Selling on Teachers Pay Teachers: SEO

If you are selling on Teachers Pay Teachers, chances are you have asked, “How the hell do I get my products to show up in search?!” 

Today we are tackling a topic that all of you have heard about, some of you ask about, but most of us struggle to fully grasp: search engine optimization, or SEO. 

In case you didn’t know, Teachers Pay Teachers, or TpT, is a search engine. It’s a place where teachers come to find classroom resources they search for. 

As a seller on Teachers Pay Teachers, this is where you hope your resource pops up when someone comes looking for it.

But, what if your resource is placed at the back of the search results? There are lots of reasons why this happens, and some of it is out of our hands (insert dirty look at personal search). 

However, it’s not completely hopeless. There are some things you can do to optimize your listings so you show up better. This is what we call SEO, or optimizing for the search engine on TpT.

In this blog, I’ll break down the importance of SEO strategy when you are selling on Teachers Pay Teachers, so your products aren’t stuck in the back of the classroom so to speak. 

We’ll cover:

• Important SEO terms
• How the TpT search engine works
• What SEO means for your TpT products and how it helps you show up in search
• How to do keyword research
• What kinds of keywords to research and track
• How and when to use your keywords when selling on Teachers Pay Teachers
• Must do SEO strategies for selling on Teachers Pay Teachers

Alright Conversion Queen, let’s define some terms:

SEO – search engine optimization

SERP – search engine results page

Keywords – the words that a search engine uses to determine if your product matches a search in TpT

Long Tail keywords – Three or more words in a phrase that should be used in your title and/or description

Short Tail keywords – one or two words in a phrase that cover the big idea

How does the TpT search engine work?

1. Jana, a buyer comes to TpT looking for a product. She starts to enter a search in TpT and maybe uses some of the suggestions from TpT to conduct her search
2. Jana may or may not select filters such as a specific grade level to refine her search
3. TpT ranks results that match Jana’s search looking at YOUR title and description
4. Personalized search considers Jana’s buying history, grade level, resource preferences, previous buying history and ranks the results further in the hopes of increasing the chances of Jana leaving TpT with something to check out.

Understanding this process and considering the steps can help you show up in search better.

So, what is SEO and how does it help me show up in search?

SEO, search engine optimization, are the keywords and phrases you put into your listing. They help your product rank on a search engine.

When a teacher goes to Google, or Teachers Pay Teachers, and enters, “dinosaur literacy centers,” into the search bar, the search engines are looking for the BEST possible results to match that search.

Remember, TpT is there to make money. They want to show Jana the resources she is most likely to buy. Like it or not, personal search is designed to do just that. 

TpT is a search engine looking at your product title and description. It also considers the grade level tags, and what grade level Jana normally buys. It also looks at the price range and the resources Jana normallh spends money on (or doesn’t). It will prioritize who she follows, as well as a shit ton of other factors in order to best match her with a resource that she will buy.

So, while it feels like you can’t control the search results, you can improve your chances by making sure you are using words, phrases, and relevant tags and information that makes your listing more likely to show up, and ultimately more appealing to Jana.

How to do keyword research for selling on Teachers Pay Teachers

So, what should you be doing to improve your TpT product listings for search engine optimization?

1. Get to know your teacher buyers, yes your Janas. What words and phrases are they using when they search? Are they using “guided math” or “math workshop”? Knowing these keywords and phrases and using them naturally, and when relevant in your listings will help you show up better in the TpT search, especially when your ideal teacher buyer is searching.
2. Research high traffic keywords: You can get a better idea of what is being searched by conducting keyword research. You can do this a few different ways.

• TpT – go into the TpT search bar and start to type in some searches related to your product. What is coming up? This is data from TpT that shows what teachers are searching for on the TpT search engine related to what you are considering naming your product. You might take some of these short tail and long tail keywords in your product description, as well as a part of your TpT product title.

• Google – just like you did on TpT, go to Google and see what comes up there. What searches are people doing that you can use in your title or product description? 

• Ubbersuggest – this FREE tool allows you to see how often (and when) a keyword or phrase is being searched. It also gives you an idea of how difficult it would be to rank for that keyword. You want popular keywords and phrases (because when a teacher goes to Google, your resource can show up in a Google search from TpT too), but you also want keywords and phrases that aren’t that difficult to rank for. You can learn more about searching in Ubbersuggest in the TpT listing checklist.

I highly suggest keeping track of your keywords in either a title tracker like this one, or in a product creation checklist like this one.

What keywords should I be concerned with when conducting keyword research?

There are several types of keywords you should be including in your TpT listing:

1. (Head words) Short-tail keywords: These are the big idea words (often one or two) that describe your resource in the simplest form such as, “task cards”, “math”, “open house”. These would be very difficult to rank for alone as the amount of results are very high.
2. Long-tail keywords: these are phrases that are more specific. They are usually 3 words or longer. There is less search volume, and therefore they are easier to rank for. A teacher will likely use these to narrow their initial search down. Some examples are, “sight word playdough mats for reading centers”, “fractions on a number line math task cards”, or “Thirteen Colonies Research Project
3. Branded keywords: These are keywords that you may often use to describe your brand or your brand values. They should appear consistently in your listings and give both your buyers, and search engines, an idea of what to expect from your resources and values. Examples: “collaborative”, “conceptual understanding”, “student-centered”.
4. Competitor keywords: these are the words that your competitors are using in their resources to attract their buyers. Using these words gives you a competitive edge and reduces some of the grunt work you have to do since they did some if for you. 

How will keyword research help you when selling on Teachers Pay Teachers?

1. Optimizing Content: In your TpT listing, you want to include your keywords naturally in the title, and the description. This is one of the 500 factors influencing how a product ranks in the search. If Jana comes to TpT and enters a search,  but you are using cutesy titles instead of searchable titles, your products won’t show up and Jana will leave with someone else’s classroom resource.

You can use the title tracker to list your TpT titles and their keywords, and track changes in traffic using this Airtable base. Tracking is important to ensure that your resources are getting views and that your efforts are working. Simply posting your products and crossing your fingers isn’t a strategy for success. 

2. Identifying Competitors: Keyword research can also help you identify your competitors and the keywords they are targeting. By entering keywords into TpT, you can see what listings show up in search, analyze their titles and descriptions, and determine additional words or phrases that are applicable, but that you missed, in your own product listing. 

What are the must do practices for keyword resources?

1. Use a keyword tracker to keep track of relevant keywords in your product niche
2. Focus on using long-tail keywords in your product titles and listing descriptions
3. Brainstorm and use synonyms in your product listings to capture different t searches from customers (guided math vs math small group)
4. Conduct keyword research monthly or quarterly to stay relevant
5. Track your TpT product statistics monthly and quarterly

Selling on Teachers Pay Teachers by optimizing your TpT listings doesn’t have to be challenging. By creating a system to track your success, you can feel in control and more successful. You can also see your results and determine if what you are doing is relevant and useful. 

Don’t have a system? Let me get you started. I have a TpT title tracker that will help you craft your idea TpT title that also includes an Airtable Base for tracking changes in your page views.