How to (still) get found on Esty

Anyone wondering how to improve the search result for a shop on etsy has found that there are more questions than answers. We all need to get found in search to be able to sell. And with the recent changes, which appear to be happening all the time, I bet SEO is a hard nut on etsy these days. Needless to say that Google uses completely different algorithms. I must say my shops are both enjoying a constant flow of new customers, and some repeated ones as well and I have decided to share a few thought on Etsy SEO. I am aware it works a bit differently for different sectors, but there are a few things that will definitely work

1. First and foremost, adding new items regularily is PARAMOUNT. And timing is crucial as well. That's the only way to compete with new stores, which now get a boost in views.

New items get additional visibility in search during the first few minutes, to see what the reaction of the audience is and establish their relevance. So no new listings = zero chances of this increased visibility.

What is more, if you get visits during these few minutes, it means your item attracts clicks, and so it will be regarded as relevand and so, it is going to be shown more in search! Here it is important to know your audience and adjust the timeframe e.g. my customers are mainly from the US, so I need to publish my listings in the evening here, because it is daytime over there.

2. Reviews now play a big role in increasing visibility. Just a few are not enough to establish credibility by the bots, so you need to get as many as possible. And they need to be positive, because a certain percentage of negetive ones does affect the search results. But do not worry if you have just received a bad review from someone who never read the item description and then wouldn't even talk to you or send a return. With just a few among many more positive ones there is no difference. But then again, you need many more positive ones. If you have 10 reviews overall and two of them are negative, that makes 20%, but with hundreds more that makes under 1%.

How to encourage customers to leave a review? Well, the WORST thing you can do is to bug them about it, send private messages (which could be a violation of the new European law on privacy) explicitly asking them to do it. The customers will do it when they feel like it. And they will, if they like your service and feel you deserve it. Ironically, if they are bothered by your asking them, they may leave you a bad review!!!

There are two things you can do to improve their experience.
First is to establish good communication, especially before the purchase. I know it is difficult to reply rightaway if your customers are in a different time zone, or you have had a lot of queries that led to nothing, or do not feel like answering obvious questions, which you have already answered in the item description. My advice is DO. Customers really appreciate it and then feel they really have a reason to add a review.

My second tip is to add a free gift with your order. This is something I myself appreciate a lot when I make onlie purchases. It also encourages buyers to repeat.

Other things that may help are making a refund for shipping overages, or using nice packaging, which may inspire customers to write someting about the purchase, apart from leaving a 5-star review.

My stamped envelopes made it to Instagram
because a customer liked them!

3. Use all the fields possible: the title, the description (now, the order does not matter, just make sure you write all the relevant words somewhere), all the 13 the tags, and also materials. I found that whenever I included 'plastic buckle' in the materials (I used to do it only for buckles that also had a prong, as I felt the other buckles were just 'plastic'), these got more visits. Now I make sure that I include that in all items - a lot of buttons is composed of buttons, isn't it?

4. Get views. Use social media, your friends, family, or even other people's computers, whenever you can, click on your items and view them. Ideally get to them through search. It will be understood that they are popular and they will go up in overall ranking.

5. Polish your tags. I mean it. I have seen a listing by another seller, horribly translated into English, and whose description included all the wrong words. They were selling belt buckles, but it did not have the word 'belt buckle' anywhere in the body or title. But yes in the tags. And this listing went on top of my buckles! I guess it was also because it was a new shop, and got some boost in visibility for newbies, but still.

6. Renew sold items. This is sometimes impossible if you, like me, sell ooak items. But I have noticed that if one item of which I have more stock is sold, it sells again shortly afterwards. Obviously, you shouldn't use such a listing for a completely different item, because they will confuse the bots and work against you. If I renew an item for a different one, it is always one that closely resembles the sold item. It took a while to rak those, why change it and start over again?


There are also other punishing procedures, such as unresolved cases, etc. which will also negatively affect the search results for your shop. make sure you do not get any of these!

Sadly, Japan and Australia did not fit here. I have really good customers from those countries!

7. Ship all over the world. Etsy is running a series of trials and algorythm alterations. I am suspecting that they are rotating the search results basing on the country. There are weeks I get only orders from the USA, other weeks that I get mostly European customers, and other weeks, in which I believe Etsy boosts my views locally in Spain. As it is not a nation that buys a lot on line, nor uses this very page, well, I get very few orders then, but only from Spanish customers! If you only limit your sales to one country, or just a few countries, chances are you will see very little traffic in the weeks when you could be exposed to South American or Asian customers. Don't worry about conflict areas. I had a problem once when my package was returned - I learnt the service is banned to that country. I had to refund. ONCE in five years, and having two shops.

A few more thoughts.

Etsy Plus or not? Well, this definitely makes it easier to attract those interested in free shipping or discounts, as the available templates will add this information to the thumbnail in search. Or you can benefit from the free promoted listings they offer. But, does it really help getting found? Well, no.

Several sellers are actually suspecting it is causing a decline in views and overall interest in their shops as they have observed a dramatic fall in their stats. Others report more sales. I guess this time Etsy was right that the Plus subsccription does not have any effect on how you rank in search. To prove my point, I am not using it and I am getting a steady flow of visits and sales, even more before, when this feature was not available.

Free shipping may enhance your sales, but it will only increase your visibility if the buyers use the free-shippinng filter. The same way as sales and promotions do. I would not focus on this, as personally I have found there is no difference in traffic whether you have doe it or not. But suspiciously high shipping rates may kill your sales.


Well, these tips work for me! I add new listings almost every day and I have started offering free shipping for larger orders. I have to work now on my presence in the social media, though ;)