Important SEO change on new shop pages

[#1]

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.

[dalystudios]

Mary, you're an angel.

[dalystudios]

BTW: I use Firefox on my Mac and I found this information by going to the Tools drop down menu > page info (shortcut: command i)

[MaxplanationPhotos]

thank you so much !

[stringandscissors]

Yes, on a MAC you can see "show page source". It won't open in another page but in a new window at the bottom of the page.

[ShopDeatsGifts]

Thanks Mary, marked definitely!

[Former_Member]

Thanks for posting the additional information on Viewing Page Source on a Mac. I know there are a lot of Mac users on Etsy who will find this useful.

[Former_Member]

Thank you Mary for your helpful tip!! Without you telling us I would never have known.

[Former_Member]

thank you!

[claylicious]

thank you :)

[GabriellasTreasures]

Mary, as always - Thank You! Trying to absorb all of this. I will be away from my shop for 5 days on vaca, what do you think is the "small window of time?

[Former_Member]

Thank you for shareing!

[Abbazappa]

wow, thanks so much for telling us all this, I'm going to change my announcement right away! :)

[happywrap]

Thanks Mary for the link to view it using Safari. I can see it now :0)

[Former_Member]

Great info ... thanks so much!

[Former_Member]

Someone asked about the drop-down sections with the new design.

The drop-down sections do not cause a problem for Google SEO. The program / source code shows that the keywords that are used in the section names are included in the Description tag for Google.

It would be better if the shop announcement text was visible and longer so that the section names could be included in the text for Google SEO, but the sections are okay without the shop announcement.

[SweetPeaPurseCompany]

Why is it that when I Google my shop, it says, "If you are interested in carrying Sweet Pea Purses in your brick and mortar or online shop, please contact me for my wholesale price list. What people are saying ...

I used to have that toward the middle of my shop announcement, but I took it out because it's not that big of a deal. Is there a way to get it to say the beginning of my announcement?

[SkySpiritStudios]

Great post Mary! Sharing this link with my team(s).
Thanks be to you:)

[Former_Member]

WOW... That's amazing! I had no idea you could do such a thing!! Thank you so much for the info and the advice. :-)

[Former_Member]

Anita,

Google is displaying the part of your shop announcement with the words, Sweet Pea Purses.

If you want Google to display the first sentence in your announcement when someone searches for your shop, then use the words Sweet Pea Purses in the first few words on the shop announcement. But this is the best place for at least one keywords phrase from your shop. Choose wisely.

[SkySpiritStudios]

Who else has noticed that the Shop Announcement has been moved to be included on the Policies Page. Where it was once The WELCOME message is now
INFO & POLICIES
Announcement
Does Google see our policies page?
At the moment, we can find that link >Info & Policies< at the bottom of our Home Page(?)

[Former_Member]

The shop policy page is visible to Google but it has little if any SEO value.

In the source code for the Shop policy page, there is only a title tag created for Google. There is no Keyword meta tag or Description meta tag.

The title tag created for Google for every Etsy shop's policy page is this:

<title>Etsy :: Your place to buy and sell all things handmade</title>

All the shop policy and other information is visible to Google but it does not have much SEO value.

[SweetPeaPurseCompany]

Thank you Mary to the answer to my question. I will work on what to say.

[Former_Member]

Very helpful! Thank you so much!

[TheCreativeQ]

Thank you for the great information!