Getting found in Shopee search: keywords, titles and attributes
Most buyers find a product by typing a few words into the search bar. Whether yours appears depends on the words in the listing and the details you fill in. Here is how to write a listing that search can read.
Shopee search starts by matching the words a buyer types with the words in your listing: the title first, then the category, the attributes and the description. A listing without the words a buyer types is unlikely to appear, however good the product. After that, how the listing performs decides how high it ranks: how often searchers click on it, how many of them buy, and the reviews they leave. So the first job is to use the words your buyers type, in the places search reads.
Find the words buyers actually type
Start with the search bar itself. Type your product type and note the suggestions that drop down, because they come from what people search. Then open the keyword tool in Shopee Ads, which shows roughly how often each keyword is searched, and read the titles of the best selling listings in your category. You are looking for the plain product word first, water bottle rather than drinkware, and then the details buyers add to it: size, material, colour and use.
Write the title for a phone screen
Most buyers read titles on a phone, where only the start of each one shows in the results. Put the product type first, then the two or three details that decide the purchase, then the brand if people search for it by name. Use each word once. Repeated keywords, or popular ones that have nothing to do with the product, break the Shopee listing rules, and a title that reads like a list of tags gets fewer clicks anyway.
- Old title
- BEST SELLER Premium Bottle Cheap Promo Bottle Quality
- New title
- Stainless Steel Water Bottle 750 ml, Insulated, Cold for 24 Hours, Leak-Proof Lid
| What buyers search | Searches a month | Old title | New title |
|---|---|---|---|
| water bottle | 41,000 | No | Yes |
| stainless steel bottle | 12,500 | No | Yes |
| insulated bottle | 6,800 | No | Yes |
| 750 ml bottle | 3,200 | No | Yes |
The old title holds none of these searches in full; the new one holds all four.
Fill in every attribute
The attribute fields, such as brand, material, capacity and size, feed the filters on the results page. When a buyer filters by 750 ml and your capacity field is empty, your listing drops out of the results, even with 750 ml in its title. Choose the most specific category, fill in every field that applies, and keep variants such as colours and sizes inside one listing rather than copying it, because Shopee treats duplicate listings as a violation. Before a new or changed listing goes live, run through five checks.
- The title starts with the product type and includes the details buyers filter by.
- Every attribute that applies is filled in, in the most specific category.
- The first photo shows the product clearly, on a plain background.
- The description repeats the main words in full sentences, with sizes and materials.
- You have noted the visitors and orders of the product, so you can compare them in Seller Centre two weeks after the change. Change one thing at a time, or you will not know what worked.