Etsy's Handmade Blog
Shop Makeover series: Tagging for Success
Story by contrary, EtsyStore, HeyMichelle, Vanessa
Published on January 1, 2008 in How-To 		Photo by

PicturesofLily


What an incredible response we got on this Shop Makeover post from you sellers! Be part of our Shop Makeover series: document your "before" and "after" with screen shots and post them on flickr or your blogs or whatever works best for you. Then share the links in the comments below. As we go through the different steps of the makeover, we'll hold Online Workshops in the Virtual Labs where we'll highlight great ideas that come from you and discuss further questions and share examples of what people are doing.  At the end of the month, we'll all pick the most radical makeovers!

We'll be staggering the posts throughout the month of January, hopefully giving people enough time to participate. There's so much work to do!  We're kicking off the Shop Makeover series with the following post about tagging, a crucial step to a more successful shop.

Make a resolution this year: better tagging. Help shoppers find your items more easily when they search on Etsy. Using specific and intuitive tags during the item listing process will help shoppers, Treasury makers, and Admins quickly find, buy, and feature your items!

What are tags? How do they work? (from Etsy's general FAQ's)
Tags are keywords used to sort items on Etsy. The first tag on an item determines which top-level category it's listed under. Subcategories on Etsy are also based on tags. For example, the drawing subcategory inside the Art category shows items first tagged with "Art" and then with "drawing." A single tag can be comprised of multiple words, e.g. Bath and Beauty. You can have up to 14 tags per item.

What can you do now? 

  • First of all, when listing a new item, make sure you are tagging with the most obvious and descriptive terms.  Look at the photo of your item and ask yourself the question: "What words would I type into a search bar to find this item?" Then start writing down the most obvious and relevant words you can think of as your first tags. When you start to get stumped, write down adjectives that describe your item as well as the materials you used to make your item.  Try to use all 14 tags that are allotted for your listing; this will make your item show up in the most possible searches.
  • Secondly, take the time to sit down and look over all the tags on items you currently have listed in your shop.  Do they match the above criteria?  If not, go ahead and edit your listings to add more tags and/or change the current tags you have. You can edit your listings at any time free of charge: Just make sure to click "Finish" to save your changes and reactivate your listing.  

Top tips:

  • When deciding what words to tag your items with, think about describing who the item is for (example: women, men, children, boy, girl, pets), and the major color(s) of the item.  Both of these terms are frequently used in shopper's searches!
  • One of my best tricks is thesaurus.com; this site is a great place to get new ideas for tags when you can't think of any more.

Here is a thorough Storque article with lots more tips and suggestions!

An Example:

One of the commenter's on our Shop Makeover intro, Chickibebe,  has an adorable tiger costume listed in her shop. She's tagged it with "children" and "costume" and a few others, which is great. But we think she can be using a lot more tags: why not use all 14?! Chickibebe should think about what occasions kids would wear such a costume. What activities would kids be using this costume for? We suggest adding "Halloween," "dress-up," and even "costumecon," which is the tag Etsians used for the Halloween Costume Contest in October. Tiger-costume hunters on the prowl (rrrrearrrr!) or people who just have an interest in costuming probably were following the contest this past year, and might continue to search with that tag. 

Post your most puzzling tagging questions below. Did you start using a different tag and start seeing results? Let us know. Happy tagging!

Tags How-To, HOW-TO, search, Seller Handbook, selling, Shop Makeover Series, tagging, Your Shop 101
All articles in How-To
Related Items
This article was reported by:
contrary
shop . profile . contact

Etsy Admin
EtsyStore
shop . profile . contact

Etsy Admin
HeyMichelle
shop . profile . contact

Etsy Admin
Vanessa
shop . profile . contact

65 comments     Login to add your own!

Jan. 1, 2008 at 5:58 p.m. kibblesnknits

Tags are the best way to help people find our items but they can be so hard! This is the perfect way to start the series.

One question though: If I were to tag my items with the materials I used to make them, wouldn't I be cluttering the supplies searches? If I put "yarn" or "wool" as a tag for my scarves, hats, and mittens then people searching for yarn would be seeing my finished goods for sale. Or would they be filtered out since I don't also tag finished goods as supplies?

Jan. 1, 2008 at 6:57 p.m. DreamON

How does one describe a print of a painting? Seems like um acid-free paper or card stock. BUT that's self-limiting and not one word descriptions.

Jan. 1, 2008 at 7:45 p.m. alkemystic88

Is it uncool to add tags like soul or funky, should we stick with the examples provided ??

Jan. 1, 2008 at 8:13 p.m. selflesh

I always try to come up with the full 14 tags.

In addition, I also include my shop name (selflesh) as a tag. I do this, just in case someone searches selflesh under items:tags,titles - instead of seller:usernames.

Jan. 1, 2008 at 8:17 p.m. mosaicart

Thanks! This is great for new sellers :)

Jan. 1, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. adorkable1

alkemystic88, I sometimes use the tag "cute" so I don't see why you shouldn't use the tags funky or soul. If someone searches with that word, then your item will show up, and thats what you want! lol.

Jan. 1, 2008 at 8:57 p.m. cozycottagecreations

I have fun tagging - it's my favorite part of the listing process. I look at my item and ask myself "If I wanted to buy this but hadn't seen it yet, what words would I type into the search?" I come up with more words than I can use.
I often use "fuzzy", which seemed silly until someone did a treasury on fuzzy items and included my work!

Jan. 1, 2008 at 9:10 p.m. contrary

DreamON I might try describing what the print is depicting or the subject matter. I just went to look at your shop for a good example and it looks like your items already have wonderful and descriptive tags!

Good luck,

Mary

Jan. 1, 2008 at 9:22 p.m. SafetyThird

Well, in reponse to some forum fun "It's a teapot, not the antichrist", I got in some tagging fun. It didn't seem to help a whole lot, although it might have elicited more views. :-)

Jan. 1, 2008 at 10:37 p.m. GuidingLightCandles

Must. Go. Edit. Listings.
Thanks for the fab aritcle!

Jan. 2, 2008 at 9:01 a.m. babaco

Thanks for the advice. I did not know you could add tags to show where the item might be used, like your costume example. So I guess I can tag my baby clothes with tags like 'baby shower present'? Is that the right idea?

Jan. 2, 2008 at 1:48 p.m. Chickibebe

Thank you! thank you! thank you!
I'm close to cracking the code; brill suggestion!

Jan. 2, 2008 at 5:40 p.m. PicturesofLily

great tips, thanks.
thanks for using my "tag" tags photo!

Jan. 2, 2008 at 5:43 p.m. EtsyStore

babaco, that's a great idea to tag your items for a baby shower if they would be relevant gifts for a baby shower...YES!

Good luck you guys!

Mary

Jan. 2, 2008 at 6:05 p.m. kylieB

Thank-you for the wonderful tips I can't wait to hear more :)

Jan. 2, 2008 at 6:36 p.m. PamperingBeki

These are all such great tips! I do try to use as many tags as possible and frequently have descriptive words like "elegant" or "funky". I also include my user id PamperingBeki in a tag for those who are new to etsy but are looking for me to find me easily.

Jan. 2, 2008 at 9:30 p.m. jakrandomart

Thanks for the tips. I am looking forward to the future posts in this series. I posted my before shot on my flickr page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakrando...

Jan. 3, 2008 at 12:13 p.m. AngelKissesJewelry

Thank you for a fabtabulous article! I always try to use all 14 tags, but I didn't even think to tag my work to the intended customer (ie. women).

Jan. 3, 2008 at 3:35 p.m. wunderbug

Seconding what Kibbles said waaay up there - wouldnt tagging something with all of the materials used just serve to clutter up the Search function? I hate it when i'm looking to buy jumprings and i find them, sure, but they're already used up in a piece. pet peeve!

i always use my shop name in my tags - in addition, i also use my city + province just in case a newbie wants to shop local and wants to run a simple search for local sellers. :)

Jan. 4, 2008 at 12:32 p.m. meanbean

I somehow just discovered Storque, and WOW!! I definitely want to makeover my shop, so my before picture is on my flickr here:

http://flickr.com/photos/9229857@N06/...

Jan. 5, 2008 at 4:57 a.m. SilverShadow

You would NOT want to include all of the components used (i.e. "yarn") as a tag. You WOULD want to use the end result (i.e. "felted"). With jewelry, it's a bit different, because people WILL look under "amethyst" for amethyst jewelry, etc.

Jan. 5, 2008 at 4:59 a.m. SilverShadow

Great article, btw. However, with only 14 tags, if an item can be worn by either sex and you are not supposed to use multiple tags on a line, you end up with "woman", "man", "unisex" - taking up 3 of your precious tags :( Do wish we had a FEW more - and a few more characters per line.

Jan. 5, 2008 at 12:39 p.m. vintageinspiration

I love tags and feel like that's what gets most of my sales. I have also list Etsy team names as tags when I can't come up with 14 obvious ones. For example. I use ACEO when listing paper items. And EclecticJewelry for - you guessed it - eclectic jewelry. Thank you for your reminder to go back and edit tags!
julie

Jan. 15, 2008 at 10:40 a.m. craftwork

The article makes the following suggestion:

We suggest adding "Halloween," "dress-up," and even "costumecon,"

However, "dress-up" would be an invalid tag because punctuation is not allowed in tags.

Etsy, please allow us to use dashes and apostrophes in our tags and titles.

Thank you!

Jan. 15, 2008 at 11:34 p.m. ingero

boy, that lip color sure is awesome.. thanks contrary!

I'm not sure if I've seen a difference with my tagging -- I've always tried to come up with relevant tags. I didn't think about tagging things for what kind of person they would before though -- thanks for the tip!

Aug. 5, 2008 at 4:59 p.m. stylinbeadygirl

aBSOLUTELY a great article! Im new to selling here on etsy and needed that info. So now that i have changed things we will see if anything sells better! WHoo hoo!! Thanks,Kathy

Aug. 7, 2008 at 11:28 a.m. suzanneally

THANK YOU so much for all the brilliant help. I am new to Etsy and absolutely LOVE it. Etsy has a certain atmosphere that makes you never want to leave.
WooHoo!
xo
Suzanne Ally
http://suzanneally.com
suzanneally.etsy.com

Sept. 6, 2008 at 5:08 p.m. TwentySecondStreet

Great ideas!!I haven't been very creative in my tagging, so will get busy.The idea about putting shop names and locations is an excellent idea!!
Will try!!

Sept. 29, 2008 at 7:51 a.m. MonasMane

All 14? Wow, I guess I really got to start brain storming!

Oct. 3, 2008 at 8:35 p.m. secretartstudio

Great ideas, thanks.

Oct. 22, 2008 at 1:17 a.m. rejenerate

I have NEVER used all 14! Best get thinking :)

Oct. 22, 2008 at 8:56 a.m. DianesSpace

14 tags?!! I never knew. I must get busy! A shop makeover sounds like a good idea, too. Thanks, Etsy and etsy members for all the help.

Oct. 24, 2008 at 12:05 p.m. DragonfireBeads

I'm definitely going to re-do the tags on my stuff! I never thought to use all 14.

Oct. 25, 2008 at 7:49 a.m. celestialfoundations

I didn't know the tags were "ranked". I do wish we could use a few more characters in the tag. Sometimes mine are just a couple letters short, so I use two tags instead of one.

Oct. 30, 2008 at 11:40 p.m. LauraStaley

Great ideas. Every little bit helps. I also list the materials in my tags. I sold a few sets that way. So, "stone" and "bead" were not enough. I put "Labradorite" or sea glass in there and a whole world of opportunities opens up.

Oct. 30, 2008 at 11:42 p.m. LauraStaley

Oh, and I have gotten into the habit of cross-promoting, if I don't have 5 flattering photos of the same set I'll include photos of sets with the same design or materials, or "I love custom orders" or some other graphic, like I would if I were holding a sale. Might as well use all five Etsy gives you, like all 14 tags.

Nov. 28, 2008 at 1:09 p.m. nappingcat

thanks for the advice - not much happening for me - maybe a change is needed

Dec. 5, 2008 at 3:38 p.m. TheNightjar

Thanks for the input- I better get to it and add to my tags!

Dec. 22, 2008 at 1:47 p.m. twistedsisterarts

I'm still learning...I will never know enough.

Jan. 13, 2009 at 10:27 a.m. AuntTiff

Thank you all for the great advice and ideas, very helpful!

Jan. 15, 2009 at 9:54 p.m. ktmotif

thank you for all the great tips!!!! I was wondering some of these same thoughts as previous posts!!! :)

Jan. 27, 2009 at 8:10 a.m. BettyBaumann

I'm new to etsy and this article helped alot! Paintings are hard though. I think I'll ask friends what they would search for if they were looking for a certain type of painting.

Jan. 28, 2009 at 12:43 p.m. AnnaWadham

paintings and prints are tougher! I will have to learn to be a lot more descriptive, 14 tags sounds like a lot...14 tags- who knew?!!

Feb. 5, 2009 at 8:57 a.m. RaeMoon

I am getting emails and phone calls from people saying they cannot find my site, items or name. HELP!!!!

Feb. 15, 2009 at 1:43 p.m. patriciasaabdesigns

Wow! Great tips, guess I'd best be checking out my tags and fine tuning------!

Feb. 20, 2009 at 1:13 p.m. TheRusticRoosterFarm

Thanks for this advice. Now I have another great tip for selling my things (when I get started).

Feb. 22, 2009 at 5:11 p.m. dolcechic

Great tips...thanks!

March 12, 2009 at 9:56 p.m. Lanyapi

what about using multiple words in one tag to get more bang for your buck? Does this work or is it bad? Examples "funky girly" instead of "funky", "girly" as separate tags. Love to hear everyone's thoughts. Thanks!

March 25, 2009 at 2:29 p.m. bellasparty

Thanks for the tips!

July 20, 2009 at 12:40 p.m. YuriMiku

aWESOME ARTICLE!tHANKS!

YURIMIKU.ETSY.COM

July 21, 2009 at 4:05 p.m. LisaFerinDesigns

rules say one word per tag unless it's common phrase...I often use "lost wax casting" as a tag, because I don't know if "cast" or "casting" will mean anything to most people (?). punctuation would be nice too, but lots of good tips, as usual.

July 21, 2009 at 4:14 p.m. Strauski

I think two of the suggestions are contradictory:

1. Do not tag with potential uses. For example, don't tag yarn with sweater.

2. When deciding what words to tag your items with, think about describing who the item is for (example: women, men, children, boy, girl, pets),

DO NOT tag for potential uses but DO tag for potential users?

I am a fan of describing ONLY WHAT YOU SEE IN THE PHOTO.

When I make a search on Etsy I find hundreds of items which have nothing to do with the search word(s) which I used, making searching tedious and less useful than it might otherwise be.

I wonder what we can do about that.

July 21, 2009 at 7:32 p.m. Parisera

I have found tagging to be a very useful feature in Etsy (and many other websites, besides) Nice article and discussions, thanks.

July 21, 2009 at 10:34 p.m. HoneyteaStudio

Thanks for the Tips. Do we need to include words in the tag list that are already in the title of the item? Is this an necessary doubling up and using precious tag space. ie Tulip Card as the title, then adding tulip and card into the tag list?

July 21, 2009 at 11:17 p.m. MyInnerPrincess

I have the same ? as HoneyteaStudio on duplicating words in tags as well as titles... then I also have a question about the initial tag. Since I use vintage jewelry on frames, mirrors, etc... I started out choosing vintage as my first tag but got an email about not using that term, since the frame itself is not vintage as well. So whats the best way to make sure someone knows Im using vintage jewels? I did start using that as a tag in the list, but just not as the initial tag... is that the best way to handle this? Thanks... Sandi

July 21, 2009 at 11:19 p.m. MyInnerPrincess

OH... and I love the ideas mentioned about using our shop name and/or location for local searchers. I think I'll give that a shot.

July 22, 2009 at 5:55 p.m. heahea

I have been using lots of tags but see tags I don't understand,like ooak,waldorf,what are these??Great article!!

July 23, 2009 at 8:19 a.m. mammysshop

Great article!

July 26, 2009 at 11:14 a.m. roar4653

This is a wedding garter with velcro attached zipper purse to carry lipstick etc. (purse is 3"by3"

July 31, 2009 at 10:59 a.m. Tina669

Thank you all for the great advice and ideas, very helpful!

Aug. 29, 2009 at 6:18 p.m. dsenyo

Great tips! I'm going to edit some of my listings right now!

Aug. 29, 2009 at 9:16 p.m. myrtledovelove

Much helpful info here! Thanks!

Oct. 21, 2009 at 9:26 a.m. VintageStyleJewelry

Great Tips

Thanks

Oct. 28, 2009 at 11:47 p.m. TillyTally

Very helpful info.. have not yet listed items for sale. just trying to learn as much as possible before committing. Looks good!! I especially liked all the comments about the importance of choosing the perfect name for my shop. Having second thoughts about that. I had a named picked out, which my hubby didn't like, went with his and now wish I'd stuck to my guns. What say you??

Oct. 30, 2009 at 9:20 p.m. Floreal

Great Tips..
Being a new etsy member-these tips really help.
:)

Previous Page | Next Page