Important SEO change on new shop pages

[Former_Member]

For SEO for Google searches, the shop announcement should include the keywords from the shop title and section names. The new shop pages do not include the shop announcement. Google and the other search engines still do see the shop title and section names but not the shop announcement.

Etsy has copied the first few words of the shop announcement along with "by shopname", into the description meta tag that is visible to Google and other search engines. The description meta tag is visible in Google search results. The description meta tag on my main Etsy shop page looks like this:

"An Etsy shop with professional SEO will always do by SEOWebDesign"

When the old shop pages with banners and shop announcement come back, it would be a very good idea, for anyone who cares about Google SEO, to add the main shop keywords to the first few words of the shop announcement. This way, no matter what happens with the design, shoppers searching for items like yours will see what you are selling in Google search results.

That is what it looks like right now - just the first few words from the shop announcement text copied into the description tag. Using at least the primary keyword phrase (such as "Handmade Beaded Jewelry" or "Knitted Baby Hats" etc) at the beginning of the shop announcement will ensure that this important piece of information is visible to the search engines such as Google.

The tags, such as title tag, keyword tag, and description tag, along with a lot of other tags that having nothing to do with SEO but are important to the search engines, are not visible on the Web page. The tags are part of the program code for every Web page.

The program code for any Web page can be seen by right clicking on a blank area of the Web page and selecting "View Source" or "View Source Code" from the drop down list. A new browser window will open up and display all the program code for the Web page you are looking at. Around line 20 from the top, you will see a few lines of code that look like this:

<title>SEO Web Design SEO Success Guide Books & by SEOWebDesign on Etsy</title>
<meta name="keywords" content="custom web design,web design templates,etsy shop seo guidebook,etsy shop banners" >
<meta name="description" content="An Etsy shop with professional SEO will always do by SEOWebDesign" >

Go to the main shop page of your Etsy shop and right click to view the code for your shop. Look for the Title tag, Keyword Tag and Description Tag starting at around line 20. You will see the shop title in the title tag, the section names in the keyword tag and the first 70 or so characters in the description tag.

[AppleWhite]

This is awesome information! thank you so much for taking the time to write this up! :)

[AuntBsAttic]

Thank you !

[MyDistinctDesigns]

thank you.

[ClarasHandMade]

Amazing thank you

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

Thank you!

[Former_Member]

Great info, thank YOU!!!

[TandRHandweaving]

Great informative information, thank you.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for taking the time to spell this out for us, Mary :)

[happywrap]

I don't get that option to 'view source code'. Using a Mac, is there another way to do it? Thanks so much for the interesting post and advice.

[SweetPeaPurseCompany]

Great information. Thank you.

[Former_Member]

Wendy,

Here is a link to Apple support with information for viewing the source code in Safari: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4325736?start=0&tstart=0

[beachgrasscottage]

Mary - if we see something we'd liked changed in the title and keywords, is there any way to make a change??

[Former_Member]

Dang! Thanks so much!

[SoCutiful]

Thank you so much, you are such a generous person spending your time helping us! I really appreciate your help.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

But don't make any changes yet!
This is just a test and only a select number of people see it.
That means all other people (and Google) still see it the normal way.
Again: no reason to make any changes now!

[LDphotography]

thank you very much

[Former_Member]

Shari,

The only way to change the words in the title tag for the main shop page is to change the shop title.

The only way to change the words in the keyword tag for the main shop page is to change the section names.

[Former_Member]

BeaG,

There are two very good reasons to make these changes now:

1. There may be only a small window of time to make this change before the move to the new design is permanent. The shop announcement might go away completely and then we might not be able change the words.

2. Google currently displays the first 140 characters of the shop announcement text. At least one of the main shop keywords should be in this part of the shop announcement so that , in Google searches, shoppers can easily see what you are selling in your shop

[Former_Member]

Thank you, Mary, that is very great information!

[EAGERforWORD]

Blimey! Just looked at the view source for this page - facebook?

I can't imagine that google will be of any relevance to most Etsy sellers unless they flog something very unusual but it is so hard to know the reason for changes in traffic.

All very interesting, thanks Mary.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Google is very important for my shop.
That is how most of my customers find me.
So yes, SEO is very important (not just for searches on Etsy).

[ShannonValentine]

Wow - very informative. Thanks so much for taking the time to share this information. :)

[Solandia]

That's really very nice of you to have written it! Many thanks!

[Former_Member]

Thanks Mary. Marking this!