Search Ads... I think I missed something somewhere.

[WizardAtWork]

Okay, I have only included the items in my Halloween shop in my search ads. If I understand correctly, the point of having items listed in the search ads is to have those items pushed to the top of the results page when someone searches for a key word you have paid for. Right?

So this makes no sense to me...

This item:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80191457/halloween-bath-bomb-make-a-fun-witchs

Is in my Halloween shop, has the words "bath bomb" in the title and in the keywords.


This item:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80079205/take-a-chill-pill-bath-bombsfizzies

Is *not* in my Halloween shop, but has "bath bomb" in the title and keywords.


And yet today if I go and run a search on the simple term "bath bomb", the pink "chill pills" are the fourth item on the first page to show up in my results. Another bath bomb that I listed today shows up on the third page - also not in my Halloween shop.

The item I'm theoretically paying to have promoted isn't on the first *ten* pages. And it's bath bombs, so at that point I quit looking, because I could be here all year. But I thought the point was to move items that we include to the top of the search results... so why are my *nonincluded* items coming up first?


What it is it exactly I'm paying for?

[WizardAtWork]

Can anyone explain this?

[IslandPicnic]

The top row, which I believe is just four items, is the only part where the Search Ads products will show, and it's just randomly chosen, I'm assuming, from the paid for ads. If you paid for 5,000 views for a week, your ad will be shown 5,000 times within this next week, but it won't be there every time you search.

Does that make any sense?

[Former_Member]

Nope! And I'm not sure anyone from Etsy can either. I think it's just glitches in the first day of it being up and running. Let's hope that's all it is!

[WizardAtWork]

OH! It's only that very top "showcase" row? Okay. That seems like a lot less return-on-investment, but at least it makes sense.

I had thought it was paid items on top of the results, even if that means the first three pages are paid results.

I'd actually prefer it that way, it seems like there'd be more/better exposure for our money.

[IslandPicnic]

I think a lot of people were upset with the idea of the Search Ads because they thought exactly what you did, and that if they didn't pay for the ads, their items would be buried pages and pages behind those of us who did. I think there's been a lot of confusion about the whole thing. I signed up, but I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to continue because of the keywords - some of my most important keywords are not even options, which stinks.

I hope it does work out for us, though! :)

[WizardAtWork]

I only tossed $3 at it, because basically I wanted to see how it worked. I can see how it's a bit better than buying the $7 showcases that seemed to sell out before most people could get a crack at them, but I can also see now that they aren't going to be OMG!Essential to getting my stuff seen.

Like you, I'm annoyed that we can't chose our key words. I really wanted to have "Samhain" as one of my Halloween keywords, because it's a term I see coming up in my stats a lot and someone looking for things for Samhain is a different kind of customer (my kind) than many people looking for "Halloween" who want cutesy ghosts-with-gym-shoes-peeking-out-of-the-sheet kinds of things.

[Former_Member]

Think of how many people have signed up for search ads. Only 4 of those people will have their item show up each time. You are banking on the fact that yours will show up at just the right time for the 1 person that actually wants to buy it. It is kind of a random shot in the dark.

[Former_Member]

What is ads?

[WizardAtWork]

@crazyelephant.... yeah, I get that now. I thought it was just a general scheme of arranging results - paid items on top, everyone else further back.

So far I've spent about $.40 for the two days and gotten a whole two views. I'm extremely underwhelmed. I'll let my $3 burn off, but I doubt I'll be renewing unless something drastic changes.

[Former_Member]

@wizardatwork, I discovered that you can add and delete the tags that your ads are associated with. For example, I removed 'messenger bags' and clicked 'add more tags' and the tool produced 15 more tags from my listings.

I think that if 'samhain' is one of your item's tags already, you should be able to rotate your search ad tags until you find it.

Good luck, and let us know if that worked.
:-)
Bits

[PrairiePrimitives]

I'm not terribly impressed with Search Ads yet either. I've had 1,449 impressions but only 15 views and 1 new favorite. No sales, no convos, etc.

I have found it interesting to watch the "By Item" list in the Seller Ads Stats. The first day, my bay leaf garlands were getting NO love at all, then that evening all of a sudden, they jumped to the top of the list (I'm advertising 4 specific items). And now, since yesterday afternoon, my stamped flag pillow has taken over first place. Who would have thought people would be interested in Americana at this time of year? (Well, I hope they are on Sunday cuz these are going to a show with me!)

I, too, am bummed that we can't choose our own key words. For example, with my bay leaf garlands, "leaf" is a possible key word, but not "bay leaves." Leaf is obviously too generic, so I didn't choose that as a key word.

Having said that, I did read something last night that might help! Look at this list: http://www.etsy.com/search-ads/keywords and find words that describe your product(s) being advertised. Add these words to your tags and then they SHOULD be keywords that you can use in your ads! I tried that to add the word "Americana" to my key words and it worked! My understanding is that the words on this list are the ONLY words which Etsy uses for keywords; whether that will change over time, I don't know.

[Former_Member]

I am also disappointed. Until now just 5 views came from ads.

[michemozaix]

Only the first 4 listings across the top of the page are 'search ads'. If your other items came up just below those or on the 1st and 2nd page, that means you've done a good job with your tagging 'cause those are based on 'relevancy'. Anytime you're not listed in the top 4 (search ads) but come up on the first 2 pages is a win for you because you didn't get charged for those impressions!