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What Is In A Title? – Etsy Item Titles
Vintage Green 6x4 Journal
The title of your Etsy items is VERY important for SEO; perhaps even the most important on-page search engine ranking factor.
SeoMoz Etsy’s SEO experts, ran this recent survey taken by 72 top SEO experts. According to survey, using keywords in your title tag holds the most significant weight when determining a page’s search engine ranking.
So, as you can see, once you’ve determined which keywords to target, the title tag should be the first place to start optimizing for those keywords.
Your Etsy title tag is one of the first tags read by the search engine spiders when they crawl your website. Your Etsy item title is used to identify what the page is about, just like of a book.
Where is the Etsy title tag found?
Your Etsy item title tag is simple to find and edit … it is the title of your item.
When you are editing your item you can view how your item will look in the Google search.
The title tag is one of the first tags found in your page’s source code; it is located in the head section, and will look similar to this:
Check out the screen shot above. You will notice that this is the Page Source for my Diamond Plate Belt Buckle. I am sure you are starting to see a pattern on what key word I am trying to optimize this page for. Diamond Plate Belt Buckle…
To view your Etsy item’s page source just right click on the page and look for the View page source option.
Another reason your Etsy item title is so important has to do with pictures. You have heard me talk about how important alt tags are for pictures on blogs. Well it applies to any site or page, including your Etsy items.
**** Here is why the title of your items have a direct effect on the alt tags of your pictures. When you upload any picture to Etsy no matter what you have it named it will be given a new name or alt tag. The new name or alt tag is the title of the item. So for example all 5 pictures in my Diamond Plate Belt Buckle are named or tagged with “Diamond Plate Belt Buckle”.
Here is the Page Source from my Diamond Plate Belt Buckle. You can see that all 5 pics have the same alt tag. (click Pic to zoom!)
Your Etsy item titles can improve or degrade your SEO in two areas… The normal title that Google likes to crawl and your alt tags of your pictures. This is why it is super important to write good titles with strong keywords.
Image Alt Text (or Alt Tags) and Optimization
Properly written alt tags still have a place in SEO best practices. While many search engine professionals have ignored them in favor of bigger factors, they can still be the fractional difference that puts your site ahead of your competitor’s. Fractions count in the world of SEO, so here are some tips regarding how alt tags should be treated.
- Don’t stuff your alt tags. In the past, people used to hide content in image alt tags, so you could hover over a picture and get a paragraph or an extended list of keywords separated by commas. The alt text should describe the image, or simply parrot any words that are embedded in it.
This is why we have to be careful when writing our Etsy item titles.
Keywords:
When you are listing an item on Etsy and you have found your keyword or phrase you want to optimize for it is a good idea to include that keyword in a few places. First is in the title where Google will Google Spiders will look first. Second is in the description as close to the beginning as possible. You will also want to use your key word as one of your 14 tags, and in the materials if possible.
Big Swirl Tree Sketchbook
I am so glad I read this. I am in the process of “fixing” my tags and titles. I learn better with visual aids and not just reading so your pictures were most helpful. Love the belt BTW.
Shauna Morrissey ThePaintedBrush.etsy.com
Thanks Shauna!
I think my titles are pretty good, but I still don’t understand how to do alt tags on photos. is there not a simple html code for that?
Laura, With our Etsy photos we can not change the Alt Tag. The alt tag is the title of our item.
Such good info! And well explained as well!
What perfect timing! Thanks so much. I searched the forums this morning for JUST this thing and your suggestions couldn’t have been more helpful. Immediately edited one of my items and quickly made your suggested changes.
Again, thanks, Lori
You are welcome Lori! Good luck with your new titles!!
thank you for s very useful, helpful article, great buckle, great illustration!!
Fabulous information! Will be keeping this top of mind when I reopen my shop in a few weeks. Thanks
Great article …
Very nice article. Gave me things to consider when writing up a listing. I appreciate your sharing so much good information with us.
That was great information… and quick and easy to understand! Thanks for sharing!
Great information! I’m going to have to reread this as I fix my tags and titles. Thanks for sharing this!
This is good to know. I never get too specific in listing materials. Perhaps I should! Thanks
From the Etsy Forums: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6459902&page=3#post-48456748
kaboogie said: I always start with “baby moccasins shoes” or “baby boots shoes I did notice, however, if I title it “leather baby shoes” I come up on page 1 of a “leather baby shoes” search, but I’m not sure how many people actually use that term as opposed to “baby shoes”, or “soft soled baby shoes” so I switch it around so at least some of them pop up in different searches. __________
It is always good to mix up your titles if you are selling similar items. Using a good keyword tool will help you determine if your keywords are being searched or not. you can find a great keyword tool on http://HandmadeCompete.com
From the Etsy Forums: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6459902&page=3#post-48457085
KidsAtHeartDesigns said: I don’t really understand…Is it better to have a simple clear-cut title for you item (so that the shopper can easily understand what the item is), or is it better to include as many descriptive words as possible? I notice that some sellers have such long titles and they seem to have many sales and their items always seem to pop up whenever I search an unrelated item.
(Thank you for posting, this is great info!) __________
Titles should not be over stuffed with a bunch of words. The best practice it to focus on one keyword or phrase per listing and use that keyword or phrase through out the listing. In my example of my belt buckle you can see that “Diamond Plate Belt Buckle” is use in my title, description, and tags. You have to find that line between looking to obvious with your keywords, and optimizing! It takes time and thought!
Thanks again Tim for ALL of your help! Greatly appreciated!
This was so great and easy to digest. Thanks for the visuals for those of us who don’t like to read
Thank you Timothy this is helpful and very easy to follow. You always give us such good information and you are always so willing to share with the rest of us. That is why you and your family are so richly blessed.
Thanks Timothy Debra
I’m confused! You said “To view your Etsy item’s page source just right click on the page and look for the View page source option.” Did that,no page source on the drop down menu. Where is it?
On another blog newsletter, they suggested that it is important to name your pictures as they are stored in your computer so that name comes up when you load into etsy. In other words, you’d use ‘diamond buckle’ when you save your photo. is that inaccurate. Thanks for all your help.
Good information as usual Tim. Many thanks.
Thanks to you Tim I’m starting to understand how to create better titles . The keyword tool on HMC
is extremely helpful and I must say pretty shocking to realize how many useless keywords I’ve been using , words that clearly nobody ever search for , but at the same time words that I would personally use to find my items… very interesting.
Very tricky stuff to be on top of, also because it changes frequently.
This a lot of hard work I hope it’ll pay off eventually , I really need my poor shop to be found already, I get almost no traffic lately.
Thank you so much Tim you’re efforts are always greatly appreciated. irit
Irit,
Yeah it is fun to see what you think good keywords are, and then you use the keyword tool and you were dead wrong. The great thing is you can find strong keywords and put them to good use!! http://handmadecompete.com/hmc-keyword-tool/
I love your continuing support for us! I will read this later and start incorporating it in my tagging, which is lackluster to say the least.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks! Aleksandra
This is great info. I am trying to get my tags, descritpions and titles fixed. It is a time consuming project to redo. Thank you so much for sharing.
Nancy
Tim, I’m still a little confused about SEO. We usually give our products a name, does it matter if that name comes first in the title as long as there is descriptive words in the title? Ex- Tahiti Earrings- Aqua Chalcedony on Sterling Silver or Aqua Chalcedony Sterling Silver Earrings- Tahiti Earrings? Which is better?
Thanks!
Gemma, They way you are writing your titles is good.
Hi Tim!
I am hoping that I am tagging properly and writing good titles! My challenge for today is to learn about SEO. I am applying a 30 day course to my shop. Yesterday was fun by the way…a challenge to create something I have never created before. It can be seen in todays blog at http://www.glennasgarden.blogspot.com really cute for Easter!
Glenna from Glenna’s Garden http://www.gnormyle.etsy.com
Hurray! I finally found your blog post, that link just didn’t work for me the other day on twitter.
Anyway, this is really good stuff. so simple, yet…. I am going to have a hard time as I call things by a name, but try to get what the product is alongside and a brief description next to it.
In fact, as I read, Gemma is doing exactly the same as me, so I can’t be doing that bad, right? I am sure there is more to do….my descriptions need work.
thanks so much Rachel
Barbara says: On another blog newsletter, they suggested that it is important to name your pictures as they are stored in your computer so that name comes up when you load into etsy. In other words, you’d use ‘diamond buckle’ when you save your photo. is that inaccurate.
I’m confused about this as well.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of us!
Rebekah
Rebekah,
That is inaccurate because no matter what you name your picture Etsy will rename it.
Thanks Tim! Great info here! Can always use SEO information! Diane
Good clear, concise information and particularly helpful to have the visuals along with it. I need to rewrite some of my titles, etc. Thanks Tim.
Tim, this info is like an *eye opener* for me, I had no idea! almost feel like I got to start my shop al over again,the thing with art is more complicated I think..since my names tend to be abstract, but thanks for your insight!
Thank you so much. I’ve always put thought into my titles and tags, but I see now there is room for improvement. The first thing I would like to try is changing the order in which my words are placed in the product discription.
This is very helpful. Thanks!
Thanks for this eye-opening lesson!
At last I am beginning to understand
I name my jewelry like Gemma does. If you have a look see will you pls tell me if it is correct.
Thanks..struggling to get my SEO right.
I WILL HOPING SOMEONE WOULD TEACH US ABOUT THIS TAGING THANG. THANKS I NEED HELP WITH THIS ONE.
Hi Tim:Thank you so much for your great sharing!It’s really realy helpful to me.I think I didn’t care too much on the TAG.Here I would like to ask you for a favour,Could you pls take a look in my shop,and just choose one or two of my listing and can you give a criticism to my tag?I really appreciate it if you could reply me.Thank you so much~Zoe
Great article…thanks so much for the info.
Now I’m off to start the daunting task of changing all the titles in both my Etsy shops!
So many things to review and proably change! Tim, you are the BEST!