How To Find The Best Keywords For Great Etsy SEO -

Bonus Material: Etsy Good Practice Deep Guide

This blog is for any female small business owner using Etsy, who wants to fully optimise their Etsy account for greater sales and success.

Introduction

If you want to sell more of your products on Etsy, the single most important part of your Etsy strategy should be learning about and implementing the best Etsy SEO in your Etsy store.

Etsy uses algorithms to assess and index your listings. It does this by way of keywords – that’s at the core of how Etsy SEO works.

This means that you have to ensure you’re using the right keywords not only in your individual listings, but across your Etsy store.

Using the right keywords will help Etsy SEO understand what your store is about, and the type of products you sell, so that the platform can show your listings to the right audience performing keyword search terms in the platform.

The more you understand and implement great Etsy keyword strategy as part of your Etsy SEO, and the more you use relevant keywords in your Etsy store, the better the chances are that your products will be found.

how to find the best etsy keywords to make sure your etsy products are found.

The Importance Of Keywords

Everything you do on Etsy should start with using the most relevant keywords for your listings, your about section, and your shop announcement.

Using relevant keywords in each of these places can help Etsy learn about your shop and products.

Types Of Keywords

There are two main types of keywords, short tail-keywords, and long-tail keywords.

Short-tail Keywords are exactly what they say – they are one or two word terms that potential customers inside Etsy may be searching for.

Examples of some short-tail keywords for, say, a crochet business are:

– crochet
– crochet pattern
– crochet top

These short-tail keywords often have high competition, making them more difficult to rank for.

Long-tail Keywords: these are longer phrases that potential customers are searching for inside Etsy.

Examples of some Long-tail keywords are:

– crochet top plus size
– crochet boho bag pattern
– pink woollen crochet socks

These longer-tail keywords often have less competition inside Etsy, giving your listings more chance of showing up on the first page when potential buyers search for those keyword phrases.

Let me show you an example of short and long tail keyword research for Etsy, using the platform Everbee, which is one of the keyword research tools available for Etsy sellers.

When I search for crochet pattern as a keyword inside Everbee, these are the results that show for that keyword:

overview of keyword scores for the term crochet pattern

In that search result you can see that the search volume for that keyword 7250, the competition score is 531,168, and the keyword score is zero.

This is a highly competitive keyword, meaning the competition level for that keyword will make it harder to rank for.

The keyword score in the image shows zero. This indicates that there’s a lower number of searches compared to competitors – again showing that this particular keyword would be difficult to rank for.

When I search for crochet baby boy blanket pattern as a keyword inside Everbee, these are the results that show for that keyword:

overview of keyword scores for the term crochet baby boy blanket pattern.

In that search result you can see that the search volume for that keyword is 188, the competition score is 2073, and the keyword score is 90.

There are much fewer people searching for that keyword (188 at the time of this research).

But because this keyword has competition of only 2073 it is much less competitive and easier to rank for.

With a keyword score of 90, it means that there’s a greater number of searches compared to competitors – so it would be an easier long-tail keyword to use to get found if you sell this type of crochet pattern.

It is better to use a mix of less popular keywords in your SEO strategy – especially when you have a younger Etsy store, because using the less popular keywords can help your products be found.

Keywords You Need To Find And Use For Great Etsy SEO

You can use the search query inside of Etsy to start to look for keywords relevant to your product listings.

However, you’ll find it much easier to identify the best keywords to use for your Etsy store if you sign up to one of the keyword tool platforms like Everbee, Erank or Marmalade.

These platforms give you the ability to quickly perform any search query relevant to your product listings, to find key information about the keywords you can use.

It’s easy to see how popular the keyword phrase you search for is using these platforms, so that you can judge whether the keywords you search for are worth using in a product listing.

The higher the competition level for any keyword, the harder it will be to rank for that keyword phrase.

Whilst it’s ok to use some higher competitive keywords, your goal is to find good keyword phrases that are longer-tail keywords with lower competition.

Those keywords should be relevant to your product listing, and those keywords will give you a greater chance of Etsy query matching keyword searches to your listings, helping you to be found on the first page of Etsy.

It can take time and patience to do your research to find potential keywords for your listings. But in order to have any chance of getting your listings in front of your target audience, you must find the best keyword opportunities for your products inside the platform.

Where You Should Be Using Relevant Keywords

Once you’ve found the right keywords for your product listings, you should use the most relevant keywords in your product title.

Those keywords should be applicable to the item you sell, and you can use more than one keyword phrase in your product title – making sure you use the best keyword at the start of the listing title.

For example, for a crochet blanket pattern, you might use the listing title:

Easy Granny Square Crochet Blanket Pattern | Beginners Granny Square Crochet Blanket

You would have to make sure that the listing title and keywords you use in it are limited to the 140 characters available.

You CAN and SHOULD use more than one keyword phrase in your listing title if possible, because Etsy will take note of each phrase to help index your listing on the platform.

Inside your product description you can add multiple keywords that make sense – as long as you’re not keyword stuffing, doing so could cause you problems on the platform.

Good Etsy SEO needs to be done carefully, without angering the algorithm. Keyword stuffing is not good strategy for the platform.

You still need to make sure your product listings are appealing to your potential customers, whilst at the same time using keywords to help get your products in front of the right people in the platform.

Shop owners who see the most success on Etsy, who have a great conversion rate with their product sales, are shop owners who do their due diligence, and take time to thoroughly research and use the best keywords for their listings.

how to find the best etsy keywords to make sure your products can be found.

Other Places To Use Keywords In Etsy

There are some other places you can and should use keywords in your etsy store.

Your shop announcement is one of those spaces.

This is where you can help with search engine optimisation for your Etsy shop, helping it to show up in searches both inside and outside of the platform (on Google for example).

When writing your shop announcement, you should cover who you are, what you do, how you help, and give any updates to your store in this area.

But within the content of your shop announcement, you can use appropriate keywords, and again longer-tail keywords will work best.

You can also use keywords inside the about you section of your etsy shop.

Whilst this space should mostly be used to introduce yourself, and to give people the opportunity to get to know you a little more, you can still refer to your Etsy shop, the products you sell, the benefits you give to your audience, and how you help, and then mix appropriate keywords in with that content.

Tools For Keyword Research

I’ve already mentioned some of the platforms you can use for keyword research for your Etsy strategy, but I’ll quickly cover those keyword research tools in a little more detail.

Etsy Search Bar: Etsy’s search bar is a good place to start to find popular search terms that you can use as keywords on your item listings and in your item descriptions.

The main issue with only using the Etsy search bar, is that is does not provide information about how competitive the search terms are.

To gather this information you need to use other platforms outlined below.
Etsy’s Auto-Suggest Feature: Etsy has an auto-suggest feature you can use for keyword ideas, however again this feature does not show you how competitive the keywords are.

I always suggest using an external keyword tool to gain greater information about the keywords you can use, that will maximise you chances of ranking on the first page of Etsy’s search.
Keyword Tools: Marmalead, eRank, and Everbee are great platforms that provide you with SEO tools that give much more detailed analysis of keywords on Etsy.

eRank is your lowest monthly price at just $5.99 for the basic plan, or $9.99 for the pro plan. It can give you all the information you need to find low competition keywords, and to be able to keep an eye on your competitors listings.

You can also access trends, shop insights and audits of your own Etsy store with erank.

Marmalead and Everbee give you similar tools, but both are more expensive with Marmalead starting at $19 a month and Everbee starting at $19.99 a month.

You only need one of these keyword tools, and any one of them will give you all the research information you need to perform good keywords searches for Etsy SEO.

Bonus Material

Get Your 40 Page Etsy Best Practice Guide

Learn More

Analysing And Choosing The Best Keywords

When you perform any research for keywords for your Etsy product listings, you need to make sure you cover the following tips.

Relevance: Any keywords you search for and plan to use should be relevant to the product listing.

It may well go against you if you use keywords that are popular or low competition, but they don’t have any bearing on the product you’re using that keyword for.

An example of this might be you using the long-tail keyword “crochet blanket for babies”, when in fact your listing is a crochet cushion cover.

That might sound crazy – but I have seen Etsy sellers use random keywords in their listings, to try to attract an audience to them.

Keep your keywords highly relevant to your product listings.
Search Volume: You can see the search volume of any keyword when you use platforms like erank, Marmalead and Everbee.

A high search volume suggests that the keyword is a popular search term that many people are looking for inside the platform.

However, high search volume often lends itself to highly competitive keywords – and using those exclusively in your listings, could mean your products are not seen because of the volume of competitors using the same keywords.
Competition: It’s better to try to find keywords you can use for your Etsy Search Engine Optimization that are low to moderate keywords.

This is especially important in the early days of your Etsy journey, to maximise the chances of your products being seen.

It’s fine to use some more competitive keywords in your product listings, but they should not be the main keywords you use.
Buyer Intent: Choosing keywords that indicate a higher likelihood of purchase is key. A good example of this is that potential customers in Etsy are likely to use more descriptive longer keywords as part of their search intent.

So “Red Crochet Hat Pattern For Women” is much more likely to be searched for than simply “Crochet Hat” as that shorter search term would bring up both hats for sale and patterns.

Think about what your potential customers are inside Etsy searching for – and use that as a starting point for your keyword research.

Using Keywords In Your Etsy Listings

Titles: Use your best keyword at the start of your product titles. As already mentioned, you can use more than one keyword in product titles, but the best one you think you can rank for should be the first one, and it should be relevant to your product listing.

Tags: Make sure that you use all 13 tags that are available to you, and choose the best keywords you can for those tags. They will help with your Etsy SEO.

Descriptions: You need to craft compelling product descriptions, that include information that makes the potential buyers want to make a purchase, but within the natural flow of your product descriptions you should also use good keywords naturally.

Remember never to do keyword stuffing – Etsy will penalise you for this.

Categories and Attributes: You can utilise Etsy’s Categories and Attributes to help improve your search ranking on Etsy.

Common Etsy SEO Mistakes To Avoid

Keyword Stuffing: I have already covered this. It’s a no-no. It’s better to find good keywords that match relevant listings you have, they will increase the chances of you getting organic traffic from your target customers to your Etsy products.

Ignoring Trends: It’s important to be mindful of trends on Etsy – this can help you make sure you’re creating products to match the needs of what it is your target customers are looking for inside the platform. You can find trends through erank, Marmalead and Everbee, and also inside Etsy’s platform.

Not Analyzing Competitors: Ignoring your competitors on Etsy is lethal. Your competitors can provide you with a huge amount of valuable information, including the products they have that are selling well (that you can then model), the types of keywords and tags they are using on product listings, the prices they are selling products for.

You can also look at your competitors to see the type of customer experience they provide. All of this is research and information you can take away to consistently apply yourself, to help improve your Etsy SEO strategy, your shop visibility, and your Etsy success.

More Great Etsy Tips

Here are some bonus Etsy tips, to help you really get the best results from your Etsy store.

You should not rely purely on Etsy SEO and internal traffic on Etsy. It’s essential that you have strategy to push external traffic to your Etsy products.

Letting people know about your upcoming products, custom products and current products through your social media channels, through your mailing list, and through a Google Business Page can provide you with extra sources of traffic to your store that is organic traffic.

There are many other ways you can promote your Etsy store, and I cover this in much more detail inside this blog post: HOW TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR ETSY SHOP AND MAKE MORE SALES
You should keep your Etsy store up to date. This means having up to date shop policies, keeping your shop announcement up to date, updating your listings periodically, making sure simple keywords and complex keywords that have low competition are part of your detailed descriptions.
No matter how good your Etsy SEO is, if you give a poor customer experience, your Etsy success will suffer.

Make sure you work to create a loyal customer base on Etsy through good connection with customers, and easy to navigate products in your Etsy store (you can use features such as shop sections to help with this).
Etsy reviews can be a big factor in your Etsy shop’s success. Aim to capture reviews from any of your customers, especially any loyal customer base you have built.

You can do this inside Etsy using an Etsy message or email you send direct to your customers.
Continuously commit to improving your Etsy strategies over time. You need to stay on top of Etsy trends, stay abreast of high-ranking keywords you can use for your product listings, keep your shop up to date, including your shop policies, shipping guarantees, shop announcement and featured listings.
It goes without saying that you should have high-quality banners on your shop, your product pictures should be professional, you should have custom sections in your store if it helps people find your products more easily.

Your shop policies should be clear to maintain customer satisfaction, and you should make sure you run your store within Etsy’s own policies, to keep your store safe and live for the longer term.
Having a good, easy to remember shop title can help your customers find you in Etsy more easily. You have just 140 characters available for your shop title, and you cannot use all capital letters.

Keep your shop title simple, as short as you can, make it memorable, and try to make sure it matches your name in other spaces you show up (on social media platforms for example).

Conclusion

Etsy can feel like a big job! And it is.

But the more you invest time in keyword research to use the best keywords for every product item title, and within the product descriptions, and the more you make use of all the areas of your shop available to you, the more likely you are to succeed on Etsy over the longer term.