Here at eRank, we’re back again with the top keywords on Etsy now. Let us take the guesswork out of your Etsy SEO and product research. We’ll show you the most popular search terms with US shoppers. Then we’ll analyze what these trending keywords tell us about what’s selling best on Etsy these days.
Rather watch a video summary of this content? Here’s Pam Duthie (thanks, Pam!)
Tip: See what the most searched keywords on Etsy were yesterday, as well as on dozens of other marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Google Shopping.
The 20 most searched keywords on Etsy in March
1. gift
2. earrings
3. personalized necklace gift
4. necklace
5. jewelry
6. stickers
7. wall art
8. pokemon
9. tshirt
10. gift for her
11. shirt
12. home decor
13. rings
14. easter
15. keychain
16. birthday gift for her
17. ring
18. bracelet
19. birthday gift
20. custom portrait gift
Warning: Beware of trademarked terms. This report may contain keywords that are trademarked. USPTO Trademark Database
And just like that, snap! back to normal(ish)
Anyone remember last month’s report? Only four shopper searches on that Top 20 list hadn’t been on the previous month’s. We were shocked! The only time we’d ever seen such low Month-on-Month turnover on Etsy was early in the Pandemic.
In fact, for these past 18+ months we’ve been seeing the opposite. Turnover rates in our top 20 lists so consistently high, we had to adjust our norms. Before, we’d average about 7-9 “climbers” (Top 20 keywords not on the Top 20 list the month before). Then, around the same time Etsy announced they’d do more promoting on their homepage, that changed. The new norm has become having 11-13 keywords new MoM.
That is, up until February, when there were only four climbers. And for March? Well, we have twice as many climbers as February, which is a relief. But half are screamers.
The top Etsy searches climbing highest fastest
“Screamer” is our pet name for Top 20 keywords that hadn’t ranked anywhere in the previous month’s Top 1000. Which means these are the shopper searches that have climbed highest fastest from farthest down. (Or, as we think is the case with two here, they got pulled like rabbits out of a hat by Etsy.)
Here then are March’s eight climbers and screamers. We’ve listed them in current rank order, followed by their rank (if any) back in February.
#1 gift; it climbed up from #98
#3 personalized necklace gift (screamer; didn’t make the Top 1000 in February)
#14 easter, up from #39
#16 birthday gift for her (screamer)
#17 ring (screamer but “rings” plural ranked 10th in February)
#18 bracelet, up from #51
#19 birthday gift, up from #294
#20 custom portrait gift (screamer)
Let’s zip through these; we know you’re busy. And we need to leave time at the end for your Monthly CTR Roundup. See what the Top 250 keywords tell us about what’s selling best on Etsy in the US now.
No. 1 “gift,” up from #98
Geez Louise, talk about a broad keyword!
“Gift” is up nearly double Year on Year. But who thinks 120,920 March shoppers arrived on Etsy’s homepage to type just “gift” into search?
Instead, we bet many clicked Etsy’s homepage “Call To Action” button right here at the top, circled in orange. And circled in yellow, see that “gift-mode” up in the URL? (We learned this trick from our Pam Duthie.) We believe it’s possible our third-party data provider records this click as “gift.” That’s just a theory though!
All these promo buttons reflect Etsy’s commitment to us sellers (and shareholders) to do more on-site promoting. And we believe that these Etsy CTAs may also explain keywords like this next one.
No. 3: personalized necklace gift (screamer)
What do you think? Fourteen months with zero searches, then a sky-high spike of 82,890 searches in March: hmm.
We’re not saying people aren’t shopping Etsy for personalized necklaces! “Name necklace” ranks #381 in March’s Top 1000 and “personalized necklace” is #804. On the contrary, that spike above right is proof there’s shopper interest in this product. After all, they clicked the promo button. Like one of these.
We used incognito mode to see these and every time we did, the promos changed! Before, there were two with the word “necklace” in the top row – but you get the idea.
And see the one in the top row we circled in blue, “Party and gifting”? It’s phrased in the same sort of telltale Etsy-speak that helps us distinguish these screamers from organic shopper searches. (Like 20th-ranked screamer “custom portrait gift,” with a corresponding single-month spike of searches to match.)
Down the rabbit hole: “Party and gifting
Being data geeks, off we hared next on a side quest to look up “party and gifting” in Keyword Tool.
Like “personalized necklace gift,” its line chart shows a single spike preceded by 14 months of zeros. Unlike personalized necklace gift though, “party and gifting” garnered only 1,220 searches for March. Nowhere near enough to make March’s Top 1000. Nor even the Top 100 in Party Supplies. What it does have though is an astonishing Average CTR (Click-Through Rate): 148%! That’s a ton of purchase intent!
So we returned to our incognito Etsy homepage and clicked its promo button.
Looking closely, we see that “Party and gifting” is actually Etsy’s taxonomy. While on this landing page it displays as “Party & Gifting,” can you make out the link address? There at the end, it’s “party-and-gifting: www.etsy.com/c/craft-supplies-and-tools/paper-party-and-kids/party-and-gifting.
So far, it’s only a one-month spike. But its related-searches table in Keyword Tool shows real promise. The top six searches all have Average CTRs exceeding 100%. With that kind of purchase intent, this subcategory looks worth researching.
Here for ideas of what to sell on Etsy?
In case you’re new to online selling, here’s a quick explainer on click-through rates and purchase intent.
On ecommerce sites, click-through rates reflect how many times shoppers clicked individual listings in their search results. Therefore, CTRs can indicate purchase intent. That is, a shopper more likely searching with the intention to purchase (as opposed to one just browsing).
Absolutely, learning what the most popular search terms are now with Etsy’s shoppers is useful. But that’s just the half of it. For insight into which of these trending products are selling best, look to the click-through rates.
And now, back to our short list of March climbers. We can skip a few of these. For instance, you hardly need us to tell you why “easter” climbed into the March Top 20. Easter is early this year.
As for the two birthday-related climbers, we noticed Etsy promoting birthday gifts all month on its homepage. With no gift-focused holidays between Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, March is pretty much a dud. In all such months, Etsy employs birthday promos as stopgaps. So, let’s move on to screamer “ring.”
No. 17: ring (screamer)
At eRank, we record singular and plural keyword data separately, as the shopper entered them. That’s how “rings” plural could rank 10th in February while “ring” failed to crack the Top 1000. What gets our attention though is this. It’s common for “rings” and “ring” to both make the same Etsy Top 20 list. (As they did this March.) So what the heck happened to “ring” in February? Year on Year, it was down 60%!
That was its 15-mo low, too. Well, it’s certainly back now: “ring” is up 20% Year on Year. Month on Month, it’s up 135%! And per the Trend Alert banner, still going strong this week. With quite a lovely Average CTR of 129% as well.
By the way, “rings” plural only has 104%. However, once their data is merged (Keyword Tool’s default), their joint CTR rises to a worthy 113%. Plenty of purchase intent.
No. 18 bracelet, up from #51
Speaking of lovely CTRs: of March’s Top 20 keywords, bracelet’s monthly CTR is the highest: 138%! Even for Etsy, which has the most high CTRs of the markets we cover, that’s well up. Let’s have a look.
And my my, that’s some spike “bracelet” had back in January 2024! We checked the three months prior. Their search volumes were all in line with the rest we see here. So it was indeed just a single-month spike.
Was it Etsy, promoting “bracelet” for February 2024 gift-giving? They usually know what they’re doing; let’s face it, they have ALL the data. Bracelet’s lowest search volume in 15 months was still over 25,000/mo. And best of all is that Average CTR: 108%. (You just have to pick your way through that thicket of Etsy Competition.)
Hoping for greener pastures, let’s see what turns up in our Monthly CTR Roundup. Yes, it’s your insider access to the Top 250 keywords on Etsy that have the highest CTRs now. If you’re here to find out what to sell on Etsy, this lightning round is for you!
Roundup! Top Etsy searches with 125%+ CTRs now
As mentioned, of the online marketplaces we cover, Etsy has the most keywords with high CTRs. That said, even on Etsy, CTRs this high are rare. Note too, these calculations are based exclusively on March, our most recent full month of data. Therefore, regardless of their 12-mo CTRs, of the 250 highest-trending keywords, these products show the most purchase intent now.
Just a word of caution before we begin. Some of these shopper searches could cause an Etsy seller problems. Whether they be protected by intellectual property rights or prohibited by Etsy, please look before you leap!
Ranked from #1-50
In our last report, there was only one qualifier in the Top 20, “pokemon.” This month, there are three. Sixth-place stickers with a monthly CTR of 133%; #8 pokemon with 127%, and #18 bracelet with 138%. From here, for readability, we’ll only shout out CTRs of 140%+ (wildly high!). But all will have at least 125%.
Ranking at #21-23 is a trio of qualifiers: keycaps (150%!), poster, and crochet (150%!). Next, another high-flyer: #33 cat has 149%. Skip ahead to #37 for press on nails. Then we wind up the Top 50 with #46 sticker; it too has 150% for the month!
Ranking #51-100
Starting this group is a pair: #59-60 hat and graduation. The next is #66 bag with a CTR of 150% for March. Skip ahead a few and there’s another pair at #70-71: flower (150%!) and phone case. Next, at #74 is disney (150%) and then another pair, #76-77 mens rings and dog.
Gracious, all the rest have 150% March CTRs! #80 fursuit; #89 book; #93 bookmark; #96 slime; and #100 shoes.
Ranking #101-150
And that streak of 150%ers continues with #103 wallet. The next has only slightly less: with 147% is #110 mothers day shirt. And then the next four all have 150%, beginning with the pair at #117-118: keyboard and lavender. The third is #123 halloween. (And isn’t it awesome that on Etsy, “halloween” still has a 150% CTR in March?) And the fourth is #126 green. As mentioned in prior Roundups, one-word searches that are color names always seem to have 150%. No idea why.
It goes quiet from there until #138 dogs, which has a monthly CTR of 143%. Skip a couple and there’s a trio of qualifiers, all but the first with 150%. From #141-142 these are tea, mask, pink. And that’s it for the Top 150.
Next, ranked #151-200
First off here is #153 charms, then a pair at #155-156: dragon and moon, and at #162 is sweater. Jump ahead a bunch for #172 perfume with 150% and #175 digital product. And then we have four in a row, all with 150% CTRs. They’re #177 blue; #180 chrome hearts; and the pair at #183-184 genshin and keycap. The last two in the Top 200 is another pair, #195-196 toys and runescape.
And finally, ranking #201-250
Right at the start here is #201 chess. Then two in a row with 150% for the month: #204 heart and #206 carabiner. Next is #209 lord of the rings with 144%. And then another two in a row with 150%: #213 custom plush and #219 accessories.
Next, we have qualifiers #221 resume and #225 twitch overlays, then a pair at #230-231 mtg proxy and bow. And then four in a row, all with 150%! First the pair at #235-236 skull and begonia. Then a couple singletons, #238 texas and #241 shadow milk cookie. And to finish, at #243-244 a pair: sage and baldurs gate 3 poster (the latter has 150%).
We hope some of these prove to be profitable leads for you!
As for us, we’re off to see what’s trending in Etsy’s other top-selling countries
And even if you only ship within the US, you might want to come along. We always discover more about US trends as we research what’s popular in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Parlez vous français? You can read our monthly reports covering French Etsy shopper trends here.
As always, we love hearing what you think. Got questions or suggestions? You’re welcome to join us in eRank’s private Facebook group. With over 29,000 members from around the world, someone friendly is always up and about. And don’t miss our weekly live Q&As on YouTube, where you’ll also find dozens of eRank tutorials, demos and more! For instance, we just added a new weekly series of eRank tool tutorials every Tuesday. And here we are on TikTok with lots of fun and quick how-tos.
RESOURCES: eRank’s Trend Buzz and Keyword Tool have 15 months of historical Etsy search data to help you understand trends in what’s selling on Etsy now, what did well this time last year, and to help you spot what’s new. Together, they are the best way to track what’s popular with Etsy shoppers now.
