Etsy’s Artificial Intelligence Based SEO In the Era of Context Specific Search Rankings: How-to Write a Contextually Optimized Title By: Personalized Report
Etsy uses Artificial Intelligence as a primary driver in their search algorithm. Etsy uses “Context Specific Search Ranking” or CSR to rank results in real time based upon transaction data, which fuels their machine learning technology to provide searchers “more relevant search results”. Etsy has to show listings that it thinks the searcher wants to see and purchase. It does this by keeping track of listings that are contextually related (very similar listings) and contextually unrelated (relevant but less related). Results are a combination of these two group of listings
“Good Etsy SEO is now specific to the exact search phrase you are trying to rank for…generalized Etsy SEO techniques don’t work anymore. A contextually optimized title increases the chances that Etsy will look favorably upon your listing.” The search algorithm a.k.a. artificial intelligence a.k.a. robots keep track of a lot of statistics and use math to show the most relevant items. This algorithm changes from moment to moment as more data is added into its collective memory from live searches and transactions. Way back in the day you could move to the top of the search by simply renewing your listing. Then you had the era of “tag stuffing”. Then simply including the right few words at the beginning of the title was enough to move to the top. Then you had the era of consecutive keyword order titles. Then shorter titles worked better for a little while. Now CSR rules and will likely rule for a number of years due to the sizable investment Etsy has placed in this technology. When Etsy introduced AI and context specific search rankings, the practical “how-to” tips of Etsy SEO were more or less blown out of the water. Why? The new system was designed not to be “beat” by sellers. If you can’t “beat the search system”, you must “join the search system”. How do you join the search system? In the past, it has always started with the title and this still is the most important element for an Etsy seller to focus on in the CSR environment. Etsy has mentioned their hopes to eventually move more and more away from the title’s influence on the ranking, but the title is where Etsy relies upon a seller to communicate to them initially what search phrases an item is most related to. A contextually optimized title helps your listing more easily “join the search system” by looking like what the robots have already identified as the most highly relevant listings for a specific search phrase.
“A contextually optimized title looks very similar to the titles Etsy has already identified as being awesome to show for a specific search phrase.” The goal is to make it as easy as possible for Etsy’s “robots” to identify your listing as being very contextually similar to the listings it already likes for a specific search result. Don’t copy those top listings word for word. Instead, look like many of the top listings it has already identified as being the most relevant. In robot-speak, “You want to mathematically look like page 1 results”. The quickest way to a robot’s heart is to speak its love language of statistical similarities with a contextually optimized title. How do you write a contextually optimized title? 1. Think of an exact search phrase you want to rank for on Etsy. Most searches are 4 words long or less (so focus on a 1-word, 2-word, 3-word, or 4-word long search phrase). “Dainty Silver Stacking Rings”
2. Make an outline of a title with the optimal number of words and character length of the title (based upon data from listings that have already been “declared a winner” by the robots). For this search phrase, you want a title that is approximately 19 words long and about 132 characters in length. Here is the title so far…all blank words, ready for you to fill them up in a contextually optimized manner! _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 3. Use live search data to determine how many times you want to use each of your 4 words (dainty, silver, stacking, and rings) and what word blank location you want to place them. To look similar to current high ranked listings, use “dainty” 1 time in the first word slot. Use “silver” twice in the title in word locations of word 2 and word 7. Use “stacking” 1 time and as the 3rd word in the title. Use the word “rings” 1 time in the title and as the 9th word in the title. The title structure is starting to fill out: Dainty Silver Stacking _____ _____ _____ Silver _____ Rings _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 4. Fill in those remaining blanks with words that Etsy’s robots are telling you are contextually relevant from the listings they are currently showing in live search results. Use hard data from live search results. Some of these words include: ring, sterling, thin, stackable, minimalist, simple, gift, set, hammered, tiny, band, jewelry, and delicate Dainty Silver Stacking Rings Thing Sterling Silver Stackable Rings Minimalist Simple Gift Set Hammered Delicate Tiny Ring Jewelry Band That just happens to also be 19 words long and consists of 134 character (close enough)! 5. Use the above as your contextually optimized title. Add some commas if you want to improve readability. Write tags that mirror the title more or less: “Dainty Silver”, “Silver Stacking”, “Stacking Rings”, “Stackable Rings”, etc. You see the example above, but how do you really write a title like this without spending hours upon hours counting the number of words in existing titles and studying where listings typically place a word, and just what are the most contextually related words in a group of titles? Personalized Report listens to you for the specific word phrase you want to rank for on Etsy. We gather data surrounding your search phrase and are aided by advanced analytical number crunching reporting capabilities to help you write your perfect title. Personalized Report is a human-to-human service to help you blend in with the Etsy search algorithm “robot” generated search results – that might be a bit ironic?!?! – don’t ya think?
Here is what a sample basic 2-page Title Writer Report looks like to help you rank for “dainty silver stacking rings� from the example above:
There is also a detailed 4 page report. The first two pages are the same and includes these additional two pages for those Etsy sellers that want to see more of the number crunching behind the recommendations for writing more nuanced contextually optimized titles.
Personalized Report: Humans that use math to help Etsy sellers beat Etsy’s search math formulas (algorithms). You can purchase your Etsy Title Writer Report for your specific Etsy search phrase at www.personalizedreport.com.