Why can't I figure out this SEO thing?!?

[StillDawning]

There was a small portion of time that I thought I had it partially figured out but now feel like I have no clue. When doing a search with any of the keywords it my title and tags, nothing comes up at least within the first 6 pages, whereas in the past I had much better success at finding myself on the first few pages. I have tried writing titles like a real person, and not a robot, that doesn't work, and I have tried writing titles that are basically key word stuffing which doesn't work for me. However, I see it working for many others. What am I doing wrong? Thank you for any honest feedback!

[Former_Member]

Just a thought but are you also maxing out all 13 tags? I find they are very relevant to etsy searches. And the most relevant keywords tend to work better near the beginning of your titles. Your descriptions also factor in. The first 160 characters or so should have all your keywords but in a "non-robotic" fashion. Take a look at the link to google below your description to see how you look in that format too.

[LeedsRadio]

How do you know it's your SEO?

Your listing aren't very clear. When I saw this one:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/275636884/one-of-a-kind-fabric-doll-cloth-doll

If first though "Who'd want a doll without clothes. Then I scrolled through the photos and though "Oh, you get several outfits, and that seems like a very fair price" only to scroll down the text to read

"This listing is for the doll only"

Which feels like a bait & switch.
If someone is selling a vase and there is a sofa in the product picture, no one is going to think the sofa comes with the vase, but if there are dried flowers in the vase, many people might think they are included.

Since no one is going to buy it without clothes why not offer it with one set of clothing?
You are playing all kind of games with upper and lower case. Your shop name
"ohbAbyseattle" I had to look at it and look at it again to figure out what is says
"OhBabySeattle" is a million times easier to read and REMEMBER. What's the motivation for the alternate? It's not obvious.

Same with "sAle Dolls" - what am I not getting?

And you only have 56 items. It's pretty much agreed that things start to happen when you get to around 100

Under policies:
" Processing time
The time I need to prepare an order for shipping varies. For details, see individual items."

This means for every item you have to click on the item and then click on "shipping and policies." Why not unify it and make all in stock items the same shipping window? It's adults buying you items for children probably mostly as gifts. When you give a gift the time frames isn't always flexible. For every person who buys Christmas gifts in July and birthday gifts three months ahead of time there is another who does it late minute.

[StillDawning]

Thank you for your feedback. The doll you link to is a recent idea where the customer can choose which outfit and accessories they would like on the doll, giving them more options. I have not received any feedback on people not liking that idea so it is great to hear your point of view Richard.

I have had over 100 items in my shop for a great deal of time and I am currently working as fast as I can to get my inventory back up but even during the time when I had over 100, my views were down.

While it is fair to question whether it is my SEO, or my product itself, that doesn't change the fact that my items don't appear in search as far as I can tell, and that is what my question was. I was looking for more help in understanding how that works and less of a shop critique. How would I know people aren't looking because of my name or product when I don't even see my listings?

You have given me some things to think about and maybe I need to do some more market research on my build your own wardrobe dolls.

Thank you also Katts, I do use all 13 tags and use the words in the title and the description.

[RomaMiaTradingCo]

When you do y our SEO, you have to think like your shopper. Honestly, when I see "one of a kind," I just sit there and think, "Do people actually search for listings like that?"

There were almost 9K listings for one of a kind rag dolls and ooak rag dolls. When I searched for read headed rag dolls, narrowed it down to 90, and honestly I can see someone searching for specific colored hair/skin of dolls that one of a kind dolls. You should describe what your doll actually looks like compared to one of a kind.

[StillDawning]

Thank you Nikki. I'm sure this sounds dumb but I never thought of the ooak description like you pointed out, probably following the crowd too much thinking that since there are a lot of people who use it for a title that I should as well.
I'm going to try listing them using a real description and see how that does. Thanks again for the outside view.

[Former_Member]

One thing that I did notice was that there were no measurements in your titles What size doll will your clothes fit? If I'm searching for clothes for an 18" doll, my search will begin with 18" doll clothes.

When I do a general search for 'fabric doll leggings' yours are on the first page. You can't get better than that!

Why are you using the phrase 'doll wardrobe' in many of your titles when you aren't selling a doll wardrobe? Hair extensions aren't a doll wardrobe and neither is a single piece of clothing. So anyone searching for a doll wardrobe will bypass your items. Doll's hair extensions would be a much better beginning to your title.

One thing that you might want to consider doing is to show pictures of the item being sold in all the photos rather than in only one photo. I like to look at the back of an item, the inside (showing the stitch detail), and a few closeups of any detail.

I also don't understand the upper and lower case selections. Yes people do search by shop name (its one of my most searched keywords) but they have to be able to remember it first.

Your shop name of ohbAbyseattle reads like 'ohb Aby seattle' which is not something I would easily remember. And your section names are the same. Shoppers appreciate it when things are easy to find in a shop, not harder!

On a side note, you may want to check out your 'blue headed rag doll' as the last photo does NOT show the gift box in the last photo as mentioned in the listing.