I don't think Etsy's algorithm is helpful at all when searching for things. I'm having a harder time finding things I need because for example I search for "lapis ring" and I'm getting pendants, necklaces, bracelets, other gemstones...I can't find what I'm looking for and all I see is the same "crap" that etsy thinks I'm interested in - which I'm not - and I can't imagine that shoppers don't also get frustrated and click off the site. Not to mention the constant pop ups to "hurry and buy now", ugh.
Yeah, I definitely agree that Etsy's level of personalization sometimes gets a little wonky. I often see totally unrelated results in my own personal searches, associated with searches for items I'd made days before. We can only hope that Etsy's machine learning gets smarter over time.
I am so glad that I watched this video. I have long been wanting to start an Etsy store but I felt overwhelmed at the process. This video helps immensely. Thank you so much. You have a new subscriber
Thank you! My shop has been open 2 months & 6 sales... i realised in the beginning i was putting keywords that i thought matched my item... not doing any research, now i see that has damanged my rabking so i will work on revamping them & fingers crossed!
Awesome and informative video like always! I'm still a little confused about the SEO part - should we repeat keywords from our title in our tags and as well have our most important keywords at the front of our title or tags? I've heard from some people that you should just throw as many keywords as you can into your title/tags to show up to more people and that word order doesn't matter so I've been doing that as of lately, however if that's not how SEO actually works I would definitely want to switch haha.
Yes, your keywords in your title should also be in your tags. The order of your tags does not matter. You only exact match for info within the same tag, but you broad match for all the different variations of the words in the tags. As for your title, always put your most important descriptive keywords in the front of the title, as that is what viewers see first when scrolling through listing.
I am happy that your email reminded me about this 😅 . I was doing SEO for my descriptions, but I still need to edit them again and try using more different keywords in my descriptions.
Diversifying is key! For the most part, as long as you've been keyword-minded while writing your initial descriptions, no major overhauls should be necessary. But adding in more specific styles and details in order to target shoppers who are on personalized journeys based on their shopper habits is definitely something to be mindful of moving forward. I'm about to launch a new shop and will be running a few different tests for specific niche items.
Omg! All my descriptions are the same almost. I’m going to work on my descriptions asap. This is really surprising! I change the materials or size but my top paragraph is usually the same. 😞 Lots to do
From a buyer perspective: search has become so bad, I quit buying on Etsy and closed my account. The filter options are non-relevant, why would anybody want to narrow down to products from Europe? EU would make sense, Europe doesn't. It even started to show items which don't contain the search phrase or any part of it at all. You know what took Etsy's place: thrift stores. Much cheaper as well.
Hey Starla, first of all, thank you for the amazing content you share. I'm really happy that I discovered this channel. I have a question, as far as I understand, it can take 60-90 days for the playlists we create to find their place in the algorithm. And you mentioned that during that discovery phase, we shouldn't make changes to titles and tags as much as possible. However, in the video I watched, you were talking about being able to change other areas like the description, product photos, and so on. We now see that descriptions also have an impact on the algorithm, so I'm wondering if making changes to the description during that discovery phase might confuse the algorithm? Additionally, would making changes to new variations or product photos create a disadvantage? Because in my handmade products, there may be slight changes in some drawings, and I want to reflect that accurately to customers. Thanks in advance 🥰
Yes, description are part of the search algorithm-kind of. It is not what is used for the search, but more about the specific person that is searching. For that reason, updating your descriptions is not going to have a negative effects. Listing photos have no effect on your search ranking, but if you have a bad photo and change it for a good one or have a good one and change it for a great one, that can help when people are scrolling through the sea of results from their searches. Updating your photos or changing which photo is your thumbnail is one thing that I suggest doing if you are not getting views and sales.
Thank you Starla, I didn’t know this. I will be incorporating keywords into my description. I opened my shop about five weeks ago and I am getting a little disparate because I haven’t sold anything 😢 is it too soon to get discouraged?
@almagjim, Hang in there! Keep adding listings if you can, and make your shop as attractive and easy to use as you can. Your shop will likely gain momentum during the Christmas season, if not earlier. 😊
Don’t give up! I’m still relatively new (2 years on Etsy) and it took 9 months for my first 10 sales. But I’m now at 182 and I’m so thankful for everyone. I believe if you take Starla’s advice for marketing - mostly posting on ig and Pinterest (that one takes a long time to build traffic 3-9 months), but it works! Don’t lose hope!
Agreed! Hang in there! Summer on Etsy has been really slow this year. Work on your social media and driving excitement and traffic to your shop yourself. Good luck!
I have been creating pins on Pinterest versus just saving the listing from Etsy. The two most recent pins are showing my title and description from the Etsy store instead of my new/different one I created in my pin. When I go to edit, it shows the new ones I created. But it shows everything from my Etsy account to the public. Any idea how to fix this?!
Hello! I was wondering if you have any advice on how to build a brand ambassador program for Etsy shops? Thank you so much for all your amazing insights!💛
Starla, thank you for the video. Here is a question: tags are OPTIONAL now and there are listings that sell without tags at all. Do you think that strategy to put your title into tags still works?
Tags have always been optional. Listing that sell without tags are likely only doing this well due to external marketing performed by the shop owner (social media, brand collabs, etc). Your title and tags are the DIRECT signals that tell Etsy what your listing is, who it is for, and who it should be shown to. This practice has not changed because these are the signals that we, as sellers, send to Etsy's algorithm. Everything in your title should be in your tags. This repetition is what helps Etsy identify which listings are relevant to a shopper's search query. Look at it this way. Every tag is like a lottery ticket. If I handed you 13 lottery tickets and told you that you could scratch off as many as you'd like, how many would you scratch off? The answer is likely "all of them". Each lottery is an opportunity to win. Each tag and keyword phrase is an opportunity to fit a search query and potentially make a sale. The time investment is well worth it.
Etsy has been slow all summer. My advice-start looking forward to the holiday seasons. Review your listings, photos, etc and make sure that everything is top notch before the holidays. Also, work on your social media and getting your followers excited about your products for the holidays.
Thank you so much for the info Starla. I am a little confused, I thought tags and tittles were supposed to be different. I should write the same keywords on both ?
All words from your title should also be in your tags. However, you do not need to repeat the exact same words over and over again within your tags or within your titles. But all words in your title SHOULD be included in your tags.
In terms of your search ranking, from what we have observed, no. Especially when adding to a listing. The issue comes when good keywords are removed from tags and titles, causing Etsy to no longer associate you with that term, and thus, losing any traffic they keyword (or combination of keywords) was bringing to your listing. For descriptions, we have no clear evidence of this happening, so I would just aim to add/re-arrange/improve where necessary. It never hurts to have a few good keywords associated with your item (from your title) sprinkled naturally within your description. But from what Andrew stated at EtsyUp, it seems that descriptions that provide additional content may serve as an additional means to connect customers to our listings.
I cannot stress Social Media enough. Do not depend on Etsy's algorithm and organic traffic. Work on building up your social media engagement. If you need any ideas on getting started, check out my free Instagram 30-day challenge here: bit.ly/EtsyAlphaFreebies
The assertion that video will help an Etsy sell product rank on Google is not true. I tested this and found that a video did not affect Google search status.
I cannot weigh in without more details about your test scenario. However, adding a video absolutely does help you to rank within the videos tab on Google, as shown in the video. Especially if you're competing against sellers utilizing similar keywords who do not have listing videos (and therefore would not be shown on the videos tab). If your own tests did not work for you, it may simply mean that the keywords you utilize in your listings are highly competitive.
