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You've poured time, money, and effort into making and selling exceptional handmade goods or vintage treasures on Etsy—and yet, you still feel invisible in the marketplace. That's not an uncommon feeling. Etsy has over 9 million active sellers, and visibility is a hot commodity.
One key to standing out in the Etsy crowd is mastering keyword optimization. Think of it as the secret handshake that gets your products noticed. Without the right keywords, your amazing creations might as well be hiding in plain sight. But with the right ones? You’re rolling out the red carpet for the right buyers to find you.
When shoppers hop on Etsy, they type in keywords or phrases to find what they’re looking for. As a seller, those same keywords are your ticket to getting your products in front of them. Your goal? Find the right keywords to describe your listings and optimize for search visibility.
By using Etsy keyword search, you can uncover the high-performing, relevant terms that potential buyers are typing in when looking for products like yours. Sprinkle these keywords strategically throughout your titles, descriptions, categories, tags, and attributes, and voilà—you’ve just increased your chances of popping up in the right searches.
Etsy’s algorithm works like a matchmaker. It gathers listings based on the keywords used and sorts them by relevance. The closer your keywords align with what the shopper is searching for, the higher your products will rank. So, if you’re selling homemade book stickers, use terms like “book stickers,” “bookish gifts,” or “fantasy book stickers”—and avoid using popular but irrelevant keywords like “wall art” just to get clicks. That won’t end well for your rankings or your buyer trust.
The secret sauce? Keywords that match your target audience’s search intent. To nail this, you’ll need a powerful Etsy keyword research tool to guide your way.
Let’s go back to those homemade book stickers. You’ve got no shortage of potential keywords—think "bookworm stickers," "custom book quote stickers," "vintage book stickers," and the list goes on. But the real challenge isn’t finding keywords—it’s figuring out which ones will actually help boost your visibility on both Etsy and Google. That’s where a keyword research tool comes in handy.
A keyword research tool lets you search, analyze, and evaluate keywords to determine:
With this tool, you can zero in on the most effective keywords to draw in potential buyers and optimize your Etsy and Google SEO. For example, both "waterproof book stickers" and "vintage book stickers" might be top keywords for your product. But if you want to emphasize practicality, "waterproof book stickers" speaks more directly to what users are searching for, while "vintage book stickers" taps into a design trend. A keyword research tool helps you sort through these options, removing the guesswork.
These tools also analyze real-time search trends and competitor data to reveal keywords with high search volume and low competition. Plus, a good tool will even review your Etsy listings, showing you exactly where improvements are needed for better SEO performance
The main benefit of a keyword research tool is boosting your shop’s visibility. However, it offers much more:
A good keyword research tool doesn't just provide top-performing keywords; it helps you discover long-tail keywords that are highly specific to your products. These long-tail keywords, while less competitive, often attract buyers with higher purchase intent.
For example, instead of simply using "book stickers," a tool might suggest "fantasy book tracker stickers," allowing you to reach a niche audience of fantasy readers who actively use trackers. By identifying these hidden gems, you can tap into a dedicated market that might be overlooked with basic keyword brainstorming.
Without a keyword research tool, you're trying to find a light switch in a dark room. You may eventually find it, but it's mostly out of luck. If you rely on your Etsy shop for revenue, this guesswork will kill your business.
Using a keyword research tool ensures you have a data-driven keyword strategy in place. Since you’ll know the number of people actively searching for specific keywords on the platform, you can use keywords with a decent search volume so many potential customers can see your listings.
Another insight that a keyword research tool can provide is keyword competition levels. You can avoid using overly competitive words or phrases from hundreds of Etsy sellers. Instead, you can focus on keywords with a better chance of ranking well.
Manually looking for top-performing keywords related to your products is a time-consuming process. It also involves plenty of guesswork. You can easily waste time brainstorming words—only to end up with a list that isn’t optimized for Etsy search.
When you use a keyword research tool, you have a readily available program that can automate the keyword suggestion process. You can filter out the keywords by search volume, competition level, density, relevance, and more. Some tools can even create variations based on your seed keyword.
A keyword research tool acts as your virtual assistant, helping you find the best keywords to optimize your listings. There are free, freemium, and paid versions, but most keyword research tools generally follow this process:
The process starts with you providing a seed keyword. This can be broad or specific, but it should be relevant to your product.
For example, if you sell whimsical stickers for children’s books, you might use “children’s book stickers” as a broad seed keyword. To target a niche, you could choose something like “fairy book stickers.” The tool then uses this seed keyword to generate related terms to boost your visibility.
Manually brainstorming keywords limits your reach. An Etsy keyword research tool is designed to help you out.
After providing your seed keyword, the tool will look into search queries and analyze past user searches. The tool will meticulously sift through the data and search for related searches, synonyms, and trending topics to identify relevant keywords.
From the tool's exploration of search queries, it will generate keyword suggestions. These are not random, but a carefully curated list based on analysis.
When you look at these suggestions, you'll see they are variations of your seed keyword, such as "cute children's book stickers" or "colorful fairy book stickers." The tool can also suggest related terms, such as "fairy activity books" or "aesthetic children stickers" to expand your reach to audience with similar interests. Another thing you'll notice is that these keywords are often long-tailed to help you target a specific niche.
Along with keyword suggestions, the tool provides search volume estimates. These will tell you how often a keyword is searched on Etsy each month. This helps you prioritize keywords that attract enough potential buyers.
Understanding competition is also crucial when choosing the right keywords. So, the tool assesses how many other sellers are using similar keywords. This lets you adjust your strategy and select terms that improve your chances of ranking higher and reaching more customers.
The Etsy search bar can help you with basic keyword searches. However, if you're looking for a tool that can provide valuable solutions and a variety of features, explore the following:
Once your keyword research tool has identified the best keywords for your products, here’s where to strategically place them for optimal SEO:
In addition to these main areas, you can also include keywords in your product categories and attributes to further enhance SEO.
There are other ways to identify and use relevant keywords for your Etsy listings other than using a keyword tool. Etsy also provides a Sellers Handbook to help optimize your shop and listings for Etsy search. Here are some more tips focusing on keyword selection:
Like we established earlier, seed keywords are the foundation of your keyword search, so take the time to look into potential seeds.
Start by listing down words that accurately describe your product. They can be as basic as color, measurement, or material. Add style, functionalities, and benefits. For your homemade book stickers, your core keywords may include "book stickers," "homemade," "matte-finish," and "colored stickers."
When brainstorming keywords, prioritize the human factor over the machine. Your tool may suggest a long-tailed keyword with a decent search volume, but you can put it in the backseat if it doesn't sound or feel organic.
Consider the language and terminology your target audience generally uses. For instance, a Millennial will likely search "bookworm gifts" on Etsy, while a Gen Z will likely input "BookTok stickers." When you understand your audience and prioritize them over technical details, you can quickly determine the right words and phrases for your listings.
Use Etsy's search bar to check long-tailed keywords related to your products for free.
The best thing about it is that it has an auto-complete feature that suggests long search terms. These are the keywords that actual customers have used on the platform. Thus, these long-tailed keywords likely have a decent level of demand. Here's an example:
Go to your shop dashboard and look into Stats. Then, go to Search Items to see the keywords driving traffic to your product. By analyzing this insight, you can identify opportunities to add relevant keywords that aren't directly targeting but are getting clicks.
Experiment with them. You can remove them from the product descriptions and add them to the title and tags, or vice versa.
While a keyword research tool is essential for optimizing your Etsy SEO, there’s more to growing your online store. For sellers looking to scale across multiple platforms, Threecolts offers powerful solutions that can take your Etsy business even further.
With ExportYourStore, you can effortlessly expand beyond Etsy, syncing your listings across 11 different sales channels—including Amazon, eBay, and Shopify—without worrying about manually updating each platform. This saves you time and ensures your products are visible everywhere, helping you reach more customers.
Then, if you want to enhance your customer support, you can go with Onsite Support. It’s an AI-optimized helpdesk that centralizes all your customer queries from marketplaces, email, social media, and chat into one platform. Onsite Support also helps reduce returns and streamline issue resolution to ensure a smoother experience for your buyers.
You also get ChannelReply for free when you subscribe to Onsite Support. Aside from letting you respond to customer inquiries up to 4X faster, ChannelReply also integrates all your marketplace messages into one system. This makes it easier to handle tickets, manage order details, and personalize responses to keep your customers happy while saving time.
Finally, for those looking to manage operations at scale, Hemi provides an all-in-one solution for multi-channel inventory and order management. With Hemi, you can seamlessly sync inventory across 100+ ecommerce channels, automate shipping logistics, and gain insights through advanced analytics. This will help you stay on top of your business as it grows.
Whether you're aiming to reach new markets, improve customer experience, or optimize your operations, Threecolts has the tools to help you thrive on Etsy—and beyond.
