Etsy Keyword Research: Free Methods First, Then the Tools

What your keyword research has to answer

Before you open any tool, decide what you are trying to learn. Keyword research for Etsy comes down to three questions. What words does a shopper use for this item? Which details do they add when they know what they want, such as color, material, size or recipient? And which of those phrases describe your listing accurately? The third question matters most. A phrase that fits a competitor's product but not yours brings clicks that don't turn into sales.

Work one listing at a time, and keep the notes in a plain spreadsheet with four columns: phrase, where you found it, whether it fits your item, and where it will go (title, tag or attribute). That sheet becomes the raw material for everything below. If you want the wider picture of how titles, tags, attributes, photos and shop quality fit together, our complete Etsy SEO guide covers the rest of the system.

Free method 1: Etsy's search bar autocomplete

The search bar is the simplest free Etsy search tool. As you type, Etsy suggests completions, and those suggestions come from Etsy's own search behavior rather than Google's. They show you how shoppers phrase things, which is often different from how makers describe their work. A potter might say "wheel thrown vessel." A shopper types "handmade mug."

1. Open Etsy in a private or logged-out browser window so your own browsing history influences the suggestions less.
2. Type your core noun (for example "ceramic mug") and write down every suggestion that appears.
3. Add one letter after the noun ("ceramic mug a", "ceramic mug b") and work through the alphabet. This surfaces modifiers you would not have guessed.
4. Put a modifier in front of the noun instead ("large ceramic", "speckled ceramic", "personalized ceramic") to find descriptive phrases.
5. Repeat on the mobile app, where many shoppers search, and note any suggestions that differ.

Autocomplete tells you a phrase is being used. It does not tell you how often, and it does not tell you how crowded that phrase is. Treat it as a list of real shopper language, not a ranking of the phrases.

Free method 2: The search terms in Etsy Stats

If your shop already has some traffic, Etsy Stats is the most valuable free data you have, because it comes from your own shoppers. In the Stats section of Shop Manager, Etsy shows the search terms that brought visitors to your shop. These are phrases real people typed before they landed on your listings.

• Sort by visits and look for phrases you never targeted on purpose. They show how Etsy is already matching you, and they often deserve a tag of their own.
• Compare a term's visits with its listing's orders or favorites. A phrase that brings visits but no engagement may be attracting the wrong shopper.
• Watch for seasonal shifts. A term like "teacher gift mug" might appear only in late spring, which tells you when to rotate it into your tags.
• Check terms for your slowest listings separately. If almost nothing appears, the listing may not match the words shoppers actually use.

Stats only reflects searches that already reached you. It can't show phrases you're missing entirely, so pair it with autocomplete and competitor reading. As with every method here, validate against your own research and Etsy Stats over several weeks before drawing conclusions.

Free method 3: Read the listings that appear for a query

Search the phrase you are considering and read the first two pages of results as a shopper would. This step costs nothing, and it shows you something no tool can: whether your item belongs on that page.

What to look for

• Product match: if "stoneware mug" mostly returns mass-produced sets and your mug is one of a kind, consider a narrower phrase like "speckled stoneware mug."
• Title structure: note which words come first in titles that clearly describe the item. Most strong titles lead with the item type and a key trait.
• Attributes in the filters: look at the filter panel on the left (or the filter button on mobile). Color, material and occasion filters show which attributes shoppers use to narrow results.
• Gaps: if every result for "large tea mug" is plain white and yours is glazed blue, that difference belongs in your title and attributes.

Don't copy competitors' tags or titles word for word. Their phrases reflect their products. Use their listings to understand the vocabulary and the competition, then describe your own item in that vocabulary.

Free method 4: Google Keyword Planner, and where it falls short

Google Keyword Planner is free inside a Google Ads account, and some sellers use it as a makeshift Etsy keyword planner. It can help you brainstorm related phrases and compare rough interest between two wordings. Its limits are significant, though.

• It reflects Google searches, not Etsy searches. Someone typing "how to glaze a mug" into Google is not shopping for one on Etsy.
• Without active ad spend, it shows broad ranges (buckets) instead of specific figures, so two very different phrases can look identical.
• Its suggestions lean toward informational and brand queries that have little to do with buying a handmade item.
• It has no idea what your item looks like or which Etsy attributes apply to it.

Use it as a brainstorming aid. If a phrase from Keyword Planner also shows up in Etsy autocomplete and fits your item, it's worth testing. If it shows up only in Google, keep it out of your tags.

Turning findings into titles, tags and attributes

Once your spreadsheet has 30 to 60 candidate phrases, sort them into three groups. Put the clearest description of the item in the title. Spread distinct phrases across the 13 tags. Cover facts like color and material in attributes. Etsy's Help Center allows 13 tags per listing, each up to 20 characters, and multi-word phrases match more buyer searches than single words.

Titles: short, clear, item first

Titles can run to 140 characters, but Etsy's Seller Handbook (2025) recommends short, clear titles of about 15 words or fewer. They should start with what the item is, put key traits like color, material and size early, avoid repeating words, and leave subjective words such as "beautiful" or "perfect" for the description. Etsy is also testing an optional AI title-suggestion tool. If you try it, check every suggestion against your notes. A title like "Perfect Beautiful Handmade Mug Gift Mug for Her Mug Coffee" breaks almost every one of these recommendations. Here are cleaner versions for a speckled stoneware mug:

1. Speckled Stoneware Coffee Mug, 16 oz, Matte White Glaze, Wheel Thrown Pottery (77 chars)
2. Large Handmade Ceramic Mug in Matte White, Speckled Stoneware Tea Cup with Handle (81 chars)
3. Speckled Ceramic Mug, 16 oz Handmade Stoneware Cup, Housewarming Gift (69 chars)

Tags: 13 distinct phrases

Use tags for phrases the title doesn't already cover well: alternate names, recipients, occasions and styles. Each tag should be a phrase a shopper might plausibly type, and every one must stay within 20 characters. A tag set built from the research above might look like this:

If you're stuck on the last few slots, an Etsy tag generator that checks the 20-character limit can suggest phrase variations from a seed word. Treat any Etsy keyword generator as a source of ideas, then filter its output through your autocomplete and Stats notes.

Attributes: the overlooked third field

Attributes help Etsy match listings to searches, according to the Seller Handbook. Fill every attribute that truly applies: primary color, secondary color, material, occasion, style and any category-specific fields such as capacity. If shoppers filter by "white" and your color attribute is blank, the listing can drop out of those filtered results even when "white" appears in the title.

Change one variable at a time on established listings so you can tell what made the difference. Validate against your own research and Etsy Stats for a few weeks after each change.

Etsy keyword research tools compared, as of November 2026

Paid and freemium tools mostly save time. They gather in one dashboard data you would otherwise collect by hand. The summaries below are as of November 2026 and stay at a general level on purpose, because features and pricing change often. Check each site for current features and pricing before you decide. No tool can promise rankings or sales.

• Etsy's own free data: the search bar's autocomplete suggestions and Etsy Stats, which shows search terms that brought shoppers to your shop. It's free and comes directly from Etsy, but it offers no comparison between phrases.
• eRank (erank.com): Etsy keyword research, listing audits and shop analytics, with free and paid plans and a rank-check feature. Many sellers start here when they want a free keyword research tool for Etsy alongside paid options. If you already collect eRank data, see how to move eRank keywords into your titles and tags.
• Marmalead (marmalead.com): an Etsy SEO and keyword research tool focused on search trends and comparing keywords against each other.
• EverBee (everbee.io): Etsy product research, mainly as a browser extension that estimates listing and shop performance. It is more of a product-research aid than a dedicated keyword finder.
• Google Keyword Planner: free inside Google Ads. Without ad spend it shows ranges (buckets), and it reflects Google searches, not Etsy searches.
• AetherTags (our tool): not a keyword research tool. It takes keywords you have already chosen and applies them to titles, tags and attributes, with your approval on each change, before/after proof and undo, plus free tools at /tools.

For a broader roundup that includes listing-quality and photo tools, see our comparison of Etsy SEO tools.

Choosing a workflow that fits your shop

The best keyword research tool for Etsy is the one you will actually use each month. A shop with 15 listings can do all of this by hand in an afternoon with autocomplete, Stats and a spreadsheet. A shop with 400 listings may want a dedicated Etsy keyword research tool to cut the hours spent collecting phrases. Even then, deciding what fits each product stays a manual job.

1. Start free: autocomplete and Stats for every listing you plan to update.
2. Read the first two pages of results for each candidate phrase and drop the ones where your item doesn't belong.
3. Add a paid tool only if collecting data has become the slowest step, and trial it on a handful of listings first.
4. Apply changes in small batches, record the date, and compare Stats before and after.
5. Bulk edits carry the most risk on listings that already sell. Our tool, AetherTags, applies approved changes in bulk and uses Bestseller Shield to keep your proven sellers out of a batch unless you opt them in.

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