While keywords are an important part of Etsy SEO because they determine your products “relevancy” to a customer’s search, just as important is the quality of your listing. According to Etsy, how well your listing converts, i.e. how many customers buy after looking at it, affects your product’s placement in search. Here are some ways you can improve your listing quality to improve both the SEO and increase sales.
Stand Out with an Eye-Catching Thumbnail
The best way to get people to visit. your listing is with a quality thumbnail image. Make sure the image is zoomed close to your product/design so that customers can easily tell what you’re selling from the small preview. Use contrasting colors, good lighting, and composition to catch a buyer’s eye. See Etsy’s guide for taking better photos.
What Size Should An Etsy Thumbnail be?
Your thumbnail is cropped by Etsy depending on the screen size– generally 4:3 on desktop and 1:1 (square) on mobile. (Note, they used to recommend 5:4, but are now recommending 4:3). Since they recommend a minimum of 2000 x 2000 pixels, you should create a thumbnail image that is 2800 x 2100 pixels and keep all important information, like text, in the center 2100 x 2100. This way your thumbnail looks nice on all screens.
Offering Free Shipping Improves SEO
Listings that ship for free to the United States and shops that offer a US free shipping guarantee get priority US search placement.
Etsy Seller Handbook
Even if you don’t offer free shipping they take your shipping cost into account when ranking your product in search.
Many customers prefer free shipping and may even filter their search to only show listings with free shipping. “Free” is a bit of a misnomer here though, as no one actually expects the shop owner to cover the shipping – people understand that the cost of shipping is actually included in the price. Lightweight, low cost items, e.g. stickers, may not make sense to include shipping in the price, but would still be a good fit for Etsy’s free shipping guarantee, where free shipping kicks in with a minimum order of $35.
Your Price Affects Etsy SEO
While some shops add one variation that is significantly underpriced in order to draw customers in, this will back fire.
If an Etsy listing gets a lot of clicks due to the low price displayed on the search page but few purchases because the size/color the customer actually wants is way more expensive, the listing rank will be negatively impacted.
Customers don’t like a bait and switch and this will hurt your conversion score. Price your product competitively, but don’t undersell your own value and don’t trick customers with a fake low price.
Provide Good Customer Service
From getting positive reviews to responding to messages in a timely manner, providing good customer service can impact what Etsy calls your customer and market experience score and impact your search ranking.
Customers can also see your shop’s Review Stars from the search page and will avoid shops with a low number of stars.
Complete Your Shop Information
In order to provide a good experience for customers, Etsy recommends completing all of your shop information, including your About section and store policies. This is a simple way to improve your shop’s “customer and market experience score”, which affects your product placement in search.
Don’t Infringe on Copyright or Trademark
It should go without saying that you should not create products using other people’s intellectual property, this includes fan art, photos of celebrities, and derivatives “inspired” by movies and other art. Etsy doesn’t even allow you to use trademarked words in tags, so even if your product itself is not infringing, your listing can be taken down for infringing text. Etsy is clear that if a listing is removed for IP infringement, your store’s search ranking is negatively impacted. Too many infringements will get your shop shut down completely.
Sources
- “How Etsy Search Works.” Etsy, www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/375461474487.
- “Requirements and Best Practices for Images in Your Etsy Shop.” Etsy Help, 2023, help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015663347-What-Are-the-Requirements-for-Listing-Photos-?segment=selling.
- “Checklist: Optimize Your Shop for Etsy Search.” Etsy, www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/366470356778.
- “How Great Customer Service Can Improve Your Search Ranking.” Etsy, 2016, www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/375461267511.
