One of the most important strategies is to align your keyword with what buyers are searching. Think like your potential customers in this process.

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In order to predict what your potential customers are going to search, we need to do a process known as keyword research. This will help us know what specific keywords your customers are using to find products they want to buy.

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In this process, we will:

1. Brainstorm keywords
2. Choose the right and best keywords
3. Put them into your listings' titles and tags

Initial Keyword Brainstorm

Describe Your Product

Try describing your items with commonly used words. Here are some points to inspire your thought process:

• What is your product? (e.g. lavender scented soy candle, Australian solid opal ring, pink digital planner, etc)
• Physical attributes (e.g. material, color, size, style, etc.)

• Style (minimalist, modern, boho, etc)
• Colour
• Size (say if it’s specific, oversized, miniature, etc)
• Texture/Feel (fluffy, soft, rough, etc)
• Smell 
• Flavour

• Who is it for (e.g. mum, boyfriend, bridesmaid, teacher, etc.)
• Uses (e.g. gifting, motivation, healing, back pain, etc.)
• Occasion (e.g. wedding, prom, baby shower, etc.)
• Seasons
• Holidays and Festivals (e.g. Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Christmas)

Think like a buyer. Imagine you are the buyer, and when you walk into the shop and see a product, what do you experience? A lot of the aspects of a product can be missed online. Describe things like texture, material, smell, taste, and so on that they can experience in person.

Be straight forward and easy to understand. The point is not being creative, but to anticipate what your potential customers will type in the Etsy search bar. 

Find Where Your Customers Hang Out

One of the things I like to do is to go on social media of forums to see what words customers use to describe a similar item to yours.

On Instagram, search your product category, like “soy candle” or “handmade bridal dress” and analyse some of the popular posts. Go check the caption and the comments, they are likely to include keywords that you can use.

For example, this Instagram post by somasaromas include keywords like “soy wax”, “no toxins” and “biodegradable”.

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Keyword Inspiration From Close Competitors

Your competitors have probably been in the market longer, or have more sales than you. There is a good chance that they have done their keyword research. Look at the results on the first page and mark down any keywords that are suitable to your products.

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In the next section, let's look at my go-to way of finding keywords that Etsy customers actually use.