Is it a good Etsy keyword strategy to duplicate your listings? What about making a copy of your Etsy listings to create new variations of a single item? Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to discuss this week on With a Twist!

Today, we’re answering a question submitted by one of our subscribers, FidoCustomPouches. In their Etsy shop, they sell custom storage pouches for pet tags and trackers. They attach to your pet’s collar. And they’re actually pretty cool!

So, the pouches they sell come in all different colors. And the question they asked is:

“Should I list all the colors as separate Etsy listings?“

So first things first, we want to say is thank you to FidoCustomPouches for submitting their question and giving us a chance to talk about this content.

Is duplicating your listings a good Etsy keyword strategy?

Now, before we answer the question that was asked, let’s get one thing out of the way. If you follow our YouTube channel or read our blog regularly, you know that we don’t recommend that you ever duplicate a listing to create a one-to-one exact copy.

Why not? Because you never want to have two Etsy listings that are exactly the same.

In other words, you never want two listings with the exact same photos, titles, descriptions, keywords, etc. There’s just literally no point in creating an exact copy of your listings. (And really, this should go without saying, but we’ve seen it happen before.)

Related: Here are 5 more things you should NEVER do with your Etsy listings

The reason is, if you create an exact copy of your Etsy listing, you’re not doubling your chances of getting found in search. Not at all actually. And really, this just makes duplicating your Etsy listings a massive waste of time.

So, no. Duplicating your listings is not a good Etsy keyword strategy. And you shouldn’t do it.

But, this isn’t technically the question that was asked. We just had to get that out of the way first.

So, what is a good Etsy keyword strategy?

Back to the question at hand.

They don’t want to create an exact duplicate of their current Etsy listings. Instead, they want to know if they should create multiple Etsy listings for different variations of their product because they offer multiple colors…

So in this case, should they have a different listing for each color that they offer?

We say, yes!

This is totally an option — you can absolutely create multiple listings for your different product variations.

Why is this a good Etsy keyword strategy? Because multiple listings of different product variations (optimized differently) give you an opportunity to try new strategies to find out what works.

This gives you a chance to:

• Try different focus keywords to see which performs better for your listings
• Target higher competition keywords to establishing a track record in higher competition markets
• It gives you a chance to optimize different groups of keywords for your various listings
• You can also try new combinations of tags, titles, and descriptions
• Or you can even change up your listing photos

Basically, all of this gives you multiple opportunities to appear in different Etsy searches, track conversions, and land more sales.

An effective Etsy keyword strategy means tracking what works

Once you have multiple listings set up for your product variations, you can keep track of which keywords outperform the others through your Etsy shop stats.

This is something we actually recommend, even if you’re creating a new listing for a single product variation. That’s because creating multiple listings is a great form of market testing. We call it A/B testing.

With A/B testing, you can see which Etsy listing performs the best and then make adjustments accordingly.

A/B testing also gives you a chance to optimize your listings on a testable scale. And this is something that we recommend you perform fairly regularly.

When A/B testing for Etsy doesn’t work

There’s a quick caveat for A/B testing that you should know…

Let’s say you’re a vintage shop and you’re selling a one-of-a-kind leather motorcycle jacket (or bomber jacket or whatever). It’s one of a kind and that’s what’s important for this example.

And you’re like, “Well, I wanna do some A/B testing and create multiple listings of this bomber jacket to see which one gets better traction.”

Well, that’s a terrible idea. Because you only possess one bomber jacket.

Here’s the thing. In order to create multiple listings for A/B testing, you need to have the physical inventory for each listing you create.

That’s because if you don’t have the inventory and both of your listings sell… well, you only have one jacket to fulfill your order. And that’s a problem.

When too many Etsy listings becomes a problem

Still, there are other instances where this may not work.

Maybe you have a thousand Etsy listings and every listing has five variations. In that case, if you create separate listings for each one, you’re going to have a bazillion listings floating around on Etsy. And that’s just going to be plain overwhelming for you and there’s no way you’ll be able to keep up with all of them.

So in this case, don’t create multiple Etsy listings for all of your product variations.

Conclusion

Creating multiple listings for your product variations is a great Etsy keyword strategy to try new methods of optimization. Not only that, targeting a new set of keywords or rephrasing your titles, tags, and descriptions can help you reach new markets and get more exposure for your products.

If this is an Etsy keyword strategy you were on the fence about trying, give it a shot and let us know how it works for you!

Thanks again for submitting this week’s question, FidoCustomPouches! If you’re an Etsy seller that wants to see your questions featured in a future blog post, drop them down in the comments below!

And if you’re enjoying our episodes of With a Twist, let us know what to drink next!

As always, happy selling!

 

Need help getting your products found on Etsy?

Improve your Etsy SEO with free Marmalead tools, designed to take your handmade business to the next level.

Get the FREE Tools