Top Keywords on Etsy Now

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 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.

Reading time: 16 minutes

June’s Top 20 Etsy searches in the US 

1. wall art

2. earrings

3. rings

4. stickers

5. mug

6. gifts for dad

7. fathers day gift

8. shirt

9. travel

10. sticker

11. keychain

12. summer clothing

13. birthday gift

14. for dad

15. necklaces

16. jewelry

17. embroidery

18. necklace

19. tshirt

20. womens clothing

Interesting! More than one surprise in our US Top 20 this month. A major one is the dearth of graduation-related searches. Back in May, there were 17 searches with “graduation,” including two in the Top 20. And a year ago in June, four made the Top 1000. This June? Only two.

Here’s what “graduation” looks like now in Keyword Tool.

It’s got that bright-green banner telling us this has been among the most popular search terms this past week. But as you can see, “graduation” is down now, both Year on Year and Month on Month. It ranks #183 in June’s Top 1000; the other is “graduation gift” all the way down at #860. The takeaway here is to get your graduation-related gear listed by mid-February next year.

Another surprise is this one.

This is “travel.” It ranks 9^th on June’s Top 20, and it isn’t just a climber; it’s a screamer! In just a month, it’s up 1,740%! Definitely Spike of the Month territory. And as with all abrupt spikes this high, we suggest you watch it awhile before taking the plunge. Not saying it’s fishy but we smell Etsy. Anyone happen to spot an Etsy promotion labeled Travel on its US homepage? Meanwhile, let’s get to our climbers.

These top Etsy searches climbed highest the fastest in June

“Climbers” are what we call Top 20 keywords that didn’t make the previous month’s Top 20 list. We like to focus on these because they’re the hottest of the most-searched keywords on Etsy now. June had nine climbers, including that one screamer. So called because it seems to have screamed into the Top 20 out of nowhere. It didn’t even make May’s Top 1000.

So let’s get right to them, shall we? We’ve listed them in order with their current rank first.

#5 mug, up from #86

#6 gifts for dad, up from #308

#9 travel (screamer: didn’t rank in May’s Top 1000 at all)

#10 sticker, up from #52 (but stickers plural ranked 4^th in May)

#11 keychain, up from #46

#12 summer clothing, up from #51

#13 birthday gift, up from #25

#15 necklaces, up from #122

#17 embroidery, up from #110

Ranking 5^th: mug, up from #86

This keyword is hot! (And “mugs” plural is well up too; from 87^th back in May, it ranks 30^th now.) Here is No. 5 “mug.”

Mug is up both Month on Month and Year on Year. Wonder if lots more dads got mugs and keychains for Father’s Day this year? And speaking of which, let’s move right along to our next climber.

Ranking 6^th: gifts for dad, up from #308 

Fascinating! This keyword still has the banner telling us this search has been popular this past week. Even though at the time of this writing (July 2-3), Father’s Day was over two weeks ago. Are these procrastinators? Maybe they’re just still celebrating. Or could be they’re not seeing Dad until the Fourth?

Now yes, as you can see, Year on Year this particular keyword is way down. (As is the singular “gift for dad.”) But don’t be feeling bad for dads. There are so many variations of this search, including two others just in the Top 20 alone. Like this next one.

Ranking 14^th: for dad 

“For dad” ranked 6^th in May. While it’s not a climber this month, it was May’s single screamer.

As you can see, “for dad” is down a bit for June. But holy cow it’s still way up Year on Year – by 2,920%! This gain accounts for a good amount of what “gifts for dad” lost in 2024.

Accordingly, we suggest you use every variation of this search in your listing SEO. Here’s just one reason. “For dad” didn’t get the sizeable second bump that “gifts for dad” got for Christmas gift shopping in 2023. But it might this year!

Tip! For Father’s Day shopping, note that most US Etsy shoppers are searching in May. Therefore, have your dad-gift shop listings optimized by mid-March.

 

New to all this? How to optimize for popular search terms

“Optimize” is industry jargon taken from its meaning in computing. “To rearrange or rewrite (data, software, etc.) to improve efficiency of retrieval or processing.” In your Etsy shop, adding holiday-related keywords to your listings helps online shoppers find them. Have this optimizing finished six weeks ahead of when the keyword is expected to start climbing.

Here then for your optimizing are the top Etsy searches with “dad” trending now. Add them to a Keyword List!

Gifts for dad; for dad; new dad gift; hat for dad; dad tshirt; dad greeting card; dad wall art; outdoor decor for dad; dad; kitchen gift for dad; gifts for dad; dad gifts; greeting card for dad; dad; wall art for dad; dad svg.

And these are the keywords with father: fathers day gift; fathers day; fathers day card; fathers day svg; fathers day shirt; father; fathers day png; fathers day shirt; unique fathers day gifts; fathers day mug; fathers day gift from kids.

Ranking 11^th: keychain, up from #46 

By the way, we’re skipping right over climber #10 sticker because it isn’t really. The plural “stickers” ranked 4^th in May’s Top 20. That’s not the case with keychain; its plural ranked 200^th in May. So let’s look at “keychain” next.

We’ve talked about keychains before and more than once recently. As you can see, they’ve been trending for quite awhile ­– years actually. In fact, last month, “keychain” made Canada’s Top 20 list. But not the US list! It was at a 15-mo low. Even so, with 25,790 searches, that low was enough to rank 46^th in May. And now it’s bounced back up to take the 11^th spot on June’s Top 20.

We love nearly all of keychain’s stats. It’s just that pesky Competition figure. Are you here looking for what to sell on Etsy? You’ll need to niche down.

New to online selling? “Niche down” is jargon for finding products and their “superstar keywords” that you can rank for in search. If you are looking for what to sell on Etsy, begin your product research by niching down. Enter a broad keyword like “keychain” into Keyword Tool, then scroll down to the related-searches table. There, use filter and sort to find “long-tail keywords:” the top Etsy searches with lowest competition.

For those of you who are new to eRank, let’s do one to show you how that looks.

How to niche down to find superstar keywords using Keyword Tool

We’ve entered our broad shopper search “keychain” into Keyword Tool. We’ve seen that Etsy Competition figure. Yikes! So, we scrolled down to the Keyword Ideas table.

First, for Keyword Match type, we chose Broad (circled in light green here). This will show us all shopper searches with the word “keychain.” Then we sorted the data by the Search Trend column (circled in orange). This shows us the keywords that are trending right now. And yes, the top four have eye-wateringly high competition from your fellow US sellers. But check out the next five!

As always, you will need to avoid trademarked terms. But No. 6 on this list, betta keychain, should be fine. And it got 1,520 searches in June. It also has a spectacular average click-through rate (149%!). Best of all: only 75 other US listings are using this term!

Do you like the idea of making cute betta fish keychains to sell on Etsy? (“Cute” by the way is also trending in shopper searches now.) Then go forth and optimize your listings to make “betta keychain” one of your superstar keywords. Good luck!

You can use the same procedure to find ways to rank for any other broad shopper search. Like our next hot climber, “summer clothing.”

Ranking 12^th: summer clothing, up from #51

This search is so broad, no mere mortal could rank for it. You’ll need to niche down.

And unlike most of our other climbers, this one isn’t trending this week. See: no bright green banner. No doubt because early July is late for summer clothes shopping. In fact, in June’s Top 1000 we’re already seeing three searches for Back to School. And three for Halloween: “halloween” already ranks #42!

Ranking 13^th: birthday gift, up from #25 

We’ve been seeing this keyword this year among the top Etsy searches in the UK, Canada and Australia too. We didn’t use to; not in the Top 20.

And we think we know why that’s changed. Have a look.

There was also another Call To Action immediately above this one, promoting summer birthday gifts. Both are smack the middle of Etsy’s US homepage right now (7/3/2024). 

We’re in favor of Etsy doing all this extra promoting. We hope you are seeing it convert to sales!

Ranking 15^th: necklaces, up from #122 

This is the first time we’ve seen both of these necklace searches make a Top 20 list. We have this one, “necklaces,” ranking 15^th, and “necklace” in 18^th place. We also don’t usually see the plural form rank so high. Let’s have a look in Keyword Tool.

There are currently 18 searches with necklace/s on our Top 1000 list of most-searched keywords on Etsy. There were 16 back in August 2023 when “necklaces” hit its 15-mo high shown above. And mind you, the data shown here is just for the plural form. When we tick that little “Include Near Matches” box, search volume goes way up. Necklaces are popular!

What to sell on Etsy: necklace trends 

Doing our monthly review of the keywords populating our Monthly Trends report, we noticed “statement necklaces” are back. This is a style trend that comes and goes. Let’s have a look.

This time we ticked the box to see stats on both the singular and plural forms. The singular form, statement necklace, generally does much better. In the past 15 months, it hasn’t dropped below 1,200 searches/mo. The plural “statement necklaces” has dropped to 10/mo seven times! It just happens to be spiking now. And it also ranks 40^th in the Jewelry category.

And wow! While we were looking up statement necklaces in the Monthly Trends > Jewelry report, we spotted this.

This shopper search is “pearl necklace men.” It ranks 35^th in the Jewelry category right now. It’s got an excellent click-through rate and (for jewelry) a tolerable level of competition. Takeaway: when you are researching what to sell on Etsy, don’t overlook the Monthly Trends report!

Trend spotting: adjectives and styles in popular search terms on Etsy US now 

The Monthly Trends report is also good for spotting trends in adjectives that US Etsy shoppers are currently using. (Because these do change!) Some we noted this past month: cool; cute (many!); popular; whimsical; cozy (in gamer accessories, lol); cool; trendy; beautiful; aesthetic.

And it’s good for spotting trends in words that shoppers are currently using to describe styles. “Crust” was one (referencing the crust punk trend). Also, in no particular order: preppy; hippie boho; asian; aztec; korean; japanese; coquette; medieval; minimalist; renaissance; ethnic; egyptian; chinese; boho; indie; scene (the subculture); gothic; kawaii; weirdcore.

But for now, let’s get back to our last climber!

Ranking 17^th: embroidery, up from #105 

In our Category review we noticed more embroidered items trending. And sure enough: “embroidery” is back in the Top 20.

Anyone else surprised that so many shoppers search by such a broad keyword? They are usually shopping for embroidered items, or for embroidery kits or supplies. As you can see, we are nowhere near the high embroidery had in the months leading up April. If you can’t make it out, there were 108,910 searches for the word “embroidery” back in April of 2023. And we recall how high it trended before then; it really has been having a good run!

While it’s up enough to make the Top 20, only two searches made June’s Top 1000. This one and the second is #339 “embroidery designs.” Fewer than in May, when four made its Top 1000 list. And that’s it for our climbers this month.

Before we go, here are some odds and ends we’ve noticed trending among the top keywords on Etsy now.

Trends we’re watching

Live Action Role Play (LARP) is still as huge as ever on Etsy. It’s just hard to spot in the data because US shoppers aren’t using that acronym much. They just search for the item they want. Where you can see how gigantic this trend is though is in the Monthly Trends report. “Katana” (a Japanese sword) is in the No. 2 spot in Accessories. This is new! Before, the top keyword would be more like “sunglasses” or “silk scarf.”

You can’t see it because it ranks #152, but “knights helmet” is also trending in Accessories. Before the rise of LARP, searches like this only occurred around Halloween. And even then it typically wouldn’t trend high enough to leave much of a trace.

Manga, anime, video game gear and characters are also right up there with LARP items. “Dungeon meshi” (a Japanese manga series) has the No. 1 spot in Accessories. “Helluva boss,” an anime series on YouTube, is No. 3. And in fourth place? It’s “bayonetta,” a video game series. Taking fifth place: “omori,” a role-playing video game.

See for yourself.

Please be mindful of trademarks though. Four out of five of these are trademarked. You can’t use them in your Etsy listings without prior permission from the brands. (Yes, we know plenty of Etsy sellers do; but plenty also lose their shops. We don’t want that to happen to you!)

Look instead for what you’re able to list without licensing. But! Haha do be sure the item (like #2 “katana”) is also Etsy-legal and country/state legal. 

Inspired by games and anime

Researching product lines to add to your shop? Also consider how anime, games and toys have influenced two+ generations of US culture. So many top Etsy searches are trending due to the popularity of anime and games. For instance, ranked No. 10 in Accessories now is “omamori.” These are Japanese good-luck amulets, now popular in the US too.

Another we’ve mentioned recently is 29^th-ranked “itabag.” These began as a popular piece of apparel among anime and manga fans in Japan. Now, “itabag” ranks 5^th in the Bags & Purses category and “crossbody ita bag” is 15^th. And “ita bag” ranks #791 in June’s US Top 1000: hitting the big time! Mind the spelling and punctuation variants. We’ve seen it as one word, two words, and hyphenated.

Here’s “ita bag.”

This report is getting long and we know you’re busy! But summer is the best time to be doing this kind of new product research. Hope this helps get you started! Just mosey through the categories in the Monthly Trend feature. Google every term that’s unfamiliar. Then give it a click to review its stats in Keyword Tool.

Good luck with your hunt!

We’re off to see what’s trending in the other top Etsy countries we cover

And even if you only sell within the US, you might want to stick with us. 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 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! 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.