Can we please get something like an 'exact phrasing' search option?

[Toysandsuchforall]

Right now we get the following search options:

Most relevant

Price: low to high

Price: high to low

Top reviews

Newest

Can we please also get something like

Exact phrasing

or something simular?

This will sure improve search results (and thus sales).

Right now, some of the search results are utterly ridiculous. When I search for example for Clemens Briels, a Dutch artist - and there sure are items of his listed - search results will show me men's underpants and boxershorts and stuff like that because the system will recognize briels as briefs for some reason. In a way it is good the system takes into consideration people may and will make spelling mistakes but it should not generalize the audience like that. The L and F are far enough away from one another on a keyboard in order not to make that mistake.

In short, when I look for cat, I don't want to see a hat unless it's cat related somehow. I'm sure many of you can think of more examples.

Anyway, if I wouldn't know better, as a potential buyer, I'd just give up on Etsy completely after getting these briefs results unless ofcourse that was my main reason to check out on what Etsy has to offer.

[FallenAngelBrass]

Etsy search used to prioritize exact word matching, but the Etsy gods have changed their desires.  We must appease the Etsy gods or we perish. 

[CraftyCornishMaids]

Etsy used to do that,

they still do, but then they add in ranking, which includes anything else they think the buyer might buy

I an sure, etsy would revert, IF they though it would increase overall sales on etsy

[FloydavianDelights]

Totally agree.  Categories are goofy too. If you have a niche item there is no way to get it listed and make it stand out form anything else.

[DougsVintageStore]

For your Christmas wish to come true, the search engine code would have to work correctly.

It has not worked correctly for almost 2 years now.

Sigh.

[CuriosityCabinet]

Yes please! Search here is terrible. We used to be able to search exact phrases using quote symbols, or remove words from search using the minus symbol. We need an advanced search for when we are looking for something really specific, instead of the random things that etsy wants us to find. Don't know why we can't have both!

[Toysandsuchforall]

There can indeed ways around it like you mention, but we cannot expect that from the average random buyer who comes searching for the first time.

[ArtDollsbyJD]

Used to be able to use quotation marks.  Etsy removed that.  Used to be it would match exactly and show those first.  Hasn't in a long time

But then the trend away from such preciseness happens even on Google.  

It's just something have to live with and have to learn to deal with as a searcher. 

[LastCentury]

if only it could happen!

they could still insert a whole bunch of other irrelevant listings across the bottom using the "people who searched and got what they wanted also looked at these items" title blurb and I wouldn't even mind.

do flying pigs in dreams count?

[dayspringcollectible]

As mentioned multiple times above, Etsy used to do that by allowing searches in quotation marks.  They removed that, because they decided they could sell more items by showing a range of items.  That wouldn't be so bad if they would show the search first and the other items below, but it doesn't work that way.

If you sort your search High to Low or Low to High, it will cut over have of the junk off the search and tends to put the items you wanted more towards the beginning of search results.  Unfortunately, it sometimes cuts off items that were relevant to the search as well.

We've been complaining about Search for years.  Etsy will not change it, because they don't want to change it.  It is working the way they want it to.  Keep in mind that many people now use Google to search for Etsy items.  This gives Etsy more Off-Site ad income.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

offsite ads cost etsy more than they recoup from sellers,

they would much prefer onsite sales - which is why their search is the way it is

[dayspringcollectible · Accepted solution]

That is one way to look at, but there is another.

With off-site ads they only recover a part of their costs, but at least they recover something.

With a broken search, people get frustrated, give up trying to find anything on Etsy, and move on.  Then Etsy gets nothing.  I couldn't tell you the number of people I've heard say they never look for anything on Etsy anymore, between the lousy Search and all the Temu crap.

If they really wanted to gain maximum income, they would make sure search terms are the first thing that come up in Search.  They can still show all the other crap they want after that and turn Search into a Browse function instead, as they have done.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

You only think etsy search doesn't beget sales,

Etsy thinks it does, and as long as they look at the numbers, and see it works for them, they won't change it

[dayspringcollectible]

Yes, I know they think it does, because Etsy has tunnel vision.  I've seen some of their "research" before.  They go into it with preconceived ideas of what is going to work, and skew their research to support those ideas.

You're right, they think it works, so they aren't going to change it.

And companies who know how to put search terms at the top of results and the other things below (e.g. Ebay, though they are starting to wander from that as well), will continue to outsell them.

[BeaconwoodDettman]

Craigslist is the only site I can think of that still has that type of precision, but CL is old school, it's like a timewarp back to 1999. 

I know exactly what you are talking about with the strange results with some searches in Etsy, but the same happens to me on Amazon. If I go to Amazon and type "101010 box", what I'm looking for are 10x10x10 inch shipping boxes. The first result? A 10x10x4 white shipping box. The next one is a clear acrylic box, like the ones used for collecting money or to enter a contest - it is 10x10x10 inches, so I can see why it appears. The next result is a door you would mount on your front door for mail. And so on...as I scroll down, I start to see what I'm looking for, but there are also shipping boxes that are completely different sizes, not even close to 101010. 

I don't know why searches are like this today, it's like they always want to show you something, instead of saying "no results" and/or a blank screen. 

[Toysandsuchforall]

I wonder how my partner will feel when she finds out in the Etsy history I have been watching men's crotches... - really, honey, I was looking for art!

[Toysandsuchforall]

If the Etsy bot is only half as smart as we are, it will apply dayspringcollectible's solution

[FallenAngelBrass]

Etsy has 97 million active buyers right now.  I'm guessing that the search works for a lot of them/us.