Are you still confused as to what all this means? Does it sound like a foreign language? I thought some helpful tips with a few screen shot explanations of the lingo may help. Remember, I am trying to break down the geek speak and provide information here for Etsy shop owners in terms that are easiest to understand.
SEO = search engine optimization, is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural", "organic" or "algorithmic" search results. Click here for some basic information about the Google Search.
The coding and text of a web page is what the search engine spiders or robots read to know what is on a page. They can not read images. They use this information to determine what results to bring up when someone does a search. All references of search in this posting is in regard to a search engine off the Etsy site, like google, yahoo, bing or another engine used to find information.
When we create our shops certain information we add to the fields is generated into the coding of our main shop web page. Your shop name, shop title, shop announcement and shop sections all generate meta tags for your web page.
Click the image to enlarge.For your shop page in the coding:
- Title = shop name + shop title, the line below your banner, found under appearance
- Meta name description = shop announcement
- Meta name keywords = sections
Click the image to enlarge.Even if your shop name gets combined into one word by Etsy it should still bring up search results if it were searched as 2 words. For example if someone typed - tialey vintage - into a google search box it still brings up results for my Etsy shop page which actually reads tialeyvintage. The results may appear in a different order than if 1 word was searched but there are a number of other reasons for that happening. I have used Google search as this seems to be the most frequently used search engine. Other search engines may bring up different results. I experimented with several shop names, using separate words and combined and found Etsy shops in the top few results listed. High enough in the results for anyone to easily find you.
Click the image to enlarge.
Use the line below your banner wisely as this is generated for your web page title. Look at your main shop page, see the blue bar across the top, that is your web page title. Mine says: tialeyvintage on Etsy - vintage clothing dresses accessories. I used keywords that someone might use in a search to find items in my shop. If you are looking for your shop to be listed in search results do not use this area for a cute tag line, repeat your shop name or leave it blank. Think about it, you want people to find your shop without knowing your name or your tag line and by leaving it blank you are wasting valuable space. Of course if someone simply searches vintage clothing, I would not expect to be found too easily.
Your shop sections become the meta keywords. It is true that this meta tag is not used by most search engines any longer but leaving it blank or using it incorrectly will grade your page lower and may cause it to be banned if keywords are used too often also called stuffing or spamming. It is suggested to use only 10 words and no one word more than 5 times. I have also read that this meta tag may be used when the content of the page also contains the same keywords.
The meta name description is generated from your shop announcement. Here it is suggested that you use 150 characters including spaces. Try to use some of the same keywords as you have in your shop title and sections. Again do not use any one word more than 5 times. Making this section longer will grade your page lower and most buyers will not actually read a long announcement anyway. Also it was suggested to add Etsy in this section to improve your chances in search results. I would believe this depends on how someone worded a search query.
Use this online tool to check the grade of your shop page. Use the shop id, the url seen in your address bar when viewing your main shop page. Mine would be: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5952173. Check your grade before making changes, save your text in a notepad or word document then make a few changes and see how you score. You may need to play with the wording to bring up your grade. I was able to bring my grade up from a 71 to a 91 simply by making a few suggested changes.
One important area I noticed in using this online seo tool is how different the number of inbound links are for my shop id than say my shop name. This is because when I link to my shop from a post on my blog, facebook or anywhere else I have been using http://tialeyvintage.etsy.com as my link. These inbound links also play a part in page ranking. Knowing this I am now using the shop id for my links to improve both my page rank and inbound links. This doesn't mean people will not recognize your shop name anymore. Simply use text like Tialey Vintage Shop and then link it using - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5952173. To see what I mean hover the text: Tialey Vintage Shop and see what the link is in the grey bar at the bottom of your browser window. Another important point is your address as www.yourshopname.etsy.com is seen by search engines as a different address than yourshopname.etsy.com, without the www, giving you a separate page rank for those links.
Most selling sites auto-generate meta tags from the information you provide. Knowing what information generates the actual meta tag and optimizing this information is in your control. You are in business to make money and having a shop online is not any different than setting up a brick and mortar store. Wouldn't you want to do all you can to bring the most traffic into your shop? If you sell on other sites use this SEO information to check your web pages and make necessary changes. Remember having your own website may give you more control over what meta tags are used but you still need to know what this all means and how to properly code your pages.
Changes Etsy admin have made to fix the error and any changes you make will take time to show up in search results as engines index pages at different rates. Some of your pages may be indexed on the 5th of the month while others are done on the 15th. It is going to take some patience. I can tell you my shop has seen an improvement in views, traffic and sales in the last week. Much better than the cobwebs and tumbleweeds I saw the last few months.
Your main shop page is an important part of your online presence but your item listings are even more important as these are more likely to bring in a potential buyer from a search engine query.
More helpful infomation in this thread. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6196071
Friday: SEO, meta tags to optimize your Etsy listings
Click the image to enlarge.Use the line below your banner wisely as this is generated for your web page title. Look at your main shop page, see the blue bar across the top, that is your web page title. Mine says: tialeyvintage on Etsy - vintage clothing dresses accessories. I used keywords that someone might use in a search to find items in my shop. If you are looking for your shop to be listed in search results do not use this area for a cute tag line, repeat your shop name or leave it blank. Think about it, you want people to find your shop without knowing your name or your tag line and by leaving it blank you are wasting valuable space. Of course if someone simply searches vintage clothing, I would not expect to be found too easily.
Your shop sections become the meta keywords. It is true that this meta tag is not used by most search engines any longer but leaving it blank or using it incorrectly will grade your page lower and may cause it to be banned if keywords are used too often also called stuffing or spamming. It is suggested to use only 10 words and no one word more than 5 times. I have also read that this meta tag may be used when the content of the page also contains the same keywords.
The meta name description is generated from your shop announcement. Here it is suggested that you use 150 characters including spaces. Try to use some of the same keywords as you have in your shop title and sections. Again do not use any one word more than 5 times. Making this section longer will grade your page lower and most buyers will not actually read a long announcement anyway. Also it was suggested to add Etsy in this section to improve your chances in search results. I would believe this depends on how someone worded a search query.
Use this online tool to check the grade of your shop page. Use the shop id, the url seen in your address bar when viewing your main shop page. Mine would be: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5952173. Check your grade before making changes, save your text in a notepad or word document then make a few changes and see how you score. You may need to play with the wording to bring up your grade. I was able to bring my grade up from a 71 to a 91 simply by making a few suggested changes.
One important area I noticed in using this online seo tool is how different the number of inbound links are for my shop id than say my shop name. This is because when I link to my shop from a post on my blog, facebook or anywhere else I have been using http://tialeyvintage.etsy.com as my link. These inbound links also play a part in page ranking. Knowing this I am now using the shop id for my links to improve both my page rank and inbound links. This doesn't mean people will not recognize your shop name anymore. Simply use text like Tialey Vintage Shop and then link it using - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5952173. To see what I mean hover the text: Tialey Vintage Shop and see what the link is in the grey bar at the bottom of your browser window. Another important point is your address as www.yourshopname.etsy.com is seen by search engines as a different address than yourshopname.etsy.com, without the www, giving you a separate page rank for those links.
Most selling sites auto-generate meta tags from the information you provide. Knowing what information generates the actual meta tag and optimizing this information is in your control. You are in business to make money and having a shop online is not any different than setting up a brick and mortar store. Wouldn't you want to do all you can to bring the most traffic into your shop? If you sell on other sites use this SEO information to check your web pages and make necessary changes. Remember having your own website may give you more control over what meta tags are used but you still need to know what this all means and how to properly code your pages.
Changes Etsy admin have made to fix the error and any changes you make will take time to show up in search results as engines index pages at different rates. Some of your pages may be indexed on the 5th of the month while others are done on the 15th. It is going to take some patience. I can tell you my shop has seen an improvement in views, traffic and sales in the last week. Much better than the cobwebs and tumbleweeds I saw the last few months.
Your main shop page is an important part of your online presence but your item listings are even more important as these are more likely to bring in a potential buyer from a search engine query.
More helpful infomation in this thread. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6196071
Friday: SEO, meta tags to optimize your Etsy listings
3 comments:
Hi! Thank you for the info :) I'm following your blog now.
xxxx
Giovanna
www.bohomarket.blogspot.com
Thanks for sharing this information, really enjoyed reading and learning. More power and keep up the good work.
San Francisco internet marketing
Great info, thanks for sharing!
2221 design
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=8090278
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