This post isn't going to make me popular, but this needs to be said: Etsy games are a waste of your time.If this makes you angry, I highly suggest you don't read the rest of this post.

Why You Should Not Play Etsy Games

There's some theory that magically goes that getting favorites translates to either better listing results in Etsy search or helps with search engine optimization. Now, let's be real, if the number of favorites automatically equates to search visibility, well, that's a really dumb system.After all, everyone would just pursue favorites versus marketing.

Think about all of the thousands of fake favorites that happen as part of Etsy teams or games that don't add any real value to the world. Just people clicking random items in the hopes that this useless metric will make their items more visible.My hunch is that Etsy isn't that easily deceived. Etsy absolutely has the ability to see patterns of likes coming from the same IP address or groups of IP addresses. I suspect that they know that people en masse clicking on each others stuff doesn't actually bring any real value.

There's also quite a bit of evidence that Etsy games don't help your Shop or items.Favorites might be a factor in Etsy's search algorithm, but like Google, may be one of 100 factors used to evaluate where items show up.Want an even better example? Look at Google. Back in the heyday of spammy SEO you could buy links off Fiverr, keyword stuff your footer, create convoluted redirect schemes all designed to game the system and improve your search results. But those loopholes are closed now.

Even if these are factors used for Etsy search, favorites are one of several factors that Etsy uses. Even if you think exposure to other sellers is a good thing: most sellers are there to promote themselves vs. buying things from other sellers. This isn't true in an absolutely sense, but is true in the context of a specific group made solely for the purpose of promoting items.

Maybe Just Try Marketing

Your Etsy shop isn't special. It needs marketing Etsy Shops are just places for people to buy things online. It stands to reason that most Shops will need to market like every other shop on the planet.So instead of clicking items that you probably don't like try:

Finding a Facebook community where your products fit.

Contacting bloggers to introduce your items.

Exploring paid ads on social media.

Creating new items and new item variations.

Writing new item descriptions.

Experimenting with new photography.

That is to say there a billion options that add value and substance to your marketing efforts. Which, honestly, add more value to your shop that favorites.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

I'm actually not trying to discourage you.I work with a lot of small businesses. I feel the desperation that some of you have. The feeling of 1000 different things that should be done related to your business and having so little advertising budget to make those things happen.That feeling of desperation is exacerbated when you are still learning a complicated subject like digital marketing that you could literally spend a lifetime learning. I've been doing it for 6 years now.

There's so much I don't know. Probably a lot I'll never know.I know the feeling of trying anything in the hopes that it will bring in a sale or result in an additional views. That force-of-will-against-all-the-odds attitude is amazing. It's the American Dream. It's why I like working with Etsy sellers.But that effort is wasted in these favoriting teams and games.