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Seller Workshop Recap: Tags, Titles, Descriptions and Most Relevant Search
Story by daniellexo, sean11
Published on June 2, 2009 in How-To 		Photo by

CatnipStudioToo

Thanks to everyone who came to our May 28, 2009 Virtual Lab on Tags, Titles, Descriptions and Materials and the new Most Relevant option in Etsy's Search. We had some great questions come up, and we wanted to make sure we shared the answers with those who couldn't make the workshop. Here's a quick Q&A.

Q: How long should my item titles be?
A: We suggest three to seven words. The most important words in your title should be first, as the first 18 characters of your title are going to be seen in Gallery View in Etsy Search, and the first few words will be the ones displayed on external search engine results (see this Seller How-To: Optimizing Your Etsy Shop for Search Engines). If your item titles are too short they will not grab a buyer's attention, and if they are too long they will distract buyers, so balance is key. It's great to be creative in your titles for your branding, but we recommend beginning titles with the specifics. Try to think like a buyer and use words that your customers would use when searching. Generic-sounding titles don't attract potential buyers as well as specific titles, so don't be afraid to be specific! You'll improve your targeting and attract more buyers in the market for your items.

Q: How important is the order of your item's tags?
A: Your first tag is your item's top-level category. If you are interested in promoting your item in a Subcategory Showcase, your next tag should match that Subcategory. We suggest tagging in order of importance, and in general for each of the item fields (Tags, Titles, Descriptions, Materials), go with the most important information first. Note: Major changes to tagging guidelines or the listing process will be communicated in advance. Our current tagging guidelines still apply.

Q: Should I use all 14 tags?
A: Yes! It is important to use 14 relevant tags that properly describe your item. See this article on tagging for lots of tips!

Q: Should I be tagging a striped item with "stripes," "striped" and "stripe"?
A: No. Using the root word "stripe" is enough, and our search function will pick up these variations. No need to use multiple variations of a word.

Q: What about "floral" and "flowers"?
A: Yes. Those words are different enough to be used as two different tags.

Q: How much of your item's description shows up in a Google search result?
A: The first 160 characters of your item description appear in Google search results, so be sure to include the most important information first! Be as specific as possible and use words that you think your customers would use. Item dimensions and measurements are important pieces of information for buyers but can go lower down in your description. Lots of great information on search engine optimization can be found in this article.

Q: I sell soy candles. Should I be adding "soy" to my item titles, tags and descriptions?
A: Yes. The fact that your candles are made of soy is an important selling point. Include this information in the title, description and as a tag, as it is relevant information.

Q: I've heard that if I use only a few tags my items will show up higher in search results sorted by Most Relevant.
A: The best strategy for placement in search results sorted by Most Relevant is to describe your items accurately and thoroughly, using words your customers would use. It's important to follow our guidelines for tagging and to keep your tags relevant (and to use them all!). Improvements to relevancy on Etsy are being rolled out regularly and frequently, with the goal of matching well tagged, thoroughly described items with the often very specific searches shoppers are performing.

Remember, if a shopper is searching for "emerald green earrings" and you've only tagged your item "jewelry," for example, your item won't be found in that shopper's search results. When you describe your item thoroughly and accurately with specifics and details, you give your item more opportunities to be found by buyers looking for your items. Items not described well are simply not seen by the right people. Also, note that optimizing a listing for a single search term you have in mind will actually limit your visibility — you won't appear in as many searches as you might otherwise. The more tags you can use the better.

See this article for more tips on optimizing your listings for search results sorted by Most Relevant.

Q: What percentage of searches on Etsy are currently using the Most Relevant option?
 A: A very small percentage of searches on Etsy (less than 1 percent) are currently being sorted by Most Relevant. The Most Relevant search option is not the default search option. It is a feature in active development and updates are being rolled out regularly and frequently behind the scenes, just as with other search engines. Searches sorted by Most Relevant are leading to purchases at a higher rate than searches sorted by Most Recently Listed, and we're actively monitoring the performance of the Most Relevant search option — as well as your feedback — to make it even better.

Q: How important are Materials in search results sorted by Most Relevant?
A: Materials are a factor in search results sorted by Most Relevant, but not an important one. Item tags, titles and descriptions, in that order, are the most important item fields in search results sorted by Most Relevant. However, don't forget that Materials is an option in the Advanced Search.

Q:  Why is item listing date a consideration in search results sorted by Most Relevant?
A:  It's true, an item's listing date is also a factor in determining relevancy, though not the most important one. We've found shoppers value fresh results for their favorite searches. This is common among other search engines — you'll find Google often returns relevant and current (recently updated) results.

Q: If I put "free shipping" at the beginning of my title, will that hurt me?
A: It can. Remember that in Gallery view, Etsy shoppers can only see the first 18 characters of your title, and you have a better chance of making a sale when you attract shoppers that are searching for specific things. People do perform searches for "free shipping," but they usually qualify those searches with something specific. We recommend doing the same: include "free shipping" in your title if you like, but start with something more specific.

Q: Does using your Etsy Team tag hurt your item's performance in search results sorted by Most Relevant?
A: Team tags are relevant for Team-related searches. Using one or two Team tags will not hurt your chances of being found in search results sorted by Most Relevant.

Q: Is the price of an item a factor in relevancy?
A: No. Price is not a factor in search results sorted by Most Relevant.

Q: How would you tag something that can be made in any color scheme?
A: Use "custom" or  "personalized" as a tag.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Seller Workshop Virtual Lab! Please keep an eye on the Virtual Labs schedule to find out about upcoming Seller Workshops. (EDITOR'S NOTE: The previously noted discussion about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on June 15 has been postponed.)

Related Articles:

Tags business, descriptions, HOW-TO, listings, materials, Most Relevant, relevancy, resources, search, Seller Handbook, selling, site features, tagging, tips, titles, Virtual Labs Schedule, Your Shop 101
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79 comments     Login to add your own!

June 2, 2009 at 11:33 a.m. lovelygifts

Good article. Thanks for the info.

June 2, 2009 at 11:38 a.m. momochas

Great info, thank you so much for the help.
I have always had the doubt of using "floral" and "flower" in my tags.

June 2, 2009 at 11:41 a.m. missindie

Thank you so much for this article!!

June 2, 2009 at 11:41 a.m. beautifulbridget

Excellent article, thanks Etsy!!

June 2, 2009 at 11:42 a.m. MyWagonette

{ Q: Should I be tagging a striped item with "stripes," "striped" and "stripe"?
A: No. Using the root word "stripe" is enough, and our search function will pick up these variations. No need to use multiple variations of a word.}

I always wondered this myself. Great to know! Thanks!

June 2, 2009 at 11:50 a.m. maiaart

Thank you for this very helpful article! Now to go and check my "tags"!!

June 2, 2009 at 11:51 a.m. steinschmuckdesign

Thank you very much for all this info.
Like allways, it helps me to improve.

June 2, 2009 at 12:02 p.m. pandawithcookie

So very useful. Thank you for putting this together.

June 2, 2009 at 12:02 p.m. dadadreams

Thanks so much for the info!

June 2, 2009 at 12:06 p.m. anniepoo

this does clear alot up! Thanks for sharing!

June 2, 2009 at 12:07 p.m. StudioElan

"We suggest tagging in order of importance" So does this mean that order does matter to the Relevant Search as it works now?

If tagging order is/ is going to be important we need a quicker way to re-order our tags than deleting and retyping them all!!!

June 2, 2009 at 12:08 p.m. ilovehearts

Brilliant advice. Thank you

June 2, 2009 at 12:13 p.m. travellingcircus

This is an incredibly useful article. Thanks for providing all of this info!

June 2, 2009 at 12:15 p.m. sucree

thanks for this post!

June 2, 2009 at 12:16 p.m. Iammie

Thanks, very useful info!

June 2, 2009 at 12:28 p.m. HibouCards

Very useful article, thanks!

June 2, 2009 at 12:35 p.m. EJPcreations

Sooo Helpful!!!

June 2, 2009 at 12:42 p.m. raeraesisters

GREAT article! We just renamed a handful of our items based on the suggestions given. Thanks a bunch for the info!

June 2, 2009 at 12:47 p.m. OhFaro

I attended the lab, got a lot out of it and have been tweaking my newest listings... the old ones will just have to wait.

Thanks.

June 2, 2009 at 12:49 p.m. erikaservin

Great article specially for new etsinians like me!

June 2, 2009 at 12:54 p.m. paperstreet

StudioElan

"We suggest tagging in order of importance" So does this mean that order does matter to the Relevant Search as it works now?

If tagging order is/ is going to be important we need a quicker way to re-order our tags than deleting and retyping them all!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
yes please! with 270+ items and 14 tags each... can we redo the tagging page to let us edit it more proficiently?

June 2, 2009 at 12:58 p.m. DesignedByLucinda

Oh please give us an easy way to change up the order of our tags. At 425 items, I really don't want to delete them all and start over...

June 2, 2009 at 1:03 p.m. Xenotees

Very helpful, thanks!

June 2, 2009 at 1:06 p.m. Xenotees

Oh, and Etsy Hacks has an awesome tool to change the order of your tags! Just type them in & hit "replace tags". I find it to be a time saving tool because you can see what you have already & reorder or replace certain tags...

http://www.etsyhacks.com/greasemonkey...

:D

June 2, 2009 at 1:17 p.m. Morado

Thanks for sharing!

June 2, 2009 at 1:35 p.m. worksofwhimsy

Thanks for the update. I've edited some of my titles to be more direct and to the point. Thanks for clearing up the root word tag question too.

June 2, 2009 at 1:41 p.m. 3squares

sorry i missed it. the recap is much appreciated!

June 2, 2009 at 1:59 p.m. CutieDynamite

Great, thanks!

June 2, 2009 at 2 p.m. tinahdee

Thanks for the help!

June 2, 2009 at 2:05 p.m. magpiefelts

Thankyou!

June 2, 2009 at 2:19 p.m. AwakenJournaling

Very interesting. Thanks for including my sketchbook!!!

June 2, 2009 at 2:28 p.m. novadesigns

This article answers some of the questions I have, so that's great. I am also one of those sellers who will have to go back and rearrange my tags... Is there any way you could make it easier to move the tags up and down so I don't have to delete them all and start over?

Thank you
//tess

June 2, 2009 at 2:29 p.m. someplaceelsewhere

Really helpful. Thanks!

June 2, 2009 at 2:58 p.m. flapperdoodle

{ Q: Should I be tagging a striped item with "stripes," "striped" and "stripe"?
A: No. Using the root word "stripe" is enough, and our search function will pick up these variations. No need to use multiple variations of a word.}

However-- if you tag your item "dance" and someone searches for "dancing" your item will not come up, correct? It needs to have the entire word in it?

June 2, 2009 at 4:51 p.m. LoveElizabeth

Q. How does relisting an item factor into the quicker sale? Is there stats on that and if so how often should you relsit an item? or how often do successful sllers relist their item. At what point/date do they relist, say after it has been for sale for a month, 2 weeks?

Thanks

June 2, 2009 at 5:26 p.m. thisisalliknow

some helpful info, thanks.
one question though regarding the stripes/striped tagging question - is there anyway to know what makes two words similar enough to be brought up in the same search?

June 3, 2009 at 2:29 a.m. SundraSandrusi

Thanks for sharing!

June 3, 2009 at 3:19 a.m. ffflowers

Useful information - thank you :)

June 3, 2009 at 5:16 a.m. HAREandDRUM

Thank you for the article. I've been introducing changes to my listings with relevancy search in mind, but based on logic and intuition mostly. This article confirms most of what I've been editing.

June 3, 2009 at 7:25 a.m. forsythecompanystore

I will be putting this info to good use...thank you!

June 3, 2009 at 8:18 a.m. TheCottageCheese

Great tips, thank you! (Love that vintage umbrella, horse, and the folk bracelet!)

June 3, 2009 at 10:02 a.m. 1AEON

this is what daddy likes!!!

June 3, 2009 at 11:20 a.m. KalliopeJewelry

Thanks for this informative post, very helpful! The featured items also helped give me ideas for writing descriptions more succinctly.

June 3, 2009 at 11:57 a.m. RomanceCatsAndWhimsy

This was an awesome article and very helpful. Thank you for the information!!

June 3, 2009 at 1:55 p.m. redyellowandblueink

this is great-thanks

June 3, 2009 at 2:52 p.m. twolefthands

Great and informative article, thank you very much!

June 4, 2009 at 5:36 a.m. zeropumpkin

gorgeous stuffs!

June 4, 2009 at 5:38 a.m. zeropumpkin

thanks for for the info too

June 4, 2009 at 12:07 p.m. animalartista

thanks for all the info

June 4, 2009 at 1:01 p.m. prettylittlethieves

helpful info. thank you.

June 4, 2009 at 3:58 p.m. SpiffyDoodleDandy

Good to know I don't have to tag plural words separately, but I would like to know if plural forms that change the spelling of the word need to be included separately (e.g. dance/dancing, as mentioned above)

June 4, 2009 at 3:58 p.m. Softpencil

Very interesting info! thank you!!!

June 4, 2009 at 4:10 p.m. cuteandfun

Thanks! Helpful info, as usual! Now I need to update my titles and tags.

June 4, 2009 at 4:19 p.m. crittercomforts0

Thank you for a very interesting and helpful info

June 4, 2009 at 4:31 p.m. DragonRags

This clarifies everything perfectly. I can move forward with my listings much more confidently now. Thanks!

June 4, 2009 at 5 p.m. tubbytabby

Thanks so much for the article, I had no idea that my tags should be put in order of importance. Good to know but now I have to go back and fix them all, lol.

June 4, 2009 at 7:41 p.m. MyWisteriaCottage

Interesting. I don't know much about this and this article cleared up some things for me.

June 4, 2009 at 7:49 p.m. MySassyLassy

Sometimes when I come across an "old" posting of mine I am scared when I see how I tagged it. This will only improve my tagging. Thanks for the help!

June 4, 2009 at 8:08 p.m. banfflines

The articles which Etsy folk put out are over the top. Thank you.
Just wondering if I should be adding made in Canada or not, would it be a deterrent or an asset?

Thanks you
Sandra

June 4, 2009 at 8:31 p.m. samsstuff

Thanks for the article for all of us who couldn't attend, very helpful!

June 4, 2009 at 9:46 p.m. HansenSoapCo

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Don't forget to visit the main blog about all these issues and more! Everything related to the Relevant Search can be found in one place now at http://theseedbox.blogspot.com/
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

June 4, 2009 at 10:42 p.m. KOALACaddie

This article will go into my personal treasury. Thank you for your "nuts and bolts" advice about titles and tags.

June 5, 2009 at 1:22 a.m. StingrayJewels

This article is brilliant ... answered all of my newbie questions perfectly.
Thank you so much! ^_^

June 5, 2009 at 2:37 a.m. benben

Helpful article. Thanks for including my print in the related items!

June 5, 2009 at 12:41 p.m. RipeThreads

Great article! Thanks for ine info!

June 5, 2009 at 8:43 p.m. That70sShoppe

Great. Thanks for summarizing this since it has been talked about a lot on the forums.

June 6, 2009 at 1:52 p.m. hopgrasser

This was a very helpful Q&A. Nicely done!

June 7, 2009 at 11:50 a.m. 2nJoy

I will no longer 'blindly tag'... I am an etsy newbie and really had no idea how the order of the tags, using all 14, and how root word variations really mattered. I had read the 'Tagging on Etsy' article and I was happily taggin along but this FAQ enhances that article with some very pratical information. I will certainly be tagging and listing differently. Thank you for the useful FAQ recap for those of us who could not attend the Seller Workshop. Thank you!

June 10, 2009 at 5:33 p.m. EarringVixen

Great article, thanks a lot! I have been wondering about the best way to tag my items (I'm a newbie) so this article was really helpful :)

June 15, 2009 at 10:55 a.m. linsjewelbox

i have learnt a lot of tips from this article. keep it up! =)

June 23, 2009 at 1:33 p.m. PDXfabricdeli

That was a good article....food for thought. Thanks a bunch.

July 11, 2009 at 1:24 a.m. Tina669

Good article. Thanks for the info

July 16, 2009 at 6:21 p.m. vintagecatsmeow

Hello all! So this is what we do when we stay home! Love the site! Love the people and absolutely love the whole set up! I'm new and just learning about tags and what to do! This article was so helpful! Thanks to all who were involved!

July 19, 2009 at 10:56 a.m. LoriAnnEnchanted

This great info, sheds a lot of light on getting good results!

July 20, 2009 at 4:54 p.m. lemonadehandmade

So very helpful for this newbie. Heading off straight away to make some alterations.

July 21, 2009 at 4:33 p.m. kissthepotter

Spelling is also important. Or should I say misspelling could be important. I came upon a seller that had a mosiac for sale. Looking at their product, I went searching for more "mosiac" items. Then I wondered why my items were not showing up in the search. The reason is, I spelled "mosaic" correctly. So on commonly or easily mispelled words, I tagged them as "mosaic" first and "mosiac" as an additional tag.

Thanks for the great article.

Aug. 8, 2009 at 12:05 a.m. DianaGalea

Thank you i will keep that in mind when i start posting items for sale!!

Sept. 13, 2009 at 7:12 p.m. GoodLookinTreasures

Thank you. There is sooo much to learn. Your information helps alot!

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