I've been paying a lot of attention to how I list my Etsy items for a while now. I've cleaned up my titles, used the most important words from the title in the first sentence of the description, tried to use the best possible tags. Sometimes, though, you have to start from the beginning to really get it.
I watched an Etsypreneur video yesterday about Basic Etsy Shop SEO. Good information very well presented but nothing brand new to me. Nonetheless, I went through the steps. I used Google search (as recommended in the video) to check out where my scarves rank. Did pretty well for "hand dyed scarves" but then I searched "infinity scarves". My Etsy shop was no where near the top of the results. Other hand dyed scarves were, but not mine.
You should know that I tend lean toward the straight and narrow when promoting my scarves. No unfounded promises from me! I provide important details like the fabric content and care instructions. I like to describe my dyeing technique accurately as LWI (low water immersion) instead of tie dye. It has actually irritated me that so many customers at the Rust Belt say they like my "tie dye" even though I know they wouldn't have a clue about LWI. To customers, hand dyed is tie dyed even when no tying is involved.
Know what? Those hand dyed infinity scarves on Google were described as tie dyed. "And why not?!" I suddenly asked myself. Etsy tried to tell me: "Descriptive titles are best. Try to describe your item the way a shopper would."
It really was one of those "duh" moments. My customers had been telling me, Etsy had been telling me, but I only got it yesterday. There is nothing wrong with using "tie dye" in my item titles and descriptions. In fact, that's what customers are looking for. So, I changed up a few of my listings. I'll keep checking my Google rank and let you know if it has made a difference.