This is a growing document of what we know so far about TPT Search, TPT SEO, and TPT Keywords.

As we uncover things in the SEOTpreneur PRO, YouTube and Email communities, I’ll post the information here.

If you have questions or TPT SEO theories you’d like to explore or confirm, please leave a comment on any SEOTpreneur YouTube channel.

Things we know about TPT SEO

  • Having the TPT keyword in the product title is a bigger TPT SEO boost than having it in the product description.
  • There is currently no TPT Personalized search. All results are the same, regardless of whether you are logged in, use a VPN, or have a different IP address.
  • Changes in TPT SEO rank due to changes in the product title can be seen as quickly as 15 minutes.
  • Some changes can take over 48 hours to result in a TPT SEO rank. (For example
  • TPT uses AI search features as part of its search ranking algorithm

Nobody knows for sure (unless you work on TPT Search.)

  1. Each product on TPT is given a ranking score using a secret sauce formula (The TPT search algorithm)
  2. When you search on TPT, the results are sorted in descending order based on the ranking score. 
  3. The TPT search algorithm is constantly changing.
    1. They do A/B testing to try different variations of the formula. 
    2. This is why sometimes, it’s possible to see your product show up on two different pages for the same search term.
    3. The formula that performs better (probably determined by sales or bounce rate) then gets tested against another variation. 
    4. The goal is to create a search formula that provides teacher buyers with what they need (as opposed to irrelevant results.)
  4. The TPT SEO ranking score could be based on factors like: conversion rate, total earnings, product preview rate, price of resource, number of reviews, keywords in reviews, average review score.
  5. About search terms:
    1. A product with any word in the keyword search is eligible to show up in a search results page. If you search for TPT seller, resources that have TPT or Seller can show up.
    2. TPT likely includes related variants of the word
  6. Keyword in the title seems to be a very important ranking factor. 
  7. Keyword in the search snippet that appears in TPT search (i.e. the first few sentences of your TPT product description) might also be a contributing factor but not as much as the title.
  8. Some changes in the TPT SEO ranking formula seem to take about 15-30 minutes to appear. Other changes might happen right away.  
  9. The TPT SEO score for bundles seems to be influenced by products in the bundle.
  10. There is probably a decay factor applied to your TPT SEO ranking score. If you don’t update your product (or products in your store), the decay factor increases. It’s like multiplying your score by…
    1. x1 if you recently updated the resource (no decay)
    2. x0.75 if you updated the resource within the last month
    3. x0.5 if you updated the resource within the last 90 days
    4. x0.25 if you updated the resource within the last year. 
    5. These are not real multipliers. Nobody knows the real decay factor except for TPT engineers. (Plus, the settings can constantly change like levers on a machine.)
  11. Potential for earnings seems to be a more powerful ranking factor than actual earnings of a product.
    1. Potential for earnings = (Price of resource) x (probability of sale)
    2. The (probability of sale) factor is influenced by your store. (If other products on your store are selling, then the probability of sale increases for all of your TPT products
  12. How well your store does influences the TPT SEO ranking factor for all products in that store. In other words…
    1. if products are selling well, then all of your products might get a temporary boost in TPT SEO ranking factor. This is why sometimes we see an out of season product sell for no apparent reason.
  13. The TPT Search algorithm seems to reward store activity.
    1. If you publish a lot of resources, it seems all resources get a temporary TPT SEO ranking boost
  14. TPT has to (eventually) offer a personalized search experience.
    1. If search results aren’t producing what teachers are looking for, then teachers will leave.
      1. If a middle school teacher looks for English Language Arts resources and all they see are PreK and Kindergarten resources, they might bounce and search on Google.
    2. There’s a reason why Netflix and all streaming services provide suggestions with specific thumbnails. It’s to keep you on the platform watching.

TPT SEO Questions To Investigate

  • Does the TPT Search algorithm penalize your TPT product if you include an external link?
  • Is there an ideal time to post a resource on TPT to get maximum TPT SEO benefit?
  • Is there a TPT SEO penalty if you have more than 4 grade levels selected?

TPT SEO Experiment: How long does it take for rank positions to change on TPT?

A TPT Seller posted on YouTube that the TPT SEO rankings only change every few days now.

The rankings only change every few days now. There is no point checking the rankings every few hours, as the results only shuffle one or two times per week.

Source: @JEOGRAPHYSongs on YouTube comment July 10, 2024 on Episode 48

I know I’ve definitely made changes to my TPT Product and seen changes in the search result within 15 minutes. I’ve also made changes and not seen an impact for over 48 hours.

Fri Apr 12, 2024

Let’s see if we can learn more about how often the TPT search ranking index is shuffled…

How do you find out the popularity of a keyword on TPT?

If you want to find the popularity rank for a search term on TPT, then you need to use developer tools. The popularity rank is loaded by your browser when you search on TPT.

Here’s the popularity of the search phrase Back To School (as of Aug 7, 2024): 15,634.

Unfortunately, it’s too difficult and time consuming to teach individual TPT sellers how to use developer tools. I wish TPT would make the popularity numbers easy for all TPT sellers to see.

Until then, we need to use third-party keyword tools that aggregate and combine the popularity / search volume information for you.

SEOTpreneur PRO members have access to one I’m developing right now. (It’s the Google Sheet tool that you see in these YouTube videos. You can learn more about the $10 per month PRO membership here: https://seotpreneur.com/pro/

I’m so frustrated with TPT right now!

I see that you’re frustrated. I wonder if it’s time to take a break for a bit?

I find the TPT journey is as much a journey in our own personal development (self awareness, self management) as it is a financial journey (business awareness, business management.)

When you’re ready for considering a paradigm shift, can I suggest the following TPT mindset videos:

When you’re ready to figure out what to improve in your store, can I suggest using this free TPT data tool and fix the stuff in red: TPT Seller Tip 001