Learn About Teepublic Banned Keywords

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Learn About Teepublic Banned Keywords
Find out which keywords are banned on Print on Demand site Teepublic to streamline your uploading process esp. using FlyingUpload.

Introduction

Yesterday I installed a program called FlyingUpload on my computer. It allows you to automate uploading artworks to 15 different print on demand websites. Which is super awesome!

But I came across a snag in the upload process. I viewed my upload on Teepublic, and some of the keywords had glitched. The long list of tags I’d added on FlyingUpload was getting truncated randomly. Why was this? 

I investigated, and found out that Teepublic bans certain keywords. When the uploader reached one of those words, it caused an upload error.
In this blog post, I will list all the words I’ve found so far that are disallowed, so you know to avoid them. That’ll save you time in your own uploading of artworks/products.

What Types of Keywords Are Banned?

Generally, the banned keywords fit into one of three categories:

  1. Words that are very generic and don’t provide value to a search. E.g. ‘cool’
  2. Words that describe products, which is already applied by the website’s filters and therefore redundant. E.g. ‘t-shirt’
  3. Words just designed to get clicks, e.g. ‘best selling’

If you try and enter a banned keyword, you will get the following pup-up message:

Screenshot of Teepublic keyword box disallowing 'art' as a tag

In some cases, the word simply refuses to be input. In other cases, it will be auto-corrected to a non-banned keyword. For example, ‘baseball tee’ will autocorrect to ‘baseball’.

List of Banned Keywords

Generic or Style Keywords

  • illustration
  • graphic design
  • design
  • art
  • artwork
  • digital art
  • trending

Homewares Keywords

  • mug
  • laptop case
  • wall art
  • notebook

Apparel Keywords

  • t-shirt
  • crewneck
  • baseball tee
  • hoodie
  • kids hoodie
  • v-neck
  • tri-blend
  • tank top

Accessory Keywords

  • hat
  • mask
  • phone case
  • iPhone

List of Allowed Keywords

In the process of testing what keywords were banned, I found several that I expected to be disallowed, but were actually fine to use. I will list them below.

General keywords

  • baseball
  • classic
  • heavyweight
  • galaxy
  • case
  • cool**
  • funny**
  • best seller**
  • popular

Style and Medium Keywords

  • painting
  • graphic
  • mixed media
  • drawing
  • photography
  • image
  • medium
  • parody**
  • artistic**

Audience Keywords

  • kids

Apparel Keywords

  • long sleeve
  • onesie
  • ringer

Accessories Keywords

  • phone
  • pin
  • badge
  • bag
  • tote
  • tote bag

Homewares Keywords

  • bottle
  • sticker
  • magnet
  • laptop
  • pillow
  • throw pillow
  • tapestry
  • journal
  • spiral bound
  • hardcover

** Not recommended according to Teepublic’s Tagging 101 video

Conclusion

If you avoid these keywords with using FlyingUpload, as well as the tags mentioned in my other blog post about Redbubble’s banned tags, you’ll be able to got through your upload process with much more speed and ease.

Do you know any keywords I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments below.

Peace, love and sunshine, 

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