10 Tweaks to Increase Traffic to Your Etsy Shop

You are feeling desperate and need an increase of traffic to your Etsy shop?

Want more ways to get more eyeballs on your products, but at a lost on where to begin?

I feel ya’!

You want to understand search engine optimization (SEO) just enough without spending all of eternity deciphering the behavior of the crawling bots that hold the key to ranking your shop.

I’m right there with you and totally feel your pain. In fact, SEO is one of the top struggles that Etsy sellers face every day. Even for those who don’t have a clue what SEO is.

Let me throw a little nugget your way…

One thing is certain, you don’t have to be a guru when it comes to Etsy SEO. You simply just need to know the fundamentals and you can be on your merry little way.

You should understand the very basics of Etsy SEO as it plays a huge part in the foundation of your business, but AGAIN, no one expects you to know everything about it.

Ummmkay! You can relax now!!

I’m going to reveal to you ten super-duper, extra simple tweaks you can make in one day to increase traffic to your Etsy shop.

Enter your deets below to get my free Etsy Kickstart Planner to help you reach your Etsy success. BUT WAIT! I'll also send you a coupon for 20% off your first order within my Etsy shop.

Enter your deets below to get my free Etsy Kickstart Planner to help you reach your Etsy success. BUT WAIT! I'll also send you a coupon for 20% off your first order within my Etsy shop.

1 | Add attributes to your listing

This area is often overlooked or not taken seriously by sellers. Attributes are found in each listing. They provide a specific characteristic about your item.

You should include relevant attributes per listing, as this nifty little section provides a way for potential customers to find your items. Attributes range from color choice, sizes, or relation to a specific holiday.

Pro Tip: No need to add an attribute to your title or tags, as Etsy is already using those attributes to help your items to be found. The exception to this is if you have something more specific not available in the list of attributes provided by Etsy.

For example, if your product is peach colored, select orange as the color attribute and list “peach” in your title in tags (example: peach baby headband).

Put some major effort into this area, will ya? It is a very simple way to maximize your items in search.

2 | Keywords

Keywords are used to describe your products. Stick with words that your target buyer would search for when shopping. As appealing as it may sound to create flowery words that resonate with you, it certainly isn’t the way to go when implementing keywords for your items.

As sellers, we must always think like a buyer, as they are the ones driving our sales. If you are using keywords that aren’t relevant to what a buyer would search for then you are fighting a losing battle.

Try again!

3 | Making your keywords work for you

Now that you understand the concept of keywords and its importance, it is time to put in some research.

Take some time to brainstorm keywords. It is a typical behavior of buyers to search items using phrases that describe what they are looking for as opposed to one-word terms. For that reason, multi-word keywords are a better option.

There are two types of keywords to use within your listings, broad and long-tail. Broad keywords consist of 1-2 words in length and provide a general description of your item. Whereas, long-tail keywords are more specific in nature and are made up of 3 or more descriptive words.

Here's an example of what I would use for broad keywords in my shop listings:

• girl headband
• newborn bow
• bow headband

As you can see, I have used very general terms.

And long-tail keywords…

• baby girl headbands
• newborn girl bow
• nylon baby headband

Much more specific about the type of headband and who it is made for.

Whenever I create a new listing, I always think about my target audience and the terms they would use to search. Many of my products are similar in nature, however they vary in colors and patterns, so I keep a running list as a quick go-to reference when needed. This keeps me from constantly searching for keywords to use for my listings and I don't have to go threw the brainstorming process over and over again.

Way too much work!

4 | Use a keyword research tool

Having trouble thinking of keywords? No problem-o! There’s no need to get yourself all in a tizzy over it. Utilize a keyword research tool to take some of the pressure off you. You have so much more to worry about.

There are a few ways to tackle this…

When I first started, I discovered Marmalead. Their platform not only helps with keyword ideas, it is exclusively designed for Etsy and it offers an analytic approach to your keyword search.

What more can a girl ask for!?!

Marmalead is a paid service, and often times when starting out, every dime counts. A great cost-effective alternative is, eRank. eRank offers three plan options and one of them is totally free.

I have also used Google Keyword Planner as resource. I must admit, the first time I tried it, I was completely lost. But, the more I worked with it I came to treasure this powerful tool. I typically utilize this tool alongside eRank to maximize my products being found.

If any of these platforms is not your jam head on over to Pinterest.

Ahhh, Pinterest, how I love you so!

Contrary to belief, Pinterest is not a social media platform, but rather a search engine similar to Google. You can pop in a search term and Pinterest will assist you by populating relevant keywords that support your search.

Well there, now you have it.

No more guessing games for you.

5 | Listing titles

You’ve found your keywords and now you know how to make them work for you.

Woohoo, we are making progress…

Now let’s apply these keywords and phrases into your listings -- starting with your titles for each item. The end-game is to create impactful titles that will have customers flocking to your shop.

What makes a solid title?

• The use of descriptive words and phrases that helps a buyer easily identify your item.
• Using the most important keywords at the very front of the listing. Primarily because the first few keywords weigh heavily in regards to being found in search. Also, buyers can only see the first few words of a title in search results.
• Utilizing all 140 characters. Don’t waste the space.
• Formatted titles with spacing and ‘ | ‘ (slashes) or ‘,’ (commas) for better readability.
• Doesn’t use cute terms to differentiate an item (FYI stick these terms in your listing description)

Pro tip: As tempting as it may be, do not duplicate your listings and think you have conquered the world. This is all too easy, especially when you have similar items. Unfortunately, this duplicate-and-go method doesn’t help with your reach to potential buyers. Doing this will only attract one type of buyer and put you at a disadvantage.

Instead, you can try duplicating your listings, switching around keywords or even swapping out a couple. The idea is you want to cast a wider net and reach tons of buyers in different search results that are relevant to what you are selling.

Just a thought!

6 | Tags

Your tags play more of a back-end role, yet it is just as important as your listing titles. Tags help shoppers find items that are relevant to what they search for on Etsy. Use the same strategy that you used for your titles with your tags.

But there’s more…

• Use the keywords that you placed in your title to add to your tags. This helps to strengthen relevancy. When you duplicate the keywords from your title and place them into your tags, it increases your chances of being bumped up in search.
• You are given thirteen tags to reach several different search queries, use all thirteen.

7 | Descriptions

Detailed descriptions are highly important for online businesses. Buyers don’t have the ability to touch, smell, or try-out our items. Presenting them with a description that not only describes the item clearly, but it should also answer any questions your buyer may have.

Why is this so important?

Because this step could make or break your sale. Having lackluster descriptions could be the deal breaker for the buyer that could stop them from purchasing your goodies.

Use a strong intro sentence to give your buyers an exact idea of what they are buying. You can then transition into color, texture, sizes, and give them ideas of a how the item can be used.

When drafting your description, use short paragraphs and bullets to break things up. People are always on the go, so make things simple, to the point and easy to follow.

The description area is also a nice spot to mention bonus content:

• You can add other item links that are relatable to that particular listing. Such as the remaining collection this item belongs to.
• If you have an outside website or blog, you can list your links.
• Email marketing, add your landing page link to build your list

8 | Don’t just set up shop and run

Here’s the deal, Etsy loves activity and recency. As a perk, Etsy returns the love by pushing you up in search for your consistent behavior.

Nice, right?

So, what should you do to remain in Etsy's good graces? Well, let’s start out with the easiest option, renewing.

Renewing gives your item a little boost in the search results for a certain timeframe. There are two ways of renewing an item. The first is an auto-renewal, this method occurs when an item is bought. This is more of an autopilot situation and automatically renews without you having to do a thing.

The other option is physically choosing an item and manually renewing it. In order to make manual renewals give you more bang for the buck is to trigger it at the right time. This would require you to review your shop stats to figure out when your target buyers are hanging out on Etsy.

Although the renewal method will give you a booster and create recency in your shop, it is certainly not a long-term option. Once upon of time, this was a surefire way to get a major boost. It doesn't hold a much weight now, but can possibly help. Think of it as a temporary fix, with small results.

After a renewal or two, if you notice no change, try re-evaluating your listing. Could it be your title and tag choice? How is your photo holding up with the competition? If all fails, it may be time to retire that item.

The way to really get love from Etsy is to…add more items.

Just that simple.

Don’t go crazy and try to spit out a butt load of products to fill up your shop. Not only is that exhausting, but it downgrades the quality of your product. Which is never good for business.

Instead, focus on adding a handful of items monthly to your shop. Find a number that is comfortable for you to create quality products that will make it irresistible for your buyers.

9 | Shop stats

Your shop stats are there for a reason. It is a great tool to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses within your shop. Your stats breakdown your traffic sources, listing performances, your target audience, and listings behavior.

One of the ways I use my stats is by monitoring my top performing products and focus on marketing them more, adding them to my Etsy ads, and duplicating those listings.

Keep in mind, Etsy SEO is not a one and done. I would review your overall SEO about once every 6 months. You can alter this a bit based on changes that may occur in your shop, such as a decrease in your views.

On the other hand, SEO does not require tinkering with it every day or every month for that matter. It generally takes, a minimum of 30 days for Etsy SEO to see results once a listing has been updated or a new item has been added. This timeframe increases the newer your shop is. So take it slow, be patient. If done correctly, you will come out on top.

10 | Think outside of Etsy

Relying 100% on Etsy SEO is not the greatest solution to ditching your 9-5. As much as I wish that were true, it couldn’t be far from the truth.

Yes, SEO is very important as an Etsy seller.

Yes, it is one of the best ways of getting traction on Etsy.

Yes, it is a fairly quick fix to getting sales.

BUT those tactics can be unpredictable and inconsistent. One day you have racked in a ton of sales you can barely contain yourself. The next day…radio silence. There’s really not a lot of control when you are functioning in this manner.

This strategy leaves you stumped, frustrated, and diminishes your mindset as a business owner.

Would it not be a power move if you had ALL the control of your shop’s success instead of leaving it up to Etsy?

The solution…implementing growth strategies...

…let's talk email marketing...

As outdated as it may seem, email marketing is still very relevant and the best way to convert your target audience into loyal, recurring buyers. Read how you can implement email marketing in your Etsy shop.

Using email as a growth strategy has worked wonders for my business. I can send out an email introducing a new product and my audience flocks to my shop. This happens because I have infused the know, like, and trust principle. This simply means that if people know you, like you, and trust you it's easier to convert prospective buyers into customers.

...now Pinterest...

Pinterest is also a part of my growth strategy. I use Pinterest to bring traffic to my Etsy shop. With the use of the scheduling tool, Tailwind (aff link), I am able to schedule out pins of my products without spending all day doing so. I created a free email course to help you nail down the fundamentals.

If you need more, I have eight more strategies you can read about and apply as needed to your business.

If you are looking for a quick fix, Etsy SEO is not the way to go solely. I am a firm believer that you should consider other options in addition to Etsy SEO to market your shop. However, I have found there is more success when your foundation is solid and planted firmly. Your SEO is part of your foundation.

When you join my email list, one of the first emails I send out is what is your reason? ::

:: Did you start Etsy because you wanted to make extra money? ::

:: or maybe you have grown tired of working for someone else and would like to be a full-time business ownder::

:: or maybe you want the flexibility and freedom that entrepreneurship brings::

Whatever that may be, avoid just using your creative talents ONLY to obtain success on Etsy. Be consistent, sell with intention, and create a product that people want to buy.

If want to dig deeper and get one step closer to reaching your goals, grab my ebook, Etsy Playbook.

Etsy Playbook is a 70+ Page eBook that shares with you how to turn your shop around and start making sales. It helps you take control of your shop and nail down what is working for you so that you can increase your traffic and accelerate your sales!

How will you apply these tips to your own listings? Share in the comments below.