The title of your listing on Etsy is one of the very first elements that your customer sees. It needs to be short and sweet because your chance of grabbing your audience’s attention is limited. And, you need to make optimal use of the 140 characters allocated by Etsy so that you can reap the rewards.

In this post, we explore what a good and bad title on Etsy are and how to write a stellar one for maximum effect.

What are the benefits of writing a good title on Etsy?

Unlike other online marketplaces, Etsy search engine optimization (SEO) is quite straightforward. The platform doesn’t hide what it wants you to do. And because the SEO elements are so straightforward, you shouldn’t be making any mistakes when it comes to your title and listing. However, many people still do, resulting in diminishing returns on their hard work.

As a reminder, a strong title will grant the following advantages over your peers:

• Ranking high on the first page of the search results
• Generating more traffic to your store
• Grabbing a wider audience’s attention, and
• Generating a higher number of sales.

What are some of the problems stemming from a bad title?

If you have a poorly written title, you will unfortunately forego all of the benefits mentioned above. For example, you are not going to rank on Etsy’s first page of search results and your listing will be lost in the noise.

In turn, this means you will not generate a good amount of traffic to your store, you will not get a wider audience’s attention, and in the worst-case scenario – you will not generate sales.

This is the ultimate nightmare of any Etsy owner after painstakingly creating their handmade products and listings. And this is why a strong title is crucial for your Etsy listing.

What constitutes a good title?

Whether for handmade and vintage items or for craft supplies and tools, there are certain “rules” you should follow when it comes to your Etsy title. Therefore, a good title will contain your essential keyword (primary keyword), a secondary longtail keyword, and adjectives that bring your listing title to life.

You only have a limited number of characters to use (140) so make sure that you use them optimally. In some cases, some people advise against using the full 140 character limit and sticking to between 70 and 120 characters. Overall, the shorter your title, the more attention it is likely to get from your audience.

How to write a good title

And now we come to the essentials of writing a good title. In general, for Etsy, the following criteria should be borne in mind when writing your title:

• Always have the customer in mind and what their search intent is
• Make sure the very first keyword is relevant
• Don’t stuff keywords together
• Use consistent punctuation in your title
• Don’t repeat the titles in your keywords
• Use your tags to supplement and support your keywords not vice versa
• Provide greater coverage of what the listing is and what it does
• Avoid repeating words in your title
• Delete filler words like “and” and “of”

In short, the “good title formula” for Etsy is the following:

Title formula: What it is (keyword) + What it does (keyword) + Who it is for or occasion (keyword) [use adjectives in between]

Let’s now take a look at an imaginary example and an example from a bestseller:

Imaginary example: Say for instance that we would like to create a title for a listing that offers silver earrings. Using the formula above, we may have the following title:

Sterling silver twisted hoop earrings with 10 mm diameter for every occasion. Gift for her. [91 characters]

Bestseller example: ShreeJaipurSilver925 is an Etsy bestseller with the following title:

AAA + Black Onyx Top Quality Gemstone Earring,925-Sterling Silver Earring,Wedding Earring,Antique Silver Earring,Anniversary Gift Earring

In this title, they have importantly indicated the what and who these earrings are for.

Although they have repeated the word “earring” several times, they have still optimized their full space allocated for characters by accurately describing these earrings as “black onyx”, a “quality gemstone”, “sterling silver”, “antique silver”, and the occasion – wedding or anniversary gift.

The seller’s use of adjectives is impressive and there is no keyword stuffing. The only recommendation we would make would be a small spacing issue with the comma usage to be a bit easier on the eye when reading

Good titles are just one part of the listing optimization mix

Etsy SEO is not just about titles though. It’s a comprehensive mix of elements which, when brought together, can bring tangible results for sellers.

With this in mind, it’s important to consider the other SEO elements in conjunction with your listing title.

Tags

Etsy gives sellers 13 tags with which to optimize their listings. However, one thing you should keep in mind is that the keywords used in the tags should not mention any of the keywords mentioned in your title. This is a duplication tactic that will lead you to lose out on valuable space to rank higher.

Prices

We always recommend that you price around the average for your category and niche of products. And if you aren’t sure where to get this information without doing painstaking, manual research, you can use Sale Samurai to automatically calculate this for you.

Descriptions

Etsy somewhat recently indicated that it may pick up keywords from the description to help your product rank better. This is why an optimized description is critical for every listing. It should give your customer all the information possible so that they can reach a decision to buy. Think of it as a mini blog post of around three to four paragraphs.

Images

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is very true on Etsy where you are given space to upload 10 images of your product. However, bear in mind that video should not be excluded from this mix. Furthermore, you can use your Etsy image space to give your audience as much information about your product as possible including manufacturing details, colors and sizes, etc. In addition, if you opt for photos, use high quality images in a lifestyle setting as opposed to a static one.

Wrapping up

Etsy SEO is relatively easy to navigate. You just need the right “partner” at your side to help you.

Whether you are looking to find the right keywords and tags for your titles or you want to figure out how to price your product, Sale Samurai is just that partner that can help you achieve listing success.

It goes for only $9.99 per month and it’s a strong tool to have in your toolbox as you start to optimize your listing for greater success.