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Wondering how to improve your Etsy shop? Improve your Etsy sales? You probably know the answer has to do with improving your Etsy SEO. That is, Search Engine Optimization: how to make your Etsy listings easier for search engines to find. Are you wondering where to start?
Among eRank’s most useful hidden treasures are your Visibility Scores. Well, they’re not hidden. More like overlooked. My name is Pam Duthie. I’m a veteran Etsy shop owner and coach. Today I’ll explain what Visibility Scores are and why you need them. Then next week, I’ll have a step-by-step tutorial for you. In it, I’ll explain how you can use this metric to improve your Etsy shop and improve your Etsy sales.
In several of eRank listing reports, have you noticed the column titled “Visibility Score”? Below is a shot of my own Active Listings report. It shows my Visibility Scores for a few listings in my Etsy shop. (You can find your Active Listings report on the Main Menu under “Listings.”)
What on earth are Visibility Scores and what are they good for?
I’ll be explaining that, and also why they change, and how to use that metric to improve your Etsy shop. First though, here’s a tip: if you’re ever confused by an eRank feature? Just hover over the little orange question mark above it. (One is highlighted in the screenshot above.) These are called tooltips and they are exactly that. Tips about that particular feature of the eRank tool you’re using. A quick drill down of what it is.
For instance, this one says:
“Visibility Score: how your listing’s daily views compare with listings in thousands of other Etsy shops.”
Let’s have an example, shall we? A listing with a 90% Visibility Score has more average daily views than 90% of Etsy listings. Simple, right? And “daily views”? This takes the total of that listing’s views since you first created it. Then divides that count by the number of days since its creation.
What factors affect a Visibility Score?
Various types of items can have a varying number of people searching. Therefore, if you have different types of items in your shop? Make sure to compare the Visibility Scores between comparable items. That is to say: only compare the scores of similar items in your shop. For instance, items within the same listing subcategory. Or those made with similar materials. Or objects that are of the same size or use. Compare gold necklaces with gold necklaces. Large outdoor wreaths with large outdoor wreaths.
Factors that can change a listing’s Visibility Score
1) New listings can get a boost in search and be shown to your followers more. They may get a higher bump in average daily views for a week or two or three. Etsy does this to gather information about the listing and shopper response to it. Therefore, it’s normal for a listing to start off with a higher Visibility Score, and then drop over time.
2) Changes you make to your listing. Changes you make that affect SEO (title keywords, tags, adding attributes, etc.). Or changing your product photography. These can impact your listing’s visibility if the number of views that your item gets has changed.
Important to remember!
This score is an average over all time since its creation. This is why a listing’s Visibility Score will not change immediately after you’ve made a change to it. Rather, its Visibility Score will change slowly. Over a period of time. As buyer behavior towards your item changes due to the changes you’ve made.
Memorize this: Visibility measures the past performance of your item. For this reason, it cannot predict future performance. That is, how your listing will do in the future.
For that reason, changes you make to your listing can only change its visibility slowly over time. Rather than in days, think in terms of weeks. As it (hopefully) gains more views, hearts, sales, and positive feedback.
Next week, I’ll explain how to use these Visibility Scores to improve your Etsy shop and Etsy sales!
We’re Here to Help!
Hope you found this quick intro to Visibility Scores helpful. If you have questions, feel free to join our eRank community on Facebook. You’ll find lots of fellow Etsy sellers there. Quite a few of them are experienced veteran sellers, and everyone is happy to help.
We have members all over the world, so someone is always around to answer questions, day or night. Most Thursdays, we host a live Q&A there, too.
See you around!
Pam Duthie
Etsy Coach and Etsy shop owner
RESOURCES:
I made a video for eRank’s YouTube channel on this topic. The video includes how to use these Visibility Scores to improve your Etsy shop
Here are quite a few other eRank YT videos about visibility on Etsy
And in our blog library, eRank’s other articles about how to improve your Etsy shop and Etsy SEO.
Here are just a few on the topic of how to improve your Etsy shop:
- 7 Factors that Affect Rank on Etsy
- Boost Views with eRank’s Track Changes Tool
- For Etsy SEO: Renew or Relist?