Where Is Your Etsy Traffic From?

It is a great thing to analyze your stats. Though sometimes you are not sure what to make of it. I have found that traffic from Search tends to lead to sells more than any other source. That means that someone was searching for something that you make and they found your listing.

On Etsy, the Search field, is comprised of searches done on Etsy, Google and then everything else. Be sure to look at your key words to see where the search comes from. Looking at your key words is also a good indication of what keywords you should use on your products. Note how many of the key words are actually phrases rather than single key words.

Being found in search is very important. Sure, any traffic can lead to a sale but you want to always try and stack the odds in your favor. Make sure your keywords are relevant and you should have no problem. For more on relevancy check out some of my other Etsy Relevancy Posts.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday with another post so be sure to stop back by. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the comments section or send me an email: MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Etsy Search Optimization

Over the weekend I answered someone's question on one of the forums at Etsy. They wanted to know how Etsy's search algorithm worked. So I wrote this up for them. I thought it would be good to share it here with all of you.

Etsy Search algorithm (the formula used to determine relevancy) is said to function like this:
First Etsy looks at the title for EXACT word phrase matches and lists those items as most relevant.
Second it looks for EXACT word phrases in the tags section and lists those matches.
Now, you have probably noticed that most of the listings in a relevant search DO NOT have EXACT keyword phrase matches in their title and maybe not even their tags and here is why:

Etsy also uses USER INPUT to determine relevancy. So, if someone searches for "crochet baby bib" and looks at 3 pages and clicks on a listing from page 3, that listing just got a huge bump in relevancy because someone found it relevant. Though the other listings previous to it were also relevant the one that got clicked became more relevant and jumped up to maybe page 2. It might have been what the user was looking for.

Now, the relevancy of being clicked does not just get a bump in a relevancy search. It gains relevancy if it is clicked on from any spot. If it is clicked on for a treasury or in the Newly listed section of the front page or clicked on from anywhere inside Etsy it gains relevancy based on its title and tags.

Renewing gives your item a small chance of being clicked on from different areas on Etsy. Renewing does not guarantee you a bump in relevancy just by renewing.

There are other aspects of the Etsy Search algorithm that they have not released and probably never will. The best thing to do is to make sure you have a very relevant title (mainly the first 3 words) and relevant tags. The better you are at describing the item in the title and guessing how a customer will search for your item the better chance you have of being found, clicked on and sold.

Lastly, it is far better to work within a niche rather than in the general category. Example:
It is better to optimize for Crochet Baby Bib than Baby Bib. You'll find far less competition the more specific you get with your title and tags.


You may experience a DROP in views but also a DROP in bounce rate. Being more relevant actually keeps those who are not interested in your items off your page and gains the ones that are looking for your items.


I hope you all had a great long weekend. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment or sending me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Etsy Search Vs Google Search

Etsy and Google use very different search algorithms. It is sometimes difficult to grasp trying to optimize for both Etsy and Google. Learning what they share and do not share can be the key to being found in both places. Do your best to optimize for both.

They both give weight to the title of your item. Etsy gives strong emphasis on the first three words of your title. Google gives a little weight to your entire title. Put the most important words first.

Etsy gives heavy weight on tags, Google all but ignores them. Using multiple keyword phrases is good for tags on Etsy. Repeating the same word on different tags is good because the Etsy search algorithm is looking for EXACT keyword matches. For example if you have a vintage red leather belt, try to think of ways people would search for it. "vintage leather" and "vintage belt" both describe the item and optimize you for two different phrases. Avoid tag stuffing. If you have a belt that is three colors "red orange blue" is not a way to describe it. You'll want to use the colors in separate tags like "red belt" and "orange leather" and "blue buckle".

Etsy does not use the description in their algorithm but Google uses it very heavily. Try to make sure that you have the keyword phrases listed in your description. Try to use them multiple times as long as you can make it sound conversational or descriptive without sounding too repetitive. I try to use the keyword phrases twice in the description and have some of my other keyword phrases spread out in the description since Google does not look at tags. Please note that since your tags are listed in the main body of your description it is possible that Google does see and use your tags slightly.

There are a lot more factors and variables that go into both search algorithms but I feel like these are the main ones that you have control over. Make your words count. Etsy and Google do not release all of what goes into their search algorithms so we may never know exactly whet they look for but taking steps to optimize for what we do know they are looking for will at least give us a better chance of being found.

The Art Of Tags And Keywords

I have been asked by a few people to try and explain tagging a little better, so here goes. Lets try to think of tags as search terms. Try to get the idea that a single word is a poor search term. If you are looking for an item like a "purple beaded chunky bracelet for a woman" would you try and look for it by typing "woman" into Google? Probably not. Depending on your search filter you may not like what you find.

The same thing goes for typing the word "purple" into Google. You are not going to find what you are looking for if you are not specific when you are searching. "Beaded bracelet" might get you a little closer, but it still does not say what you are looking for. When you search for something on the Internet you want to find it as quickly as possible and avoid as many unrelated items as you can.

Etsy allows you 20 characters to tag your item. That really is not a lot but it is plenty if you break up your tags. With relevancy, the Etsy search algorithm looks for exact keyword matches in exact orders. So, if you cannot fit all the words into one tag, break them up: "purple beaded chunky" and "bracelet for a woman" would work to get the exact keyword phrases listed. To me "purple beaded chunky" sounds a bit like tag stuffing so that isn't the best example, but I hope that helps a little.

Another question that has come up recently is repeating the same word in multiple tag phrases. Here is an example: "Steampunk Jewelry" and "Steampunk Necklace" and "Steampunk Choker" are all three different terms. Since the Etsy search is looking for exact matches, this is a good way to tag the item as long as it is relevant to the item. Each tag is treated individually. It would also be good to describe the item with all three terms in the description so that you are also making it easier for other search engines to pick up these terms. Some search engines do not put any weight on the tags you are using.

If you get stuck, take out a piece of paper or open a text editor and start entering all the words you can to describe the item you are tagging. Does a color describe it? Is it round? Does it fit into a holiday? Is it seasonal? What kind of person wears it? How was it made? Is there a special material involved? Is there a certain type of process used in the making? Though you may not use all of these for tags you may be surprised at how many ways there really are to describe it. You may even rewrite your descriptions because of it.

Try not to make tagging any harder than it has to be. Instead of not having enough ideas to fill the 13 slots, you should be looking at the way too many ideas and putting the best ones into the 13 slots. I hope this helps to clear a little bit more up on tagging. As always, I am here to answer your questions so keep them coming.

SEO The Ongoing Battle

One thing about Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is that it is an ever changing ongoing battle. What works one month may not work the next month. As more and more people optimize their titles and tags on Etsy the more you will have to modify yours to stay on top. I wish there was a solid onetime fix to keep you in the top of the search but there is not.

One way you can stay on top is marketing for the different holidays and trends. If you add holiday related tags and changes to your titles you may just get that extra boost that translates into sales. For example, right now the current trends on Etsy have moved away from Summer and Back To School and have headed over to Fall, Autumn and Halloween.

Keeping an eye on what is hot will keep your shop fresh and hot. Every morning I look at the current trending tags in the Treasury section. This give me an idea of what is trending daily and over the long run. Also, it is a good idea to subscribe to as many of the Etsy newsletters as you can. They all have valuable trending information in them.

Got questions? Comments? I want to hear them all.

Etsy Search Getting On Top With Descriptions

Etsy Search

I have talked about Keywords, Tags, Titles, and Photos now I would like to try and pull it all together with the addition of the Description. When a customer/shopper does an Etsy search, the first thing the Etsy Search Engine does is look to find exact keyword phrase matches in the title, tags and description. So trying to guess what the searcher is going to search is the name of the game. See the article on How People Search written earlier here.

You learned that placing your chosen keyword phrases into your Tags and Title help to be found. But you also learned that Tag stuffing and Title stuffing does not do any good. Etsy also says not to use generic terms in your tags such as "Stocking Stuffer" because it might be misleading. HOWEVER it is 100% okay to optimize your description for keyword phrases that are not allowed in the Tags section.

You can say your item is perfect for a Christmas Stocking Stuffer in your description. The Etsy search will look for exact keyword phrases in your description, so if you ran out of tags this is the perfect place to put them in. Just make sure that your description sounds conversational. Use your keywords you are trying to optimize for close to the beginning of the description and put things like exact measurements after all of that. It is rare that someone searches for a pendant that is 7/8 inch long. They will more than like be looking for a silver pendant or a steampunk pendant.

I hope this helps to clear a few things up for you. If not please feel free to ask a question and I will be happy to clarify for you.

Relevant Searching The Title Says It All

I have been discussing how tags and keywords are the foundation for "Relevant Searches" both on Google and on Etsy. Today I would like to talk briefly on how to use the keywords that you found while doing keyword research. The first place that Etsy looks for relevancy is in your title.

I am once again going to use myself as an example. I make chainmail jewelry. One of my hottest item for the last 15 years is the above pictured chainmail anklet. I did some research on the word anklet and found that many people do not use that term when searching. Many people use the term "ankle bracelet" when searching.

Now you would think that I would try and optimize for "chainmail" but the competition on that term is far too great for me to break into the top 3 pages on Google. So, I opted to try and optimize for "ankle bracelet" and "anklet" because they are searched less I have a better chance of being found.

Currently if you type "anklet bracelet" into Etsy's search, my chainmail ankle bracelet comes up on page one slot two of the search results. Why? Because the search term "ankle bracelet" is at the beginning of the TITLE, beginning of the DESCRIPTION and in my TAGS. The combination of your keywords in all three places makes your item  very relevant. It shows that you are an expert on this item.

The broader the term, the harder it is to rank high for relevancy. That is why I talked about keyword research and how to use your keyword phrases as tags. Using the keywords that you found doing research in your title helps to optimize for those keywords. Using a secondary keyword in your title helps to optimize for a second keyword or phrase. When you search for "anklet" on Etsy I am currently on page two slot 25 of the search.

I only have three ankle bracelet designs in my shop. Being able to be on page one or two in a search for the top two ways people look for anklets is great for me. Now here are the hard stats: there are 3,373 items for the term "ankle bracelet" and 17,184 items when you search "anklet" on Etsy. I optimized for the lower number of searches first and the higher number second. I did this because lower searches are easier to optimize for than higher searches. I chose my niche. Of course being in the first two pages for both when there are 20,000+ items is very good.

It may be a little harder when it comes to items on Etsy that are in the 100,000 range like 327,198 for "crochet" but if you optimize for "crochet hat" there are only 94,830. It is all about optimizing for something that is doable. Smaller numbers are easier to get on top with. I hope that helps a little. If you have questions please post them in comments and I will do my best to answer them.

How People Search For Things On The Internet

As you probably already know, Google is the largest search engine. Period. End of discussion. They have more traffic than all other search engines and indexes combined- times three. They are so big in fact that the word "search" has almost been completely replaced by the word "Google." You don't "search for it," you "Google it."

How do people find what they are looking for with millions upon millions of pages on the Internet? Even more importantly, how do they find your shop or your product? To answer that you need to understand how people search for things. Knowing how someone is looking for something can tell you exactly how to put your shop or your product in front of them.

When people are doing general research they tend to use single words for their search. For example, let's say someone is doing research on what you would wear to the Renaissance Faire. (It is easier for me to use myself as an example, because I know my product very well.) The first thing they might search for is the word "renaissance." Of course, in my experience it will be misspelled. Fortunately Google is more than likely going to recognize that it is misspelled and offer a search with the correct spelling.

That brings up around 158 million pages. It would take quite some time to weed through all of that. So the person searching decides to narrow their search by adding a word. The search is now for "Renaissance Fair" although most actually spell it "Faire." This brings the number of pages down to around 2.9 million results. They then decide that what they are really looking for is a "Renaissance Fair costume." Using this search term they manage to bring the number of results to 425,000 or so results.

In this list of results there are usually some pictures involved in the search page. These images actually help people to figure out what they are looking for. They see something in the picture that they really like and might even do a completely new search for it. For this example we are going to pretend they saw a picture of chainmail and they decide to look for "Renaissance Fair chainmail." They put it in the search bar and 63,000 results show up. Chainmail is spelled differently depending on who you ask. Chainmail, chain mail, and chainmaille are all accepted spellings of the word.

They happen to see a picture of a woman wearing chainmail jewelry, so they refine their search even more. They type "Renaissance Fair Chainmail Slave Bracelet" and there are only about 3600 results. Of which I happen to have four of the top 10 results on Google.

For me, optimizing my listings or my webpage or even my shop for the word "Renaissance" is just too daunting of a task. For one thing, someone typing in "Renaissance" is probably not looking for my chainmail jewelry. I concentrated on a much smaller niche. One that has far fewer searches but it more specific.

When people are doing research they tend to use one and two word phrases in their search. When people are looking to actually purchase items they tend to be very specific in their search terms. Three to five word searches make what you are looking for very specific. By optimizing your page, shop or product for three and four word searches, you can have a much better chance on getting your item in front of those who are looking for what you have.

Tomorrow, I will delve into the ways to actually optimize your page listing for people who are searching to buy your product. Just remember this is an ongoing process. There may be some quick fixes but much of what you do will take time to show results. Try not to get frustrated.

If you have any questions about how people search, leave a comment and I will do my best to answer your question. If you have more information to add, feel free.