• Tutorials
  • Ikea Hacks
  • Free Printables
  • Holiday
  • Handmade Gifts
  • Etsy Business

EverythingEtsy.com

Etsy Blog | Selling on Etsy | Etsy Banners | Giveaways & Creative Stuff

You are here: Home / Running Your Etsy Business / Using Keyword Research to Improve Etsy Sales

Using Keyword Research to Improve Etsy Sales

By Tim Layton 31 Comments

Did you know that Etsy Shops perform extremely well on Google?

The Etsy site as a whole has quite a bit of authority in the eyes of major search engines which can absolutely translate into sales for you! The most important part of the equation is in the wording you add to your Etsy shop.

We’ll show you how to get better at it!

Take a few minutes to do keyword research before writing your product description.

Here’s how you do that:

1.

Go to Google’s Keyword Research Tool (read the rest of the post first so you know what to do when you get there!)

2.

Think of some words that you think describe your product. I just pulled an idea out of the air and searched for “Wooden Toys” Here is the screen:

ScreenHunter 01 Jan. 29 11

3.

On the results page, you’ll see various phrases related to the term. These are combinations of words searched for (you can use quotations to search for exact worded phrases) and you can see how many searches per month Google gets for that term.

ScreenHunter 03 Jan. 29 11

4.

On the left, you can see a green bar… that shows how stiff the competition is for paid Google AdWords campaigns for that keyword group. The more solid the bar, the harder it will be to gain search traffic in that term (but you still should use it if the numbers are huge)

Run down that column looking for a term that has three characteristics:

  • It fits your product
  • It has low or medium competition
  • It gets at least 1000 searches per month, preferably more.

Since I don’t sell wooden toys this was more of an exercise for me, but I saw a decent idea! I saw that about 1600 people per month search for “Old Wooden Toys” and the competition wasn’t that high. Vintage (old) stuff sells great on Etsy! Maybe not a bad idea for a shop!

ScreenHunter 02 Jan. 29 11

5.

Once you find some good terms, include those in your item description. This will help your Etsy shop perform better in search results for your items! You can also keep a list of these terms so that you can use them in an AdWords campaign should you decide to advertise that way. Which we’ll be talking about soon.

I’ve really simplified this. If you want to get ultra-serious, there is a whole lot of information online about keyword research. It’s probably worth some time to learn even more. But this will get you started! Good luck!

(note fyi: this and most of the business how-to posts on Everything Etsy are written by someone far less pretty than the girl in the sidebar. I’m her lucky husband, Tim, aka RemodelingGuy. )

Related posts:

  1. Create an Etsy Banner in 10 Easy Steps – How-To Photoshop Elements
  2. How-To: Photograph Your Work For Sale On Etsy
  3. 20 Ways to Promote Your Etsy Shop with Discounts
  4. Success on Etsy {It’s a Sure Thing}

Filed Under: Running Your Etsy Business, Tutorials Tagged With: Etsy, etsy business, keyword research, sales, Tutorial, Tutorials

Comments

  1. Christy says

    January 29, 2010 at 9:33 pm

    Great tip, thanks for sharing. I’ll be sure to bookmark this.

    Reply
  2. Manette says

    January 31, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    Hey Tim, thanks for the tips, great info. By the way I found you on google search. I have tried using the search words you mention and still find that when I search for sea glass jewelry in google that my shop just doesn’t show up and yet many others do. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong. Thanks, newsprout

    Reply
  3. Jennifer Schulting says

    February 1, 2010 at 10:12 pm

    WOW, that’s all I can say…so happy to have found this site. My etsy store is under a major reconstruction and I’m so grateful to have found Everything Etsy…haven’t found a post yet that I can’t use something out of it. Thank You very much……..

    Reply
  4. angie says

    February 2, 2010 at 1:04 am

    This is a great tip. I have been wondering how everyone “just knows” what terms to use. Thanks for posting this! I will be book marking this for later.

    Reply
  5. Genevieve says

    March 23, 2010 at 11:14 am

    What a great link! I agree ~ this may be more helpful than the color naming (but I still like that idea too).

    🙂

    Genevieve

    Reply
  6. Jen says

    March 24, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    Great info! Thanks! Love your site!
    .-= Jen´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.

    Reply
  7. Kat, Designs by Kat says

    March 25, 2010 at 10:31 pm

    Thanks so much for this! Lovin the blog- just found it today and aleady added the banner to my own little blog, http://www.customdesignsbykat.blogspot.com. Thanks for the tip!
    -Kat

    Reply
  8. Niki Miller says

    March 26, 2010 at 10:19 am

    Great tip! Thank you so much! I’m currently working on revamping my site and I’m going to try this!

    Reply
  9. Jami says

    March 29, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    Awesome tip! I just found quite a few keywords that I never would have thought to use. Thanks!

    Reply
  10. Holly says

    March 29, 2010 at 10:09 pm

    Just a quick ?- Do you paste these words in the description of your item, or just use them as your tags?? That’s the only thing I wanted to make sure I am getting right?? Thanks!

    Reply
  11. Everything Etsy says

    March 29, 2010 at 10:17 pm

    Hi Holly – Once you find keywords that are fitting for your items, you want to use those words in a natural manner in your item description. You can also use them in the tags, and you can use any that are fitting, but couldn’t be naturally worked into your wording, in the tags. It’s not a problem to duplicate the same keywords in the tags that you use in the item descriptions. If I had to pick, I would say the words in the item description are more important.

    Reply
  12. Holly says

    March 29, 2010 at 10:46 pm

    Great! Thanks so much for the tips! I am definitely going to do this!

    Reply
  13. Judy says

    April 13, 2010 at 7:53 pm

    Thanks so much for this information. My partner Alisa and I are relatively new to etsy and are trying to figure out how to get more customer traffic. I can see that knowing how to describe our wonderful clothing will go a long way toward boosting sales! Thank you again.

    Reply
  14. GreenTrunk says

    June 5, 2010 at 8:12 am

    Much needed info Thanks!
    .-= GreenTrunk´s last blog ..Smart Women Tote Bag =-.

    Reply
  15. Rene@bargainhoot says

    June 25, 2010 at 10:01 pm

    Thank you so much! This is great info!

    Reply
  16. Lee Ann says

    October 13, 2010 at 11:00 pm

    Wow! Great information! Thank you very much for taking the time to share this. I can see that I am going to learn so much here that will help me and my shop!

    Lee Ann
    .-= Lee Ann´s last blog ..I Love This Idea! =-.

    Reply
  17. Echo says

    October 27, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    Great tip! Thanks:)

    Reply
  18. Charla says

    February 14, 2011 at 10:13 am

    What a great article and more importantly, what a great husband for the lovely comment about your wife!

    Reply
  19. doris says

    February 21, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    Thank you so much for your insight. I haven’t yet sit up my site, but with the information you have given me I will be ready very soon.

    Reply
  20. margarita says

    July 27, 2011 at 2:55 am

    I’m on it…
    .-= margarita´s last blog ..Cuidados debidos =-.

    Reply
  21. mouse design says

    August 8, 2011 at 1:36 am

    i am new at etsy and your site is a treasure for me 🙂 i do not have many keywords and i am working it these days so that will be helpful! i always think the more the better!
    .-= mouse design´s last blog ..wooden hearts earrings =-.

    Reply
  22. molgallery says

    September 15, 2011 at 11:57 am

    Thank you for your info.Could you provide us with few additional good links re:kewords/adwords.
    Stay well,
    molgallery

    Reply
  23. Cranberry Morning says

    October 25, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    Friends are urging me to start an Etsy site, rather than only selling my handcrafted soaps. I am SO glad I found your site before trying to get an Etsy store up and running. I can see that I need to do a lot of work re. key words and phrases before starting. Thanks so much for all the valuable help!!

    Reply
  24. Amy says

    January 5, 2012 at 11:58 am

    Great idea! I’ve been really stuck sometimes with my tagging – I do know enough to use my shop name as a tag but I often have trouble using all 13 tags. This may really help me and I look forward to trying it for my next listing (I try to list 1 or 2 items a day).

    Reply
  25. Victoria Valentine says

    November 8, 2012 at 10:09 am

    Thanks so much! I am also a new Etsy shop person and appreciate all the advise that anyone has to offer. Will get busy on those tags and keywords today.

    Reply
  26. Victoria Valentine says

    November 8, 2012 at 10:11 am

    opps that should be – do not know how that happened
    thanks again for all the info

    Reply
  27. dog trainers raleigh nc says

    January 29, 2014 at 10:20 am

    This type of coat tends to thicken with temperature changes, or regbular clipping, and it will alsdo hed
    out minimally, but regularly, as well. History: The Lőwchen came from Europe from about
    1610. We have had other pets since Maggie aand faced
    the same end-of-life decision years later with our two springer spaniels.

    Reply
Previous Post Love is in the Air!
Next Post Beautiful Etsy Finds for Today

Trackbacks

  1. Etsy Shop SEO {Video Tutorial} says:
    February 9, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    […] For more information, check out the post from last year that spells out the details of keyword research. […]

    Reply
  2. Learn Basic SEO for Etsy says:
    February 25, 2012 at 1:23 am

    […] more information, check out the post from last year that spells out the details of keyword research. Filed Under: Selling Tools, […]

    Reply
  3. Does Focusing on Keywords Increase Sales? says:
    February 27, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    […] Post: Using Keyword Research to Improve Etsy Sales Tweet Related Posts:Etsy EmpowermentThree Months Advertising for $30.00 – Sp…Sweet Treats […]

    Reply
  4. Basic Etsy Shop SEO Video says:
    February 29, 2012 at 4:58 pm

    […] Using Keyword Research to Improve Etsy Sales Share this:FacebookEmailPrint Filed Under: Videos […]

    Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Never miss a post:

Enter your email address:

Sell doTERRAEssential Oils How to Start a Blog for Your Etsy Business

 


 

 

 


follow EverythingEtsy on Pinterest


Disclosure: Various posts and pages on this site include affiliate links. We could earn a referral fee if you make a purchase through those links. Your purchase won't cost you more because you followed our link and we only refer you to sources we can personally recommend.

RSS Now at HandmadeandCraft.com

  • 12 DIY Kitchen Ideas
  • 15 Easter Cupcake Recipes
  • Organize with a Chalkboard Wall Calendar!

RSS Now at KimberlyLayton.com

  • St. Patrick’s Day Crochet Shamrock Pattern & Video Tutorial
  • Printable Coloring Pages for St. Patrick’s Day
  • How to Get Your Business Featured on Blogs

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 EverythingEtsy.com · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy ·


The term "Etsy" is a registered trademark of Etsy, Inc. - This site is not affiliated w/ Etsy, Inc.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT