What Etsy buyers actually respond to
Etsy buyers are not searching for products the way Amazon shoppers are. They're searching for feelings — a feeling of giving something meaningful, of owning something handmade, of finding something that can't be found anywhere else. The 'lead with the benefit not the material' instruction reflects this. 'Hand-poured soy wax candle' is a material. 'The one candle that actually makes your living room feel like a retreat' is a benefit. One of these makes someone click Add to Cart. The other makes them scroll past.
The keyword inclusion done right
Etsy's search algorithm relies heavily on the product title and description matching what buyers search for. The prompt includes keyword placement naturally — not as a clunky list at the bottom, but woven into the copy. Two or three well-placed keywords beat a stuffed paragraph of ten that reads like a robot wrote it. Use the terms your actual buyers would type, not the technical terms you use internally.