SEO Basics and Etsy Searches

[Former_Member]

Information (amended) I posted yesterday for the Craft Britannia team - I don't mention the word meta tag once!

Hi

I know SEO is seen as anything from scary to impossible to boring but it isn't quite as bad as that and it is really easy to get the basics in place in conjunction with Etsy requirements for searching down to a very simple format.

Yes SEO is a minefield and 'rules' do change but the basics are simple to do and are really common sense and you are probably doing a lot of it already

Having written a lot of critiques recently and with some of the newer features on Etsy causing concern it is very obvious that a lot of people have missed things or not updated areas in their shops that can help them be seen both on Etsy and on Google.

So here goes on some basics to check/do and why for/what.


Shop Title - ie text under your shop name top LHS of the page. Fill this with key words - think of the words you would use if you were searching for items in your shop. Don't use punctuation or words like and, the, with etc (that's wasted text.)

Why/what for - it enables you to be found via Google searches and also by Shop searches on Etsy.


Shop Announcement - fill the first paragraph with keywords about what you make/sell. Move everything else down below it, no one Googles hello, or welcome.

Why/what for - Google searches.


Location - use the correct Etsy suggestion format. UK locations appear like this London, United Kingdom,; US like this Los Angeles, CA, United States. To check/change it - your account - profile - delete the text in the City box - start typing in your town/city - select the appropriate suggestion - save. If you can't find your village/town select the nearest listed location to you.

Why/what for - it will ensure your shop and your items appear in both Shops and Local Items searches.


Shop sections - use all ten of them, use searchable words e.g. not just jewelry but beaded jewelry. Each section is a new url and although the text doesn't appear in the url it does appear in the coding/html.

Why/what for - as far as I know only Google searches but good of course for your buyers when browsing.


Listings titles - the first 55 ish characters are important, with the first 2-3 words being the most important. Fill this will key words for this item, check how it looks in both url and Google preview. Key words are not flowery, they are facts. Don't use punctuation or words like and, the, with etc. Don't repeat words. Don't use the words sale or free unless you absolutely have to and then add it at the very end of the text. Don't include either your shop name or Etsy as both will be in the coding/html (you can see it in your browser header). Etsy will be limiting text to around 140 characters very soon so start editing now.

Why/what for - Google and standard Etsy searches. NB sale and free is a prohibiting factor on Google Shopping, not standard Google. Also the word shipping both here and in descriptions is also believed to be a prohibiting factor (I'll keep you posted on that.)


Descriptions - fill the first few lines with key words again. Repeat everything in your listing title. Then state (again in some cases) what it is, what it is made of, how many you get, sizes (in inches and mm), what colour it is, what you do with it, what it's for and so on. After that you can be more descriptive and tell people what inspired you, the history and alike. Avoid any external links and any for Etsy outside of your shop. Do include links to other sections in your shop.

Why/what for - Google searches and information for Etsy buyers. All description text is potentially searchable and does get picked up on Google.


Tags - use all 14, fill them with key words ie same as your listings titles. They need to state what it is, what colour it is, what it is made of and alike. With a few exceptions like sterling silver they are single words. Do not stuff your tags with lots of words e.g. red green blue is not allowed but red, green, blue as 3 tags is. I will add a bit more info on tags at the end of this. Read the Dos and Don'ts on this www.etsy.com/policy/dosdonts#tagging

Why/what for - Etsy searches and especially relevance searches which are understood to be based on tags only and single words make your items more relevant.


If you have any questions post below and if needed I'll start a seperate discussion thread for this. I am not an expert but I understand the reasons for doing all this and before anyone says anything I do know that I don't always practice what I preach.

Claire

[Former_Member]

The quick notes on tagging mentioned above - not for SEO but related to the premise of this thread.

Tags

- are for Etsy searches and they need to be within TOU.

- are usually single words (doubles like sterling silver are allowed because it's an actual material)

- should be similar/the same as your key words in your listing.

- they state what the item is, what it is made of, what colour it is and alike.

- they DO NOT say what it could be used for, or what you think someone would search for e.g. Christmas when your piece has nothing to do with Christmas.

- Gift is an absolute no unless it's something like a gift certificate.

- tags are not for stuffing e.g. red green blue - NOT allowed, octopus bunny deer - NOT allowed, nature natural animal - NOT allowed, sparkly shiny fluffy - NOT allowed.

- if it genuinely has octopus bunny and deer in the piece - that is THREE tags.

- do not repeat words - if it is a box you say it once and don't call it a wooden box, octopus box, deer box, stash box, shoe box - NOT allowed.

Using tags correctly will help with searches especially as relevancy searches appear to be based on tags and not listing titles. Also it apparently favours single word tags presumably because they are correctly used.

[Former_Member]

waw! lot's of great information here! I will have to make time to digest this.. Thanks!

[RETROJEWLZ]

Wow, thanks, I've just made a couple changes already as soon as I read your post. Thank you for taking the time!

[Former_Member]

Great post! Thanks for sharing!

[KilnFiredArt]

Thank you I'll make some changes over the weekend

[Former_Member]

KilnFired - the above, apart from the specific tags info, will be the same as in the critique I did for you on Britannia ie CB's will be more useful to you as I wrote it while actually looking at your shop. Though I do appreciate brevity can help!!

[Former_Member]

Do ask if you need any clarification.

[Former_Member]

Thank you, cards! That's great information! I didn't know about how to handle double word tagging.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the information. Wow... looks like my shop needs a lot of work:)

[KilnFiredArt]

Thanks Cards & Craft, I have been working on your advice. I'm really not sure on the spelling of jewellery as I really want my sales to come from the UK.

[Former_Member]

KilnFired - For now use jewelry as your key word spelling in listings both titles and descriptions and elsewhere appropriate like your shop title, announcement and tags. Do however also use jewellery in your descriptions and tags. Although the overwhelming number of searches will be jewelry on Etsy and the majority list with that spelling there are still a huge amount of people who search on and off Etsy (primarily off) using jewellery. As you know practically everyone outside of the US uses our spelling so that's a huge amount of people. I think all my descriptions say jewellery as opposed to jewelry because I just can't help spelling it that way. I'll have to investigate this but I believe off Etsy a lot of defaults pick up both spellings as the same just like Google will ask do you mean jewellery or jewelry specifically otherwise you get both.

[artigianajewellery]

CardAndCrafts this is really useful stuff, thanks so much for all the info!

I read somewhere that if for example you have a shop on Etsy and Folksy you are supposed to use different text to describe your items as Google doesn't like the repetition. Do you know if that is right?

[Former_Member]

Good morning everyone, I haven't been here since Twinkly had started. I'm so glad to see she found someone to take her place. Nice to meet everyone!!
Great information, thank you

[Former_Member]

Artigian - that is the theory. I don't know the ins and outs of why and what for kind of thing but there is something in this theory. I believe it has something to do with the Google Panda roll out which was meant to get rid of spammy type listings but ultimately impacted on some totally normal honestly functioning sites. Until we know more just think in terms of changing a few words completely/around in listings. You will probably find that you do that anyway because the formats on each site are slightly different.

The other side is Google Shopping which I believe throws out same type listings if they come from several different sites. Firstly - are you syndicated? If not don't worry about it as it won't affect you. Secondly Folksy would feed to Google Shopping on .co.uk, Etsy feeds to .com. I can't see any Folksy listings on .co.uk and there definitely aren't any Etsy listings on there either.

If anyone can be more specific on this please do join in.

[VeganAhead]

Thanks, I had no idea I had broken some tagging rules! :o now just need to find more tweaking time.

[Former_Member]

I have so much work to do on my shop! oh boy..
Thanks for sharing all that info!

[artigianajewellery]

Thanks CardsAndCrafts. Can I ask what might be a silly question? What do you mean are you syndicated?

[Former_Member]

Artigian - it's not a silly question. It is basically the tool that feeds your shop listings to Google Shopping. Not everyone has this yet, it is a slow roll out and there isn't anything anyone can do to get this going. It's good to be on there but it's not a massive selling tool and a lot of people who have researched haven't had much traffic from it. The main difficulty if you like is that it is a Beta tool and not every country has it. We do in the UK but if you look for anything on Etsy or Folksy you won't find anything. You have to go to the .com version to see anything Etsy.

The following link says a little about how it works and also how/where to check if you are syndicated or not.

http://www.etsy.com/help/article/257

[artigianajewellery]

Thanks a lot CardsAndCrafts. I'm going to dedicate tomorrow afternoon as my SEO time and reread the tips you've given and check out that link. Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge!

[LifeCovers]

Claire/'Cards - thanks so much for this very useful checklist. I've just spent a lazy couple of hours on a Sunday morning going through my listings and updating. Hoping it's going to bring in some more viewers since my shop has been very quiet over the past couple of months.

[PookieandJack]

Great advice, Cards, making the changes. Thank you for making the lists easy to follow and understand!

[TanjaDesign]

Hi!
I'm so glad I found and joined this team! I'm new here and I'm going to read everything. I really need help with SEO.