The biggest brands in ecommerce seek the best placement on Google’s heavily-trafficked real estate. Among US brands, the Etsy marketplace made the most impressive gains on Google’s page one of search results in 2015 compared to 2014. While not a threat to Amazon, which held on to its number 2 spot on the Top 10 Google Winners’ list, rival eBay was not so lucky.
The MozCast at Moz.com showed Etsy leaping 50 places in that site’s rankings of absolute gains in “total page-one Google real estate.” Previously ranked 81st, Etsy moved to 31st for 2015.
“Etsy and other niche online retailers will be the ones to watch in 2016,” Moz.com’s Dr. Peter J. Meyers wrote. Moz.com also noted Etsy’s relative gains on Google of 156 percent were the most improved compared to 2014 results. Instagram and Groupon followed Etsy in that list.
To be clear, the MozCast looks at organic search results, not paid placement. So what did Etsy do right?
Skillful search engine optimization played an important role in Etsy’s significant Google land grab. Etsy’s Senior Vice President of Product, Mike Grishaver, told EcommerceBytes his company is “always looking to drive awareness for our sellers and the millions of unique items they list on Etsy’s marketplace.”
“One of the ways we do this is through SEO, and we put a lot of work into improving our results over the past year by doing things like deep-linking, app indexing, adding a new buyer-facing taxonomy, sitewide navigation links and more,” said Grishaver.
“We’re thrilled to see those efforts are paying off and even more excited that new people are discovering the amazing things our sellers share on Etsy as a result,” he said.
While Etsy enjoyed its gains, another big name fared less well in Moz.com’s findings. eBay was third worst when it came to its changed position in Google for the year. Once a top-ten site in MozCast, eBay now rates 17th, and perhaps should take note of Etsy’s diligent 2015 gains.
