The OG Etsy SEO Tool Tested - 2023 Marmalead Review

Marmalead is one of the original Etsy keyword research and SEO tools. 

But does it hold up? How does it compare to other Etsy keyword tools in the market?

I have tested this extensively with all its features and I’ve gathered my findings here.

Marmalead Pricing & Free Trial

Marmalead is one of the more expensive Etsy SEO keyword tools on the market. It’s $19/month if you pay monthly, or $15.83/month if you pay yearly (which is $190/year).

There is a 14-day free trial if you wish to test it out yourself. 

Keyword Research

The keyword search feature shows you data about keywords. You can see information like search volume, engagement, competition level and popular tags.

First, let’s start with the positives.

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The information on price ranges gives good insights. It shows 3 different price ranges: Bargain, midrange and premium for the listings that rank for this keyword.

The similar shopper searches and long tail keyword alternatives are also useful. They can help you brainstorm relevant keywords that you are not using. Using them can help you increase visibility on Etsy.

However, there are some issues that I can’t overlook.

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The search volume seems likely to be inaccurate, which could lead to decisions that waste time and effort.

I tested this tool in late July to early August, which is summer in many countries. One of the keywords “summer hat” is estimated to only have 35 searches in 30 days, which seems unlikely.

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Another section that I find weird is the “Sample Listings” section. It shows a selection of listings under the keywords with information like shipping days and price.

One of the columns shows “photo score”, but the criteria for the score is unclear. One listing that gets a photo score of 40 out of 100 has great photos in my opinion and is an Etsy bestseller. 

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Overall, because this is one of the main features of Marmalead, I find it pretty disappointing.

Keyword Comparison

In this page, you can add up to 4 keywords to compare. Marmalead gives you information including search volume, competition level, price ranges and most used tags.

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However, I found more issues here when using this feature.

One of the functions is to detect whether a keyword is long-tail, which should be a pretty straightforward decision. However, when I searched “white floral dress”, it’s determined that it’s not a long tail keyword, contrary to what most people would think.

Another issue has to do with the search volume again. 

Keep in mind that the testing is done during July and August. The keyword “summer hat” should be very popular with a high demand. However, Marmalead predicts it will only have 35 searches in the next 30 days, which seems highly improbable and makes me doubts other results I get from the analysis.

Listing Grades & Optimisation

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Marmalead shows you the grades for your listings based on these criteria:

SEO Factors like number of tags, whether long tail focus keywords are used, whether long tail tags are used, etc.

Sales Factors like number of photos used, number of words, readability, sentiment, etc.

Title Readability like length, how easy it is to understand, etc.

Focus Keywords and Non-Focus Keyword - keyword strength, whether they are long tail, searches, engagement and competition levels.

Tags - Whether they are long tail, strength, etc.

Suggestions of how to improve is given on the right-hand side, which can help sellers improve their listings. 

Storm - Keyword Brainstorm

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This page helps you brainstorm keywords. Once you put in your seed keyword, Marmalead will generate a list of related keywords with demand and competition metrics.

You can then add keywords to your list, or delete irrelevant keywords. Once you add some keywords to your list, more will be generated.

Overall it’s a good tool to help with keyword research.

However, I run into another potential problem.

When I searched “vegan skin care”, most of the keywords are either irrelevant (“care bear”, “care package”, “laptop skin”) or generic (“gift for him”, “gift for her”, “housewarming gift”). I expected to get keywords like “vegan moisturiser”, “plant based”, “natural skincare”, etc.  

Trending

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The trending section aims to provides some insights for Etsy sellers about the products that are in demand, but overall the results are not particularly useful because of the data source Marmalead uses.

The main issue is that it uses trends on Pinterest to gauge the trends on Etsy. 

The intent of Pinterest users and Etsy users are quite different. Pinterest users are generally browsing and getting inspirations, and Etsy shoppers are generally looking to buy.

There are some interesting ideas at the time of testing, like “winter wedding dress”, “summer acrylic nails”.

However, many of the trending keywords are based on ideas and inspiration: “shoes inspo”, “art inspo” and “glasses inspiration”. They are not particularly useful for Etsy sellers.

Another problem is that many of the trending keywords on Pinterest are short. This is likely due to the way people use Pinterest nowadays, which is to search for a broader term, and then get inspirations from a wide variety of results.

And that means a lot of the trending terms are one-word: “Bracelet”, “music”, “summer”.  

Terms like that don’t provide useful insights to Etsy sellers unfortunately.

Verdict - Is Marmalead Worth It?

Because of the problems encountered while using Marmalead, I wouldn’t recommend using it as an Etsy keyword research tool.

• Possibly inaccurate search estimates
• Relatively expensive at $19/month
• Lack of functions that other competitors have like shop analysis and sales prediction

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Marmalead Alternatives

There are some Marmalead alternatives (free or paid) in the market. Click here to find out which Etsy SEO and keyword research tool is the best for your shop.

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