Figuring out Etsy SEO is one of the hardest parts of running an Etsy business. “SEO” stands for "Search Engine Optimization." On Etsy, “optimizing” means improving how your listings rank in relevant shoppers' search results. If you want to start optimizing your listings, your first step is doing keyword research. Because you need to find out if shoppers search Etsy with the same words that you've included in their titles, descriptions, and tags. And that requires a data-driven keyword tool.

For this tutorial, we'll be using eRank’s Keyword Tool. It’s in eRank’s Main Menu under "Keyword Research." Ideally, when doing keyword research, you want to “start broad and niche your way down.” For example, let's say we’re selling a beige wool chunky knitted blanket. It's better to begin with the broad keyword “blanket.” That lets Keyword Tool find more of those niche-specific ideas that we need.

Now that we've entered our broad keyword, let’s spend some time at the top of the results page. Here, eRank displays several useful pieces of information. First, let’s look at the "Keyword Statistics" bar chart at the top of the page. Note that all of the metrics here are based on the past 12 months of Etsy data.

“Average Searches” shows the average number of monthly searches for "blanket" on Etsy. Average Clicks” is the average number of monthly clicks that listings in searches for that keyword get. “Average CTR” (Click-Through Rate) is the ratio of average monthly clicks to average monthly searches, expressed as a percentage. “Etsy Seller Competition” shows you how much competition you can expect for this keyword on Etsy search results pages. The number you see indicates the number of listings that were matched to the keyword. This metric does not include ads or personalized results.

As you can see, all of these are really high. That’s because the keyword we entered is broad. So, we won’t worry about these high numbers.

Next, let’s scroll down the page to the "Keyword Ideas" table. This is where we're going to find good keyword possibilities to experiment with in titles, descriptions, and tags.

We recommend using the Keyword Lists feature to save any interesting keywords that you find. This tool makes it easy to keep track of keywords and their data.

Click the star next to any keyword to add it to one of your keyword lists. Take a shortcut to your most recently edited list by clicking the floating green button in the bottom left corner of the page.

Then, whenever you want to work with those keywords, they’ll be right there, ready to go. Best of all, this tool updates all of your keywords' search data in real time.

When choosing keywords, we recommend using a combination of "low-hanging fruits" and one or two "high-hanging fruits." "Low-hanging fruits" are keywords that are not searched very often. They may not have the best click and click-through rates. However, their competition is lower. This means that your listings may be able to rank for them relatively quickly.

Terms that could be low-hanging fruits:

As we’ve seen, the broad keyword “blanket” has far too much competition for your listings to rank for it in search. That being said, they may be able to rank for some of these more specific terms.

To optimize for Etsy’s search engine, you'll need to appeal to both sides of its algorithm. One side prefers that listings' keywords are exactly the same as the keywords that shoppers type into the search bar. This is called "exact matching." Strong keyword-matching gives your listings a powerful boost in search.

Example: a shopper types "chunky knitted blanket" into Etsy’s search bar. For an exact match, we’d have "chunky knitted blanket" in the listing's titles and tags. We like to call these “superstar keywords” because they are the VIPs of your listings.

Choose your superstar keywords with care. They should be the search phrases that you want your listings to be known for. Let’s say “chunky knitted blanket” describes exactly what you sell. Next, you need to check the search volume data. Are shoppers using this exact phrase to search? If so, this would be a good superstar keyword for your listings.

The other side of Etsy's algorithm is a little less powerful, but still helps your listings rank. It's called "broad matching." During its broad-matching process, Etsy will mix and match. In other words, it puts together words that appear anywhere in your tags and titles.

The keyword phrase "cozy beige chunky knitted blanket" exact-matches for "chunky knitted blanket." Additionally, it broad-matches for:

Given Etsy's broad-matching capabilities, it’s unnecessary to repeat the same words over and over in the title. Rather than "Beige Knitted Blanket, Chunky Knitted Blanket, Cozy Blanket," try "Cozy Beige Chunky Knitted Blanket." It will exact-match for the superstar keyword, "chunky knitted blanket." And it will also broad-match for "cozy blanket," "beige blanket," "beige knitted blanket," and so on.

Without the needless repetitions of “blanket,” the title now has lots of room for other keywords. Etsy allows up to 140 characters in each listing's title. You’ll want to find terms closely related to your product that the listing could easily broad-match for. The term "wool blanket" is low-hanging fruit, so we’ll add “wool” to make the title "Cozy Beige Wool Chunky Knitted Blanket."

Etsy suggests having up to four keyword phrases in your listings' titles. But what if you’ve adequately described your item and can’t come up with another good descriptive phrase? In such cases, eRank recommends trying one related to your target customer. Now, these typically won't bring in a lot of traffic. But they are good to experiment with when you have the room to do so.

For instance, we could complete this listing's title by targeting buyers who are shopping for gifts for specific recipients. Let’s start by entering the broad search "gifts for" in Keyword Tool. It will generate a list of related suggestions.

From here, we scroll down to find “low-hanging fruit” keywords. At the time of this writing, "gift for female friend" has a search volume and competition level. So, we’ll save it to the Keyword List to keep an eye on.

Now, let’s add "gift for female friend" to the title. It reads: "Beige Wool Chunky Knitted blanket, Cozy Gift for Female Friend."

Now that the listing has a title, we want to head down to the "Tags" section and begin adding relevant keywords. The "Tags" section is another area that Etsy uses to make both exact matches and broad matches. Remember, exact matches are more powerful. Therefore, we'll prioritize keeping the superstar keywords together where possible.

For instance, the superstar keyword "chunky knitted blanket" is 22 characters. It’s too long to fit in a tag on its own. So, it needs to be split between two tags. We could either break it into "chunky knitted" or "knitted blanket." A quick check in Keyword Tool tells us that no one is searching "chunky knitted" on its own. This means that the best bet is "knitted blanket."

Next, we can add "chunky wool," "gift for female friend," and "cozy beige" to the tags. And hey, it looks like there's still some room left in the "Tags" section. Time to experiment! This is where to put keywords from the initial search that didn't make the cut for the title. While they were too broad or competitive for the title, they will be a good addition to the listing's tags.

Let's go back to the original search for "blanket" in Keyword Tool. We saved:

Let's add some of these to the tags.

Wait...didn't we say that we don't need to repeat the word blanket because Etsy will broad match it?” Yes, this is true. But often, you'll run out of keyword ideas before you fill all 13 tags. In such cases, it's better to aim for an exact match. Rather than adding a one-word tag like "boho," aim to rank for an exact match with “boho throw blanket.” This is all about testing and experimenting to see what works best for your shop.

Once you've published your listing, be patient! It's important to remember that Etsy's algorithm can take 60 to 90 days to build a quality score for your listing. Every time you add a new listing, Etsy begins collecting data based on how shoppers interact with it. And after a period of 60 to 90 days, Etsy has enough data to decide where that listing should rank in search.

Because of this, we do not recommend editing this listing again during that 60 to 90-day window! Don’t interrupt Etsy as it assesses your listing quality. Give your listing plenty of time to climb.

Last but not least, let's go over how to monitor your keywords. This way, you'll be the first to know when search trends change. What’s popular this year may not be popular next year. So, to maintain strong SEO in your shop, you'll need to keep a close eye on the search volume of the keywords in your listings.
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Let's go back to Keyword Lists. From there, you can select which list you want to review. When you open a list, you can see the current search data for each saved keyword. eRank updates this data in real-time. This way, when trends change, you'll be the first to know. Ideally, you'll know before your competitors do!

See these three? Their trend graphs show that they aren’t being searched as frequently anymore. “Soft blanket” appears to have been just a two-month fluke. Time to replace it with a search term that’s trending now.

We’ve covered how keywords optimize your listings for search engines. And that process is a necessary, powerful factor in determining rank (that is, being found) on Etsy. But keywords are just one element in Etsy's search algorithm.

To grow your shop on Etsy, you’ll need other ranking factors working for you as well. Some of the strongest signals Etsy's algorithm gets come from your shop's sales and reviews. Together, these tell Etsy whether it’s profitable and safe to recommend your products to more shoppers.

Using data-driven tools for keywords and help from the team here at eRank puts you on the path to Etsy success.