How to do Etsy keyword research: volume, competition and tags

Step 1: collect phrases from Etsy search and Insights

To do Etsy keyword research, collect phrases from Etsy's search bar and Marketplace Insights, then compare each phrase's search volume with its competing listings. EverBee's tag article notes that the Etsy search bar suggests phrases based on popular searches.

1. Type a seed phrase into the Etsy search bar and note the suggestions.
2. In Shop Manager, select Stats, then Marketplace Insights, and search the phrase.
3. Read the related terms Marketplace Insights lists beside it.
4. For your own listings, open Stats and choose Etsy search under How shoppers found you to see the search terms that brought visits.

Marketplace Insights gives 15 free keyword searches a week. EverBee's keyword guide suggests brainstorming with shopping occasions, adjectives, demographics, synonyms and style words.

Step 2: read search volume and competition

Volume is the average monthly searches for the keyword on Etsy, and EverBee takes the last 30 days into account. Competition is the number of competing listings for the keyword. EverBee's guide says a good keyword has high or medium search volume and low competition.

It also advises less popular phrases that describe what is special about your product, such as "canvas tote bag".

EverBee's keyword tool runs in its web app and in its Chrome extension. Its help center says it can export your research as a CSV file, which is sent to your account's email, so a master list can live in a spreadsheet.

Step 3: score and shortlist keywords

EverBee's Keyword Score is search volume divided by competing listings, times 1,000. EverBee's help center says there is no single good score, so a score means most beside other scores from the same search. EverBee's guide splits results into two segments by search volume and Keyword Score. Its feature page adds that no single number makes a search volume good either.

1. Write the volume and the competing-listing count beside each phrase.
2. Divide volume by competing listings and multiply by 1,000 to get the score by hand.
3. Keep a short list of phrases that describe your product exactly.

On the free Hobby plan EverBee covers 10 keywords without Keyword Score, a Growth and Business line, so you can try its keyword lookup and work the volume-against-competition sum by hand. EverBee's Growth plan, $299 a year on annual billing, gives unlimited keyword research with Keyword Score; the best Etsy keyword research tool page sets it beside the rest.

Step 4: place keywords in titles and tags

EverBee's tag article says Etsy allows 13 tags per listing, each up to 20 characters. Etsy's help pages say search results are ordered by how relevant the items are to the search, so put the phrase buyers use in the title and tags that match the product. For competitors' tags, EverBee's pricing page lists the Tag Analyzer under Growth and Business, while its product pages say Hobby covers it; check the live plan card.

After a few weeks, return to Etsy Stats to see which terms bring visits.

A seller with a few listings can stay on Marketplace Insights and the free plans in the best free Etsy research tool guide. For 100 keyword lookups a day on a small budget, EverBee vs eRank compares the paid steps.