Author: Gemma Fontané
Beyond being a marketplace with its own algorithms and search results, Etsy is also a website that appears in Google search engine results pages (SERPs).
That means creating a store on Etsy can benefit your online shop in two important ways:
Selling your products on the Etsy platform
Increasing the visibility of your store on Google
However, Etsy results in the SERPs can also put you at a disadvantage if you already have your own website. It can be a challenge to compete with a marketplace like Etsy for search rankings. So, how do you determine if Etsy is your ally or competitor? And, as an ally, how do you maximize its potential?
Let’s analyze a few different scenarios to evaluate whether creating an Etsy store can be an effective strategy for your business.
Table of contents:
Etsy: What it is and its impact on eCommerce
Etsy is a global marketplace for handmade, handcrafted, niche, or vintage products created by independent sellers that manage their own orders and inventory.
As an eCommerce platform, Etsy offers a wide range of product categories, with some types more popular than others. For example, in several marketplaces, shops in the ‘Jewelry’ and ‘Art & Collectibles’ categories were common among the top Etsy sellers last year.
Etsy’s significance and market share varies from country to country, with its most active markets being English-speaking. When it comes to Etsy’s users, the United States accounts for the vast majority of traffic to the platform, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Australia (as of June 2024).
These markets don’t just account for the most Etsy users, they’re also where Etsy has more visibility in the SERPs. Contextualizing where and your potential customers use Etsy and how it shows up in search results is crucial for defining and developing your digital strategy.
How Etsy results work
Etsy operates differently from Google—in particular, there are specific features that make some products appear in higher positions and with more visibility in its marketplace than others.
While we don’t know all the parameters of Etsy’s algorithm, there are certain factors that we do know can increase your products’ visibility within Etsy’s platform. For example, Star Seller status, among other considerations, can boost your visibility, as we will cover later in this article.
Etsy in Google SERPs
As a website, Etsy also appears in Google search results—and with high impact in certain product categories and regions. Some of Etsy’s category, subcategory, and product pages achieve very relevant positions in Google SERPs:
So, how do you take advantage of Etsy to boost the visibility of your products in Google SERPs? Let’s take a look.
Determine if Etsy is the right strategy for your online store
In this section, I’ll cover the factors you need to assess first to decide if building a store on Etsy actually helps your visibility on Google, or if the benefits are limited to Etsy’s platform.
These factors include:
Your product’s search terms
The market and SERPs your products will compete in
Etsy’s placements in Google SERPs that are relevant for your store
Identify your business’s most important search terms
First, you need to identify the search terms you want to rank for online (these typically relate to your business’s main product). Understanding these keywords helps you assess how you can leverage Google, Etsy, both, or neither.
It’s important that you be very concrete and specific during this initial stage. For example, if you sell stone rings, you need to conduct keyword research on this specific type of product—not generic jewelry. This allows you to identify the most potential search terms for your business, based on factors such as search volume and keyword difficulty.
Etsy does not provide any tools for keyword analysis. Therefore, to gather information about search terms, we will use SEO tools that provide data from Google SERPs.
Using the results from these tools, evaluate the volume of users searching on Google SERPs for the products you offer. From this data, conduct a market analysis and a Google SERP analysis.
Conduct your market and SERP analysis
After you define your main search terms, conduct market research to determine if Etsy has enough search presence in your target region and how that visibility relates to your products. You should analyze how relevant products display in Google SERPs.
Analyze the following to evaluate your product’s Etsy market fit:
Etsy’s market share in the target region: Analyze whether Etsy has sufficient market share in the potential regions where you want to sell your product, as the marketplace may not be commonly used in some regions.
Etsy’s presence in Google SERPs for your products in target regions: As you can see from the examples below, Etsy does not appear in Google SERPs in Spain at all for the term [gold bow earrings], but it’s the first result in the US.
![[Gold bow earrings] (3,600 searches per month) on Google US. Etsy ranks first in search results and has two images featured in the top positions.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a484d4_6ab10ef4695941bb8258c19c82a2d2b8~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_58,h_87,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/a484d4_6ab10ef4695941bb8258c19c82a2d2b8~mv2.png)
For more data on Etsy’s prevalence on Google SERPs for each region, check out Semrush’s web traffic stats for Etsy.
The main SERP competitors for your Etsy products in target regions: It’s important to know whether search results are led by large retail stores with a wide range of categories/products or by small artisan stores.For example, when selling [multi stone rings], the main competitors in the Google SERPs for Etsy are large retailers with a wide array of categories and products.
On the other hand, for [Tió de Nadal] or [Caga Tió] (a traditional Christmas product from Catalonia, Spain), the main competitors are small artisan stores.
In the second scenario, if you are a small- or medium-sized business, you might be able to compete in Google SERPs against Etsy with our own website. In the first scenario, however, if you want to sell multi-stone rings and have limited resources to allocate to your website, achieving top rankings will be very difficult.
Assess Etsy in Google SERPs
Once you verify that Etsy appears for your potential product in Google SERPs, you must also study how those results display:
Product-related Google SERPs — Look at how Etsy products stand out in the SERPs. For example, Google might show a product carousel, a specific product, or even entire product category pages, as Google’s results can vary significantly across markets.
Multimedia content — Beyond the traditional search listings, study what type of multimedia content Google prioritizes for your product type (images, videos, etc). This analysis also helps you define your content strategy within Etsy to maximize its potential.
Paid or organic listings — Finally, analyze whether the products that appear in the Google SERPs for your target region show up through organic rankings or through paid advertising via Etsy marketplace (as shown below).
These analyses lead to two main scenarios that will help you decide whether Etsy is the best place for your products:
When you search your main terms on Google… | Why | What you should do |
Etsy results rarely or never appear | This may be because Etsy does not include this type of product or does not prioritize it. It could also be that in this region, Etsy does not have enough presence in Google compared to other competitors and is not competitive enough. | The best option might be not to create a store on Etsy for your product and to consider other channels, especially if you have limited resources and are a small store. |
Etsy results frequently appear in the top search results | This suggests that there is a significant volume of user interest in Etsy for this product type in this region. | This scenario shows that Etsy is competitive for this product and market, so it can be very advantageous to create a store on Etsy to sell products and increase your visibility in Google SERPs. |
Etsy can complement your online shop’s website, especially if you find it challenging to compete with the websites that appear in the top Google results. However, for your products to appear via Etsy in Google SERPs, it’s not enough to simply create a store on Etsy. You must optimize our products within the marketplace to ensure they surface for the right potential customers. Let’s look at some of the main strategies you can implement to achieve this.
Implement your strategy to leverage Etsy’s Google SERP visibility for your products
There are different factors to consider when creating your Etsy store to achieve strong visibility. That visibility benefits you by helping your products not only appear on Etsy but also in Google SERPs.
These factors include:
Your store page
Your product listings
Star Seller status
Advertising on Etsy
Optimize your Etsy store page
Each Etsy business has its own store page. The first thing you must do is validate that all necessary store information is filled in to provide users—and Google—with the complete details of who you are.
Make sure to provide:
A description of the business — Origin story and foundation, location, manufacturing processes, product development, etc.
A description of the seller: Within the store page, there is a specific section where, in addition to describing the business, you can introduce yourself as the seller. In this section, provide detailed information about who you are, years of experience, awards, and so on.
Legal details — Information on shipping policies, legal aspects of the product, credentials, etc.
Images and videos — Visual content to help describe the store in a complementary manner. For example, include a promotional video of the store, videos or images of the workspace, or multimedia content showcasing the product creation process.
Links to your profiles on other platforms: Social media, your homepage, and other relevant sites.
For the experienced SEOs reading this, filling out a detailed Etsy merchant store page helps show experience, expertise, authority and trust.
Optimize your Etsy product listings
Create complete and detailed product listings to improve your visibility within the Etsy marketplace as well as help your products appear in Google SERPs.
To optimize Etsy product listings:
Perform keyword research to appeal to target audiences — Although Etsy does not provide a way to analyze search volume and competition data, you can study potential keywords your audience uses by reviewing marketplace results (data from which is shown in the image below) and conducting keyword research on Google (the process I covered above).Identify potentially valuable and relevant terms for each of your products and use them within the product listing. Don't just target generic and competitive keywords—also focus on long tail keywords that can help you show up in high-intent results. Once you build up some historical data, you can analyze how users find different products in your store.
Title — Include a clear and concise title that accurately defines your product. Highlight what makes it unique using terms your potential customers are likely to search.
Photos and videos — Add multiple images and videos showcasing your product, including its user experience and manufacturing process. The cover image is key to attracting clicks from users on the Etsy results page. It’s also important to:
Include the product name within product image alt text.
Include a short description of the image, describing the color, materials, etc.
Complement images with videos whenever possible.
Description — Describe your product thoroughly, detailing the manufacturing process, functionality, usage, and shipping details.
Include the main search terms for the product within the description.
Organize information coherently, using paragraphs so that Google understands your product.
Use bullet points when listing out features or specifications.
Product details — Classify your product within the most appropriate category and include all relevant attributes. This helps achieve visibility for your product within its category.
Use tags to highlight search terms and descriptive phrases for your product. E.g., material + name of the product (i.e., natural silver rings). These labels must be accurate and aligned with the product. You can include a maximum of 13 tags for each product and they can be up to 20 characters long. It’s best to add some variety and avoid repeating search terms.
Shipping — Specify the shipping time to provide a good customer experience, especially for international shipments that may take longer. Offering free shipping can help you stand out in Etsy search results.
Discounts — Discounts and promotions can also boost your visibility in Etsy search results.
Automate your Etsy listings with Wix
There are ways to optimize and automate these processes to save you time when uploading products to our Etsy store.
Wix users can add the following apps to automate their Etsy listings:
Etsy integration by Webkul: This app allows you to export Wix products to your Etsy account, making it easy to manage inventory across both your website and Etsy.Inventory synchronization adds extra convenience by reflecting accurate stock levels, whether sales happen on your site or Etsy.
LitCommerce Multichannel Sell by LitCommerce: This integration not only allows you to list products on Etsy, but also on other platforms (eBay, Amazon, TikTok Shop, etc).
With this app, you can centrally manage all your products from one dashboard, ensuring that the latest version of your catalog appears everywhere your customers are likely to convert.
Become an Etsy Star Seller
An optimized product listing certainly helps for visibility on Etsy, but in order to reach the top positions, your store must aim to become an Etsy Star Seller.
Star Sellers are sellers recognized by Etsy for their demonstrated customer service experience.
For merchants, becoming a Star Seller means:
Increased Visibility: Higher chances of being featured in Etsy’s top rankings.
Search result distinctions: Etsy provides badges for prompt responses and timely shipping, helping sellers stand out from the crowd.
More traffic and sales: The Star Seller recognition demonstrates a seller’s expertise, experience, trustworthiness, and authority, leading to more traffic and sales.
How to become an Etsy Star Seller
To be eligible to become a Star Seller, your shop must have at least five orders and $300 in sales within a three-month review period. Additionally, your store must have been on Etsy’s platform for at least 90 days since your first sale.
Once you’re eligible, you must achieve and maintain the following:
Quick message response rate — Respond to at least 95% of initial messages from users within 24 hours.
On-time shipping and tracking — Ship at least 95% of orders on time with tracking or with a shipping label purchased on Etsy.
High average ratings — Achieve and maintain an average rating of 4.8 or higher on your Etsy store.
Advertise on Etsy to boost visibility
You can also advertise on Etsy to achieve more visibility for our store’s products. I recommend this in two main situations.
New stores: Advertising on Etsy can help you generate initial sales. Early sales are often more challenging to earn, but they are very important for increasing visibility in Etsy’s search engine. Without sales and reviews, it will be very difficult to compete organically in Etsy.
Highly competitive products: In highly competitive verticals, paid listings can increase visibility on Etsy but also boost the chances of your products getting selected for ads in Google Search through the Etsy marketplace.
So, when is it worth creating a store on Etsy?
Etsy can be a powerful tool for your business, depending on your circumstances and goals.
On one hand, Etsy’s authority can help you ‘outrank’ bigger brands in Google search results. Optimizing within Etsy’s own ecosystem can be highly beneficial when there is a market opportunity for your products, especially if you lack the resources to compete against big brands for top rankings.
Even within Etsy’s own marketplace, there is great potential. If there’s a market for your goods, optimizing your listings and store within Etsy can be profitable. Etsy’s own search algorithms can drive traffic and sales directly from the marketplace to your store. By achieving Star Seller status, utilizing effective keywords, and creating engaging product listings, you can maximize your visibility within Etsy, leading to increased sales and brand recognition.
On the other hand, if smaller brands are outranking you for potential search terms, consider focusing on your website in tandem with your Etsy store to target the SERP from all angles.
Each industry, product, and region may have unique characteristics. Experiment to identify where customers are coming from and seize those opportunities, but remember the importance of a multi-channel strategy. While Etsy can significantly boost your visibility and sales, leveraging multiple platforms can enable a more stable and diversified business.
Gemma Fontané is an SEO consultant, co-founder, and director of Orvit Digital, where she leads digital strategies for B2B and eCommerce clients. She is also a teacher, industry speaker and author, as well as a co-founder of two international Christmas eCommerce stores. Twitter | Linkedin