Wondering what to sell on Etsy? Here at eRank, we’re back again to take the guesswork out of your Etsy SEO and tags. We’ll show you the most popular search terms with shoppers. Then we’ll analyze what these trending keywords tell us about what’s selling best on Etsy now.
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.
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March’s Top 20 Etsy searches in the US
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1. decor |
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2. wall art |
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3. easter |
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4. earrings |
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5. stickers |
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6. personalized gift |
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7. custom |
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8. home decor |
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9. birthday gifts |
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10. gift |
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11. kitchen |
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12. furniture |
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13. 14k gold chain necklace |
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14. jewelry |
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15. tshirt |
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16. necklace |
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17. womens clothing |
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18. helldivers |
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19. home gift |
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20. mugs |
Warning: Beware of trademarked terms. This list may contain keywords that are trademarked. USPTO Trademark Database
What’s new Month on Month to the US Top 20
Want to guess why we data geeks at eRank love March? It’s because March is one of the few months of the year with no major holidays. Major for Etsy shoppers, that is. Yes, there’s Easter. But Easter doesn’t take over the Top 1000 like Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Halloween, Dads & Grads and Mother’s Day do.
For the first time in months, March shows us a high-level overview of the most popular search terms. And as we take a closer look at these, maybe you’ll get ideas for what to sell on Etsy. We always do find some good leads!
For March, we have a moderate amount of turnover in our Top 20 list. Eight climbers – that is, Top 20 keywords which didn’t make the previous month’s Top 20 list. The parameters we use for Etsy: fewer than five new indicates oddly sluggish turnover. (We only saw that early in the pandemic.) And more than nine new is a volatile rate of change.
And of our eight climbers, only one this month is a screamer. Screamers are Top 20 keywords that failed to rank in the previous month’s Top 1000. So let’s get right to these, shall we?
March’s hottest, most popular keywords on Etsy
Here are the eight climbers, listed with current search rank first.
#9 birthday gifts, up from #323
#11 kitchen, up from #42
#12 furniture, up from #22
#13 14k gold chain necklace (didn’t rank in February’s Top 1000)
#15 tshirt, up from #44
#17 womens clothing, up from #33
#18 helldivers, up from #460
#19 home gift, up from #68
Five of these are no surprise. With Valentine’s gift shopping out of the way, there was simply more room for these to rank higher. Kitchen, furniture, tshirt, womens clothing, home gift make regular appearances on our Top 20 lists. But popular search terms means lots of demand which leads to lots of competition from your fellow Etsy sellers.
Therefore, let’s look at just the ones that climbed the highest fastest. Including the search that soared seemingly out of nowhere, 13th-ranked “14k gold chain necklace.” In fact, let’s start with that one.
Screamer of the Month: 14k gold chain necklace
Here it is in Keyword Tool.
Yikes: looks like our Screamer of the Month will be our Spike of the Month too! In February, its search volume was too low to estimate accurately – fewer than 10 Etsy shopper searches! But Year on Year, it’s up 4,829%. And when we hovered along that 15-mo Search Trend line, we got another surprise.
February 2024 was not the only month with 10 or fewer searches. That was true in May, June, August, September, November and December of 2023. And then January and February of 2024. More than half of the past 15 months. This keyword’s previous 15-mo high was in February 2023 and that was only 2,180 searches. (In case you can’t make it out, it’s up to 58,660 searches for March.)
Nevertheless, the most important stats here are in the Keyword Statistics bar chart. As sellers, we probably all remember to look at the Etsy Competition stat. But at least as important as that is the click data. Because clicks reflect “purchase intent.”
Purchase intent
Are you new to online selling?
Here, “clicks” refers to the number of times that shoppers using a given keyword clicked on listings in their search results. We care about these because clicks are among the indicators signaling “purchase intent.” That is, how close a shopper is to deciding to buy as opposed to one who’s still browsing.
And just look at this keyword’s dismal click-through rate (CTR)! Averaged over the past 12 months, it’s 50%. For the month of March, it was 49%. That’s mad low for one of the most searched keywords on Etsy in March!
So maybe just add “14k gold chain necklace” to a Keyword List and watch it for awhile. Because when it comes to screamers and spikes, our advice is to hold off. Let Keyword List monitor it while you do further research.
Notably, there are no other searches with “14k” in the Top 1000. Over a dozen have the word “gold.” But not “14k.” There’s just something odd about this one, so look before you leap.
No. 9 birthday gifts
Here is ninth-ranked “birthday gifts,” which in one month climbed up from #323.
Aha! Another spike!
We smell Etsy!
We’ve been talking about this for months now. It’s what Etsy itself has been telling us. That more and more, they are showing shoppers what Etsy’s algorithm suggests they might be interested in. And Etsy is promoting these keywords all over the site. For instance this was the US home page on April 2, 2024.
Now, we know Etsy has a breathtaking amount of shopper-behavior data! And its machine learning is doing just that: learning! With eRank, we can measure how well Etsy’s doing at predicting what its shoppers want. When a shopper clicks one of these prompts, that gets recorded in the search-count column. And if the shopper goes on to click a listing Etsy shows them, that counts as a click.
We can see that “birthday gifts” has more credibility than our March Screamer. With 59,860 searches, it ranks higher. Its Average CTR is 91%, which beats the heck out of 50%. Just don’t expect to rank for “birthday gifts.” Not with competition from your fellow Etsy sellers approaching six million.
No. 18 helldivers, up from #460
Last month we had “palworld” at No. 19. That one was the first game to make an Etsy Top 20 in… maybe ever? Now palworld has dropped down to #707 and it’s given way to “helldivers.”
For those not in the loop: Helldivers is a video game that came out in March 2015. Its sequel, Helldivers 2, was released in February 2024 when it soared to score #460 in Etsy’s Top 1000. Now, it’s up to 18th place!
And those are some fine keyword stats up there on the left. But if you’re looking for what to sell on Etsy, before you take the leap we have two caveats. One: last month Palworld looked a lot like Helldivers. And now?
Uh-oh. That said, Palworld is a role playing game (RPG) and all things role playing are such a hot trend on Etsy! Not just now but for years, and not just in the US but all over! In fact, both of these games are global hits. Below left are searchers by country for Palworld; Helldivers’ are on the right.
However! Remember that other caution we mentioned? It’s this: both of these keywords are so trademarked! And please note that we are data geeks, not attorneys. As such, we are not qualified to give legal advice. But as we so often say and hopefully it’s enough – Warning: Beware of trademarked terms.
Researching what to sell on Etsy?
There are legit ways to get a piece of that video game/RPG pie. Scroll through the categories in the Monthly Trends tool, especially Accessories; Art & Collectibles; even Bags & Purses! Art & Collectibles is stuffed with popular search terms that are game-related. For instance, 6th-ranked “metal gear solid” should be fine to sell on Etsy; it launched in 1998.
Many popular games are still too new to sell as vintage on Etsy. Instead, look for what you can sell without naming the game or its characters in your listing. Be careful with your images, too!
Rather than fish for terms for your listing SEO, focus your research on finding out what shoppers want. For instance, check out this popular search term, “fallout props.” (Which is about to get much hotter with Amazon’s new Fallout show premiering April 12.)
Now, those are some outstanding stats on the bar chart! Can you use this keyword in your listing? No, you cannot. Instead, have a look at what’s selling on Etsy with that keyword. Then figure out a way to make items for that world without infringing. How? Let’s look at this next one.
#15 in Bags & Purses: molle tactical pouch
This item is spiking right now.
As always, do your own thorough intellectual property (IP) due diligence of course. But in our own quick glance through the USPTO Trademark database it appeared clear enough. At least to use it here to illustrate what we mean. That you can make and sell an item which fits in a shooter game world without using the game’s IP.
And to show you that not every niche is already overrun! Just cast your eyes upon that Etsy Competition stat: only 153 sellers are currently using this keyword. And don’t be put off by that Averages Searches stat. It only appears so low because it’s averaged over 12 months. Whereas all the search volume was in March, which saw 1,520 searches. And get a load of that click-through rate: 149%!
Other fruitful categories in which to fish for RPG inspiration include Books, Movies & Music of course, and Clothing. In fact, we had to stop right there in Clothing to show you this next one.
#13 in Clothing: fursuit eyes
Have a look at the data for “fursuit eyes.” More spectacular than “molle tactical pouch” by a long shot!
On the first of every month we review all the keywords that go into our Etsy category Top 100 lists. Gear for fursuits have for years now been frequent fliers across several categories. In fact, “fursuit” ranks #193 on our Top 1000 list of most searched keywords on Etsy in March. Its Click-Through Rate for the month is 150%!
Here’s data on “fursuit.”
While searches are currently down to 12,620 for the month, check out that bright green Trend Alert banner. (On a small screen? It says, “This keyword has been popular on Etsy over the past week.”)
And all this we saw just skimming the Categories in Monthly Trends tool only as far as Clothing! Hopefully though, it’s enough to show you how good fishing those can be for finding what to sell on Etsy.
Obviously, we could go on and on…
But we’re eager to see what’s trending in our first-ever quarterly Etsy trends report! It will be like our annual Etsy trend report, just issued quarterly. So we can get that data to you more quickly. We’ll do that one next, then move on to reporting on the other top Etsy countries we cover.
And as always, we love hearing what you think about these or any other trends you’ve spotted. You’re welcome to join us in eRank’s private Facebook group. With over 28,000 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! And here we are on TikTok, featuring lots of 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.