Skip to content
Guide. Every rule from Etsy's own pages.

Etsy Title Rules, From Etsy's Own Seller Handbook

Checked against Etsy's Seller Handbook on . Read Etsy's article.

For years, the standard Etsy advice was to pack your title with every keyword that fit in 140 characters. Etsy has changed its guidance. In its Seller Handbook, Etsy now says its search looks at your whole listing (title, tags, attributes, description, first photo and reviews), so the title doesn't have to carry everything.

The 140-character limit is still there. What changed is Etsy's advice on how to use it. Here it is in five rules, with examples.

The Five Rules

  1. Say what the item is.

    Name the item plainly, once: “mug,” “bracelet,” “candle.” A buyer scanning search results should know what they're looking at from the first few words.

  2. Put the most important traits up front.

    Etsy names color, material and size as the three most useful descriptors for most categories, plus anything that genuinely sets your item apart. Objective facts beat adjectives.

  3. Keep it short enough to scan.

    Etsy's wording: “Consider using less than 15 words.” That's guidance, not a hard limit, but it's the clearest number Etsy gives.

  4. Only mention an occasion if it's part of what the item is.

    “Birthday candle” or “Halloween costume” is the item. “Great gift for her” is not. Gift and recipient phrases usually belong in your tags and description, and Etsy advises keeping them out of the title.

  5. Leave out the rest.

    • Subjective words like “beautiful” or “perfect”: Etsy says to move them out of the title. (Its article says “to the description” in one place and “to tags or attributes” in another. Either is fine, just not the title.)
    • “On sale,” “free shipping,” prices: Etsy says to remove these entirely, because Etsy adds its own badges in search.
    • Repeated words: say each thing once.

Three Before-and-Afters

These use MerchYak's demo products. Each “after” is a title MerchYak wrote for that product. Each “before” is either the long keyword style MerchYak also offers as an option, or one written for this guide to show a common habit. Each is labeled.

Candle

Before: long keyword style, 19 words

Cosmic Marbled Pillar Candle, 6-inch Abstract Design for Home Decor, 4-inch Wide Paraffin Wax Candle with Textured Bubble Pattern

After: 12 words

Marbled Pillar Candle, 4x6 Inch Abstract Design with Gold and Blue Hues

What changed: “Candle” once instead of twice, size stated once as 4x6, colors added, “for Home Decor” dropped. Paraffin wax and the bubble texture move to the description and tags.

Bracelet

Before: long keyword style, 13 words

Flower Bracelet, Handmade Crocheted Yarn and Beaded Floral Motif Jewelry for Birthday Gift

After: 10 words

Beaded Flower Bracelet, Handmade Yellow and Teal Floral Motif Jewelry

What changed: “For Birthday Gift” is out, because a birthday isn't part of what the bracelet is (rule 4). The colors went in.

Mushroom figurines

Before: written for this guide, 16 words

Cute Mushroom Figurines Perfect Gift for Her Mushroom Decor Mushroom Lover Gift Cottagecore Gift Fantasy Decor

After: 8 words

Mushroom Figurine Pair, Wood Anthropomorphic Sculptures 3-4 Inch

What changed: “Mushroom” three times became once. “Gift” three times became zero. “Cute” and “perfect” (subjective) are gone. Material (wood) and size (3 to 4 inches) are in. “Cottagecore” is a style buyers search for, so it makes a good tag.

Check Your Own Titles

Paste a title into the free Etsy listing grader to check its length and word count against Etsy's guidance, then check your tags with the free Etsy tag checker. Both run in your browser, with no signup.

Grade an Etsy listingCheck your Etsy tags

Common Questions

Is Etsy's title limit still 140 characters?
Yes. Etsy's Help Center still says a listing title can be up to 140 characters. The newer advice is about how much of it to use. Etsy Help: How to Create a Listing.
Do I have to rewrite all my titles?
No. Etsy offers an optional title-suggestion tool, describes its suggestions as a starting point, and says you stay in control of what gets published. If a title is already selling well, there's no rule saying you must change it. Etsy suggests downloading a copy of your listings before bulk edits, so you can move old keywords into tags or descriptions.
Where do the keywords go if they leave the title?
Into your 13 tags (up to 20 characters each), your attributes, and your description. Etsy's search reads all of them. See the listing limits for Etsy and 11 other marketplaces.
Does MerchYak follow this?
Yes. MerchYak writes Etsy titles in this shorter style by default and keeps the longer style as an extra option, so you can compare. See a finished example.