The Etsy algorithm is something not a lot of Etsy sellers know about, but it's kind of a BIG DEAL!

This blog post will help you to make sure you're not ruining the algorithm for your shop, and will explain everything you can and cannot change for the Etsy algorithm

ONE: THE CLOCK

You may (or may not) know that it takes between 30-90 days for any changes that you make to your listing to be indexed on Etsy.

This means that if you make changes to your listings every 2 weeks, what you're actually doing is resetting the clock each time, and you're not going to be getting found in search  results. 

TWO: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RESET THE CLOCK?

What actually happens when you reset the clock is that your listing moves down, and goes to a page right down deep in search (not page 1 or 2). The listing will not completely disappear, but it will go to a page where Etsy will see how people react to it organically. 

When your listing is in its new position, then Etsy will analyse how people interact with your listing while it's there. 

If you're getting a lot of sales, and your conversion rate is high, your listing will gradually start to climb, and move up towards the top pages.

BOSS! Do you want to make more sales on Etsy? Then you need to increase your conversion rate! DON'T PANIC! I'm going to explain exactly how to do that in my FREE 90 minute masterclass - The 3 Step System To Skyrocket Your Etsy Conversion Rate 🙌🏻

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THREE: SO WHAT CAN'T YOU CHANGE?

So, imagine a listing on Etsy. You have your:

• Title
• Pictures
• Attributes
• Descriptions
• Tags 

Only titles and tags will reset the algorithm on Etsy.

FOUR: WHAT DOESN'T RESET THE ALGORITHM?

Changing your photos or description will NOT reset the Etsy algorithm - HOWEVER, I wouldn't change a listing unless it has expired. 

After 4 months, your listing will expire if it doesn't get a sale. 

I would not recommend to auto renew your listings, and this is because when your 4 months is up, your listings will go back into your active listings if you have them set to auto renew.

I would recommend that you set all of your listings to be manually renewed. This is so that if your listing doesn't get any sales, and it expires after 4 months, the listing will go to your expired listing category.

Once your listing is in the expired listings category, you can then go in and change them/ improve them.

FIVE: WHAT IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE OR TEST SOMETHING IN YOUR LISTING?

I mentioned that only tags and titles reset the Etsy algorithm, BUT, I still wouldn't recommend changing a listing that has not expired.

This is because what tends to happen within those 4 months is, if you get 2.5 months in and you change something (and reset the algorithm), but someone wanted to buy it a few days later, or the tag you're using starts to trend, or the right occasion comes along for people to purchase your item, you then miss out on that sale. 

I would not recommend changing any active listing. Wait for it to expire instead. 

Instead, if you do want to test or change something, I want you to COPY the listing.
I've made a video all about why I recommend doing this, and you can watch it HERE.

SIX: WORRIED YOUR SHOP MIGHT LOOK CLUTTERED?

If you're worried that there's going to be a ton of the same copied listings in your shop, then don't worry! You can rearrange the look of your shop, and move products around. 

This is a feature that not many Etsy sellers know exists/ how to do, so let me explain a little...

• Go to your Etsy shop/sales channel.
• In your banner it will say 'edit shop', click this.
• Scroll down to where it says 'all items'.
• On the right hand side, it will say 'rearrange items', click this.
• Now you can move your listings to different pages, and organise your shop as you wish. 
• Once you're done, you can click 'exit rearrange mode'.

Alternatively, you can harness the wonderful power of Etsy shop sections (sometimes known as categories) to be able to put your copied listings into different categories/ sections for different occasions/uses.

Also, there's nothing stopping you from changing your Etsy listing thumbnail picture on each copied listing too. This is great so it doesn't look like you've got 100's of the same item in your shop, and also a fantastic way to test your photos, and see which one performs best.

So there you have it. Now you know exactly what you can and cannot change to avoid resetting the Etsy algorithm.

If you'd prefer to watch me visually explain this blog post using my trusty whiteboard, then you can watch my YouTube video HERE.

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