One question I hear quite often is “Deb, HELLLLLP!! Why is my Etsy SEO not working?”
And I totally understand how frustrating it is because when your Etsy SEO isn’t working, your fabulous handmade products aren’t showing up in Etsy search results, aren’t getting clicks, and aren’t getting sales.
There are obviously many reasons this might be happening , but today let’s go through the most common and easy-to-check causes.
So, ready? Let’s dive in.
As you all know, I work a lot with makers in the Etsy community, which of course means I see many examples of what works and doesn’t work for Etsy SEO.
One thing I do each month on TizzitHQ is what we call shop reviews. Our Tizzit HQ members submit a shop review application, then I share my screen, walk through their Etsy shop, and answer member questions as we go. (If you’re curious about this program or are a Tizzit HQ member and would like to apply to have your shop looked at, click this link!)
Oftentimes when looking at these Etsy shops, there are some very common themes that pop up again and again, and today I’m going to suggest 4 things to look into if your Etsy SEO isn’t working – as they’re often the main culprits if your Etsy SEO isn’t working.
The first is a general consideration, the next 3 all have to do with a specific step of the buyer journey – so we can find where along that path you might be losing opportunities to show /get click/sales.
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The first thing you want to check is if you’re giving Etsy SEO enough time before making changes, something I talked about in last week’s article about how long it takes for Etsy to work.
Let’s say you just made some changes to your listing, or you just opened your shop— and after a few weeks you start to feel a bit impatient so you make a few changes to your listings.
In that situation you simply haven’t given the changes enough time to work, and you may have just changed something that actually would have been very effective had you given it enough time.
Another mistake I see a lot is changing a bunch of different things all at the same time— and then a month or two later when you see changes in your Etsy SEO you don’t know which of the changes worked and which didn’t.
So you can see that it’s very important to be systematic about how you approach SEO, and to give your changes enough time to take effect.
Now let’s take a look at 3 more common Etsy SEO mistakes. Each of the next 3 things to check involves a specific step in a buyer’s journey on Etsy.
In a nutshell, when someone shops on Etsy three things happen:
So let’s take a look at each of these steps starting with the first stage in the buyer’s journey – your keywords.
One of the main mistakes I see concerning keyword selection is not using long tail keywords in what I call your “tag spread.”
Your “tag spread” is essentially the mix of your tags inside of each listing, but also across your entire shop. And often what I see when I work with makers is that when you look at the big picture in their shops – the VAST majority of keywords they’re using are not long tail keywords — their keywords are too broad, are not relevant enough, and have too much competition.
When you use broad keywords – things like “silver bracelet” or “wall hanging” – you are up against a lot of other sellers using those same keywords. If you are new you won’t be able to compete on those keywords, and even if you aren’t new, it will be very hard to show up in the first page of search results.
It’s OK to have a keyword like that in your listing to signal to Etsy that “hey this is what my listing is about,” but after that you really want to double down and bet on long tail keywords.
I have an article that explains exactly what long tail keywords are, so make sure that you check that out — as well as my article showing how to find the best Etsy keywords using Erank.
Just to give you a quick summary, typically long tail keywords are going to be a lot more specific. So they’re going to have a lower search volume, which is why most people don’t use them enough because they think, “Well, you know, only 100 people have searched for this specific keyword over the last month, that’s not going to be enough to give me business.”
And so these long tail keywords often get disregarded — but the truth is, they have a huge amount of potential: they have less competition, and they have better engagement.
Even though some of them only have 100 or 200 searches instead of thousands, you actually have a shot at competing for those keywords because there’s less competition and because your products are going to be highly relevant to that long tail keyword phrase.
You need to remember that it’s better to have 10 tags that each bring 100 views a month to your listing — that’s 1000 views to your listing! — rather than trying to get seen for a keyword that might be getting searched 16000 times a month but you have zero chances of showing for it because too many sellers are competing for those keywords.
Once you start getting ranked for long tail keywords your listing quality score will slowly go up, sending good signals to Etsy.
Slowly but surely over time you can start competing on broader keywords . . . but to be honest, even if you’ve been on Etsy and selling well for a few years, you still want to compete on those long tail keywords rather than the broad ones because they simply bring better qualified buyers to your listing.
Someone that’s typing “white and blue striped t-shirt with red flower on it” is much more likely to buy your product if that is what you’re selling – so remember, long tail keywords are best!
A quick side note:
Keywords are very important, but you need to remember not to focus all of your time and effort on keywords and forget that you need to give just as much attention to the rest of the buyer’s journey.
Keywords are only a small part of the Etsy search algorithm — the factors that we will discuss next are just as important!
So with that thought, let’s move on to the next thing to check, turning search results into clicks!
Now that you’re using long tail keywords, shoppers see your product (YAY! You’re showing!) . . . but you may have a new problem: they don’t click.
And if shoppers aren’t clicking, then you aren’t getting views and making sales!
Let’s take a look at how to make your listings more click-worthy.
The first thing to do is take a look at other listings.
Do a search using your long tail keywords and look at the search results. What are the thumbnails like? What keywords are they using?
This is a great way to research ideas for both your thumbnail and your title.
Next, make sure that your thumbnail images and first few words of the title match the keywords people have searched.
If someone searches for a blue product, and your thumbnail shows a pink variation or the title is unclear, they aren’t going to click on it — and if they don’t click, you won’t get sales!
I also recommend testing different thumbnails. You may find that lifestyle images work better for some of your products, and simple backgrounds work better for others.
As you experiment with different thumbnails and find what works, you can implement what you learn across your store.
Finally, make sure that the first few words of your title serve as a “hook” to encourage buyers to click on your listing.
It’s OK if your long tail keyword doesn’t come first, you actually want each product variation to begin with words that distinguish that variation.
Use words that describe the unique part of your product – so instead of “wedding cake topper” say “dried flower wedding cake topper” so that the people looking for that kind of wedding topper will see what kind it is in the first few words of your title and click on your listing!
Try different titles on a couple of listings and see which one does the best, then implement what you learn across your listings.
Now you are ready for the 4th item on your checklist — turning clicks into SALES!
Once you have a click-worthy thumbnail and a good “hook” in the first few words of your title, you will start to get clicks — YAY!
But if those clicks don’t result in sales, that will give you a poor conversion rate. This is a bad signal to Etsy and will result in a lower listing quality score, which is a factor of the Etsy algorithm. . . and your Etsy SEO goes downhill from there.
So it’s really important to optimize for conversion as part of your Etsy SEO strategy, or you will never ever get results.
Optimizing for conversion means spending time on these important details:
First you will want to take a close look at your images and descriptions. We’ve talked about testing different image backdrops, and you will also want to be sure your descriptions are easy to understand and answer any questions the buyer may have about your product.
You will also want to look at your shop structure, and by that I mean
This involves details I touched on earlier in this article such as making sure your thumbnail matches the title and keywords, as well as not overwhelming people with too many variations and organizing your shop sections in a way that help buyers find your products faster and get them to purchase. .
I have articles that will teach you how to do each of these details (how to organize your product listings, your product variations, and your sections), I’ll put the links to them down below.
Be sure to check out my article about long tail keywords, and all the other articles below that will help you get your listings and shop structure in tip-top shape so that your listings:
Or, if you would like detailed support and step-by-step implementation guidance, click the link below to learn more about my Tizzit HQ Etsy SEO Success course!
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Thanks for reading, and until next time, aurevoir!
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