- Title = Item title
- Meta name description = Description
- Meta name keywords = Tags
Click the image to enlarge.So how does this all work to bring traffic to your item? Say someone is looking for a vintage cardigan sweater. The string of words used in the search box will determine what results are shown. The more specific a person is then the more specific the results. Google search uses an algorithm to match web pages to a given string of search words. In this example I used: Vintage 1960s Cardigan Sweater Nautical in a google search. Below is what was shown in the results. If the words used were Vintage 1960s Sweater then a different set of results would be shown. Doing the same search a week apart may bring up different results depending on new pages that were indexed by Google during that time.
Click the image to enlarge.The first item, square #1, is the result showing an item in my Etsy shop. The bold print is what Google saw on the page and matched to the search words. The item title is the first line. Etsy has since moved their branding to the end of our titles but this search result was cached before the change was indexed by Google. It only shows the first 60 characters including spaces, of the title anything longer is cut off by an ellipsis (...). This does not mean that Ggoogle will not see beyond the 60 but it weighs the keywords by the position. Words at the beginning have more meaning, relevance than words towards the end of a title. Think like a buyer and use this space wisely. What words would you use to find your item?
The second line is from the description of your item again there is prime real estate here. Use the first 150 characters including spaces to repeat the keywords you have in your title while writing a description of your item. Do not over use keywords as this will be seen as keyword spamming or stuffing. You want to have matching words in 3 areas of the code - title, description and keywords.
The third line of the above search result is likely the alternate text for the image which Etsy generates for us using our item title. This information can be found in the source code for the image but the only control we have in this instance is to make the title meaningful by using keywords.
The second item, square #2, is from a photo I have posted on the IndiePublic social network. Item #3 are the results of items uploaded to Google Base. Etsy does not automatically upload your items so it would be advised to set this up and upload your items for better search results. Here is a tutorial written by seller GoTo which shows you how to get your items into Google Base using your RSS feed. During the meta tag mishap if your items were not seen by Google due to Etsy's changes your item should still have been seen in the shopping results if you were uploading to Google Base.
Look at section #1 in the image above, see where it says "cached" in the result, after the page address. If you were to click that it will show you the web page with the keywords highlighted as in the following image. It also adds a link in the information across the top to the current page and shows you the date when this was cached.
Click the image to enlarge.
A point to remember here, once the page has been indexed by google any changes made to the actual page may take some time to appear in results. Also if you were to sell the item any link in search results will still bring the buyer to your shop but if you were to deactivate the listing or delete it the resulting link goes to a generic Etsy Oops item not found error page. That buyer is on Etsy but not in your shop. When that item is relisted or reactivated the page address stays the same so all search result links to your item and shop will be working again.
Remember this information is in regard to a search off the Etsy site. The Etsy search box works differently looking at your titles, descriptions - depending on your category and tags of your items to list the results. Optimizing for a google search will help bring in shoppers who have never heard of Etsy yet.
For part 1 - SEO, meta tags and your Etsy shop page
The second line is from the description of your item again there is prime real estate here. Use the first 150 characters including spaces to repeat the keywords you have in your title while writing a description of your item. Do not over use keywords as this will be seen as keyword spamming or stuffing. You want to have matching words in 3 areas of the code - title, description and keywords.
The third line of the above search result is likely the alternate text for the image which Etsy generates for us using our item title. This information can be found in the source code for the image but the only control we have in this instance is to make the title meaningful by using keywords.
The second item, square #2, is from a photo I have posted on the IndiePublic social network. Item #3 are the results of items uploaded to Google Base. Etsy does not automatically upload your items so it would be advised to set this up and upload your items for better search results. Here is a tutorial written by seller GoTo which shows you how to get your items into Google Base using your RSS feed. During the meta tag mishap if your items were not seen by Google due to Etsy's changes your item should still have been seen in the shopping results if you were uploading to Google Base.
Look at section #1 in the image above, see where it says "cached" in the result, after the page address. If you were to click that it will show you the web page with the keywords highlighted as in the following image. It also adds a link in the information across the top to the current page and shows you the date when this was cached.
Click the image to enlarge.A point to remember here, once the page has been indexed by google any changes made to the actual page may take some time to appear in results. Also if you were to sell the item any link in search results will still bring the buyer to your shop but if you were to deactivate the listing or delete it the resulting link goes to a generic Etsy Oops item not found error page. That buyer is on Etsy but not in your shop. When that item is relisted or reactivated the page address stays the same so all search result links to your item and shop will be working again.
Remember this information is in regard to a search off the Etsy site. The Etsy search box works differently looking at your titles, descriptions - depending on your category and tags of your items to list the results. Optimizing for a google search will help bring in shoppers who have never heard of Etsy yet.
For part 1 - SEO, meta tags and your Etsy shop page
1 comments:
Great post. Thanks! BTW, I found you on Twitter.
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