The best Etsy shop titles and tags

Improving Etsy titles and tags is the easiest (and free) way to get more shop traffic and improve Etsy shop sales. Strong titles and tags will get your products found on Etsy as well as the larger search engines. The title sends a first impression to the buyer, while the tags will introduce your product to a broader audience.

I’ll share with you tips and tricks I’ve discovered while working on my titles and tags. The tips below will improve your Etsy sales!

Forget being grammatically correct

The top sellers know that placing targeted keywords in the title is the most important element for acquiring the right buyer. This means the title will not be grammatically correct.

Often, new Etsy users use grammatically correct sentences in their titles. Filler words such as “of”, “the”, “and”, etc. take up the precious 140 characters needed to attract buyers. Use the 140 characters wisely! Delete the filler words and fill your title with only the keywords that your buyers search for.

Another pitfall with new Etsy sellers is that they will name collections or use words that are too specific to reach buyers. Potential customers will not search for “The Primrose Soap Series” when looking for handmade soaps. Make sure your title has targeted keywords so that customers can find your item in a search.

Place your strongest keywords at the front of your title

Etsy uses the first 28 – 50 characters when showing listings on search results. This means you will have to explain to buyers what they are getting in 4 – 6 words! These words should be the most essential keywords to connect your product with buyers.

If you’re unsure what keywords should go in the front of your listing, head over to your products’ stats. Look at the top 2 – 3 keywords and fit those (like a puzzle) into the front end of your title.

The beginning of your title is also important for being found beyond Etsy’s website. Google’s search engine uses the first 55 – 70 characters in your title to link Google searches with your products. Your second most important keywords should fit into the remaining 20 – 30 characters that follow the beginning of your title.

Use all 140 characters of your title

Take advantage of all 140 characters to create a title that is targeted to your customer.

As mentioned above the first 28 – 50 characters will be your most popular keywords. The final 70 characters will be longtail keywords.

Longtail keywords are longer, specific keywords that pertain to your product. There is less competition among longtail keywords, and this is where you will target your unique customer.

To find longtail keywords for your product, look at your stats to see what long tail concepts your customers search for when browsing your product. Fit those words into the second half of your title. Also, be sure to add these longtail concepts to your tags.

If you are listing a brand-new product and you don’t know where to start with longtail keywords, look to your competition. Head over to Etsy right now, search a product like yours, and look at the titles of the top 3 listings. In these examples you will discover titles that include strong keywords followed by a variety of targeted longtail keywords.

You can also discover new longtail concepts by using the Etsy search bar. Type into the Etsy search box a general term for your product. Before hitting enter, look at the keywords that are listed in the drop-down box below your search. These are high volume keywords that are worth considering as additional titles and tags.

Match Etsy tags with targeted keywords from your stats

Go into your Etsy stats for each product and check out the keywords that people use. You can do this for each listing that is at least a month old. Add all the high-volume keywords to your tags. Also, delete any tags that don’t lead to any search inquiries or have a low volume of clicks.

If a long tail keyword is too long to add as a tag you can break it up into two tags. For example, if a high volume click through term for your soap collection is “handmade goat milk soap”, you can create the tags “handmade goat”, “goat milk” and “milk soap”.

Use a variety of keywords

If you have multiple items that are very similar, it would be easy to copy and paste your titles. Don’t fall into this trap!

On each page of Etsy’s search results, you will only find 1 – 2 products from your shop. Etsy does that to create a variety of products rather than having page 1 being all products from one shop.

If you use similar titles and tags, then you are competing with yourself. Unless the buyer clicks to page 2 or 3 to find more of your listings, then you are stuck with only those page 1 products.

It’s best to diversify your keywords to attract a variety of buyers that may be searching different keywords. That way you can showcase your products to a wider audience rather than using the same keywords repeatedly.

I’m not saying to change all your titles and tags. If you use a couple different long tail keywords, you might be surprised to find a keyword that you have never thought of!

Revise Your Listing

Once you have a listing that is about one to two months old, revise the title and tags to pinpoint your buyers.

Go into your Etsy stats and check out the keywords that people use to find your item. You may be surprised to find new keywords that your customers search for! I recommend revising low performing listings every month or month and a half to keep it fresh and avoid the listing from expiring.  For a low performing listing, move high volume keywords to the front of the title and revise long tail keywords. Be sure all the revised keywords are also listed in the tags!

Want to learn more? Read my story on how I made $30,000 in 2 years including your guide to the same success!

Next step: 9 steps to Etsy Success and how to promote your shop like a boss!