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By Danika Herrick on March 8, 2024
By Courtney Napier on February 12, 2024
One of the main benefits of selling on Etsy is gaining access to the over 95 million active customers on the platform. But, with millions of other sellers also competing for those customers, it is important that you take every opportunity to optimize your shop and listings for search ranking and discoverability.
Since opening the first Spoonflower Etsy shop in 2018, Spoonflower’s Etsy shops have earned over a million sales. Our team has learned a lot about what it takes to get found in search and be successful on the platform. In this third post in our Etsy Success Series, we are excited to share our top five tips to help sellers get found through Etsy’s search and drive more traffic to your listings.
And don’t miss bonus tips as you read from Isabella Diaz, Etsy’s Community Education Manager!
To create keywords to use in your listings, consider your customer’s mindset. Think about all of the things they might search for if they were looking for your product. If a shopper knows exactly what they want, enough to type in a very specific search query, they are much more likely to buy from you.
These super-specific search queries are called long-tail searches. To gain traffic from the customers who are ready to buy, you’ll use a diverse selection of keywords to match with as many relevant long-tail searches as possible. These keywords you discover in the process below will inform your product’s title, tags and description.
Think about what the customer may type in if they have seen a picture of your product and are now trying to find it on Etsy. What words would they use to search for it?
Do not use keywords that are unrelated to your product. The long-term success of your listing depends on how well you can describe your product to the search algorithm. If your product is shown in unrelated searches, it could result in fewer shop visits and fewer conversions (paying customers), which can in turn lead to your listing being deprioritized in future searches.
Long-tail searches often involve color, subject matter (think dog, cat) or style (think Boho or mid-century modern). Think about synonyms and all the words a customer might use to describe your product.
In Spoonflower’s Etsy shop, Petal Signature Cotton® is our most popular fabric, and since “Cotton Fabric” is an extremely common search query we include that phrase in our listing titles.
“I highly encourage all sellers to read through Etsy’s Ultimate Guide to Search—it is packed with information that will help you understand how search ranking works on Etsy and how you can improve the overall visibility of your shop and listings. Try not to get discouraged or be afraid to experiment and pivot when something isn’t working. It can take some trial and error on the way to growing a business!”
-Isabella Diaz, Etsy’s Community Education Manager
Use your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) research. Now that you have identified a mix of high-value and long-tail keywords, it is important to use them in the most efficient way possible across your title, tags and in your item description. As a rule of thumb, the terms used in your title should be a) of the highest value and b) most directly related to what your product actually is. Save more loosely related or general terms like “Father’s Day Gift” for your tags.
Don’t be afraid to max out your character limit! Maximize your relevant keyword coverage in titles and try to use all the characters allowed. Keep in mind that while your title can be up to 140 characters, only a preview of the first 20-40 characters will appear on search result pages. Make sure to lead with words that make it clear what the product is.
Use multiple keywords or phrases in your listing tags. When we add tags to Spoonflower listings, we pair the product name with each high-value keyword when there is room. For example, instead of just having a short tag for both “Floral” and for “Wallpaper” we will use the phrase “Floral Wallpaper”—this increases the likelihood we will have an exact match to the customer’s search query and help us rank higher in results.
Optimizing titles and tags is key to getting found for search queries, but we know typing a query into a search box isn’t the only way shoppers find things to buy on Etsy. There are navigation windows, filters and category pages to consider. To get found by shoppers browsing by these other methods, you will need to provide data via attributes.
When creating a listing, Etsy will provide you with many opportunities to include additional information (called attributes) for your product. Etsy decides what attributes to collect based on research into buyer behavior. The data collected in these fields will allow your listings to be indexed for discovery in all types of placements where customers may go to discover new products.
While attributes are an excellent way to provide details in addition to what will fit in your titles and tags, it is important to include any high-value data in as many places as possible. For example, Etsy will ask you to make selections for color in attributes, but you should also include important color terms in your titles, tags or item description.
As a marketplace, Etsy wants to know that the shops and listings they send traffic to will provide a positive experience for their customers. You want to have as many positive reviews and as few cases as possible to build trust with Etsy as well as potential buyers.
Most Etsy customers know they are dealing with a small business, so if you are communicating truthful and accurate information on your listings, most people will be understanding. For example, you should ensure your posted production times are in line with what you can deliver. You also want to make sure your photos accurately portray the color and size of the product so be intentional with your photography and staging.
We have found that Etsy shoppers are far more likely to reach out with questions pre-purchase than on our website or other online marketplaces. This is a wonderful opportunity to build a relationship with a potential new customer. Not only can you help them purchase exactly what they are looking for, but customer feedback via messages is our favorite resource to help improve our products and listings.
Etsy customers have high expectations for packaging and delivery. Be sure you are providing accurate and prompt tracking for your shipments, and that your packaging communicates the value of your product. Consider including a) a handwritten note or printed postcard that tells the customer more about you and your business, b) thank them for their support and c) remind them to leave a review.
Establishing a successful Etsy shop can take time. And while “new-ness” has value in the Etsy search algorithm, the performance history of your listings and shop is factored in as well. Utilize social media or other forms of direct traffic to drive your existing customers to purchase and leave reviews on new products, this will help boost your listings in search so new customers can find them as well.
Etsy has recently introduced a new social program called “Share and Save.” Any time a customer places an order using your unique link, Etsy will take 4% of the order total off your Etsy bill on orders placed using your unique link.
“Offsite Ads through Etsy is an easy way to promote your listings on platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bing and more! Prioritize the platform you feel most comfortable engaging with your customers and potential buyers. You don’t have to use every channel to promote your business. Choose the ones that feel most aligned with your brand and communication style.”
– Isabella Diaz, Etsy’s Community Education Manager
Emerson has been with Spoonflower since early 2015, working her way from a part-time gig cutting fabric in our factory, to leading our Third-Party Marketplaces team in promoting artist work on channels including Etsy, to her current role as Senior Manager of Merchandising for Spoonflower.com. She is on a mission to create opportunities that surface the right designs, on the right products, to the right customers, at the right time. Emerson lives in a 100-year-old home in Durham, North Carolina with her husband, Kiron, and their dog, Tuna.
More About Emerson Jones2 comments
Great tips. I’ve tried some of them before reading this article and thanks to your advice I found what I did wrong. So thanks for your helpful piece.
Hi, I’m wondering what the best way is to connect my Etsy shop to my spoonflower shop. Please advise. Thank you.
Hi Terry,
You can insert your Etsy shop link into your Spoonflower bio by clicking “Edit Your Shop” under your shop profile picture. And you can do the same on Etsy for your Spoonflower shop!
Best,
Anna
Spoonflower