SEO REVIEW for resetreality

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone! I'm trying to get more views in my shop through SEO... lately views have been pretty low again, and it was suggested to me from the etsy success admin that I improve the variety in my tags/titles/descriptions.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95452559/original-gouache-figure-painting-fashion

Any help appreciated. Thank you so much!

[Former_Member]

Hi Vanessa - welcome to the team. The very first step is to read this thread about our process and then come back and we'll help you brainstorm good keywords to use. After that we'll help you look them up in the google keyword tool to see how good they are. Start with this thread:

http://www.etsy.com/teams/11352/relevancy-and-seo-for-all-etsy-shops/discuss/10075211

Let us know when you're ready and then we'll start thinking like shoppers with you.

[Former_Member]

Hi Karen,

I've been using google AdWords to try to come up with better tags for my items. So far, here's what I've come up with:

figure painting - Low - 22,200 - 9,900
fashion illustration - low - 74,000 - 18,100
gouache painting - low - 8,100 - 3,600
colorful art - medium - 9,990 - 5,400
costume art - low - 22,000 - 9,900
fine art - low - 1,830,000 - 1,220,000
original watercolor - medium - 2,400 - 1,900
abstract art - low - 301,000 - 135,000
dance art - low - 165,000 - 60,500
modern art - low - 1,220,000 - 550,000
surreal - low - 450,000 - 135,000
whimsical - low - 201,000 - 135,000

I know I have to change my titles & descriptions to fit with my new tags right? I haven't done that yet, but I'm not sure which words to put in the titles to create my "long SEO title"...

[GraceEarrings]

did you get a chance to check ' exact ' when you do the Adwords?
this will give you a better results.
don't worry about the ' high /low/medium" thing, those for just for website buying the google ad.
the local count is the one you need to look at.
Mary will tell you all about them.

try " exact"

[Former_Member]

I'm using statsy to see where I come up in search, and based on my current tags.. I should probably eliminate the broader search tags like abstract art/fine art ?

[Former_Member]

oh! I had no idea what all that meant... so thank you for clarifying :) I'll redo my search later tonight with exact.

[Former_Member]

Do not use single word keywords such as "surreal" or "whimsical." Use phrases such as, "surreal art" etc.

You should follow the steps in our SEO Review process if you would like an SEO review for this listing: http://www.etsy.com/teams/11352/relevancy-and-seo-for-all-etsy-shops/discuss/10075211

First step - we offer keyword suggestions for you to add to your own and to research.

A few keyword ideas:

Gouache painting
original gouache painting
watercolor painting
abstract painting
surreal painting
whimsical painting
Gouache art
original gouache art
watercolor art
abstract art
surreal art
whimsical art
abstract figure painting
figure painting

When you have enough keywords to research, go on to step 3 and 4 of our SEO Review process and post the results of your research here.

Remember to change the Match Type from Broad to Exact when you research the keywords.

[Former_Member]

Finally have some free time to do this research... Hope you guys haven't forgotten about me... and THANK YOU SO MUCH for everything so far... really. I've gotten some more search engine hits from just the little tweaking I've done with ideas from this thread.

So far:

abstract painting - 14,800 5,400
figure painting - 1600 720
surreal art - 5,400 2,900
abstract art - 90,500 40,500
gouache painting - 720 320
abstract watercolor - 720 320
dance art - 2,400 390
modern artwork - 1,000 590
original watercolor - 46 36
fashion illustration - 22,200 3,600
surreal art - 5,400 2,900
watercolor painting - 14,800 8,100
contemporary painting - 1600 480
affordable art - 3,600 1,000

How should I interpret these numbers? Do I want higher local search or search terms with less competition on etsy?

[Former_Member]

Can you choose 2 targeted keyword phrases and 2 broad keyword phrases that you think would be right for this listing and post them here?

[Former_Member]

Broad:
abstract art
watercolor painting

targeted:
figure painting
fashion illustration

I think?

[GraceEarrings]

I am just playing around here,

abstract watercolor, figure painting, original watercolor painting

[Former_Member]

So maybe my new title should be:

Original watercolor artwork, gouache figure painting, fashion illustration, 6" x 6"

Maybe? It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the titles being SEO optimized... I so badly want to have the title be what I call my art from this series...but that won't get me views :p

[GraceEarrings]

i hear ya .... i hear ya
me too
i understand how you feel, me too, i keep the creative name in the description:)

[Former_Member]

Exactly what I'm planning on doing Grace :)

p.s... your shop is gorgeous! wow!

[Former_Member]

I don't understand how "fashion illustration" fits this listing????

[Former_Member]

all of my paintings in this series are fashion/costume/figure illustration/painting... so to be consistent, I tag the work from this series with the same tags. like this one leans more towards fashion than the original listing I posted for critique:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95449935/original-gouache-figure-painting-fashion

but it's the same body of work. does that make sense? or should I tag each piece of art individually for relevancy? sorry to make it so complicated...

[Former_Member]

the tag "fashion illustration" does bring in traffic for me too.

[Former_Member]

hi, I'm still interested in criticism :) I've kind of hit a wall coming up with any more tags...

[Former_Member]

You should definitely keep the name for the body of work somewhere, possibly in the listing description and in one of the listing tags.

All of the keyword suggestions are good ones.

Vanessa, you should always remember to keep keyword phrases intact and not break them up or rearrange the words.

Here are my suggestions:

The title for this listing is:

Original Gouache Figure Painting Fashion Illustration: Société D'illusion - 250, 6" x 6"

The title tag for this listing that Google sees is:

<title>Original Gouache Figure Painting Fashion by resetreality on Etsy</title>

For the title tag, Etsy cuts down the listing title to 42 - 60 characters depending on the length of the shop name. For this short listing title, Etsy cuts off "Illustration: Société D'illusion - 250, 6" x 6"."

The title tag is the first piece of information that Google reads about your web page. For Google it's a very good idea to place your best keywords in the front of the listing title to make sure that it is seen in Google search results. Placing Keyword phrases at the beginning of listing titles also work better on Etsy.

Your list of possible keywords:

abstract painting - 14,800 5,400
figure painting - 1600 720
surreal art - 5,400 2,900
abstract art - 90,500 40,500
gouache painting - 720 320
abstract watercolor - 720 320
dance art - 2,400 390
modern artwork - 1,000 590
original watercolor - 46 36
fashion illustration - 22,200 3,600
surreal art - 5,400 2,900
watercolor painting - 14,800 8,100
contemporary painting - 1600 480
affordable art - 3,600 1,000


The number on the far right is the number of local (your country) searches last month for each of these keyword phrases.

Use the best of these keyword phrases in the beginning of your listing title, along with a few other keyword phrases from the above lists as well as your own further research using Google's Adwords Tool.

There are many possible keywords for you to choose from. For your listing above, a title with a few targeted keyword phrases should work better and keyword phrases with few or no searches should be dropped from the title or moved to the end of the title:

Suggested new LONG listing title:

Original watercolor, gouache painting, abstract painting, surreal art, fashion illustration, 6" x 6"

With this new title you would have several good keyword phrases:


Original watercolor
gouache painting
abstract painting
surreal art
fashion illustration


Suggested new SHORT listing title (70 characters or less):

Original watercolor, gouache painting, abstract painting

Read more about long and short titles here: http://www.etsy.com/teams/11352/relevancy-and-seo-for-all-etsy-shops/discuss/9953105

Use exactly these same keyword phrases in the tags for that you are using in the listing title, using one tag for each keyword phrase whenever possible. Use more of the keywords from this list in the listing tags if you like.

Follow these guidelines for all of your listings:
- use one to four keyword phrases ine the listing title, exactly as they appear in the keyword research report. Do not break up or rearrange the words.
- only use keywords that you find in your keyword research or keywords very close to what you find if you don't find exactly the words that describe your listing.
- whenever possible, use keywords that overlap other keywords as you see above
- use exactly the same keyword phrases in the listing tags
- use additional keyword phrases from this list in the listing tags
- use exactly the same keyword phrases in the description (for Google)

When choosing the Primary Keyword phrase (the one at the beginning of the title), keep in mind that shoppers become much more specific in their use of keywords when they are ready to buy.

Be sure to eliminate as much duplicated text as possible in listing descriptions so that none of your listings are caught in Google's Duplicate Content Filter. You can read more about duplicate content here: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/8523243

Etsy is not using the listing description at this time but Google reads all of the text on each web page. For Google it is important to emphasize one keyword phrase over all the others. This is called the primary keyword phrase and is usually the first keyword phrase in the listing title.

For Google, use all of these keyword phrases in the listing description as well. Or use at least the Primary Keyword Phrase one or more times in description.

For this listing, the primary keyword phrase is mostly likely, "original watercolor" and this keyword phrase should be used at least 2 - 5 times in the listing description, depending on how long the description is. I also recommend repearing "gouache painting" a few times in the listing description.

For more on Keywords and how to use Google's Keyword tool, READ:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/11352/relevancy-and-seo-for-all-etsy-shops/discuss/9578247
http://www.etsy.com/teams/11352/relevancy-and-seo-for-all-etsy-shops/discuss/9647088


Higher search counts is not always the best reason to choose keywords. Keywords with high search counts usually have a lot of web sites competing for those keywords. Your listings would get lost way back in the search results and you would not see an increase in views. Targeted keyword phrases work better and generally convert views into sales faster. Studies have shown that shoppers become much more specific in their use of keyword phrases when they are ready to buy. These keywords are called Long Tail Keywords and you can read more about them here; http://www.brickmarketing.com/define-long-tail-keywords.htm

Work on building backlinks to move your listings up higher in Google search results for many more views - http://www.etsy.com/teams/11352/relevancy-and-seo-for-all-etsy-shops/discuss/9617969

Giving Google at least one week to pick up on your changes, can you come back after you have made changes for SEO and let us know how they worked out?

How to find out when Google last visited your shop: Go to google.com and type in your shop name is the search box and click enter. Your shop should be the first listing that you see on Google search results. Hover the mouse pointer to the right of your shop listing until you see faint arrows pointing to the right. You should then see a screen print of your main shop page. Move the mouse pointer to the right and click on "cached." You will then see the date that Google last cached (visited) your shop. Check this status every week or so until you see the cached date updated.

Do you have any questions?

[Former_Member]

Mary... THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the great advice. I'm making my changes, and will respond with an update in about a week <3

[Former_Member]

Just wanted to check in... I'm getting more hits from searches, which feels good. I get at least 5 views from search per day now. I haven't changed my descriptions yet, but that's next on my to-do list.

According to Statsy, my listings is on page one for "figure painting" and page 5 for "fashion painting," page 9 for "figure art"... which is good I think. But I'm not on the first 25 pages for either "original watercolor" or "fashion illustration" (unless I add a new item... then I get a bump for a few days). I guess those are competitive search terms on etsy!

Still doing research on different keywords I may have missed too... but H\how often should I tweak things? How much time should I give it to see whether it's working or not?

[Former_Member]

You can tweak things as often as you want but it's best to see what effect a change has before changing it again because otherwise you won't know which change did what.

Etsy seems to handle broad searches very differently than more targeted ones and the number of sales, views and hearts come into play then. Those of us with smaller shops that make labor-intensive one of a kind items and can't "renew sold" can't really compete well in that situation. For example, I can get on page 1 for plus size sweaters, plus size fashion, plus size clothing, and every kind of plus size sweater style there is but I can't get anywhere near the front of just "plus size". There's nothing wrong with my titles and tags, I just don't have enough sales to compete with the big shops that make the same things over and over and rack up the views and sales. There really isn't anything that we can do about it other than do the best we can with more targeted searches. I find it rather ironic that a handmade site penalizes artisans for making difficult one of a kind items but so it goes.

[Former_Member]

That's interesting. I never thought of it that way Karen... I feel a little better about how I'm doing then :) in your experience, what's the best way to "get found"? What's worked best for you?

[Former_Member]

Also... is there a good site that can help me understand my shop stats data and all the data I get from Google Analytics??

[Former_Member]

I've just stopped beating my head against the wall of "plus size" and focused my SEO on specific types of sweaters and I work as hard as I can on that. I use clothing and fashion in my titles in tags because a lot of people search on the first one and I occasionally get items into the curated Fashion section using the second one.

I'm sure that lots of us can help you understand your Etsy stats if you want to start a thread about that but so far none of us seem to be experts on google analytics.