Our February 2019 free desktop calendar for Etsy sellers is available for download! This month we’d like to wish you (our amazing small business creatives, crafters, and makers) a very happy Valentine’s Day!

February and Etsy SEO

Anyone else feel like January lasted forever and a day? Yeah, us too. Maybe it was coming out of the Christmas season and trying to recharge. Whatever the reason, we’re glad to be in a new month and want to look ahead at the coming year and what that means for Etsy SEO in general 😁

Etsy search is lovin’ it some Google search

Ok, so you probably know that Google search is pretty much obsessed with what you’re typing into its search bar. For real. That’s kinda Google’s thing. They specialize in giving us the absolute best search results that they can possibly pull back from the web. They want to know that the search results they’ve provided are being clicked on and “consumed” by the searcher, whether that’s through a purchase or whatever it may be.

And Etsy wants in on this kind of action too! They are now hyper focused on what buyers are typing into the search bar, what they’re clicking and what they’re purchasing and not purchasing.

This matters a lot

Why? Because, if a buyer is left frustrated after a million attempts at finding what they want, they’re going to leave. Adios. Sayonara. Bye. And this leads to zero income for Etsy sellers and ultimately, for Etsy. Which is definitely no bueno. Etsy does NOT want buyers leaving because they couldn’t find that super specific and weird piece of….whatever. They want them staying and PURCHASING!

So where does that leave you?

You should be concentrating on what buyers are actually typing into search. If you wouldn’t ever think to word a search term the way you currently have it on your listing, chances are your buyers won’t either. This means the more simple the better. If you’re over complicating it and someone with an English masters degree would have zero idea how to read that listing…probably means things need to be simplified and rethought😉

What you write really makes a difference.

Now, when we say simple WE DO NOT mean using click-baity titles just to get someone to click on your listing. That is definitely not a good idea. Why? Because, Etsy is tracking how often buyers click on your listings but don’t buy anything. If all buyers are doing is clicking and leaving your listing, Etsy won’t be prone to sending more buyers to that particular listing and further down it will sink in…rank…

But wait! I thought rank was dead?!

Well, yes and no. Let me explain. It seems that Etsy sellers are SUPER caught up in the idea of their listings “ranking” high in search results. That’s because, back in the day, this was absolutely a thing and it was also something you as an Etsy seller could track. But, that was in the good ol‘ days😉 Gone are the times when you could check on your listing’s rank yourself.

Now, with Etsy’s new contextualized search results, “rank” is specific to the person searching for an item. What does that mean? It means the rank you’re used to tracking is dead. Why? Because you won’t see the same results as someone else searching the exact same thing.

So what happens now?

First of all, don’t freak out. Second of all, you now want to concentrate on specific tags and finding those long tail keywords! Guys, long tail keywords are where it’s at🙌🏼 They don’t get the high search volume that generalized tags do, but “greeting card” isn’t going to get nearly the sales that your “unicorn rainbow fart card” will…ha😂 But seriously, it’s true. The more specific and long tail the keywords, the more likely you’ll be to have someone click on that listing and actually BUY it! Which is the goal, right?

But don’t think for one second that you can start using tags that are long tail but don’t reeeeally fit your listings. Stop that. The more honest you are with the tags you use, the better you’ll do. This just circles us right back around to Etsy wanting buyers to find what they’re looking for fast and follow through with purchasing said item. They DO NOT want them clicking and leaving, clicking and leaving, clicking and leaving. It’s annoying.

Be specific. Be honest. Give the people what they want.

Again, simple, clear, honest, long tail, specific keywords, people! Got it?? Great! That means you’re gonna tag colors, materials, who would want it, what it’s good for, anything that you can imagine searching for yourself. The clearer the better. The point is that you’re giving your buyers what they really want and making it easy for them to find you, cause you’re clearer than a church bell rinigng through the Swiss Alps! And if you’re clear and easy to find, Etsy is gonna fall in loooove with you ❤️ Hey look, circled back around to Valentine’s Day…see what I did there?? 😉

This is where we come in🙌🏼

So, does the “researching your tags” thing make you kinda wanna run screaming for the hills? Are you freaking out because, good grief, you just want to get back to creating?! Calm down. Deeep breaths. We’ve got you! When we say “research your keywords” what we’re really saying is “Hey! Let Marmalead help you!” If you use our tools, we’re not going to leave you out in the cold tundra that is currently all of America…pretty much ❄️#polarvortex

Of course, we believe that how you want to research your keywords is 100% up to you. But if you’ve made it this far in this post, we’re guessing you just wanna find the right keywords while still having time to be creative with your shop, which is what you REALLY love doing! So jump into Marmalead, reach out to us if you have questions, but PLEASE use the tools!

Um…I thought you could just do it for me?

That would be a big NOPE. We can’t do it for you. Marmalead is only as good as the time you put into learning it and using it. Did you get good at your craft overnight? Probably not…unless you’re a craft prodigy, in which case, kudos!

What we can do is offer you the best customer support and resources available in aiding you with your keyword research! And this gets us all really excited and stuff!

But remember…

Nothing changes over night. Please, for the love of mac and cheese, STOP CHANGING EVERYTHING AT ONCE AND THEN WONDERING WHERE YOU WENT WRONG. Seriously. Stop. It. Research your keywords, find those amazing specific and clear long tail keywoords, and then implement them slowly. There is absolutely no way you’ll know what’s working for you and what isn’t if you change everything! There will be zero way to track it. And it does take time to see results.

Are we there yet?!

Probably not. Look at this as a really long car ride. Don’t ask if you’re there yet unless it’s been about thirty days. On average, that’s about how long it takes for the dust to settle on the changes you’ve made to your listings. Every time you change your keywords, you’re basically back at ground zero with those keywords and you’ve got to allow some time to pass for the listing to build up traction again.

Your game plan

Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to go find the listings that have little to no movement, hop into Marmalead, research, find the keywords you want to try and apply them. Here’s what you’re NOT going to do: CHANGE LISTINGS THAT ARE ALREADY WORKING IN YOUR SHOP. Please don’t do this. We don’t care if the grade on that listing is a D, if it’s selling, DO NOT CHANGE IT. Remember, a listing grade is not the end all be all. It’s simply ONE part of the equation. And if a D is selling, then sweetheart, let that thing sell!

On the other hand, if you have an A grade on a listing that really hasn’t seen much movement, that’s what you want to work on! And of course the same holds true for a D graded listing that isn’t selling. Basically what we’re saying and going to repeat again is, DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING THAT’S WORKING WELL FOR YOU.

By the way, here’s your February calendar😉

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Whew! Now that we’ve gotten through all of that, we think you’re a champ and we’re super grateful for you! We’re here cheering you on to Etsy shop success and hope you have an absolutely amazing February with lots of sales❤️

Click to download:

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P.S.

Remember to let us know if you’d like to see any upcoming dates for March highlighted on your next calendar. And show us some love in the comments if you loved February’s calendar or if you have comments about our article!