Hi again. You may have read my previous post, The Etsy Myth.
If so, you may be familiar with the dilemma I described there, where an Etsy seller has built out a shop and is offering a quality, original product…but just can’t seem to get any traction in the market.
This can happen due to a number of different reasons, but as discussed in The Etsy Myth, many sellers come to the platform without a strategy and without the awareness that a target market is needed for visibility.
The Etsy search engine wants to encourage sales, so it gives shoppers the closest results to their searches possible. And if no one is searching for your product, no matter how good it is, no one will see it.
No views = no sales
Sometimes, the product isn’t the issue though. It’s simply the way it is being described. Today we’ll talk about how to address this to support your shop’s success.
What are Etsy keywords?
Your Etsy keywords are your search terms; the things that people look for in order to find your item.
If someone searches “pink string charm bracelet” and that is what you offer, then your item will likely show up in their search results.
Unless you’ve called the item a “pink rope sterling dolphin jewelry”. It’s a silly example, but I hope it helps explain the point.
As Etsy allows for the use of 13 keywords (which are called tags on the listings), it gives sellers the opportunity to use a variety of words that shoppers may use to search for an item.
As intuitive as you think it may be to come up with the keywords shoppers are searching for, it isn’t always. Which brings us to our main topic…
Using keyword tools to find Etsy keywords
Let’s talk about eRank. This is one of many Etsy keyword tools that can be used to see what is being searched for, and in what kind of quantities. I’m discussing eRank particularly because in my opinion, it has a very fair spread of free tools for casual users to experiment with.
Yes, it’s August, but the weather has been cool and I’m watching leaves blow around outside my window, so my first keyword example here has to do with fall.
I’ve chosen the keyword “Halloween shirt” to explore. For the last month, it shows an average of 23,628 searched within the USA with an average of 25,528 clicks. CTR refers to a ratio of clicks to searches, which we’ll ignore for now, and finally, the competition is 892,329. We can see that there is a drastic spike in searched from roughly July through October, with just over 85% of searches coming from the United States.
Holy numbers, Batman.
This tells us that there’s a lot of demand – those green bars for searches and clicks are very clear. It also shows us that the competition is massive (that red bar and huge number for competition is pretty clear also).
Yes, a lot of people search for the term “Halloween shirt” over the summer and early fall. There is also a veritable ocean of items available, making it very difficult for your average product with Etsy keyword “Halloween shirt” to be found. It’s certainly worth including in your tags, but alongside other, more targeted Etsy keywords.
In this case, “Halloween shirt” is a very broad keyword, and one that people will use as a catch all. You never know what creative design you’ll find out there, right?
Now let’s look at keyword “beaded earring”. I purposely chose something fairly generic once more. Interestingly though, the results are quite different.
Like “Halloween shirt”, this is a broad keyword. Unlike it however, this shows a very low number of searches, only 124 for the last month, and only 120 clicks. And once more, the competition is tremendous – 501,046 listings use this Etsy keyword!
What’s the difference between these two keywords?
While “Halloween shirt” is a broad, top level category that someone may search, “beaded earring” is apparently far too generic. While someone looking for a cute Halloween t-shirt may not know exactly what they want, someone searching for earrings probably know the style, material, and color they’re looking for.
Case in point, while “beaded earring” is currently showing 124 searches for the past month, “dangle earring” has 435, and “pearl earring” has 1,706. “Cartilage earring” has 11,942! Sometimes it’s just a matter of digging around and finding the right words.
Finding your own Etsy keywords
A good place to start is Etsy itself. Check out Keywords 101: Everything You Need To Know from the Seller Handbook.
If you’re looking for a tool to help you find Etsy keywords, check out eRank, Marmalead, or Insight Factory, to name a few.
And if you’re feeling lost or overwhelmed, or just want to have it all laid out for you, I offer the following:
- The Seller’s Checklist for Etsy Shop Success – a 15 page printable PDF guide to boosting your Etsy shop’s SEO (search engine optimization), plus a self audit to make sure you’re hitting as many trust markers as possible
- A Beginner’s Guide to Small Business SEO – a 16 page printable PDF to understanding the basics of SEO (search engine optimization); while not directly about Etsy SEO, it provides a solid base understanding of the how and why of it all.