How to optimize your keywords, titles, descriptions, and tags to be found on Etsy and Google Search.

Is your shop like a needle in a haystack?

Find your keywords:

Google adwords – what search terms are popular
Google insights for search – what are the most popular and up and coming search terms
Etsy Stats – what is currently driving your traffic
Etsy suggested keywords – appears when you type into the search bar – these are recent buyer search terms
Brainstorm synonyms
Good resource on Etsy blog for determining your keywords.
Think like a buyer. What would you search for? What would you search if you couldn’t find what you were looking for in the initial search? What you add colors, more descriptions? What details would you look for when searching for that item? How specific would you get?
Keep a notebook/record of potential keywords and keywords you’re using. Keep brainstorming on new keywords to include
Ask other friends to help you describe your item and give you ideas for keywords. Sometimes a fresh perspective helps

Plug in Your Keywords

Titles are given the most weight in Etsy search ranking
The first words in the title are the most important, especially the first THREE words.
EXACT Word pairs and matched phrases will rank higher in search.
All words in the title, however, will help you in search ranking, so if a keyword is relevant, try to include it.
Try to make your title look natural, not spammy. Don’t smash as many keywords as possible.
Be sure your titles are not too long - this could appear as spam to search engines.
Diversify your titles! This will make you more relevant in a lot of different searches.

Don’t duplicate descriptions across items – it could be ignored in Google
Make sure your item description contains the keywords from your title. Some warn repeating the title exactly could be considered duplicate data and be ignored in google, but I haven’t experienced this.
Try to repeat your keywords a few times in the description, but try to incorporate it naturally in the dialogue.

Use the keywords you found from google insights, adwords, etsy stats, etsy suggested keywords, and from brainstorming.
Again, vary your tags and make them unique across items – this increases your chances of being found in search
Use team tags on some of your listings, but mix them up.
If you have a long list of possible tags, rotate them
Don’t use the same tags for each listing
Tag pairs and tag phrases that are relevant will help you appear in search – i.e. sterling silver or green sea glass. Hitting on multiple words will give your item better ranking. There is a character limit, so keep the tag under the limit.

Google ranks based on shop description as well. Make sure your shop description contains some of the keywords you are targeting

Check if you are Syndicated and if you are eligible – this will allow you to appear in Google Product Search.
If you are not yet syndicated, but believe you are eligible, post on a message board requesting syndication. Most Etsy business teams have already started threads and have admin who currently check the boards.

After you’ve edited some of your items or posted something new, type in one of your target keywords and see where you appear in search.
Better to test with a NEW item you just listed, as it takes longer for an old item to be indexed by search if you just edited the title, description, or tags.
Work on tweaking your items, seeing what helps elevate you in search, but be sure to keep notes of your edits, so you know what worked!
*Go slowly with your changes – make sure they helped increase views from your stats page before changing all your items