The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
TPT SEO: Common Mistakes to Avoid in 2025
Are you struggling to get your TPT products to rank in search? You're not alone! In this episode, I’m diving into four major SEO mistakes that even experienced TPT sellers make — mistakes that could be costing you sales and visibility.
As a top 1% TPT seller with over nine years of experience and a TPT business coach, I’ve audited countless stores and have seen these issues time and time again. But the good news? They’re easy to fix!
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ The simple detail you’re skipping that affects conversion rates (hint: it's page count!)
✔️ Why “posting and ghosting” is hurting your rankings
✔️ The #1 keyword mistake that’s making your products invisible
✔️ How market research can skyrocket your sales
Link to Rank my Resources Bootcamp: https://rebrandedteacher.kartra.com/page/mnx229
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurentschappler/
My Other YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LaurenATsch
Free Rebranded Teacher Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/749538092194115
Welcome to the Rebranded Teacher Podcast. My name is Lauren Fulton. I'm a full-time teacher, author and seller on Teachers, pay Teachers and I help other teacher entrepreneurs grow their TPT businesses in a way that's purposeful and sustainable. So if you're looking for actionable, step-by-step ways to grow your business, you're in the right place. Let's get started it. We need to talk about TPT SEO and some mistakes that you might be making.
Speaker 1:I've been selling on TPT for over nine years. I have a store that's in the top 1% of stores on TPT, and I know a few things about search engine optimization and then the course of the last three years of being a TPT coach, I have audited so many stores and I have seen a lot of mistakes, and so I'm going to let you in on some of the most common mistakes that a lot of TPT sellers make, both beginner and advanced, and some mistakes that I also make myself. Number one is not including a page count. This is something that's so basic, but it can really make a big difference in terms of conversion rate, which ultimately can help your TPT search engine ranking. But also not saying it definitely is, but I have a suspicion, a sneaking suspicion that this could be one of the factors that TPT uses to determine quality of a resource when they're considering a resources ranking. So if you have a product and you haven't filled out all the things that you can fill out about your product like you haven't tagged your resource, you haven't tagged a grade level, or you haven't filled out the teaching duration portion of your product those are things that could potentially signal to the TPT search engine algorithm that maybe your resource isn't as high quality as resources that have filled out all of the parameters that are available to them. I'm not saying that this is going to be the thing that catapults your resource onto the first page. What I'm saying is that this is something that's very small. It's an easy change to make and it could, overall, make an impact on your resources ranking, even if that impact is only coming from an increased conversion rate, because more people feel confident purchasing your product, because they have more knowledge about your product, and then that conversion rate in turn increases your ranking and search.
Speaker 1:So if you're watching on YouTube, I want to show you where this is at, and if you're listening via podcast, then you can go check out the YouTube video afterwards if you're not able to follow along with my description of the page, but I'm sharing a screen right now of a product that I have in my store, and on that product page you see the title. At the top you see the cover image and then over to the right of the cover image you have grade level, subject area tags, the format that the product is included, the format the product is in zip file, pdf, powerpoint, et cetera. And then right below that you have page count. Now, one thing that a lot of people don't know about the page count is they don't realize that you can put more than just a number there. You don't have to put 130 pages or 452 pages or four pages. You don't have to do that. You can actually describe the page count.
Speaker 1:And I think that this is where a lot of people get a little bit tripped up is that they don't want to commit to a page count because they think, oh, do I include answer keys? Do I include teacher instructions Like what parts of the resource have value, what parts don't? And this is like do I include the color and black and white? If the color version is 120 pages and the black and white version is 120 pages, do I say it's 240 pages, or I do say 120?. You can actually make notes inside that page count. So on this particular product that I'm sharing, I have 130 plus pages in color and black and white, so you can actually write out a description. I can also say something like includes one student worksheet and three pages of teacher notes or a video lesson or something like that, so I can write more than just including a page count. So this is something really small. That's very simple to do, but it can make an impact long-term over your product rankings. And just as like, just for free here, you also want to make sure that you're filling out that teacher duration down at the bottom as well. So at the bottom of your product description there is a spot for teacher duration like how long is it going to take the teacher to implement this? Is it going to be 30 minutes, Is it going to be a month, like whatever? And you want to make sure that you're filling that out too, because that is a quality signal that could possibly potentially impact your TPT search engine ranking. But for sure, this can also help impact a buyer's purchasing decision, which impacts conversion rate, which impacts ranking. Okay, so that's one simple change that can make a significant impact, especially across the board with your resources. Over time, you just wanna get in a habit of filling out every piece of information that you can about your product and if you have the ability, if TPT has given you the ability to fill something out to tell your buyer more about your product, then you wanna take them up on that offer, plain and simple.
Speaker 1:The second mistake that I see a lot of TPT sellers making when it comes to search engine optimization is posting and ghosting, meaning you post the resource and then you never follow up to see whether or not your resource is actually ranking with the keywords you chose. So let's talk about that. Okay, I get it. You finish the product, you're done with it. You conduct all the research, you're doing keywords, you're doing long tail keywords, you're searching and trying to see can I rank for this, can I rank for that? And it takes a long time, I get it. But one of the biggest mistakes that you can make. So just assume that, because you did your very best when you were listing the product, that that's all you can do and that's just really not true and that's just really not giving your resource its best chance at being successful. So, rather than posting the product and never going back to check on it, or not going back to check on it until the next year, if it's a seasonal item you really need to mark a date on the calendar to come back and check on that product and see how is it ranking, how is it doing, is it getting views, is it getting any kind of traction, or do I need to go back to the drawing board? This is especially true for seasonal resources.
Speaker 1:So if you're creating resources that revolve around special events, holidays or a season basically not an evergreen resource, a resource that a teacher is going to specifically be looking for during a certain time period you need to make sure that you are checking up on this very regularly during that season. So if I have a Valentine's Day resource or a St Patrick's Day resource, I'm going to search engine, optimize it to the best of my ability, I'm going to choose the keywords, I'm going to write the title, update the snippet, all of that kind of stuff, and if I'm saying words and you're like I don't know what this means, you need to go check out my video on SEO basics and then come back to this video. So you've chosen all the keywords. You've done all of the things to help that product rank in TPT search, but then you need to come back and actually see if that worked, because even our best efforts are, honestly, at the end of the day, sometimes just a guess and, depending on what niche you're in, it could be a straight stab in the dark, like you could think you can rank on first page for this set of search terms and actually not. So you need to make sure that you've put a date on the calendar.
Speaker 1:If I'm doing a resource for Valentine's Day, st Patrick's Day, and it is February, and I'm posting that Valentine's Day resource on January 28th, I need to make sure that I come back and I check on that resource by February 5th and then I need to check on it again by February 10th and then I need to check on it again right before Valentine's Day, like two or three days. I need to be checking on it very regularly because if it's getting traction and it's getting views but it's not getting sales, then I need to do something about the conversion rate. But if it's not getting views and it's not getting traffic with the keywords that I've chosen, then I need to go back to the drawing board and try to find something that is going to work before the season is over. By doing this, I'm going to help ensure that my product is meeting its overall potential and I'm not just creating a resource and then putting it out there to fend for itself, because, honestly, that's not fair and we can do better than that. And the truth is, as exhausting as it can be to go back in and constantly try to keep up with your resources, it takes so much less time to update keywords on a product or make little tweaks and changes to improve the SEO than it does to create a whole new product from scratch. So as much as we might get tired of constant tweaks and changes to those resources and trying to get them to rank better Overall for your business, this is probably gonna be one of the best uses of your time. So do not post and ghost is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Number three kind of goes back to beginner basics. But I've even seen TPT sellers who've been on TPT for a long time still doing this from time to time and that is, trying to come up with cutesy words or cutesy phrases to describe their resource in an effort to make it stand out in TPT search, not realizing that no one is ever going to find that product because no one is ever going to think to search for those terms. So here's a really good example of this. When I first started selling on TPT, I created a line of products that were called mini mysteries. I still call them mini mysteries. That is the name of my product line and I'm not changing it Now. Since then I've seen other people also title their products mini mysteries, which is kind of interesting. So at some point it caught on just a little bit, but still never going to be something that someone types into the search engine on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:The vast majority of math teachers are not going to go to TPT and say solving equations, mini mystery. I mean, if they do, then basically I've won the search lottery and that's fantastic. But most of them are not going to be searching for that because they're not looking for that title. Now they might search for a mystery, or they might search for an activity or a worksheet or a game or something like that. That might also meet the description for my product, but chances are they're not going to be searching for that cutesy title that sets my resource apart and helps me brand a product line. So, as much as I want to put those keywords in the title, it's not going to be what's best for my products over time, so I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 1:Make sure you're choosing keywords that buyers would actually type into search. Make sure you're choosing things that teachers really know how to search for. And you might be asking yourself at this point okay, yeah, but Lauren, you just said that this was part of branding a product line and yes, that's important. Branding a product line is important. But things like mini mystery or partner packs or digi packs which are all product lines that I have in my store or adventurous Joe, those are things that can be put on the cover. So, branding items, items that are related to branding, you can put on the cover, but you only put SEO, search engine friendly terms inside of the title. That's it. That's all we're putting there.
Speaker 1:The number four most common mistake that I see across the board whether you're new to TPT or you've been selling on TPT for 10 years, I see this one all the time and that is not doing your market research, and I know if you're a regular listener or if you're a regular watcher. You're tired of hearing me say words like market research. But, by the way, if you do want to learn more about market research, you can check out this video right here. But here's the thing about market research If I'm not doing it, then I don't know what's already working and I don't know what's not working.
Speaker 1:When I conduct market research, I bypass a huge portion of the trial and error process for my products, so I can look at similar products in my niche on TPT and be able to know do I need to have this product photographed? Do I need to show the product in action? Is it sufficient for me to just put PNG images of my pages on the cover? I can answer those questions before I've ever created the product, before I've gone to all the trouble of creating a cover that will be underperforming, because your cover has a lot to do with SEO. If I'm not doing my market research, then I'm basically not giving my cover its best chance at standing toe-to-toe with the other products that are going to be showing up in TPT search, because the products that show up at the top of the TPT search for the search term that I'm trying to rank for those are the products that are gonna be my competition, but they're also the products that tell me, as a seller, what buyers are attracted to. So if I'm not conducting my market research, then I could be entering the market straight out the gate with a product that is worse, less appealing, less interesting visually than the products that are already on the market. And now I am already starting the race behind right, which is not what I want.
Speaker 1:The other thing is, I want to know, before I've created the product, before I've listed the product, I want to know what is expected in the market for this type of product. Do I need to print this? Do I need to get my four-year-old to pose with her little hands doing the worksheets or filling things out or coloring or playing with Play-Doh, like? What exactly do I need to do in order to make this product a success? And I would like to know that in the beginning. I don't want to go to all the trouble of creating a cover only to put it out there and later on have to realize that, oh, I should have done this differently. It's better to do the best you can the first time, and skipping the market research means you're going to prolong most of the time, prolong the trial and error portion of getting your product to rank and getting your product seen and getting traffic to your resource. So let's do a quick recap.
Speaker 1:Number one make sure that if TPT has given you a space to tell buyers about your product whether that's with page count, teaching duration, et cetera when listing your product, make sure that you are taking advantage of those to the best of your ability. I understand for some niches or some categories, like there might not be a good tag for you or it may not be applicable to include a teaching duration, and that's okay if that's true for your product, because guess what, that's also gonna be true for competing products. But if you are able to fill it out, fill it out because that could potentially signal to your buyer and to the TPT algorithm that your product is higher quality. Number two stop posting and ghosting. Actually, make a plan for when you're going to go back and check in on those resources that you've search engine optimized to make sure that they are actually performing and that the changes that you made paid off.
Speaker 1:Make sure that you're using relevant keywords for your product. No guessing around, no using cute titles or anything like that. Make sure that you're using terms for your keywords, both in your title and your snippet which, again, if you haven't listened to the TPT basics video, make sure and check out the link in the description so you know what I'm talking about when I'm saying things like snippet and keywords and all of that good stuff. Make sure you're using actual, relevant keywords that buyers would actually know to search for. And then, finally, make sure that you are doing your market research. Do not skip it. You're shooting yourself in the foot when you skip it.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're listening to this and you're a lot like I was when I first started out and you're thinking to yourself my products are so good. If only I could get them to rank higher in TPT search. If only I could get more eyes on my resources, I wanna invite you to come join the Rank my Resources Bootcamp. It's gonna be March 15th through the 21st. During the course of that week, you're gonna learn some proven strategies to help boost your visibility a complete SEO checklist, live audits and a co-working call so you can work in community with other teacher authors to search engine optimize as many resources in your TPT store as you can. During that week You're going to get the tools and community support, that you need to get eyes on your products, because if you can get those eyes on your products, you and I both know they're going to sell. So if you're interested in joining this one week exclusive live bootcamp, you can find the link down in the description. It's just $29 and I guarantee you it's going to be one of the best investments that you make in your business this year. You can find more information on that boot camp inside the link below, but do not wait to join it.
Speaker 1:Okay, every time we have one of these live workshops, inevitably almost a dozen people will say oh my gosh, I meant to join this and then I forgot. Can I join now? And it's like, well, the thing already happened, like it's already over with and you missed the boat, and we don't want that to happen to you. So make sure you go ahead and join so you can learn all the SEO secrets and help get your resources to rank on TPT. Thanks so much for being here.
Speaker 1:You guys, if you're listening while you're driving, when you get where you're going, I want you to pause, take a moment, hit that five-star button and leave a review on the podcast. It really helps other listeners try to find the podcast, and I know you're listening and you're a lot like me. You're the kind of listener who listens to the podcast. You think, wow, that was really great, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:You come back next week, you listen again, but you never leave a review. And I get it because I am the exact same way when I listen to a podcast, I'm in the middle of doing 20 million other things, and so my feelings are absolutely not hurt. But I see the numbers, I see how many of you are listening every single week and I'm so glad that you're here. But I want more people to be able to find this podcast too. So if you could do me a favor, when you get where you're going, when you finish doing those dishes or you finally get the kids wrangled into bed, go ahead and help me out by leaving a quick review, if you don't mind. All right, love you guys. I'm gonna see you right back here next week.