June 10, 2009 at 6:03 pm · Filed under SEO, Search, Shop Sections, Tags · By GreenMamba
It has been brought to light that changes made to the Meta Tags on all shop pages may be causing Google and other search engines to bypass Etsy in results. What may seem at first to be an insignificant, single-word change - the addition of the tag word ‘handmade’ to all Esty shop section titles - has in fact resulted in dramatically negative results.
According to this Storque article, a number of SEO (search engine optimization) changes were made in April.
Meta keywords are a less critical component to SEO, and various search engines use them differently to help rank relevancy of a page in search results. For Etsy shop pages, we have automatically pulled the Section Titles for the shop to be used as the meta keywords. We observed that many sellers use basic terms for their sections that translate relatively well into keywords. For example, it’s common for jewelry shops to have Section Titles such as: bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings. To edit your Section Titles, go to Your Etsy > Sections. (excerpt)
While Etsy has downplayed the overall importance of Meta Tags, sellers are discovering that the use of the keyword ‘handmade’ in conjunction with shop section titles - regardless of top-level category - has rendered their shops and items virtually invisible to search engines. Running shop URLs through an SEO checker, such as scrubtheweb.com, has revealed some troubling results, among them ‘keyword stuffing’. This practice, repeated use of the same word in the Meta Tags data line, is forbidden by major search engines and could result in pages being bypassed or excluded from results.
Another issue raised by this overuse of the term ‘handmade’ is the fact that it is being applied across the board in every shop, regardless of whether they sell handmade, vintage or supplies, often causing inadvertent false claims regarding the products being sold. (To check your own meta tags, click on View>Source, or View>Page Source, in your browser’s menu bar at the top of your shop page - not Your Etsy page.)
FTC regulations pertaining to the jewelry, precious metals and pewter industries specifically prohibit the use of the terms ‘hand-made’ and ‘hand-wrought’ etc. to describe products
… unless the entire shaping and forming of such product from raw materials and its finishing and decoration were accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control and vary the construction, shape, design, and finish of each part of each individual product.
This is clearly differentiated from the hand-assembling of prefabricated finished components into other objects. Both ‘hand-made’ and ‘hand-assembled’ are allowed on Etsy under the ‘handmade’ umbrella, but they are not considered equal and interchangeable terms, according to the law. Forcing all shop sections to carry the ‘handmade’ meta-tag could go well beyond the search engine concerns, and brings up serious legal issues.
This is a very disturbing situation for vintage and supply sellers, as well as jewelry sellers and metalworkers, but also presents a problem for sellers in the other handmade categories. For instance, it is unlikely that a potential buyer would conduct a search for ‘handmade art’ or ‘handmade photography’. And sellers of such items would not choose to tag their listings as such. Experiments conducted by a number of Etsy sellers, representing all three top-level categories, have shown that their listings are no longer coming up in keyword searches that used to feature their items. However, prefacing the usual terms with the word ‘handmade’ will sometimes yield results. But, buyers aren’t searching that way.
Several threads have been started to discuss this serious issue, and to ask Etsy to take immediate steps to correct their meta-tagging errors. Etsy admin stellaloella has been reading along and has provided an official response to these concerns thus far:
stellaloella says:
. . . “Handmade” should not be appearing in the meta keywords for vintage or supplies items. There appears to be a bug or a flaw in the logic for how meta keywords are generated on shop pages.
I have requested that the tech team investigate and try to get it corrected. Like all things, this will need to be internally prioritized and addressed accordingly.
It should also be noted that while meta keywords are looked at by search engines for SEO purposes, they are generally not as important a factor in SEO as page titles, meta descriptions and other factors. SEO is a complex thing, and each search engine is a little different. Google, for example, is continually refining and tweaking how they rank web pages. This makes achieving “good” SEO kind of like trying to hit a moving target. We will also be refining and improving Etsy’s SEO as needed to help keep content optimized for search outside of Etsy.
Thank you for your patience.
For more info, or to voice your opinion, join these ongoing discussions:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6120182
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6180740
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6181465
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6181518
PARTIALLY RESOLVED - 11 June 2009
The keyword stuffing has been discontinued and the ‘handmade’ tag has vanished from all Etsy shop page meta keyword data, unless it was entered into the shop section titles by the seller. Here is stellaloella’s announcement:
stellaloella says:
Hi again. I am happy to say I have a good-news update!
The tech team has released a fix that resolves this issue. As I stated before, this was a flaw in the logic specified to generate meta keywords for shop pages from shop Section Titles. The word “handmade” was being appended in a way that did not make sense. It was inaccurate for Vintage or Supply shops, and was overzealously being used on each meta keyword.
With this fix, no longer will “handmade” be appended to meta keywords for shop pages. Your shop Section Titles will still be used to generate the meta keywords for your shop pages, so you still retain some control over this aspect of your shop’s SEO.
This article from Etsy’s blog, The Storque, further explains how you can control various SEO-related content in your Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/storque/article/3835/
Thank you for your patience while we worked out this issue. My apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Posted at 3:59 pm, June 11 2009 EST
There are still ongoing concerns over pre-formatted source code, including unnecessary and sometimes misleading or inappropriate category words, using up valuable space in Etsy shop and listing titles. For more information, please see this thread. (Many thanks to paperstreet for her literally tireless efforts in this cause.)
SEO UPDATE - 17 June 2009
From this Etsy admin Announcement:
saralouhicks says:
I wanted to provide a quick update because so many of you have posted in recent days about SEO. We are reading your comments and working on an update to the title tags and keywords for item pages as they relate to SEO which we expect to roll out tomorrow. The changes take into account the feedback we’ve received from you. We do intend to provide a much fuller explanation when we launch the update. Thank you, all, for your patience and for your continued feedback.
Posted at 9:25 pm, June 17 2009 EST
April 29, 2009 at 2:14 am · Filed under Search · By quirke
Etsy has outlined a number of changes to its search system in this Storque article, including the introduction of Advanced Search!
Simplified Search Dropdown Menu
- modifiers (tags, titles, etc) have been removed from dropdown options
- options have been reduced to: handmade, vintage, supplies, all items, sellers
- the materials option has been moved to the advanced search page
Redesigned Search Results Page
- search Tools, Search Tips, and Matching sellers have been moved to the left side of the page
- a price filter has been added to all item search results pages
- when no search results are returned the user will be presented with search suggestions and newly listed items
Advanced Search
The new Advanced Search page can now be accessed through the Search Tools box on the left side of the page. It provides the user with options to search within any of the dropdown menu main area, the Categories, and select whether to include tags, titles, descriptions or materials. There is also a price filter, and users can sort their returned results by most/least recently listed, or high-low/low-high price.
The article also mentions that in the future there will be an option to sort search results by Most Relevant. In the accompanying forum thread Stellaloella also states that search by location will be a future option.
Please note these changes were announced April 16, 2009. We are catching up on a number of recent changes and announcements and apologize for the delay.
April 29, 2009 at 1:54 am · Filed under Checkout System · By quirke
As per this Storque article, Etsy has made a number of changes to the checkout process.
Updating the language on each page of Checkout to better inform buyers on the steps required to checkout.
Changing the wording on the third page of Checkout. This page is now messaged to the buyer as the “Final Review” page. Also, the button to continue is now called “Commit To Buy” — driving home the point that they still need to pay, whether with PayPal or any other method.
Updating the design of the last page of Checkout. See below for a screenshot. When using PayPal, we now tell the buyer how many payments are remaining and clearly provide a payment status on each item.
According to the article, this is the “first phase” of updating the checkout process, so there are likely more to follow.
Please note these changes were announced April 14, 2009. We are catching up on a number of recent changes and announcements and apologize for the delay.
April 29, 2009 at 1:44 am · Filed under Search, Site Use · By quirke
Etsy has updated the Seller directory on its Buy page to include only shops with at least one active item.
This Storque article has more details:
All Etsy shops will remain findable on the site. This change only affects which shops appear of the Seller Directory on the Buy page of the site. Unstocked shops will still be accessible via username search as well as direct URL (the username.etsy.com web address).
Shops with only inactive listings and shops in “vacation mode” will not be viewable in the Seller Directly for the duration of inactivity.
Please note this change was announced April 1, 2009. We are catching up on a number of recent changes and announcements and apologize for the delay.
April 26, 2009 at 7:26 pm · Filed under Meta · By JB
Unofficial Etsy News was offline for 2 1/2 days, I believe the downtime began on Friday April 24. We apologize for the downtime and any inconvenience. All the data seems to be intact and your accounts and subscriptions should be working normally now. If you have any problem with your account or your subscription, please email us using the tip email. (see the right sidebar)
The problem was with a script running on a shared server at our webhost- it wasn’t actually related to UEN itself, but with another site on the same server. But everything is back to normal now! Thanks for your patience, everyone!
~The Editors
March 16, 2009 at 8:20 pm · Filed under Bills, Bugs, Customer Service, Etsy Communications, Payments, policy change · By GreenMamba
Over the weekend (March 15), Etsy published a Storque article announcing some changes to the billing procedure, which included the removal of payment minimums, and the implementation of both an overdue notification process and the future plan to implement the use of a collection agency for accounts 90 days, or more, past due. In the course of these changes, it was mistakenly reported that the previous 15-day grace period had been reduced to 14 and, beginning on March 15 at 12:00 UTC, overdue notices popped up during logon, and in e-mail boxes, for those sellers with a balance in any amount that had been incurred in February (or earlier) but not yet paid.
The confusion led to a series of forum threads asking for clarification, eventual corrections by several admin, an amending of the Storque article that announced these changes, and, ultimately, an official apology from Etsy CEO, Maria Thomas.
Excerpt:
Dear Etsy Sellers,
This is the kind of note CEOs generally don’t enjoy writing. Because, this is the kind of note that says, “We messed up, and we’re sorry.”
Over the weekend, Etsy messed up. We prematurely sent out notices to sellers whose bills we had identified as “overdue.” This overdue notification was a change in our billing process. We did a poor job of fully explaining this change and consistently messaging it across the site and in other communications with our seller community. In addition, the change was poorly timed relative to the March billing cycle and poorly coordinated with our recent introduction of enabling sellers to pay their Etsy fees via PayPal. Introducing PayPal as a payment option for seller fees also allowed us to accept payments of any size, so we simultaneously eliminated the $1.00 minimum payment threshold. We now ask those owing less than $1.00 USD to pay their balances in a timely manner, just like other Etsy sellers.
Regrettably, we did not lay all these messages out in an easily digestible form, and we didn’t deliver them to you in a timely and clear way.
I am ultimately responsible for this poor execution, and I apologize. I know that Etsy sellers need clear, consistent, timely communication from Etsy in order to plan your businesses. That’s our goal, and we will all work harder to be more diligent and timely with future announcements affecting all sellers.
I asked Etsy staff to roll back the changes (that is, to go back to the billing policies and process in effect prior to March 14, 2009) until such time as we are able to more thoroughly and consistently email all of you about what we’re doing and why. Let me repeat, we have moved back to the policies and process that were in effect prior to this weekend’s communications about overdue bills. Please note that sellers will still be able to pay your Etsy bills via PayPal, and you will be able to pay your bill even if the balance is below $1.00 USD.
Read Maria’s full article here.
Editorial comment:
Kudos, Etsy and Maria, for handling this so quickly and professionally, and for owning and correcting the mistakes made during the initial rollout. This is a huge step forward in Communications, and is much appreciated.
March 11, 2009 at 11:19 pm · Filed under Checkout System, Payments, Search, Seller Opportunities, Showcase, Site Security, Site Use, The Future · By JB
The Head of Etsy’s Product Team has posted an update on their progress and projects for the coming months.
Source: The Storque
Sara recaps the changes from the past several months including Google Analytics, beta testing of API, the Etsy Shop application on Facebook, and changes to the RSS feeds.
She also mentions features which had previously been promised but have now been put on the back burner, including more tools for Etsy teams, and the Super Etsy Mini.
Key points in their plans for the coming months include:
- “Search is our top priority for 2009. We anticipate numerous updates to Search throughout 2009.” (more details are available in Product Manager Sean Flanagan’s Storque article here.)
- Payments: There is currently a seller survey about payments, which Sara did not mention but that will possibly result in some new payment options being incorporated into Etsy, such as google or RME. Sara only mentioned changes which have already occurred such as sellers being able to pay their bills with paypal, and the fact that Etsy now employs a collection agency.
- Checkout: In the coming months we will be working to better clarify the functional elements of the overall (checkout) process, including introducing inline registration (i.e. letting first-time buyers checkout on Etsy without forcing them to confirm their registration first).
- Safety, Security, and Trust: No specific details are given here, but Sara says “While it may not always be possible for Etsy to disclose its fraud deterrence practices…Etsy takes these issues very seriously and thus we continue to update our infrastructure to keep fraudulent behavior off of our site.
- Showcase: In March you will see improvements to the design of Etsy’s Category pages and, more specifically, the design of the Category Showcase promotional modules at the top of those pages. …
In the coming months, we are looking to expand Showcase placements to other relevant areas of our site to provide more opportunities for sellers to gain additional exposure. (ed:this is possibly related to Sean’s mention of possibly selling paid ads on the search results pages.)
- Seller Tools: In the next month, Etsy plans to release tools to allow sellers to rearrange the items in your shop.
- Site Performance: Sara does not mention any details, but refers readers to Chad’s recent article here which goes into detail about site performance.
Sara closes with the promise of more regular updates:
I’ll be back with regular updates on what we’ve accomplished from this list and what else we have lined up for the remainder of the year.
For the full text of Sara’s article please see The Storque.
Commenting is closed for this article, but there is a forum thread open to comments.
March 11, 2009 at 7:09 pm · Filed under Checkout System, Payments · By JB
Source: The Storque
Etsy is conducting a short survey for sellers about payment options.
Click here to take the survey. It is about 3 minutes in length.
The survey closes in one week,
March 11, 2009 at 7:03 pm · Filed under Down Time, Site Maintenance · By JB
Source: The Storque
Etsy will be offline for approximately 20 minutes at 2am EDT, on Thursday March 12. (tomorrow/tonight, depending on your time zone)
Follow this link to convert to your local time zone.
March 10, 2009 at 9:54 pm · Filed under Bills · By JB
Source: this Storque article
After a short period of beta testing, all sellers now have the option to pay their Etsy bill with paypal. You can pay the full bill or make partial payments by filling in any amount, just as you did with credit card payments.
You will now see an option for PayPal under “Method of payment” when you go to Your Etsy > Your Etsy Bill > Make a payment.
When you select PayPal as your method of payment on this screen and click “Submit Payment,” you will be taken to PayPal. Log into PayPal to complete the payment. You will be directed back to Etsy upon completion of the transaction.
Paying your Etsy bill with PayPal is optional. You can still pay your Etsy bill via the credit card you have on file with Etsy. Regardless of whether you pay your Etsy bill with PayPal or credit card, Etsy sellers need to keep a valid credit card on file with Etsy because we require a valid credit card to become an Etsy seller at this time.
Etsy has also removed the one dollar minimum payment.
With this release we are also removing the minimum payment amount for seller fee payments, whether paid by credit card or PayPal. Previously, Etsy only accepted payments of $1 or more from sellers. This is no longer the case—Etsy sellers will be expected to pay their bills in full regardless of the amount. So, if you are billed $0.60, you can now pay $0.60, and you have the option to pay via PayPal
Please see the full Storque article for more information and for some Frequently asked questions and answers.
The Storque article is closed to comments but this forum thread is currently open.
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