What the?

[Former_Member]

I've been reading a lot of threads about the search problems a lot of shops have been having and now I'm ready to join the ranks of the puzzled/angry/upset. I listed a new wedding invitation set last night and just out of curiousity I checked the search to see where it was. Under recently added relevancy, using the words "wedding invitation set" (my exact title), I searched and found my listing on page 2. Pretty good? Not really when mine was the only title on the first two pages that actually had the search phrase as the title word for word.

What's up with that? Did I take the time to redo all of my titles for nothing? I think I did!

[PaperFlora]

I feel your pain!!
Weddings is a hit and miss area. You never know what will make it and what won't.
Example -
my listing- bridesmaids clutch, wedding party gift...found on page 3
their listing - toffee satin clutch with flower ...found on page 1
There's a lot more that goes into it than just titles (i.e. tags, how many sales your shop has, quantity...) but they don't tell you that.
I never make a "new" listing anymore. I always "copy" or "renew" and then just edit the contant.

[Former_Member]

Ditto on what Natalie said regarding the renew when you set up another listing. If other listings have more - views, favorites and are in more treasuries - they are ranked higher in relevancy, hence they will be on page 1 and yours on page 3.

[Former_Member]

It' not fair to rank by how many sales! What if you're just starting out? They're the ones who should receive more exposure (promotion). I think it's another example of Etsy choosing money over helping vendors. I'm angry!

[WhisperingOak]

This time last year I was very high up in the relevancy pages. This year my views are way down.

[Former_Member]

I never really paid attention to that before. I just did a search on an item that I listed less than an hour ago by the exact title and it popped up on page 4. That is some crap.

[Former_Member]

But if I switch the search criteria to Most Recent, my item is on page one.

[DesignsbyCher]

Honestly, with as many shops selling the same type of products here, landing on any of the first few pages of a search is pretty darn good!

There are a number of things that factor in to being relevant... titles and tags, keyword phrases, recency are only a few... the others are as Natalie and Pandi mentioned... plus probly a few secrets that we're not privy to ;)

[MorganRalstonArt]

Try this one.

I just renewed 4 paintings under, ART --> PAINTING --> ACRYLIC and ran a catagory search on the most recent.

Not only were they not on the 1st page... but they were nowhere to be found in the pages...

Not cool... not cool at all.

[Former_Member]

Has this ever been brought specifically to Etsy Admin? I don't mind doing it if it wouldn't be beating a dead horse. ( I hate that phrase, but it came to mind)

[shadowjewels]

It's been beaten to death already. Sorry.
Morgan, did you wait a few minutes for them to show up before you searched?

[shadowjewels]

Morgan, i just searched "sunrise" and narrowed it down to art > paintings, and i see you on page one, searching by relevancy.
One thing i did notice in your shop, is that a lot of your titles start with the exact same phrase. Try mixing it up some, maybe that is interfering with your relevancy.

[DesignsbyCher]

Rhonda has a good point, Morgan... plus google doesn't like duplicates, so that may affect incoming traffic from there ;)

and yepp, that horse has been beat to death on these forums since the recent changes in our search... don't think they haven't read it all, but I guess it's up to us to adapt... I just wish they'd give us a hint on how to do it.

[Former_Member]

I'm just curious how this works. I don't usually search to see where I come up, but after the changes in the search menu, I tried it out. I've had a bag on the 1st to 3rd page of the search "Messenger Bag" for quite a while now, and it's not a new or renewed listing. I'm happy, of course, but why is this happening now, if not before? It is one of my more popular items, but probably not nearly as popular as some of the other messenger bags out there. I looked at some of the other bags on the 1st page and many of them aren't new listings or don't have huge amounts of views.

Any insight?

[Former_Member]

Is your title in your tags too? I've heard that helps and I've been doing it.

[Former_Member]

This issue was recently brought up in Bugs as far as the Category search, more in terms of the number of the same shops that are getting the first several pages of real estate. Some of the shops had a lot of sales, but then a number could be found near the top of the search that had very little tagging and poor SEO.

People have been confounded by how this is happening, especially in the general search that isn't supposed to be using recency at all.

In some regard, they seem to be working on it, because when I checked today, I didn't see it flooded as it was in the past with the same shops.