Give your Etsy Shop a PageRank Boost

Google PageRank Boost
(Revisited/Updated and Way Cooler)

Inside and outside your Etsy shop

Google Page Rank, Etsy and You (main article submitted by April )

I've seen the question so many times on the Etsy forums, "Why isn't my Etsy shop showing up in Google when I search for XYZ?"

While that is actually a very complex question, in a nutshell -- you need PageRank.

How do you get this PageRank? You need to optimize your website. This is SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Google's PageRank is the results from 1 - 10 of an algorithm that assesses how important your website is on a generally monthly basis. The kicker is that its machines making this determination. You may have heard these machines referred to as "spiders" or "robots". I prefer to think of them as spider robots merely because it amuses me. These robot spiders crawl the web hunting for in and bring it back to the Googleplex. This is known as indexing. If your information is good and full of SEO, the robot spiders will come back often and give you a higher PageRank.

If you search the web for SEO techniques you'll find plenty of them -- too many. Unfortunately, a lot of the information you'll find is either not applicable to current versions of the algorithm, spam techniques, or not applicable to Etsy. Etsy is not the same as your regular personal website and I'm not going to suggest you obtain a personal website today either. Baby steps.

Since you don't have access to the source code of your Etsy store, your SEO Options are limited. Let's make the best of what's available to you without manipulating source code.

INSIDE YOUR ETSY STORE

Frankly, the most you can do here is provide good titles and descriptions and use all of your tags. When writing your titles and descriptions, think of key terms. “Key terms” in this sense simply means that you are using descriptive language.

If you were searching for items such as yours in Google, what kind of language would you use? Put yourself in the mindset of the searcher and write accordingly.

Keep in mind that Google likes change. If you relist,or renew the same items again and again, change your titles and descriptions up every once in a while. Try some slightly different verbiage and new key terms each time.

• Insider Tip From Timothy:

Here is a little quick tip to get your Etsy shop further up in the Google search.

I have done some research and I have found the first thing that Google searches on Etsy when it sends out it's spiders is your Etsy shop Title. Click HERE to read the full tip!! This works instantly.... it is Awesome!!! Click HERE to see what other Etsians are saying about this tip!

OUTSIDE OF YOUR ESTY STORE

Link, link, link! As in, get people to link to you (inbound links/ IBL). To start, use links to your Etsy store in your signature on any blogs , forums or message boards you belong to.

One of the biggest factors in boosting your rank is inbound links from sites with a high PageRank. Not only is Google more likely to index these high ranked sites quickly and repeatedly, but you're more likely to get click though traffic to your site and more people linking to you. Site click through rates (CTR), are another important factor to determining your PageRank. Inbound links from a low ranked site won't necessarily hurt you, so don’t don’t freak out on your friend for linking you from his low ranked site . Ignore reciprocal link services and engines that litter the web. These are spam and Google hates spam.

Timothy says:

A great way to boost your rank is to leave comments with your link on higher ranking blogs.

Here are a few blogs that are worth commenting on:

Do not visit these blogs to SPAM! Most of their comments are checked so your comments (SPAMS) will not be approved. so don't waste your time. Try to contribute something in their posts, react on their main ideas or add your own. (LIST brought to you by whydowork.com)

WEBSITE	GOOGLE PAGE RANK
Computer Science Canada Blog	5
aaronroselo.net	5
Instigartor Blog	5
Dawud Miracle	5
Successcreeations	5
Randa Clay Designs	5
Andy Beard	5
I Saw Your Nanny	5
Talk, Don’t Run - Credit Cards	5
3 Minutes - Real Estate Blog	5
eMoms at Home	5
A Simple Kind Of Life	5

WEBSITE	GOOGLE PAGE RANK
David Airey : Creative Design	4
Mom Gadget	4
Meikai - Bargain hunters	4
Essential Keystrokes	4
Geeky Speaky	4
Nimble Theory	4
Smart Divas	4
Pony Tail Club	4
Personal Development	4
What is? What!	4
Jon Lee Dot See Eh	4
Web Design and Development Tips	4
3 Day Mom	4
Self-Defense Blog	4
Brigid’s Blog	4
Medical Spa MD	4

WEBSITE	GOOGLE PAGE RANK
Timothyadamdesigns Spoken Word Blog	3
My Garden : House And Style	3
Web Business Resource	3
Wtricks.com - The Blog	3
Rob Cubbon Freelance Graphic Desinger	3
Two Dog Zoo	3
Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine	3
Body Mind and Solar	3
TEFLWatch	3
Clement Nyirenda’s Blog	3

RELATIVE LINKS

Some will argue that any links anywhere are a good thing, but most agree that your IBL should be “Relative”. Relative refers to the relevancy of the IBL referring you. An example of relative IBL I used in the Etsy forums…If you Etsy shop containing crocheted face scrubbies is linked to by a cage fighting website, Google is going to see that and be all “WTF?”

If you Etsy shop containing crocheted face scrubbies is linked to by Martha Stewart, Google is going to see that and be all “WORD!”

Consider how relative IBLs are before perusing them or paying to advertise.

HYPERLINKS

A hyperlink (How to video) is when you use words to link

instead of graphics, or in addition to graphics. Remember, the spider robots can’t see pictures, so do not rely solely on graphics when you link to your shop. Use descriptive key terms in your hyperlinks. Creating a link to your shop that says “buy handmade crocheted face scrubbies” is going to be more valuable than a link that‘s your shop name. “Daisydoodle’s Boutique” might be the perfect shop name for you, but how the heck is Google supposed to figure out that has anything to do with handmade crocheted face scrubbies?

• Insider tip from Timothy:

Like April said above you need to leave links that are more Google search friendly. Instead of linking just your Website name or etsy shop name.. You need to link Key words. If I make Timothy Adam designs a clickable link to my etsy shop it is redundant. Google is linking Timothy Adam Designs with my dot com. It will be more beneficial to make the clickable link say "Modern Metal Jewelry" or words that people may search to find your site.. Take a look at the pic below.. just click on it to make it bigger! Modern Metal Jewelry

The more you do this the better chance you have for Google to find your site!

DON’T TRY TO TRICK GOOGLE

Google’s main purpose is to weed out spam and garbage content and organize legitimate content. Google also carries a grudge. Even though we’re dealing with

spider robots here, they’re a lot smarter than you may think. Filling descriptions and links with nothing but irrelevant key words and trash can get you on the blacklist or “sandboxed”.

BE REALISTIC AND DON’T OBSESS

Get this through your head right now. Say it out loud… “I WILL NEVER RANK A 10”. Say it again and believe it.
You have to remember that PageRank is global compared to all other websites in the world. Etsy’s homepage has a PageRank of 7 , Ebay ranks in at 8 and Amazon has a 9. Google itself has a PageRank of 10. Those would have to be some magical face scrubbies to get results like that.

Find another shop that is doing very well and compare yourself to that. Figure out what it is that their doing right. Your ultimate goal might be a 4. That’s completely OK and likely very appropriate. In my business, I run very popular statewide real estate websites -- if I can rank a 5 I’m over the moon.

Be patient. New shops might take a while to be indexed at all and jumping and entire number is an enormous job.

Keep up with ethical SEO: write organically, be thoughtful, network for relevant IBL , DO NOT SPAM, and in time you’ll get there.

The cream always rises to the top.

(Thanks again April.....check out her etsy shop)

This is the most effective way to boost your page rank

dmoz

• Insider Tip From Timothy:

The Open Directory Project (ODP) is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web, with more than 4 million listings in over 590,000 categories. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.

Instead of fighting the explosive growth of the Internet, the Open Directory provides the means for the Internet to organize itself. As the Internet grows, so do the number of net-citizens. These citizens can each organize a small portion of the web and present it back to the rest of the population, culling out the bad and useless and keeping only the best content.

The last way to boost your Google page rank it to list your blog and etsy shop on www.dmoz.org
Google relies on this site a ton to define your page rank....check out the site and follow the steps!

Question and Answer:

Q.

	StudioCherie says:
	Good morning Timothy, Is there a way to find out the most popular search terms for a product line? For instance, do more people search for "purse" or "bag?"

A.

TimothyAdamDesigns says:

Google Provides a wonderful tool just for that purpose... Keyword Tool. This tool allows you to search key words to see how many times they are searched. The other AWESOME feature is the Web Content search. Just type in your etsy shop or any site and Google will tell you the key words it is searching on your site... This is an amazing tool and I use it all the time!

Q.

	peaseblossomstudio says:
	The most basic of questions, what IS Google page rank and how do we find out what ours currently is?

A.

TimothyAdamDesigns says:

Well your Google Page Rank was already defined above..... Enter your etsy shop or blog ulr in the box below to check out your rank!

Check Page Rank of any web site pages instantly:

This free page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service

Q.

	CrazyBliss says:
	hi, tim. does the use of caps, italics, bold, coloured or underlined text make a difference in page ranking? looking forward to your next article. thanks, once again.

A.

TimothyAdamDesigns says:

These things will not hurt or increase your page rank... Although I do not suggest writing in all caps.. it looks unprofessional.


Q.

	akaisilks says:
	hi Timothy..is it true that it is easier and faster to appear up higher in search results by updating a blog frequently (and using tags) as opposed to having a website that does not change content very often? thank you

A.

TimothyAdamDesigns says:
Yes this is true about updating more frequently.... Google is looking for fresh material for it's spiders to eat!! Now having a more stagnant website does not mean your PR can't be high.. This will all depend on your inbound links around the web and many other factors..


Q.

	sedruola says:
	How important are tags to your optimization on Google? It seems to me with so many sites with so many tags, how can it help?

A.

TimothyAdamDesigns says:
Your tags for your items in your etsy shop are only for the Etsy search... They seem to have nothing to do with your Google PageRank.. This is only my opinion that was formed by glancing at my shops page soucrce code...

Q.

	GalleryJuana says:
	In regards to my etsy shop, I use sections to divide my listings. Some titles are general (Collage) others are combined (Postcards/cards). Do the section titles have anything to do with optimizing my google ranking? What kind of section title would be best?

A.

TimothyAdamDesigns says:
I would have to say that your sections have nothing to do with your Page Rank.

Q.

fenrislorsrai

I know these, but they may be helpful for others. :) How does load time affect page rank? How does use of Flash affect page rank? Should I have an intro/welcome page? This one I am unsure on. I'll give you a challenge! Google freqently only reads a certain portion of a webpage to determine what it's about. If I have text ads running at the top of my page, will Google read the ad text FIRST, and use that to determine what my page is about? So could it read a useless ad about Viagra at top of page and determine my page on art is actually about Viagra?

A.

TimothyAdamDesigns says:
Load time can directly effect your page rank.. Slower loading pages can result in lower page rank.

Haveing a ton of flash on your site can slow your load time, which can lower your PR.

Having a Welcome page is fine.... It is not nessary.

Last Question.... Warning this is a bit technical....
For your banners and text ads.. just make sure they are not labeled with any h tags... the spiders will be more likely to stay away from these if they are not tagged with any h tags (h1, h2......)

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