Understanding Your Search Ads Stats

[Former_Member]

Hi Team!
I wanted to make sure you saw this recent Seller Handbook post to help you interpret your Search Ads Stats.

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/understanding-your-search-ads-stats/

Remember, as with any advertising endeavor, you need enough data in order to start interpreting and making informed decisions. As Natalie says in this article, "It’s important to note that before you draw any conclusions about the success of your Search Ads, you should allow them to run for the full 7-day period. This will give you a good amount of data to start; several days is simply not enough time to tell whether your ads are working."

xo,
Danielle

[SleepingKnight]

I posted in the bugs forum that I saw my own ad when I was searching today. Is there something Etsy could do to exclude our ads being shown to us?

[DiBeauDesigns]

Selling on Etsy is like being back in school. There's so much to learn, my head hurts.
I guess I have a lot of reading (and digesting) to do, because my search ads have so far only generated one solitary view. I'm getting more views without the ads. But I came into this with low expectations and with the intention of letting the excitement die down before making any conclusions. I'm trying it out in my other shop and not this one.

[DiBeauDesigns]

Tangled, I thought everyone was deliberately looking for their own ads? I haven't even looked yet because there are so many people looking it must be skewing any results.

[Former_Member]

TangledMetal - Yes, all impressions are treated equally. If you perform a search using your keywords and your Ad is displayed, you will be charged. Remember, though, that you get 1,000 impressions per dollar on average for a keyword.

It's probably best to be watching your Search Ads Stats!

[LittleAcornToronto]

I feel as though I still have SO much catching up to do. My views have dropped DRAMATICALLY since "Relevancy" overtook "Most Recently Listed", which is why I signed up for Search Ads - hoping to bump up my views. about 36 hours in and I have gained 4 views through Search Ads...so IDK.

I am still working on my tags, have to understand SEO, am tweaking and re-shooting photographs, and listing a ton of new items in the coming weeks. Hopefully these things will help.

I also understand I am working in the most saturated market on Etsy.

I think what is fundamentally flawed here are the incorrect tags that sellers are using to describe their items, not the Search Ads tool....but as DanielleXO says only time will tell, not the first 36 hours :)

[TheBloomingThread]

Hi Danielle,
Is there a disadvantage to having as many keywords as you can?
I can click "add more keywords" until Im blue in the face and they just keep coming and coming. but would this spread my add out too thin instead of in a concentrated area?

or on the plus side, would I be spreaing my keywords over a larger market?
thanks!

[Former_Member]

@TheBloomingThread - I'm just guessing, but I would think it's better to be targeted with your keywords, otherwise you're wasting impressions on people who aren't actually interested.

You might want to check out google's keyword tool to see what people are actually searching for and see what fits best with your items. Search ads would be a great way to get more Etsy views with the more competitive terms, so that's where I would focus my efforts.

Here's the tool: https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWOR...

For example, if I want my silver hoop earrings to be seen, rather than wasting impressions on general words like "jewelry" or "casual" I would cut right to the chase and use the highly searched for (but highly competitive) term "silver hoop earrings". It's accurate, targeted, and should get me lots of views for the impressions.

[TheBloomingThread]

@Dainty Chain
thanks so much for chatting back..and I agree, thats going to defenetly get you closer to your target customer..im thinking this would be a great rule of thumb for purchasing a specific search add.

would you say itd be more effective?
to purchase multiple search adds for specific types of listings in your shop, versus slecting "promote all items in my shop" and lettting all your shops keywords be in the query?

[Former_Member]

I am still trying to digest all of this and than I will be able to process wether the campaign was succesfull or not.The only thing I can say now is that I have seen views dipping when I don't list new items.

[Former_Member]

@TheBloomingThread Definately! I wouldn't waste impressions on items that are already on the first page of search results for example. If you're getting good views for items, I would not buy ads for them.

I *would* buy adds for items that *aren't* getting views, or that are buried on the 30th page of search results for important keywords.

That's the idea behind using ads for highly competitive words. I know I won't get a first page search result for "Silver Hoop Earrings" because it's too competitive. But I can buy an ad for Silver Hoop Earrings to get those first page views.

That make sense? It makes sense to me, I'm just hoping I'm on the right page!

[Former_Member]

I let mine run for at least a week and was really disappointed. I can't remember the totals, but there were just a handful of views and no sales, yet I had hundreds and hundreds of impressions.

I decided to give it one more try, though, and only picked 3 items that I think are my better selling items. Lots of impressions today (389), 2 views and 0 sales. It's not very impressive, to say the least.

[Former_Member]

Dainty Chain! Thank you so much! Finally someone worded it so we can understand. You need to sell Etsy your wording. lol

"""""""""""""I *would* buy adds for items that *aren't* getting views, or that are buried on the 30th page of search results for important keywords.

That's the idea behind using ads for highly competitive words. I know I won't get a first page search result for "Silver Hoop Earrings" because it's too competitive. But I can buy an ad for Silver Hoop Earrings to get those first page views. """"""""""""""

[Former_Member]

Haha "That'll be $5 Etsy!" Just kidding ;)

[TheBloomingThread]

agreed!
Thanks for the great perspective Dainty Chain. Actually makes a lot of sense. Good idea to check out google keyword too ...Im going to peak at etsy's merchandising newsletter too and see what keywords are trending here.

Have you been having success with your search ads?

[Former_Member]

Here's the really funny part... I have only really used them for one item for one week as an experiment! I've gotten a good amount of views that I otherwise didn't get, and a few favorites so I think that's a good start. I'll have to tweak the tags I use next time.

I'm writing a book (almost done writing it actually) about free photo editing ...how to use the program GIMP to edit your photos... and it's eating up most of my time. I haven't had as much time as I'd like to devote to my shop,

But once the book is written I'll have a ton more time!