Needing Help with SEO

[Paperika]

I am having trouble, especially with my Wedding Cards showing up before the wedding card boxes (I mean I've been searching from Search, not categories and not the new wedding category!). It was mentioned that my Titles are not optimized enough. Can anyone give me more suggestions as to how I can make them better? I am slow, but then again, my sales are always slow around now but surely I can do something, right?

[Former_Member]

Hi

Bear in mind that I don't know your category at all so I can only comment on what I can see in front of me and not hazard a guess how people have been searching or why you can only see some things in certain places.

An item picked at random -http://www.etsy.com/listing/99655375/wedding-card-anniversary-card-engagement

http://www.etsy.com/listing/99655375/wedding-card-anniversary-card-engagement

Title - a bit wordy and contains repetition. Don't repeat words, you have card in there four times, it only needs to be in once. At the moment you are wasting valuable url space by repeating the word. Make sure your most important keywords ideally fit into the url. I would suggest rearranging the text to something like - love word greeting card, pink flower silver embossed heart and then include anniversary etc. I am not saying this is perfect and it is up to you if you include suggested uses as keywords or not. Do not though that you can't include these words in your tags (see below.)

Description - first part should be a sentence or two saying what the item is and including all your keywords and a bit more. Then starting in a new paragraph give all the details about the product. At the end include active links to other items/sections/policies.

Tags - they seem ok in the sense that they are 2-3 word phrases. Just make sure that you include all your keywords from your titles in those 2-3 word searchable phrases. Now onto the tricky subject. Technically you can't call this item anything other that a love card because there is no reference to the word wedding or anniversary or alike in the actual design and this makes those words suggested uses which are not allowed. You can only say what the item is and not what you could use it for. Now as you have used the Wedding sub sub category I would suggest that you contact Integrity and get confirmation on is this ok or not as I wouldn't want you to get into trouble. Email integrity@etsy.com. As it stands without that confirmation either way you should take out the following tags - wedding heart card, pink wedding card, anniversary card, stamped wedding card, congrats card, happy wedding day.

See 1 & 2 in this for further information on the above and a lot more.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/99655375/wedding-card-anniversary-card-engagement

Claire
Team Leader

[Former_Member]

Oops, I didn't mean to post the image twice!

This is the correct link.

http://www.etsy.com/teams/7702/sassy-critiques/discuss/10092412/

[Paperika]

Thank you for the suggestions. Is there a book I can read where info isn't so contradictory? Someone told me that it's not really true that you need to say what it is in the first lines of the description. You are telling me to do so.

There was another card that someone told me that I should have Card in there more than once (I followed that person's advice and the card shot up in relevancy--a few pages in instead of 10-12 pages in.

I was going to go through my listings and tweak tags anyway. I intended this particular card to be a wedding card, but as I listed it I realized it could work for other reasons too, but yeah, I think I should fix those tags where there are suggested uses.

[Former_Member]

If there is such a miracle document I don't know of it because things are forever changing and developing especially off Etsy. However the basics are still the same and have been for a very long time.

Where are you getting your information from? There are only a couple of sources on Etsy that I would say are totally based on fact (there will be others, I just know these well) and very current research as they are operated by SEO experts and the reason they set their teams up in the first place is because there is so much incorrect information given by well meaning people on Etsy.

If you don't include said information at the beginning of the description text that is entirely up to you. Google and other search engines can pick up text from anywhere in any listing but the key part is the first part ie what you can see when you look at a listing as it appears in a Google search. That is what a buyer can see, that is important enough a reason isn't it? Look at any big store website and they don't do flowery - they do short and sweet and say what it is in both title and first part of description. This isn't new, it isn't news and it is also common sense - tell the buyer what it.

My advice is based on research, reading, fact and common sense.and a very large proportion of SEO is actually common sense e.g. say what it is because that is what people search for. If it is a red ceramic vase with a crackle enamel then say that is what it is. It isn't an flowery holder red or dead pot for putting flower in vase pot red pot vase pot or anything equally wasteful of text or unsearchable.

Take such advice on face value or do your own research and make up your own mind. It is entirely up to you what you do as with anything. For clarification regarding Etsy legal contact Integrity ie integrity@etsy.com

Claire
Captain

[Paperika]

I got some of my information (in fact a lot of it) from Mary, the SEO lady (I think she sells some SEO booklets and/or she does it at her day job). There is another woman but I can't think of it right now.

I still don't know if it's something I've done wrong that when I do a search for wedding CARDS (not boxes) I get so many wedding card boxes with a few wedding cards thrown in there, and my wedding cards seem to be hard to find. I'll contact integrity people about the listing then.

[Former_Member]

Mary and Cindy are probably who you are referring too. Their information is the most trustworthy because they are experts, they are also SASsy Mentors as I am but I am not listed as an SEO expert because I don't claim to be.

There are lots of ifs and buts with SEO but stick to the common sense or you will get bogged down with the ifs and buts. I know Google for example looks are an entire title ie more than is in the url but for the sake of argument the key part is the former part. Also I know Google looks at entire descriptions but for the benefit of the buyer viewing and therefore for the sake of argument say what it is at the beginning of the description so people can see it. It's not just about SEO it is about helping the buyer see things easily too.

If you want a proper explanation based on their own recent research and findings ask in their own teams. What you are probably seeing in searches is not necessarily because Etsy knows something is more relevant, it just thinks these items are more relevant quite possibly because the items are mistagged. It is impossible to guess without seeing the actual search results.

[Paperika]

Thank you...Yes Cindy was the other person I was thinking of! I did write Integrity with my questions, so hopefully something will make more sense. Tomorrow I will do more research and make more changes!