The search terms in your Etsy Stats are the phrases shoppers typed into Etsy search before they visited your shop, so they show which words already bring you traffic and which listings those words reached. Read them as a to-do list: keep the terms that describe what you sell, add the strong ones that are missing from a listing's title and 13 tags, and ignore the ones that point to something you do not offer.
This is for sellers who already get some traffic and want to put it to work. A keyword tool estimates what people might search, while the terms in Stats are what real shoppers searched before landing on your listings.
What the search terms show, and what they do not
Inside Stats, Etsy lists the search terms that brought shoppers to your shop along with the visits each one produced. Narrow the view to a date range, and to a single listing where you can, and the list tells you which phrases reached that specific product. Etsy updates the Stats layout from time to time, so the list may move.
Three cautions before you act on it:
Small numbers are noisy. A term with one or two visits is a hint, not a trend. Look for terms that recur across several weeks.
Visits are not sales. A term can bring visits and no orders when the listing is not what that shopper wanted.
Results differ by shopper. Etsy says search results vary from shopper to shopper (Etsy Help), so a term that reached you once does not mean you rank for it everywhere.
If you need a refresher on views, visits and conversion rate first, read Etsy Stats explained.
Sort the terms into groups
Copy the terms for one listing, or one product type, into a sheet and label each by what it describes. The example terms below are made up to show the method, not taken from any shop.
| Group | Example term | What it tells you | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | oversized tee | Shoppers name the product type or fit | Put the product words early in the title |
| Recipient | gift for retired nurse | Who the buyer is shopping for | Shorten to retired nurse gift so it fits a tag |
| Occasion | retirement party | Why or when they buy | Add as a tag and mention it in the description |
| Style | retro sunset shirt | The look they want | Keep it only if your design has that look |
| Personalization | custom name shirt | They want their own text on it | Check that personalization is switched on |
| Mismatch | embroidered hoodie | Something you do not sell | Leave it out of the listing |
If most of a listing's terms are recipient terms, its buyers are shopping for a gift, and your photos and description should say so.
Compare each term with the listing it reached
For each strong term, open the listing it reached and check three places: the title, the 13 tags and the attributes. Etsy names tags and titles, attributes, listing quality and customer service among the factors sellers control in search (Etsy Help), and it tells sellers to fill out both attributes and tags (Etsy Help).
You will usually find one of three situations:
The term is already in the title or tags. It is working, so leave it alone.
The term reached the listing but appears in neither the title nor the tags. Etsy matched it some other way, for example through an attribute or the category, since attributes help buyers find items in search (Etsy Help). Etsy lists keyword relevance among the factors that affect placement for any keyword (Etsy announcement), so adding the exact phrase is worth testing.
A tag never shows up as a term. It may be too broad, too rare, or simply not how shoppers phrase it. That tag is a candidate to swap for a term from your list.
Turn terms into title and tag changes
Etsy's limits decide where each term goes:
A title can be up to 140 characters, and Etsy suggests fewer than 15 words with the item described clearly at the beginning (Etsy Help, Etsy Help).
A listing can have up to 13 tags, each up to 20 characters, made of letters, numbers and spaces (Etsy Help).
Etsy recommends "a diverse array of tags" to increase search visibility (Etsy Help), so a new term should replace a near-duplicate rather than sit next to it.
A term longer than 20 characters belongs in the title or needs shortening for a tag. Put the strongest product term early in the title and keep the sentence natural: Etsy notes that a buyer who sees your title on Google should understand it quickly, and that search engines show only the first 50 to 60 characters of a page title (Etsy Help). See our guide to all 13 Etsy tags for building a full set.
Use the description too. Etsy suggests using keywords shoppers will search while avoiding "repeating the same phrases over and over again" (Etsy Help). Our article on how specific a long-tail keyword should be helps you decide which long phrases to keep.
Terms you should not add
Not every term that brought a visit belongs in your listing:
Things you do not sell. A wrong product, material or print method brings visits that cannot convert, and an item that does not match its listing description is not covered by Etsy Purchase Protection (Etsy Help).
Brand names, characters, celebrities and team names, even if shoppers typed them. They belong to their owners and invite infringement reports.
Price and shipping words in the title. Etsy advises leaving price and shipping details out of titles (Etsy Help).
Holiday words on items that are not about the holiday. Etsy suggests naming holidays or occasions in a title only when they are essential to the item (Etsy Help).
Watch what happens after a change
Change one group of listings at a time and note the date. Etsy says changes "can take up to one day to reflect in search" (Etsy announcement), but the effect on visits takes longer to read because traffic moves day to day. Compare the same length of time before and after, and check whether the new term starts to appear in Stats for that listing. Judge seasonal terms in their season: a Christmas term tells you little in February.
How Alomations helps with the next step
The search terms list lives in your Etsy Stats, and Alomations picks up from there. On paid plans, the shop report gives your shop a scored health check with an action plan and a PDF. On every plan, each live listing gets a score made of ten checks, each with the fix attached.
When a listing needs new words, Update SEO rewrites the title, tags and description of the live listing, and the first rewrite per listing is free. The listings manager also lets you edit tags in bulk, up to 13 per listing, across your connected shops. After any rewrite, compare the new title and tags with your list of terms and add anything important by hand. Our walkthrough of Update SEO shows the flow.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I see search terms that are not in my tags?
Tags are only one input. Titles and attributes also count in search (Etsy Help), and the category decides which sections of the marketplace a listing appears in (Etsy Help). A term can reach a listing through any of these.
How often should I check my search terms?
Once a month suits most shops, plus a check a few weeks after any big listing change. Daily checks mostly show noise.
What if a listing has almost no search terms?
Then few shoppers are reaching it through Etsy search. Work through why Etsy listings get no views before you spend time on keywords.
Should I copy a strong term into every listing?
No. Use a term only on listings it describes. Etsy recommends a diverse set of tags, and a phrase that fits one design rarely describes all of them.
You can try Update SEO and the listings manager on the Alomations free plan.