Etsy itself is the best place to find your keywords. I look into 3 different places to find keywords:
- Search bar
- Search filters
- Related listings
Why are the good places to find effective keywords? Because they are based on what Etsy shoppers actually look for.
Let’s dive in to see how you can find good keywords.
Place 01 - Search Bar
How Does The Etsy Search Bar Work
When you type something in the search bar, you will notice Etsy start making suggestions. These auto-complete suggestions are the up-to-date, popular search terms that Etsy shoppers actually use. The more popular keywords with the most searches are shown first.
Of course there are way more than the 10-11 keywords you see. You can lengthen the keyword and see other suggestions.
In general, the longer the keyword (3 words or longer), the fewer shops that are targeting that keyword, and therefore less competition you will face.
The A-to-Z method
So this is how I use the Etsy search bar to find all my keywords. I call it the A-to-Z method. Here are the steps:
Step 1
Put in your ‘seed’ keyword in your search bar. A good seed keyword should be specific to your product and about 2-3 word long, like “gemstone ring”, “soy candle”, “floral tshirt”.
Step 2
Add a space to the end and start adding on a letter. Once you added a letter, the search bar should come up with suggestions of other popular keywords.
For example, when you type “gemstone ring s”, it should come up with keywords like “gemstone ring sterling silver” and “gemstone ring set”.
Step 3
Go through this process from A-to-Z and mark down all the keywords that are suitable.
Step 4
Repeat the process with other ‘seed’ keywords. For example, once you finish with “gemstone ring”, you can go on to “amethyst ring” or “gemstone jewelry”.
Place 02 - Search Filters
Another place I find keyword is the search filter on the Etsy search page. You will see the search filters on the top left of the page:
They are the filters that you can choose when you upload a product listing on Etsy. I’ve found that adding some of the specific keywords improve the search ranking.
For example, if you search soy candle, some keywords in the search filter include “floral scent”, “hemp wick”, etc.
Add the suitable ones to your keyword list.
Place 03 - Related Listings
Inside product listings, when you scroll down to the bottom, you can find some related categories and searches.
These related suggestions are also driven by real Etsy shopper data, meaning that the shopper clicking into that particular listing is also likely to be interested in these related ones.
For example, in this amethyst ring listing, these related searches and categories reveal some valuable keywords that may be suitable to you:
Place 04 - Your Own Etsy Shop Stat
Go to your shop dashboard and click on “Stats”. Scroll down and you’ll see your most viewed listings.
Clicking on the listings will give you a more detailed view. Scroll down to the “Search terms” section and you will see a list of keywords that’s currently driving traffic to this listing. The search terms are ranked by the number of visits.
By looking at these keywords, you can identify opportunities to include relevant keywords that you aren’t directly targeting, but are getting clicks. Putting them in your title and tag can help you rank higher under those keywords and potentially increase your traffic.
Place 05 - Leveraging Etsy Ads Data
Etsy Ads used to be a valuable resource for keyword research. However, recent updates from Etsy has greatly limited the information you can get from your Etsy ads.
After going to your Etsy ads section, scroll down and click on individual listings to get a detailed view.
You will be able to see the search terms your listing ranked for in the last 30 days. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to extend the time period, which means that if you are not running ads with a high budget, you probably won’t get enough data to get a useful list of keywords.
Place 06 - Etsy Search Analytics
The Search Analytics under the “Marketing” tab in your dashboard can give you some keyword ideas, although there are a few issues that make it not as useful as it can be.
First, sort the keywords by impression or visits. Then go through the first few pages of the keyword list to see if there are any relevant ones that you are not currently using, or whether there are any that you can target with new products.
However, the lack of filtering options make this tool not as useful as it can be. For example, it would be great to be able to only show keywords that has the position of 20-50 to reveal keyword opportunities. Instead, there’s no way to do that without having to jump through pages and pages of data.
Place 07 - Etsy Paid Research Tools
Etsy market search tools can help you speed up the process of keyword research. Two of my favourites are Alura and EtsyHunt, both of which can speed up the keyword research process. They also have free plans or very cheap plans.
Place 08 - AI Tools
Free AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard and Claude AI can help you generating a long list of keyword ideas.
Describe your product to the AI tool, and ask for a list of keyword ideas optimised for SEO on Etsy. Here’s an example prompt that I use on Claude AI to generate keyword ideas:
Because these tools don’t have access to live search data, you’ll still need to verify these keywords as they may be too competitive or not high in demand. I’ve included some methods of how to pick the right keywords later in this article.
Place 09 - Pinterest For Keyword Ideas
Pinterest can be leveraged in a few ways to get keyword ideas.
Similar to Etsy, Pinterest has an auto-complete feature that gives you popular long-tail keyword variations to consider. Keep in mind that some of these may not be product related.
After you’ve typed in the search term, at the top of the search page, Pinterest gives you a list of related terms on the top to ‘niche down’ on your original keyword. For example, after searching “jar labels”, you get other terms like “spice” and “kitchen”, which can all add to the original keyword to get “spice jar labels” and “kitchen jar labels”
When you scroll down in the search results, you’ll also get “Related searches”, which shows other relevant keywords based on what people search for.
Place 10 - Keywords Used By Your Competitors
Researching the specific keywords your competitors are ranking for can uncover new keyword opportunities.
To do that, search for your main product keyword on Etsy and look at the bestselling listings from your biggest competitors.
Click into those listings and write down the keyword ideas that are relevant to your listings and you haven’t thought of.