Search Ads are not very relevant

[ThirdShift]

Hi all -

I was curious to see how the search ads are working, so I started searching for things that I am interested in. I am really surprised to see the ads that have been showing up on the results pages that I'm searching - the products in these ads have nothing to do with the item I'm searching for.

For example, I selected "Vintage" from the drop-down list, then typed "Metal Basket" into the search box. I see lots of metal baskets in the search list, but the 4 ads at the top are all either wicker baskets or cloth baskets - nothing metal. I then typed "Wire Basket" into this same category, and the ads are all for glass or cloth bowls or bags. Each time I do this search, different items appear in the ads, but so far, none of them have been relevant to what I am looking for.

I know these ads are showing up based on the keywords used, and since the sellers cannot add appropriate keywords, their ads are not always going to be relevant. So far for me and the test searches I've done, the ads have not shown me anything I've searched for, and I haven't clicked through on any of them. This is really unfortunate.

Is anyone else seeing this?

JD

[Former_Member]

That isn't the problem of Etsy, that is the problem of the individual seller not making best use of their search terms and/or choice of which products to advertise. Although a seller cannot add their search terms, they CAN change the items they choose to display associated with certain terms and they CAN remove certain terms that don't really apply to those items.

[LeaJoelleHandmade]

it seems to me relevancy is gone and it's back to who can spend the most money now on ads instead of renewing :(

[Former_Member]

Yes the results are very random for a lot of search ads... It's very unfortunate for the sellers that spent their hard earned money on the ads hoping to bring in business.

My thoughts before purchasing the ads were "if Etsy can't properly fix the search engine and mistaggers are still everywhere, will this still be a problem with the ads?" and unfortunately it seems the answer to my question is yes.

It's so upsetting, I was really looking for a great platform to be discovered on Etsy, and it seems that the ads are not it.

I am glad I chose to wait to see what the reaction was before I bought an ad, but now it looks like I probably will not buy one. Period. :( :(

[KatGurumi]

I just noticed as I was searching that after i searched for a few keywords, search ads werent even showing up at the top of the screen anymore. is this a bug?

[Former_Member]

anamorphicecho says

I just noticed as I was searching that after i searched for a few keywords, search ads werent even showing up at the top of the screen anymore. is this a bug?

-----------------------------------

I noticed this too, I was thinking maybe because no one bought the spots for those specific keywords yet??

[KatGurumi]

No, I was searching "ninja" which i have as a keyword. I also searched 'amigurumi' after a few other searches, and it turned up nothing. I think etsy must have a block on ads if people do too many searches, maybe as not to waste people's impressions?

[Former_Member]

Also, I have been hearing that if you put "quotes" around you key words in the searches you get pretty relevant results, but really... Do buyers know this??? I would like to think so, but probably not....

[Former_Member]

anamorphicecho says

No, I was searching "ninja" which i have as a keyword. I also searched 'amigurumi' after a few other searches, and it turned up nothing. I think etsy must have a block on ads if people do too many searches, maybe as not to waste people's impressions?

----------------------------------
oh wow! That's crazy..

[ThirdShift]

The quotes around search terms do make a huge difference - just like they do when searching with Google. But I agree with you, squid21r, that many people don't know to use the quote marks (in Etsy or in internet searching in general).

[ThirdShift]

<<anamorphicecho says:

No, I was searching "ninja" which i have as a keyword. I also searched 'amigurumi' after a few other searches, and it turned up nothing. I think etsy must have a block on ads if people do too many searches, maybe as not to waste people's impressions? >>

I just tried searching for your terms - and the first time I searched, no search ads showed up. I clicked the Search button again, and the ads did show up. It seems that every other time you click the Search button, the ads either show up or they don't. Odd.

[Former_Member]

Etsy picks the smallest key words, like "blue", and then someone can type in blue shoes and come up with my blue painting. The keywords that applicable to a one item search aren't as applicable to the advertising, especially when you pick 6 items or so to advertise. Etsy really needs to let us modify our keywords better for the ads to make the searches more relevant.

I feel the impressions are just wasted and I also noticed that my stats have gone down drastically over the past few days in Etsy's preparation for the ads.

[Former_Member]

I have used this advertising on Etsy at all, I'd like to have the option for my budget to be used for "clicks" rather than "impressions".

I've used Facebook adds that have this option, no luck there anyway. I need to advertise since I think my items just need to be seen more, so far I till haven't found a strategy that works.

[LeaJoelleHandmade]

impressions on etsy are absolutely worthless!!

[WhatCandySays]

Search Ads are not very relevant --->100% agreed

[Former_Member]

impressions on etsy are absolutely worthless!!

----------------------

I agree! Since some of those are the seller trying to see if it "works"

[Former_Member]

Hopefully the ads will improve. I've done a few searches this a.m. first I searched "brown leather purse" which is something I'm looking to buy and the ads showed me a blue jansport backpack, brown shoes, brown coat, pink purse. Not even one brown leather purse!
So I tried to search one of my own items "suede hippie headband" all those ads showed regular style headbands with flowers made for children. So those poor shops have paid for people searching flower headbands, and I've paid for people to see hippie headbands, but neither of us are showing in the correct search. I wonder what searches my items are showing in.
I thought I'd edited my search keywords well, got rid of all the generic terms and only kept the more specific ones, but only time will tell.

[EastEndLight]

so far i have not one view from search adds...

[LeaJoelleHandmade]

yea none of my important keywords are included so I don't understand how this is not just me losing more money.

[Former_Member]

So I went back to modify all my tags in the items advertised - to make them more relevant and specific. Turns out with that that Etsy gave me an even smaller collection of one to two small word tags and I don't get to use as many tags as before now that I've added all longer tags to my items.

This is so messed up. So type in blue underwear and come up with blue paintings. Thanks for nothing!

[Former_Member]

RenaissanceDays, I think Etsy was trying to copy google ads and I don't like it either. I signed up for one week trial and the same thing happened to me, not many releavance words allowed or tag words and the stats are showing zero all over the place..zero in search ads, zero in shop stats...this is terrible and we don't get to blame Etsy...LOL

[SplendidStarlings]

I'm just disappointed in general with how searches are going right now. my google results are shockingly low this month. I wish we didn't have to pay for something we used to get for free.

[FrazzledFinch]

Exactly. I searched for Halloween pendant (I have a ton of them in my shop) and never got one of mine.....quit looking after 20+ pages...

[Former_Member]

It has everything to do with Etsy and the search words that they provide. Why don't you try searching "bullet bra" in vintage. Since they did not give that as a search word and I happen to know it is heavily searched as it comes up as one of my top searched words/phrases. Funny what is at the top of the page. I am glad I didn't spend money on search ads. Just sayin...

[JNOriginals]

After reading this thread, I decided to do a test. I searched for "felted bowl blue," and the ads that popped up were for pottery in assorted colors. When I changed the word order, I got four more bowls, in both aluminum and pottery, but there were NO felted bowls. Then I tried searching for "ceramic bowl blue," and no ads came up. Next I searched for "pottery bowl blue," and I got 4 clay bowls, but none of them were blue. It appears that this product was rushed to market without appropriate beta testing...and I agree with everyone who says that sellers need to have the option to add keywords.