Etsy Tips: How to Use Keywords in Your Storefront

A little-known part of getting your Etsy shop found by shoppers is filling out your shop’s storefront data.  This includes the “Info and Appearance” and “Sections,” as well as your location.  Let’s learn how to use keywords to increase traffic and maximize exposure with these Etsy tips!

Place Keywords in Your Shop Title

Since you’ve already mastered putting keywords in your item titles and tags, it’s time to use the same targeted phrases for the main store page.  Not to be confused with the shop name, a shop title is the short grey blurb about your store that sits right under the shop name. 

 

Shop title

 

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The shop title is crucial to Etsy SEO, as it helps shoppers find you in Google search. It becomes the main (blue) clickable link, followed by your shop name.  You can create a title in the “Info and Appearance” area of your shop settings, in the same area where you create your shop announcement and upload your banner.  You can even see a preview of your storefront’s homepage in Google within this edit page!  Keep in mind that the shop title does have a limit of approximately 55 characters that will show up in Google searches, so choose your keywords wisely.

For example:

Focus on keywords that describe the unique items you sell.  Don’t be too vague or so specific that no one would search for those terms.  One way to test this is by Google-searching other similar shops and analyzing the results.  The title can be changed as often as you like, so feel free to use trial-and-error to find what works for your Etsy store.

Use Keywords in Your Shop Announcement

An Etsy shop announcement is not only useful to convey important info to customers —  it can also be a great way to draw traffic to your shop.  Load the first sentence or two with relevant keywords, including the same ones that are now in your shop title.  The first few sentences of your shop announcement are SEO relevant. Use the preview in Info and Appearance so you get an idea of the part that Google will crawl and show in searches. 

The rest of your shop announcement can be devoted to urgent messages (delays, upcoming events, sales, etc.), custom order terms, shipping info, and links to your Twitter and Facebook pages.  It’s best to put the most relevant info at the top of your shop announcement. This is the only part that's seen until a visitor clicks on the “read more” link and a pop-up box opens. 

Etsy shop announcement

 

Make Each Section Count

Shop sections are the tabs on the left side of your storefront page.  They not only help organize item listings for customers, but also help increase your SEO ranking.  Use clear and concise keywords, as you only get 10 shop sections.

The more “niche” (focusing on a unique market) your products are, the more specific these can be, but make sure not to get too detailed or narrow with your keywords.  On the edit page, you can easily create and change an item’s section, and also rearrange the order in which your sections appear.  Once you’ve named these sections, just pick the proper one from the drop-down box when making a new listing.  These tabs can be edited at any time, so they are perfect to promote sale and holiday items, or even various sizes or customizations that are available for your products.

Set Your Location

Once you’ve conquered how to use keywords in the body of your homepage, it’s time to focus on one last element.  Lots of Etsy users choose to shop locally, especially for large items like furniture or antiques that they might want to pick up.  When searching on Etsy, there is an option to filter by location. This is why setting yours is so important!  Think of your location as another keyword, and you can even use it in a few item tags (example: “Chicago made”).  Location can be added by clicking on “Your Account” and then “Public Profile.” 

Now that you’ve seen how to use keywords in your shop storefront, go implement these Etsy tips to bring in more customers!

Rebecca George is a certified Etsy educator and owner of women's fashion and accessory company Purple and Lime.

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