A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article about some of the differences in how your handmade items from Artfire and etsy appeared in Google results. You can find the full text of that article here .
Etsy has since listened to it’s particularly angry seller base and updated the title structure in our item pages. This title structure is important as our items are listed in the google search results in the fashion that etsy has enabled the set up.
If you remember previously, etsy’s title structure was:
Handmade <Category Name> on Etsy – <My Item Title>, <My Shop Name >
This was problematic at best for sellers, because Google and other search engines return results titles that range from 60-75 spaces. The Etsy model added about 30 characters with the “Handmade (category) on etsy bit”, my shop name adds 15 characters, which only left 15 to 30 for my actual item title.
The new etsy title structure was rolled out around June 18th. It is
<My Item Title> by <My Shop Name> on Etsy
Since that date, I’ve been testing Google search results to see if my items started to appear with the new title structure. Some have, most still have not. Items that I haven’t renewed lately are still appearing in the old etsy title structure. Recent items I’ve added or renewed are finally appearing in the new structure. This is frustrating as it appears I will need to renew, at 20 cents per item, all the handmade jewelry in my etsy shop, in order for it to be updated in the Google listings. This isn’t the case with my Artfire listings, however. I updated ALL my listing titles in both locations at about the same time. Meaning, I edited the titles to ALL my etsy listings and almost all of my Artfire listings. Guess what? The Artfire listings I updated are already appearing updated and correct in the Google search results. Rock on Artfire technical crew. 
Here is an example from my etsy shop: These earrings used to appear in google searches as:
Handmade Jewelry on Etsy – Handmade Aqua Teal Peruvian Amazonite ……
(Note: Google inserts …… once the character limit has been reached in a title)
I renewed them last week, so now they appear as:
Handmade Aqua Amazonite Dangle Earrings – Amanda by …
Not perfect, as my name still doesn’t appear in the results title, but better. Looks like I still need to work a bit on the item titles. One thing to note. Having the ‘on etsy’ at the end of the title effectively cuts in out of the results title all together if you item title and shop name are 60+ characters together. Keep that in mine when editing your item titles to make better use of the available character space.
Unfortunately, my shop name is long. If I had suspected how it might impact SEO down the road, I’ll bet I’d have chosen a shorter name in the beginning. Live and learn I guess.
So what do you need to do?
- Find an item in your shop and perform a test search using the title in Google to see what appears
- Review your Google analytics to see what search terms are bringing buyers to your shop
- Ask yourself how YOU would search for that item if you were a buyer. Use those terms in your item title.
- Count the number of characters in your shop name. Add that number to 4 (The number of characters, including spaces for the word by, which is included in the title in Google results). Subtract that number from 60. The result is more or less the number of characters you have left to use in your item title. For instance in this item from my Etsy Shop:
Handmade Gold Fill Labrodorite Earrings -Stormy Seas
There are 52 characters including spaces in that title. I’d expect the Google search result to be:
Handmade Gold Fill Labrodorite Earrings -Stormy Seas by ……………
About 55 characters total because Google won’t cut the ‘ShinyAdornments’ shop title in half. It just excludes it all together if it exceeds the character number limit.
If I want my shop name to appear in the title, I need to make the overall title shorter. Perhaps edit out the Stormy Seas name from the title all together. If I edited out the “Stormy Seas” part, which, less face it, potential buyers probably aren’t using in the search criteria, my title would most likely appear as:
Handmade Gold Fill Labrodorite Earrings by ShinyAdornments on …..
about 61 characters
Hope that helps a bit. Feel free to email me, or you can find me on plurk, if you have questions.
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Wow! SEO has been an especially hot topic in the world of handmade venues this week. Etsy and Artfire have very different positions about how your item titles are submitted to Google.
And why should you care? Well, because potential shoppers that know nothing about Artfire or Etsy look for handmade items to purchase, where? Google. Sellers NEED their items to be easily found and easily recognizable by the average shopper.
Here is an example from my shops to illustrate the differences between the two sites.
Pools of Fire – Handmade Orange Lampwork Bangle
I used these search terms on Google:
Handmade Orange Lampwork Bangle
This is how Etsy structures the handmade item titles:
Handmade <Category Name> on Etsy – Item Title, Shop Name
So, my etsy item appears in the google search as:
Handmade Jewelry on Etsy – Pools of Fire – Handmade bright orange …
This is how Artfire structures the handmade item title:
Item Title, <Artfire Artisan>, My Studio Name
So, my Artfire item appears in the google search as:
Pools of Fire – Handmade Orange ArtFire Artisan ShinyAdornments …
Hmm, neither are perfect, but the Etsy title is worse for the seller I think. Google and other search engines return results titles that range from 60-75 spaces. The Etsy model adds in around 30 characters with the Handmade (category) on etsy bit, the Artfire model adds 15. This means my actual item title and my shop name continually are over Google’s character limit with Etsy’s model. Developing a brand means that I need my shop name continually associated with my items in search. As I have a longer name, Etsy’s new model effectively nullifies this. 
If you’d like to read a LOT more info from some pretty angry etsy sellers, here are a list of Etsy forum posts for you to peruse.
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6186063
ttp://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6185215
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6183719
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6185314
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6185600
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6186413
Artfire is addressing it head on (of COURSE they are. ) with a “Meet Artfire’s SEO/SMO Team” event in their forum. Also, Tony, an Artfire admin has posted this info regarding their tagging methodology:
“Hey there! Working on a Sunday. We wanted to get a jumpstart on our SEO guides. I just made some additional changes based on the feedback we see from our sellers and wanted to update you. We’ll be doing full official info next week. But, for those of you following along. . .
Check out the page source on your items now.
The title is still generated based like it was before with the title first, then username, then ArtFire then Main category.
But now the author is (drum roll) username on artfire for studios and items
and
the meta keywords are now (bigger drum roll) the first 10 of your tags plus (coming soon) artfire and the main category.
A couple of things
A) This means you can choose what’s important
1) only want your title for SEO? = use all 70 characters
2) only want your title and username? = use 70 minus your username characters for title
3) want all of that and ARTFIRE!!!? =( good idea in my opinion) use 70 – username – 6 (for Artfire)
4) Want the main cat in there too? Use 70- username – 6 for Artfire – main cat for title.
B) don’t dupe your tags – our search engine won’t give it anymore weight and it WILL kill your search engine placement cause it makes the google people angry (no kidding steam out their ears and everything).
C) The first word or phrase of your title is your best keyword for people searching for you item. e.g . “turquoise bracelet”
D) MAKE SURE you use that keyword in the first sentence of your description – That will generate the summary on the search return with your first few sentences of description. If you DON”T do that – the spider will look for other text that has the keyword.
E) This method allows for total customization of your SEO or we do what we think is best for those who don’t want to bother. YOU GET TO CHOOSE. Freedom to choose your own path, we think that is the key.
Formal updates and guides will follow this week. . . stay tuned.”
So what does this mean for you? Make your displeasure heard at the Etsy forums. Comment in the Artfire forums about what is working and what isn’t for you. Tweak your item titles based on what you know. For instance, in the examples above, I’m going to slightly tweak my Artfire titles to make better use of the characters I’m given. Use online tools to review your titles for length and edit as necessary with the information above. A good one to try is http://www.scrubtheweb.com/cgi-bin/webtools/meta-check.cgi
UPDATE: Here is Part Two
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