Title and Tag Example

[Former_Member]

I just saw this new team and decided to post this example which I had previously had posted in another thread:

Here's a title and tag example from my shop. I've sold many of these card sets in both packs of 4 and packs of 8.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88945837/modern-kraft-thank-you-cards-set-of-4

Title: Modern Kraft Thank You Cards, Set of 4, Handmade Note Cards, Embossed, Minimal

Tags: handmade card set, greeting card set, thank you card set, note card set, blank cards, kraft cards, embossed, modern, minimalist, almondcrafts, set of 4, A2 cards, kraft paper

Tips:
*Start off title with what item actually is: Modern Kraft Thank You Cards.
*Include multiple keyword phrases, these are phrases in my title that can be formed without rearranging any words: kraft thank you cards, thank you cards, cards set, set of 4, handmade note cards, note cards. These phrases match exactly in the order of words in my title.
*Include a couple choice adjectives: embossed and minimal. This helps when people search a style, or are making a themed treasury.
*Make sure tags match what is in the title, keeping the exact word order when possible.

According to my item stats, these are my top keywords for this item for the last 30 days:
*thank you cards
*thank you cards set
*thank you
*card
*kraft
*embossing
*note cards
*modern thank you cards
*minimalist thank you cards
*embosser
*kraft thank you cards
*kraft thank you notes
*etc.

As you can see, the search results match pretty closely to what is in my title and tags.

What's your strategy?

[Former_Member]

Etsy and Google match up keywords used in searches to to the text in your listings. If you change your titles and tags to use more or different keywords, the keywords will also change in the shop stats.

There are several people review requests ahead of yours. It will be another day or two to process your request.

Words grouped together work better on Etsy and on Google, but especially on Google. Google does not skip over words to form groups of words. Your strategy works to some extent on Etsy but would not work very well on Google.

[Former_Member]

Aman,

The "strategy" presented in this message is based on 9 years experience working with SEO Web design and making informed choices, testing, tweaking, testing again. Until it's as good as it can get. I hope you wil try it. You will be pleasantly surprised.

The first step in any successful SEO strategy is keyword research, both brainstorming for keywords, researching the keywords that you think will work and then choosing the ones that work the best.

The title for this listing is:

Modern Kraft Thank You Cards, Set of 4, Handmade Note Cards, Embossed, Minimal

The title tag for this listing that Google sees is:

<title>Modern Kraft Thank You Cards Set of 4 Handmade by AlmondCrafts</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 listing title, Etsy cuts off "Note Cards, Embossed, Minimal" from the title. Google does see the whole listing title elsewhere on the web page but many good words are missing from the very important title tag.

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 to make sure that it is seen in Google search results. Keyword phrases used in the beginning of listing titles also work better on Etsy.

After reading through the listing description I came up with several possible keywords. I tried a few keyword phrases on Google's Adwords: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?forceLegacy=true and came up with these search counts:


[blank note cards] 880 720
[blank notecards] 170 170
[blank thank you cards] 320 260
[embossed cards] 390 210
[embossed greeting cards] 36 28
[greeting cards] 201000 60500
[handmade cards] 22200 2900
[kraft cards] 46 22
[kraft thank you cards] 0 0
[minimal cards] 0 -
[modern kraft thank you card] - -
[modern thank you card] 12 12
[modern thank you cards] 110 91
[note card sets] 58 36
[note cards sets] - -
[note cards] 6600 5400
[notecards] 2900 2400
[thank you card sets] 46 28
[thank you cards sets] - -
[thank you cards] 60500 27100
[thank you notecards] 58 46


The number on the far right is the number of local (USA) 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:

Embossed Thank You Note Cards, Blank Thank You Cards, Thank You Notecards, blank notecards, Modern Thank You Cards (use both spellings, note cards and notecards, for more exposure/views)

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

Thank You Note Cards
Blank Thank You Cards
Thank You Notecards
Blank Notecards,
Modern Thank You Cards

For Etsy, repeating the main words, such as "Note Cards" and "Thank You Cards" helps to bring your listing up higher in the search results.

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.

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.

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 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

ALSO, add keywords that you have researched to the shop title as well as to the section names. I could find no record of searches on Google for your current shop title.

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

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

Can you come back after you have made changes for SEO and let us know how they worked out (Give it at least one week for Google to respond)?

Does this approach make sense or do you have any questions?

[Former_Member]

Mary,

Thanks for taking the time to write all that out!

I'll apply your advice to some other listings and see how it works out!

Aman

[Former_Member]

I used the Google Keyword Tool and changed some titles and tags around in my thank you card section. Many of the titles are pretty straightforward and match up with the keyword tool's advice: modern thank you cards, thank you note cards, etc.

My thank you cards are still my best sellers, but I seem to have lost my page ranking within Etsy for the search term "thank you card." I know Etsy "mixes things up" in terms of the relevant search, and I know that everyone can't be on page 1. Hopefully I'll climb back up to the first 3-4 pages again.

[Former_Member]

Waiting on Etsy sounds like a good idea. The time to cycle between first page and far back in the search results seems to vary a lot depending on how popular the keyword phrase is. Let us know what you find out from your testing.