So this is my first week ever on Folksy and it has been completely fun-filled trying to dream up interesting product descriptions etc. etc. etc. as you can imagine.
One recurring headache is trying to come up with effective tags while not really understanding what goes on behind the SEO scenes.
I’ve read the advice that recommends mixing one-word and several word tags but don’t understand why if I include for example, ‘Gift’ and ‘Men’ I need to also add ‘Gift for Men’.
Advice and Paracetemol would be welcome.
Hi Richard, I’ve been here since dinosaurs roamed the earth and still haven’t really got a clue about SEO, but my method is to start by just brainstorming the tags, and then tweaking them as time goes on. Keep an eye on the themes of the day because that will give you ideas on how to tag. I love the geometric fabric for your cushions, can I suggest getting the word ‘fabric’ in there somewhere and also ‘architecture’ for several of your photos (two of my favourite things!). Good luck with your shop, I hope you do well. xxx (I’ll be watching for replies to help me with it too!)
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Thx for your suggestions Amanda, I’ll pick up on your ideas when I do a second pass review of all my new listings.
Thx also for your kind comments, I had no idea when I became a photographer that ‘Chenille’ would rub shoulders with ‘exposure’ and ‘lens’ in my day-to-day vocabulary!
(Some of this won’t be directly applicable to you Richard but I’m including it here in case someone else comes along wanting to know about SEO.)
So the behind the scenes stuff of SEO… Search engines have different algorithms behind them with different scoring systems used to achieve the order they display items in in the search results. The tags at the bottom of the listing page are for the Folksy search algorithm, my understanding is that google won’t pick them up. The algorithm will look at the tags and the title and description to see if the search phrase features in any of them, if the search phrase is in all 3 sections exactly as typed into the search bar the algorithm thinks its hit the jack pot and those items get sent to the top of the search results. If the search phrase is only found in one or two of the sections (eg description or tags but not the title) or doesn’t exactly match the search term then you end up somewhere in the middle of the results (this is where the ‘gifts for men’ vs ‘gift’ and ‘men’ becomes important - if the search term is ‘gift for men’ and you’ve got that exact tag you get bumped up compared to items tagged ‘men’ and ‘gift’, and items tagged either ‘men’ or ‘gift’ being further down in the rankings still).
For the fine tuning of the search results Folksy’s algorithm includes a score for the category that an item is in (so if you are making cards and categorise them in the ‘card’ section rather than the ‘art’ section Folksy’s algorithm gives you a couple of extra points towards the item’s ranking in the search results). It also looks at which paragraph the search phrase was found in (paragraphs 1 and 2 get better placement than paragraph 5 and 6), how new the listing is (the date it was listed/ relisted) and a few other things but they are quite minor.
So how should you come up with good tags? As Amanda suggests have a brain storm or ask a friend what they would search to find an item (don’t bias them, just show them the item without explaining what it is and see what they say). How do you write a good description (this is as important as the tags) - the advice I was given was to write it as if describing the item to a blind person that way you remember to include all the details rather than relying on the photos, it also encourages you to include the feeling that the item invokes thus including more things (keywords) that might be search phrases (cushions aren’t just cushions, they are ‘plump, squishy cushions perfect for achieving the cosy cottage style’ if you get my drift (I have no clue about interior design)) and stops you from copying text from one listing to another (a big no no as far as google’s search engine is concerned). There is a section of the folksy blog dedicated to writing descriptions/ tags and getting google to work for you Product Listing Tips Archives | Folksy Blog
Another point to remember Folksy crops our images to square in the search results and on our shop fronts - if your image isn’t square or doesn’t have enough of a border bits get chopped off (some of your cushions look a bit weird as I’m only seeing a chunk in the middle).
Clear as mud?
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Can’t thank you enough for all the info Sasha - I’ll let it all sink in and then have a thorough review of my listings
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Once again, many thx for all the info Sasha. I’ve done another pass of reviewing tags on my greetings cards which has prompted another question - so sorry to be a pain.
How does the SEO algorithm deal with variations such as plurals? Should I include ‘Trees’ as well as ‘Tree’ in my list of tags?
Depends on the algorithm! The folksy algorithm (like most of them) understands that ‘tree’ and’ trees’ are the same thing, they tend to struggle where there are variations in spelling, eg US english vs UK english, and apostrophes can be problematic (fathers day vs father’s day).
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