The ultimate guide to writing effective Etsy listing titles- everything you need to know and some classic common mistakes.

Firstly, what are Etsy listing titles?

Etsy listing titles are the titles for your Etsy product listings. Think of them as the headline or the hook, or like the spine of a book in a library full of other books- you rely on the title printed on the book cover to tell you quickly whether that is the book for you. Titles exist to tell audiences exactly what your listing is about in just a few words.

Why Are Etsy Listing Titles Important?

With over 9 million sellers on Etsy, it can be tricky to stand out and be found by the right customers. Your listing title can serve as prime advertising space for your listing, but only if you know how to craft it properly. A boring title won’t catch anyone’s attention, and an over-complicated title full of technical jargon will go unnoticed. Etsy is such a busy marketplace and people’s attention spans are shorter than ever. They want to know exactly what the listing is for without having to click through every single search result.

Common Etsy Title Mistakes

There are some real listing title doozies on Etsy, so make sure that you aren’t falling into any of these common title traps.

• Trying to write for algorithms rather than real people
• Keyword stuffing
• Titles that are too long
• Titles that have too many commas
• Repeating the same word
• Titles that don’t make sense
• Titles that have too many technical details
• Titles that aren’t audience-centric

How To Make Etsy Titles Better

1- Keep titles clear and concise. Write for people, not algorithms.

Sure, your title needs optimising so it can tell the algorithm exactly what your listing is about, BUT… You need to write titles that will make sense to real human beings too. Ultimately, it is a human that decides whether to click on your listing or not, and if the title isn’t 100% clear and doesn’t explain exactly what your product is, well, they aren’t going to click on it. It’s as simple as that. Titles like “Wildflower Art Wildflower Wall Décor Wildflower” don’t read well, don’t make sense and don’t look good. There are Etsy experts out there still advising sellers to use this sort of listing title, but this approach is outdated and does not work any more. Some experts also advise listing as many keywords as possible and separating them with commas, but this is simply not the best way to write an Etsy listing title these days.

Just because you can use up to 140 characters, it doesn’t mean you should.

2- Don’t Stuff Keywords

Following on from this last point, keyword stuffing can negatively impact you listing’s visibility because it looks spammy. The above wildflower example is keyword stuffing because it repeats the same word several times. It would be much more effective to give your listing a clear and concise title like “Hand Painted Wildflower Art Print”.

3- Use long tail keywords

Long tail keywords are short phrases of 2-3 words that people search for. They are more effective than single word keywords because they are specific, so they help the algorithm match your listing with the right customers.

4- Include the most important long tail keyword in your title

Choose your most important long tail keyword to feature in your listing title. We’ve already discussed why keyword stuffing is bad, so just choose one main long tail keyword instead of listing lots of them.

There are differing opinions on where you should put this. Some experts say it needs to go at the start of the listing title, some say it doesn’t matter. I personally believe that it can’t hurt to put your main long tail keyword at the start of your title (or as near to the start as possible whilst still keeping it clear, concise and natural to read)

4- Use up to 3 words in ALL CAPS to grab attention

Did you know you can have up to 3 words in UPPERCASE text? And do you see how the uppercase word stands out in this paragraph? You could use this to your advantage and put the first three words of your title in uppercase text.

I would like to offer up a word of caution with this tactic though, only do it if it makes sense! You don’t want a title that looks like this:

WILD FLOWER HAND painted artwork

Erm.. wild flower hand? Just no. It doesn’t make sense and it looks kind of silly. It would be much better to use it in one of these ways:

HAND PAINTED Wildflower Wall Art

WILDFLOWER WALL ART, Hand Painted

5- Use buyer search terms

This is the biggest mistake I see in Etsy listing titles. Sellers create titles that mean something to them, but not to potential buyers.

You need to think like a buyer.

What problem are they trying to solve?

What are they typing in the search bar to find the solution to their problem?

They are almost definitely not searching for ‘acrylic painting on canvas’ or ‘pretty silver bangle’, but they probably are searching for “kitchen wall art” or ‘gifts for sisters’.

Summing Up

Spend time on Etsy searching as a potential customer. Search for terms that you think people might be typing when they are looking for your products and see what comes up.

Pay particular attention to the listings that have the Etsy’s pick badge, or say bestseller, or have lots of sales and lots of reviews. These are all good clues that a listing is performing well.

Look at the titles of these listings and see what’s working. Also notice what stands out on the search results pages, what works and what doesn’t.

Etsy SEO is an ongoing process and it takes time, but crafting better Etsy listing titles is a relatively straightforward way to improve your Etsy visibility.

Give it a go!