Keyword question

[songinmyheart]

I'm confused. When we enter our keywords in our listings, there are the first two drop down slots where we pick our first category and second category. I thought we were "supposed to" pick one of the 3 main Etsy category in the first slot (handmade, supplies, or vintage) and then from the second slot, choose handmade or commercial. Then I thought we use the next 12 slots for all the other things. I have noticed that many people do not do this. Instead they go straight to the main "thing" they are selling.

Is this a purposeful strategy? Or just a different way to do it? If the first 5 keywords are the most critical, I don't know I want to waste them on "supplies" and "handmade" as I will save those for lesser needed keywords on my list.

[songinmyheart]

oops...i forgot that I only have to pick handmade or commercial BECAUSE I pick supplies as my first Keyword. Sorry.

[Former_Member]

You do need to start with the most important words. Therefore I would save themes such as 'love' 'celebration' 'musical' for the end and keep the hardcore terms such as EXACTLY what it is up front.

IF whatever you are listing does fit into the sub catagories Etsy provide, they should always be your first choice. That is the correct way to do things and will mean your items are sorted into the right catagories!

(Have I spelt catagory wrong? It looks wrong.)

[Former_Member]

Keywords should not be confused with Tags though...

Tags are important but much more to Etsy than Google :-)

[songinmyheart]

thank you!! i have some corrections to make!!! (while I work through your other lessons on your blog!! i can't wait to see how you get a celebrity to wear one of your items!! hee hee!)

[Former_Member]

songinmyheart:

I haven't got to that bit yet! That's for another blog series that I'm doing, I was going to start on Monday but with everything else I haven't had any time to prepare the posts. I'll let you know as soon as I begin!!

[songinmyheart]

OH MY GOSH do i feel DUMB! I was talking about the etsy TAGS!!! So where/what are the keywords? Those first 5 words in your title, Description, and product listings???

[Former_Member]

Well, there are four or five places you can put keywords.

The first 62 characters of your shop title, announcement and listing titles and descriptions

The first 54 characters of your section titles

These are the places I am referring to. BUT using your searchable keywords in your tags is no bad thing!!

[songinmyheart]

Right!! I had a "blonde" moment...(sorry for any natural blondes out there!!) Keywords and Google. Tags and Etsy & Google. So, tags are what ETSY search engine-thingy uses for their search boxes. Keywords are what google grabs onto for the internet searching, but using great keywords as tags is also AWESOME? whew!!!!!!

[Former_Member]

Yes!

Although, you can use the Keyword Tool to find out how many people are searching for terms, this isn't relevant to Etsy. You probably wouldn't get a high result using the tool for colours on their own, but tagging with colours is important on Etsy because people often do their treasuries that way.

[songinmyheart]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's like every time i read one of your posts i get a little more "twinkly" LOL LOL Sorry!!! But I'm just happy that i'm starting to understand!

[Former_Member]

Ha! I'm happy to be able to help!

I think there's a lot I have to learn, I am researching everyday to try and gain more knowledge on the subject!