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Etsy’s niche-specific e-commerce platform comes as a boom for craftspeople whose goods would otherwise drown among generic mass-produced products. However, competition is still high as the platform hosts approximately 4.3 million vendors. Therefore, a sound Etsy SEO strategy geared towards enhancing your listing’s discoverability is a worthwhile investment.

The first step towards selling big on Etsy is understanding the site’s ranking system and using effective SEO techniques like creating quality backlinks for ecommerce. Thankfully, Etsy’s search function and algorithm breakdown is an open secret. Find out how to utilize Etsy’s algorithm to revamp your SEO strategy and rank better on the platform.

Etsy SEO Breakdown: How It Works

Etsy’s algorithm centers on two primary factors, query matching, and ranking as explained below.

Query Matching

First, Etsy’s algorithm analyzes keyed-in search queries to establish the best-matching keywords before performing a search. The analysis facilitates narrowing down on the most relevant product listings to the search query. Below are the primary analyses areas regarding query matching.

• Titles
• Tags
• Attributes
• Categories and subcategories

Optimizing these primary factors will help you to increase listing visibility for a query search.

Ranking

Besides matching keywords and relevance, Etsy’s ranking system threshold also includes user experience elements that increase the conversion likelihood. Below are the platform’s algorithm considerations geared towards offering the best customer experience.

• Listing’s Relevance: Esty’s algorithm prioritizes listings that best align with a buyer’s search query.
• Quality Listing Score: It refers to an Etsy metric for rating stores’ conversion rates. Vendors with a higher conversion rate have a higher quality listing score, so their listings rank better.
• New Listings: Fresh listings get priority ranking for a limited period to establish buyer attitudes. Buyer attitudes have a bearing on ranking on other ranking parameters, including relevance.
• Customer Experience: Etsy’s customer-centric operational model is quite apparent. So, the platform ranks service-related factors like after-sale and customer support services reviews, content relevance and readability, store policies, and product reviews. Listings by vendors with high customer experience scores rank better.
• Shipping Costs: Shipping fees are defining factors for many e-commerce platform consumers; hence Etsy includes them in their ranking algorithm. Listings with affordable shipping fees rank better on the platform. For instance, offering free shipping may bolster your listing’s ranking.
• Language and Translation: Etsy is a global market platform, so buyers speaking various languages will likely shop for items. Listings with translation options rank better. Consider investing in manual translation rather than using translation bots if you want to tap into foreign markets.
• Search Query Context: Customer behavior also influences personalized ranking to meet unique customer preferences. While there isn’t much you can do directly about context-specific order, bolstering other ranking scores may help.

Building on the insight above, you can follow the five tips below to bolster your listings’ ranking accordingly.

5 Important Etsy SEO Tips to Improve Your Product Visibility

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1.   Establish The Most Relevant Keywords For High-quality Traffic

Keywords are pivotal in any SEO strategy, and Etsy’s SEO is no exception. They help you meet the platform’s query matching threshold. Below are a few pointers to help you narrow down on relevant keywords for Etsy SEO to improve your listings’ ranking.

1. Think like a buyer because empathy is vital in understanding and meeting customer needs. So put yourself in their shoes and imagine the search queries they would key in to meet particular needs. First-hand insight into customer thought processes allow you to narrow down on the best-ranking relevant long-tail keywords.

1. Utilize Etsy analytics to establish traffic-generating keywords. The analytics show the keywords that led to specific listings and help optimize particular listings.

1. Compliment your Etsy analytics by using SEO tools designed to match the platform’s algorithm. SEO tools do more than help you consider all possible keywords combinations. They show you the engagement rates and competition for specific keywords.

Premium SEO tools can help highlight optimization mistakes on your product listing’s landing page and suggest corrective measures. Others automatically generate top-ranking keywords relative to a specific product category on Etsy and predict keyword performance. The Etsy SEO tools are available for affordable monthly subscription fees starting from $10.

2.   Align Your Listings with Buyer Search Queries

After establishing the best-ranking and relevant keywords for your search query, use the keywords to optimize your product listings. Keywords on Etsy listings should appear on the product’s title and tags to boost query matching. The following are listing components to implement in your Etsy SEO strategy to enhance product visibility.

Titles

Product listing titles on Etsy are limited to 144 characters. So, while you are free to play with keywords and optimize your title, give preference to the most relevant keywords. The listing’s essence, inspiration, should come second in product descriptions.

Also, note that Etsy has some technicalities besides character length to consider when writing listing titles. For instance, you cannot include more than three words written in all caps in your title. Additionally, special characters (%) and (&) only appear once. However, the platform prohibits using ($) and (^) symbols in your title. Following the rules prevents the algorithm from flagging your listings.

Etsy Tags

Etsy tags are descriptive phrases whose primary function is to complement a listing’s keywords and enhance query matching optimization. However, Etsy tags also help boost a listing’s discoverability. For instance, if you sell paintings, a tag like “eco-friendly canvas” can draw eco-warriors to your listing.

You can add up to 13 Etsy tags on one listing, however, note that each tag is only 20 characters long, so get creative. If creativity is not your strong suit, you can enlist Etsy tag analyzer and generator tools. Note that the platform prioritizes listings with long-tail keywords.

Attributes

Etsy attributes are simply adjectives or product characteristics describing your listing. Each product category on Etsy has a specific list of attributes that can also serve as a search filter within the category. Select as many attributes that enhance your listing as possible.

Categories and Subcategories

Categories and subcategories exist to help buyers navigate the platform and quickly narrow down on relevant listings. Etsy experts recommend starting from the bottom by selecting the most relevant subcategories for your listing because the platform automatically picks up broader categories.

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3.   Content Is King

On-page optimization is also a vital component in a successful Etsy SEO strategy. After optimizing your listing components, you should also make your landing pages relevant for potential buyers.

Content encompasses copy, like product descriptions and brand bio, product images, and videos. So, ensure consistency among all your content elements; they should tell the same story.

Here are a few tips to improve your listings’ on-page optimization:

• Optimize your listings’ landing page by incorporating relevant keywords naturally into the “About Us” page and product descriptions as on-page keywords improve site rankings. However, avoid keyword stuffing as it would likely lower your relevance score.
• High-quality copy is only helpful if it is readable. Shoppers lack the time, energy, and interest to absorb large blocks of texts, so they skim instead. Therefore, enhance copy readability by breaking it down into short, easy-to-read paragraphs.
• Engaging copy also goes a long way in raising your relevance scores and user experience. Therefore, tell a story about your listing’s essence and offer a value proposition. Prioritize relevant information and include URL links to other similar or related listings in your e-store.
• Photos and videos add life to your listing’s story; Etsy accommodates a maximum of ten accompanying images. Consider uploading high-quality images that best showcase a product’s features like color, texture, size. Also, capture your products from varying angles to breathe life into your product listings.

4.   Prioritize A Positive Customer Experience

A customer’s market experience documents everything from your first interaction with your listing’s content to store policies like returns and refunds. Therefore, ensure they have a positive experience through and through.

Besides optimizing on-page content, it also helps to have buyer testimonials and reviews. Reviews offer prospective buyers insight into a listed product’s benefits from fellow buyers’ perspectives. Always make an effort to reach out to disgruntled customers who may leave a poor review and offer reparations where possible and practical.

Second, have reasonable yet user-friendly policies, particularly regarding returns and exchanges. Be forthcoming with your store policies and offer guidance on pertinent issues. Having a FAQ segment is an easy way to educate the masses about your store policy with minimal effort, inspiring consumer confidence.

Another way to bolster consumer confidence is by offering service guarantees. Product delivery guarantees, product insurance, and data security guarantee also help earn customer trust.

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5.   Offer Affordable Shipping Prices

Shipping fees impact a product’s overall cost; hence it is a crucial consideration for many shoppers. Consumers generally prefer buying goods from e-commerce vendors charging low delivery fees to pay higher freight charges for expedited delivery.

Etsy being a customer-centric platform algorithm gives vendors offering low shipping costs a better ranking. The platform even has a free-delivery badge for listings with free delivery.

However, free delivery may not be a viable business move for all businesses. Alternatively, if offering free delivery is beyond your scope of operation, you can transfer part of the shipping cost to the product price.

Alternatively, you can also utilize conditional free shipping on bulk purchases or orders worth not less than a preset amount. You can also offer free shipping within a limited radius, whereby it wouldn’t cost you much to offer deliveries.

Conclusion

Your store’s success on Etsy lies solely on your listing’s visibility, follow these Etsy SEO tips to increase your visibility. It may take a while, but it is worth it in the long run.