I think I’d like some guidance on how to use the tags effectively, for instance are they used separately from the item title in the search? Is there any point repeating the terms which are in the title in the tags?
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I like the idea of tags, but they definitely haven’t made a difference to my views.
Camilla @folksycontent, re. “cute cushion”… If someone searches just for “cute”, or “cushion”, does an item tagged “cute cushion” get found by the search engine, or would it only be a specific search for “cute cushion” (in other words, does the search engine look for tags that “contain” the search words (or words from a longer search), or only “exact match” terms?
Lizzie
I think the site search would only use the tag if it matched the specific search, so it would only return an item tagged with ‘cute cushion’ if that was what someone had searched for, not if they had just searched for ‘cute’.
So you really need to think about the best tags to use and do some research around what people are searching for that your products match.
Tags are just one of the factors affecting search though, so if your product listing included the words ‘cute’ or ‘cushion’ in the title and/or description it would still show up in any of these searches. However, as far as I know, tags are now (or are going to be) the most highly weighted item in the search algorithm. Is that right @dougfolksy?
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I see, thank you… So, if your tags included both “cute” AND “cushion” as separate items, would the search engine find them, with a search of “cute cushion”?
Hi Camilla. I’m confused. I thought that Folksy tags were supposed to be only 1 word tags, not 2 word tags. Do you have a guide on how we should be tagging please? Thanks in advance
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Actually a Guide to Successful Tags would be really helpful!
Pretty please?
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I tag with what I would search for, such as blue earrings, shell earrings, blue shell, for example, no idea if I’m doing it right, but when I search, they do appear, so, I’m carrying on the same way.
You can have one word or two word tags @millyandpip - it really depends on what people are searching for and how you can best meet that search. A long row of words in a tag is unlikely to meet someone’s exact search.
For example, if you had made a crochet blanket in pastel colours and thought someone might buy it as a picnic blanket you could write “pastel crochet picnic blanket” as your tag, but that would only be helpful if someone was searching for exactly that, so your tag would be pretty redundant. Whereas if you wrote “picnic” or “picnic blanket” or “crochet blanket” or “granny square” as your tags, it show up in any of those searches.
Does that help? @LizzieMade
I’ll see if we can write a blog post on How To Tag for you all.
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Hi Camilla, Thank you for your reply, a ‘How To Tag’ post would be fantastic as I am still a little bit confused.
I asked folksy the same question about 1 word/2 word tags last week, and I had a response to say that 1 word tags were best. I’ve copied and pasted the conversation below so that you can see. it. I would also be really helpful to know if these tags should appear somewhere in our titles and descriptions. Thanks in advance. Here’s the conversation from folksy confirming that 1 word tags were best.
From Folksy staff: Remember that tags are currently just one of the search terms and so when you are searching for a specific ‘tag’ you are also searching item titles and descriptions (which is why they’re getting lost). Inputting phrases/multiple words as tags will work but buyers will need to be looking for that specific phrase in order to find the item! If you do this, you will also be at a disadvantage when we get to implementing things like tag clouds, or tag links from somewhere on the item pages, so we would strongly encourage you to use individual words rather than phrases.
From me: I wonder if you could confirm whether the tags are for the benefit of being found by google, or whether it’s for Folksy’s internal search. As far as I am aware, google prefers 2 to 3 word tags and not 1 word tags, but of course if the tags are just for Folksy search, that’s a different matter.
From Folksy staff: Tags are purely for use in Folksy’s internal search and navigation. You should continue to use key words and phrases (in context) in your item titles and descriptions as these will be picked up by Google.
From me: Thank you, so am I therefore presuming that the tags should be 1 word tags?
From folksy staff: Generally, yes! However, as with everything, there will be exceptions, where two to three words would be more relevant than single words here: e.g. apple pie, bus stop, fax machine, cream tea…
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Not noticed an increase either. I read that thread about one word tags and I’m sure that’s what isn’t helping. Would people really search for ‘cardigan’? Surely they would search for ‘baby cardigan’ or ‘knitted cardigan’?
When tags were first added I was using phrases and popped up within the first few items in search but then I read the thread so started adding one word tags but then couldn’t find my items.
Don’t know what to do really as the advice being given is different from what I’m experiencing.
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I’ve gradually been adding tags but now I see that just one or two word tags are best so I’ll go back and make some changes. I haven’t really noticed any movement on views and my sales are way down over the past year. I’m using some social media to promote but really, it’s poor. I love Folksy and the way it’s run but will, at some point, have to question whether it’s really worth being here.
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Hi Ali. I think it’s generally the same as mine, but I can see why you would be confused. Sorry if I muddied the waters - I did mean to help but I think I just managed to confuse people even more!!
We’ll write that post for you to clarify how to use tags, but in the meantime hopefully this will be useful:
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Tags are used within Folksy to help shoppers find what they are looking for.
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Tags can be one word or a short phrase, but the shorter the better.
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We match your tag to searches done by buyers on Folksy, so if they search ‘picnic blanket’ and you have tagged a product ‘picnic blanket’ it will show up in their search.
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Long tags with multiple words are unlikely to help your work to be found because people are unlikely to use the exact same phrase in their search.
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Tags on Folksy are not relevant for Google or other search engines.
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You should use tags alongside other keywords or phrases in your titles and descriptions to help your work get found within Folksy and by search engines like Google.
There is a blog post about keywords and how to use them in your titles and descriptions to help boost your shop’s views here
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Brilliant Camilla, that’s really clear now. Thank you so much for replying :0)
Thanks Camilla @folksycontent.
So, just to clarify… If I made a picnic blanket and tagged it “picnic blanket”, it would only be found by a search for that exact two-word phrase; someone typing only “picnic” or “blanket” wouldn’t find my picnic blanket - unless I also had those two words separately in my tags - thus “picnic”, “blanket”, “picnic blanket”?
And, similarly, if I tagged “picnic” and “blanket”, but not “picnic blanket”, a search for “picnic blanket” would not find my item - and neither would a search for “baby blanket”?
Aaaand “baby blanket” wouldn’t find my item in any of the above cases?
Am I correct?
If so, I think we need to give really serious thought to our tags, as searches will need to be very, very specific, in order to find what is wanted.
I also wonder whether potential customers will be put off, because their searches don’t bring up many results and they therefore believe there is very little of the item they want on Folksy - when in fact that may not be the case!
Another question: In cases where a keyword may be written as one compound word, or two words, or hyphenated, can the search engine cope? For example, people write all of these: “icecream”, “ice cream”, ice-cream". Will a Search for “ice-cream” bring up items that are tagged with any of these examples?
Thanks!
I can’t answer the specifics re Folksy’s system obviously but internal search engine tags generally work by being picked up in searches of any combination of the specified tags, hence the advice to use single words, because in theory that makes your tags more relevant to a wider group of phrases.
So for example three separate tags of Beach, Hut, Picture on one of my listings should in theory bring it up in all searches for ‘Beach huts’, ‘Beach hut picture’, ‘picture of beach huts’ etc because my individual tags appear in those phrases.
BUT a listing with a tag 'Beach Hut Picture, will appear above my listing if someone then searches for Beach Hut Picture, because their tag was more specific to that phrase. Mine will still appear, but it will be ranked lower down.
However, if someone searched for ‘Sunny Beach Hut by the seaside’ then my listing would appear because I have tagged two of those words: beach and hut. The person who tagged ‘beach hut picture’ would NOT appear in the Sunny beach huts search because their tag was too specific.
So it’s best to tag words individually, as your listing will appear in a potentially wider pool of phrases, but if there is a phrase that is very specific to your product, then tag that group of words and you’ll come out on top for that phrase.
That’s my understanding anyhow. So I may be completely wrong lol…
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I have 2 shops, usually I get between 3 and 10 views each day.
Yesterday I went a bit mad and added every link to Twitter, I also realised I only had tags on 10% of my listings.
My views today are 32 an 54!!!
That is brilliant, such encouraging news, now lets hope they turn into sales for you.
Suzzie x
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I’ve noticed today my views are 390% which is at it’s highest I’ve seen in ages. I hope this is the start of something good because that might just encourage me to start listing again sooner rather than later.
I think you are right @Textiletreasure I’ve been reading up on tags and as far as I can work out, tags are not the same as keywords. Hence the fact it’s better to use broader tags, i.e. tags with 1 word/2 words max. I hope that @folksycontent can confirm that your explanation is correct :0)
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