What SEO Grade A Means on Etsy Rank

And how to use it to help your shop.

I have been using Etsy Rank for several months now, and I love it. I only have the free version, but with it connected to my shop I can look up and compare keywords, see where my shop and individual listings fall, and check out my SEO grade. But have you ever wondered what SEO grade means on Etsy Rank?

Here's what  grade A SEO means on Etsy Rank...

...and why you might not get views or sales with a grade A listing!

When we think of Grade A SEO, I know we all want that to mean that our listing SEO is so top notch that we'll end up being the first listing on every page, right? But, unfortunately, that's not how it works. You could have terrible keywords; ones that are too high or too low in search results; and still have a grade A item listing.

Etsy Rank is looking for one thing.

When Etsy Rank calculates your listing grade, they are looking at one thing; whether you used all the keywords you chose to put in your tags correctly throughout the rest of the listing. They aren't looking at whether that keyword is a good fit for your shop, but looking at your title and your description to see if they match. They are asking questions such as...

-Do you have a couple smaller pool keywords thrown in?
If all your keywords are "very high" result pool keyword, Etsy Rank can realize that this is bad for you, but further than that they can't go; if you have a few smaller pool keywords thrown in, Etsy Rank considers that an A grade listing, even if you should have more small result keywords.

-Did you use all of your tags in the title and description? 
Every word from your tags should be included in your title AND description. If you leave out too many, Etsy Rank will throw up a red flag to let you know. But if you have left out just a word or two, if everything else is done correctly, they'll still grade you A.

Did you use as many of your keywords as possible at the very beginning of your description? The beginning of my description is about the first two and a half lines for me. As long as most of my keywords are there, I get an A grade score, by Etsy Rank.

Did you fit as many of them at the very front of your title as you could? This is about the first 60 characters. You want as many of your keywords sown into those first 60 characters as you can get. If you've done a good enough job with that, Etsy Rank gives you an A.

If your tags, title, and description all have your chosen keywords in it, Etsy Rank considers it grade A. 

Which is a wonderful help, as long as you are using good keywords to begin with! But don't rely totally on it. Do your research, find the keyword range that works for you - and then use those keywords up and let Etsy Rank help you make sure you are using each of them to their full potential! When you check your grade, don't just look at the grading; look at the listing audit. Find out what is missing, EVEN if you can see that it's already an A listing, because the difference between an A- and an A+ could get you more sales! 

And here's a tip to help you fit all your keywords into your title!

You do not have to have each tag in your title. 

If my tags are:

soy candle, environment friendly candle, jar candle, lavender candle jar, lavender essential oil, decorative jar, lavender scented candle, etc... I don't have to copy each tag in my title. I only have to use the word lavender, jar, and candle, once.

So my title would be shortened to something like this:

"Lavender essential oil scented environment friendly soy candle in decorative jar."

See how that is about half the length? But it will match every tag I used in search engines!

So to finish up...

Use Etsy Rank to help you - but don't be afraid to do some work yourself.

Because you'll be doing your shop (and yourself!) a favor if you make it the best you can!

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty." -Proverbs 21:5