is not a switch you can turn ON or OFF (I wish!).
Although around 80% of what impacts your performance in search results on Etsy can be taught and explained in a way that applies to every shop and every listing (yay!) …
… the remaining 20% is MUCH more nuanced and will vary for each listing and each shop.
This is why when someone asks (for example) “is it ok if I repeat this keyword?” or “should I focus on high volume of search or high click-through rate?” … the answer will always be:
It depends.
Etsy SEO requires you to look at different elements IN CONTEXT so you can make the best decision for every individual listing and situation:
80% easy-copy-paste-formula-done-next-please
20% critical thinking => and that’s the bit that can feel “hard”
Let me give you 2 examples of what this means:
You might know that repeating Etsy keywords unnecessarily between your tags and titles or in your title is not super helpful because
In short, instead of using “small notebook” and “blue notebook” why not say “small notebook” and “blue journal”, giving you a chance to be found for the keywords “journal” and “notebook” instead of repeating notebook twice.
BUT – there are definitely some cases where instead of going for “variety”, you might decide to go for a repetition instead.
For example, in some cases it might make more sense to “exact match” a keyword multiple times and give it more weight vs. adding a different keyword – especially if the keyword you would add isn’t being searched at all.
That’s why the rule is “don’t repeat keywords unnecessarily” –
. . . the most important skill to learn is to know when it’s unnecessary and when it might be warranted.
And that’s always going to be a decision made case per case. Listing per listing. Keyword per keyword.
If you’ve taken the Etsy SEO Blueprint course, you know that when we get to writing titles and tags, there’s a full step that’s all about “assessing repetitions” which teaches you how to think about them so you can decide what to keep and what to get rid of. There is no perfect answer that is applicable to every situation. But IT IS possible to learn how to decide what to do in each case, for each particular listing. That’s the skill you want to develop that will make SEO a heck of a lot easier for you.
Ok – here is another example of how a successful Etsy SEO strategy is about “thinking critically” and always, always looking at things in context…
One keyword alone doesn’t make a successful SEO strategy, and these days, as you probably know, finding a keyword that’s got
AND
is just SUPER rare.
I actually call these keywords “Unicorn keywords” —they’re lovely and all but they’re a rare sight.
The majority of your keywords will be a bit “meh” . . .
Some will have a good search volume but not such a great engagement,
Others will have low competition but not too many people searching,
Some will have a low amount of search but a really decent engagement and be consistently searched for through the year,
And some will be quite long-tail, others will be pretty broad – it’s going to be a mixed bag.
This is why when you create your keyword strategy, you need to be able to take a look at things in context.
Well, the idea is that your keywords work together at the listing level to complement each other. One keyword weakness is another keyword strength and overall they play well together so that you have a healthy keyword mix at the listing level.
Taking this one step higher from the listing level to the shop level, you need to look at how each listing keyword strategy works with your other listings at the shop level to form a comprehensive strategy and cover all your bases.
This is another important step we teach you in the Etsy SEO Blueprint.
You can’t stay too focused on an individual listing or an individual keyword. You have to learn to think and look at things in context.
So – where does that leave you?
To be successful with Etsy SEO, you need to understand how to THINK about Etsy SEO the right way.
You need to understand the thought process behind the decisions you’ll need to make.
As the old adage goes …
“Catch a man a fish and he will eat for a night,
teach a man to fish and he will eat forever.”
If you want to learn how to fish, my absolute best recommendation, as we dive into things in much more detail, is to check out the Etsy SEO Blueprint course available over at Tizzit.co.
GET THE ETSY S.E.O SUCCESS BLUEPRINT
READY TO MAKE ETSY S.E.O WORK FOR YOU… FOR GOOD?
THE ETSY SEO BLUEPRINT COURSE WILL HELP YOU GET FOUND IN ETSY SEARCH RESULTS + GET MORE SALES WITH SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE ETSY SEO STRATEGIES ↓
The Etsy SEO Blueprint course will help you get found in Etsy search results plus get more sales with simple and effective Etsy SEO strategies.
So check out the link to learn more and …until next time…. Au revoir!
(Pssst… if you are an HQ member, this course is included with your membership – BINGO!)
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Thank you so much for your invaluable information!!! I am always hungry to learn more, although I don’t always understand what I read. Do you have information specifically for jewelry makers? My jewelry is selling very very rarely. Thank you.
Hello Rikki! You can start here: https://tizzit.co/how-to-start-a-handmade-jewelry-business-and-sell-on-etsy/
You may also want to look into joining us at Tizzit HQ where you will find The Maker’s Roadmap – a step-by-step guide on getting your jewelry shop up and running + start getting sales. 🙂