SEO (search engine optimization) is a key step in getting your listings in the right Etsy shoppers’ search results. One of the most important aspects of optimizing your listings is using the proper keywords in your listings’ titles, descriptions, and tags. Etsy’s algorithm uses keywords to match your listings with shoppers’ queries, so choosing terms that are both relevant and have significant search interest is crucial.
There are millions (maybe even billions) of potential keywords, so how can you keep track of the ones that work for your business? Is there a way for you to store ideas for potential products based on keywords that you’ve found while researching? Is there a tool out there that’s designed to keep your terms organized, accessible, and updated with fresh data over time?
Look no further than eRank’s Keyword Lists! Available to all members, this tool is the place to store all of those terms that you don’t want to forget about. You can use Keyword Lists to keep track of trends, changes in competition levels, average monthly searches, and more.
Today, we’ll show you a demo of this tool and reveal how it can save you time and energy as you research keywords on Etsy.
Starting a New Keyword List With eRank
To create a new Keyword List (or access lists that you’ve already made), go to eRank’s Main Menu and select “Keyword Research.” Then, select “Keyword Lists” from the dropdown menu.
If you’ve already created keyword lists, you can access them from the sidebar on the left side of your screen. Please note that the number of keywords you can add to a list and the number of lists you can create vary, depending on which eRank plan you have. To start a new list, click the green “New List” button in the top left corner of your screen. Enter the name of your new list, add a personal note if necessary, and assign it a color if you need an extra level of personalization.
Finding Keywords to Add to Your List With eRank
Once your list is ready, the next step is finding keywords that are worth saving. If you look at the keyword data tables that are in many of eRank’s tools, you’ll see that there are stars to the left of each term. Click the star next to any keyword to add it to your current active keyword list (displayed in the bottom left corner of your screen). Tools such as the Keyword Tool and Trend Buzz are great places to start.
Keyword Tool
For this example, we typed “tote bag” into the Keyword Tool. If you scroll down to the “Keyword Ideas” section, you’ll see keyword suggestions related to “tote bag.” Next to each suggested term are metrics such as average monthly searches and competition. If you have a paid eRank plan, you’ll have the option to sort and filter the keywords. This allows you to refine the keywords in the table so that only the most relevant keywords for your shop are displayed.
The first two entries after our searched term are one-word keywords (“tote” and “bag”). While we don’t recommend having one-word listing tags, they can be worth adding to your Keyword Lists. Why?
- If you fit multiple one-word tags into a single tag “slot” on Etsy, you can exact-match all of the terms individually and the keyword phrase that they create when put together.
- You can monitor trends over time directly from your Keyword List by periodically checking in on the search traffic of these broad terms.
Click the star next to any term or keyword to add it to your Keyword List. To switch to another Keyword List, click the shortcut in the bottom left corner of your screen (where your current active list’s name is displayed).
Explore the different tabs within the Keyword Tool if you want to keep brainstorming keyword ideas. Add any promising terms to your list as you go. If you decide that you want to remove a keyword, simply click the star next to it. You can also click the Keyword List shortcut, click the list you want to access, and then click the trash can icon next to the keyword you want to remove.
Trend Buzz
Another place to gain inspiration and find relevant keywords for your listings is eRank’s Trend Buzz tool. This tool provides insight into what was popular yesterday, over the past seven days, and over the past 30 days in a variety of marketplaces. When you view the past 30 days of data on Etsy, you can view five additional categories of top trending keywords: colors, products, recipients, styles, and materials. This helps you gain an understanding of not only what shoppers are looking for, but who they’re buying it for and what features they prefer.
You can also click the star next to any keyword displayed in this tool to add it to your Keyword List. Be on the lookout for potential niches with low competition or high searches that are relevant to other Etsy niches. You could even have separate lists for holiday-related terms and seasonal keywords to keep an eye on search trends. This way, you can spot SEO opportunities and snag those keywords before your shop’s competitors find out about them.
Using Keyword Lists to Build Titles and Tags
Now that we have some terms saved, let’s discuss how having a Keyword List saves you time when you want to create new listings or optimize the ones that you already have.
Here you’ll see all of the keywords that you saved, along with their search volumes, competition levels, character counts, and average monthly Google searches. On the right side of the page, you’ll see a column where you can add your own personal notes for each entry. The note space is perfect for reminding yourself of why you saved specific keywords, or when you want to add specific keywords to your listings. You may also want to leave a note next to any keyword that’s part of a niche you wish to research more thoroughly in the future. These terms could, potentially, serve as a great starting point for new products.
One of the biggest time-saving reasons to use Keyword Lists is that the information for each keyword automatically updates each month when eRank receives new data. Gone are the days of having to manually update a spreadsheet! eRank handles that for you, giving you more time to work on other areas of your Etsy shop.
Using the Listing Builder
Another feature of this tool that helps sellers optimize their listings is the Listing Builder. Click the button in the top right corner of your screen to open this feature. Here, you can craft a title and a list of tags to copy and paste into a listing. Add keywords directly to the “Tags” section by checking the box to the left of any tag you wish to include and then clicking the “Add to Listing Builder” button that appears at the bottom of your screen.
Once you have a good selection of terms, crafting a title that incorporates the best keywords from your list will prove to be an easy task. Prioritize multi-word keywords and combine relevant one-word tags to make stronger keyword phrases. Structure your title so that it is descriptive, yet easy for shoppers to understand. As an example, here are the keywords we added to the “Tags” section:
Teacher tote bag, handmade, leather tote bag, art, personalized tote bag, floral, gold
Utilizing these keywords, we could write this title:
Personalized Floral Tote Bag for Art Teacher, Handmade Leather Bag with Gold Details
Please note that this is just an example. Always structure your titles to match your brand, products, and voice, to give it a personal touch and to highlight the details that make your item special!
Refining Tags for Better Etsy SEO
Now that we have the title written, it’s time to refine those tags. As stated earlier, we don’t want to include any one-word tags within our listings. We can, however, combine one-word tags into multi-word phrases, even if they don’t make sense. Believe it or not, word order in tags doesn’t matter to Etsy’s algorithm.
Click the “+ Add Keyword” button just above the keyword data table to add your new phrases. For us, that might include combining three one-word tags to make “art floral gold.” After this new tag has been added to your list, add it to your Listing Builder and remove the three original one-word tags to free up space for additional terms.
Continue adding and refining your tags until you are happy with all 13. Then, click the copy icon to copy them to your clipboard and paste them into your Etsy listing. The same goes for your title: simply click the copy icon next to it and paste it directly into your listing. Using this tool to start your listings on eRank, with each term’s data displayed for your reference, will prove to be much more efficient than solely using Etsy’s listing editor.
Streamline Your Etsy Keyword Research Workflow
At times, SEO may seem daunting and time-consuming. Fortunately, with eRank by your side, you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. Use eRank tools such as Keyword Lists and the other tools we’ve discussed today to save you time while researching and optimizing your listings.
For tool tutorials and advice from SEO experts, dive into our blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel. The more you learn, the better you can position your Etsy store for long-term success.
Our team is continuously improving eRank’s tools to better serve our members. Due to this, some of the content featured in this post may differ from the content featured on erank.com.
