A different take on the Browse Categories

[heartsabustin]

Everyone has been expressing huge amounts of concern about the Browse Categories, and I know there are things that need to be fixed. Geekery disappeared and the Dolls & Miniatures got lumped in with the kids' stuff where it doesn't need to be. People's views have gone up and down (they always do with a change like this - I've seen it happen every time Etsy changes something). There are a million threads about why it's bad, why it's wrong, and why Etsy should change it back.

Etsy isn't going to change it back.

So, you know what I do? I sit back and I watch. I tweak. I play with a few tags and titles on a few items. I wait to see what happens when the algorithms start to kick in. You know what I've found? Browse only slightly affected my views for a couple of days. Dip down, and then back up. Why?

I'm still being found in Search. It's still my biggest traffic draw by far. People go to the Browse sections, but I think the buyers are still using the Search function, overwhelmingly so. Over the last seven days, I've had over 120 hits from search. I've had 16 from Browse.

So don't panic - watch the browse sections, tag a few things accordingly. But your main focus should still be on SEO and getting found in search. Browse is not the end all and be all of selling on Etsy.

Keep calm and carry on! :P

[Former_Member]

Erin I fully agree with you. All you wrote happened to me only I did not have a single browse view yet :-) I just wait and see. Search views are slowly coming back to the avarage number.

[heartsabustin]

Really, that's all we can do. I'm tagged and titled for relevancy, and I get search hits and search engine hits far more than I do from categories or anything else.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the positive take on this! I agree, I'm still being found in Search a lot more than I am in Browse. I get probably 10 times more traffic from Search than Browse.

Like you said, just keep tweaking and everything will be ok.

[ColorMyWorldCrochet]

Good advice! I have had crazy up and down views with browse myself and I found that some days I am on page 1 and some days I am on page 40. I am still getting consistent sales and none have come from browse. People are finding me through search and my outside promoting. I personally think a majority of the browse views are coming from other sellers. I don't really think a lot of customers are using browse.

[Former_Member]

Exactlly. I changed few tags so that I don't miss the opportunity but my world doesn't fall with having no views from Browse. And what I really long for is not views but sales. I had one after a long time just today and it was from Teams not Browse.

[Former_Member]

Trying to keep calm and adapt... psychology teaches that there are four phases when facing a change in life, and this Browse feature is definitely a change for our lives!

I think I'm at the "acceptance" phase, unless my efforts are in vain, then I might fall back into "shock" ---hahaha :)

[BeachFleaMarket]

Thanks for putting this in perspective. My odd ball items don't show up in searches very well so I focus on daily activity to keep my items at the top.

[heartsabustin]

hahaha, Jaime, you are so right. I've been through enough Etsy changes in the last four years that I've learned just to go straight to acceptance. It's much easier that way. ROFLOL

[CCNdesigns]

Great advice. It becomes easy to fall into a pit of "woe is me". I've never had very much traffic from categories and tend to be found more in search.

I'm working right now on taking a look at all my tags, section by section, to make sure I have the right ones in place. Some of the tags I'm using I'm not sure why I ever thought they were a good idea. I'm also working on my item listings to see which ones need to be updated.

My views are down, as are my sales, the last week or two, but for me, sales always seem to come in waves :)

[Babiease]

Amen!

[Former_Member]

Good advice! I need to sit down and tweak some elements this weekend! Search is still good for my shop, but browse certainly would be a nice addition too.

[heartsabustin]

Giving a bump for the weekend crowd - everyone needs to see this. :P

[AllieBlankets]

I agree with you to an extent. I'm just like you, most of my stuff gets found in search. My tags are at the point where in my field I'm usually on the first few pages. I was never seen in categories anyway.

I was really worried about browse because my views TANKED when they implanted browse. My sales have been non existent. And it has not recovered. Granted, I have not had time to tweak anything, but my views had been the same every day for months... Browse was the only reason that happened.

Another thing about browse us the fact that I cannot figure out how items are picked. The items on the first page have terrible tags... They wouldn't get seen in search at all. So how are they found for browse when none of my items are there? It is very frustrating.

I know browse isn't going away. The concept itself makes perfect sense from a buyers perspective. But as a seller it should have been implemented a much better way.

I'm just going to take this down time to catch up on back orders and improve my shop. Hopefully I can still have a busy holiday season.

[heartsabustin]

Mine did, too, Alisa, and that's pretty normal for when they make a change like this. The algorithms usually take some time to take hold - I'm in jewelry, and the stuff I'm seeing in there is making my teeth fall out of my head. Bad tagging, reseller stuff, it's enough to make a girl crazy. I've just tweaked some items, I've kept adding new items, and I keep improving the pictures on the items I've been needing to reshoot.

I'm not saying Browse won't figure into our overall sales - but for right now, I wouldn't depend on it. Your sales will come back - I had two, back to back, this week. I'm not here to tell y'all that you're worrying over nothing. I'm just telling you to give it some time and keep working at it. Even without the changes Etsy makes, you would still need to tweak your shop. :D

[CharleneSevier]

I rarely got views from categories so I guess I felt I didn't have much to lose with browse. I am finding that my views from browse are slowly climbing up. There are genuine issues for many sellers with browse. I think it would help to move "other ways to shop" up on the page more. But for my shop, I think it will help. I also like that the categories shown in browse are changing which will give different people the chance to be seen.

[heartsabustin]

And I know there are issues - there are some HUGE issues, and I completely acknowledge that. I just can't waste brain cells worrying about Browse. I've got three shops, two kids, one hubby, one dog, and one house. We have a school project to finish this weekend, and my children have a mound of laundry to put away today. O_o :D:D

[ArtistiKat]

good advice.
;)

[GabriellasTreasures]

Hi - I am vintage, and did not think it would affect me so much. Whoa - was I wrong!!

I didn't get tone of views from categories, mostly searches. but now with the browse, I can't even find my items like before. Buried in searches too, unlike before.

So, I have decided to not make myself crazy looking. Just tweak my Shop - I went from at least one sale a day to zero sales in past 10 days or so. Coincidence - I think not.

It is extremely disappointing and frustrating, but just trying to ride the storm and hope things get better - with continual hard work :)

[AllieBlankets]

I agree with you Erin, there isn't many good reasons to worry about browse. It is out of our control.....so worrying won't help a bit. :( I'm hoping sales get better like you said. I've had one sale this week, four total this month so far...but they are all small cheap items, none of my main item that I sell. Last month I got so many afghan sales I would get worried when another came in since they are made to order. But I didn't want them to stop completely! I haven't had time to tweak my tags due to my full time job and trying to catch up with the orders that have already happened. Hopefully they will fix the algorithm and everything will work correctly soon, but for now I'm not going to waste my energy or waste moments or emotions over it. :)

[Former_Member]

What Alisa said: Another thing about browse us the fact that I cannot figure out how items are picked. The items on the first page have terrible tags... They wouldn't get seen in search at all. So how are they found for browse when none of my items are there? It is very frustrating.

Does anybody know how browse items are picked? Sometimes they look hand-picked to me....almost as if Etsy was trying too look like Pinterest.

[heartsabustin]

The very first pages of the Browse Cat are handpicked - and they are switching those up. They 're different now than they were last week. But the ones in the actual category are by tags, titles, and relevancy. Although, to be honest, some of the stuff I'm seeing is reseller junk in my cats. It's really very depressing.