Frustrated with Etsy Search Visibility suggestion on Dashboard

[SewlyButtons]

So... one of the latest adds to our shops is the "etsy search visibility" tab.... and I am SO weary of seeing it EVERY day with a number in a big red circle

- Right now it says I have 328 listings with title that could use a "refresh" (including a colon... lol). I may consider some of the suggestions in my copious free time (as I deal with whatever it is etsy thinks they're doing with item images... along with adding alt-txt to all of my images).

- I have one listing for buyers choice of any one of 9 items... but the etsy AI thinks it's a collage and wants me to change it. 

- Finally THIS!!   All of my listings are buttons... they're all in the same category on etsy.... BUTTONS.  The etsy AI wants me to pick a better category for three of the listing. So... I have 3 listings for buttons, that belong in the buttons category which is where they are... but etsy wants me to find a better category for them. Like what???    WHY these 3???   They're categorized just like ALL of the other 438 listings for buttons.  There is no other choice.

So OK... I know there's no solution, really, for any of these. But it would be nice if etsy would give me something to indicate I want to IGNORE the visibility issues being mentioned.   I just needed to rant and vent my frustrations a little....

**sigh**

[dayspringcollectible]

Etsy doesn't know the first thing about these things.  Ignore their suggestions and do what you know is best for your listings.

[ChillwolfArt]

Find a better Category for buttons, one which is better than the "Button" Category. Sometimes the A.I. really is Asinine Intelligence. And I know what you mean about that red dot showing over the Shop Manager. Sometimes I think it's a sale, LOL.
My Search Visibility issue is "Get your shipping price under $6.00, or roll it into the item price. Buyer's love Freee Shipping". So all of my listings have this one Visibility issue (I don't use Calculated Shipping. This is the first year I have used Etsy Labels, and my Fixed Shipping is actually down from last year). But it isn't under $6.00. So after a sale, when I put up another of an item, the Red Dot Pops up. And you think, surely there is not another sale that quickly. Nope, it's for the same Search Visibility Issue. Same goes for when I edit a listing.

So don't feel bad, you are not alone. But the buttons in a different Category other than "Buttons" is absurd.

[SewlyButtons]

@ChillwolfArt 
Asinine Intelligence... I like that!
It's definitely the theater of the absurd. 
Sad thing is... eBay just looks better and better with each one of these "improvements" that do nothing more than just eat up my time.
It's the "in my face" that's just so irritating. I tell myself to ignore it, but then etsy presents it in BLOOD RED...  
Aarrrggghhhh....

[PrairiePrimitives]

@SewlyButtons eBay's fees are higher than Etsy's, however they do have good customer service! There are also many eBay-specific FB groups where you can get advice. (eBay has forums but I've never had much luck getting questions answered there.)

The downside for me is that I get very few views, let alone sales, unless I offer the full suggested amount for their promoted listings ... which means I'm often paying about 25% in fees on what I sell there. 

[SugarTaffySoap]

@SewlyButtons   It could be the symbol  "~" that you're using in your titles. Try revising some of your titles without the symbol, and use a colon (:) as to what the item is (see new guidelines) following by the balance of your title (no commas or symbols) and see what happens.    Hope this helps. 

[SewlyButtons]

@SugarTaffySoap 

Possibly... but I have the tilde in every one of my titles, and there's some 100 that etsy is OK with. I think etsy just wants them shorter.  

Thing is, I'm ignoring ALL of their visibility "issues"... but etsy won't let me just check a box and basically say "OK, I've seen these things, thanks so much"... and then have the red circle go away!!   I can't correct the category that etsy wants me to fix... it's already correct. My "collage" is a choice listing. Funny thing there is that I have other choice listings that etsy didn't see as a collage... except for the one with all black horn picture buttons.

Thing is... I just want to be able to make etsy's red "notice" to go away until there's something new to report. It's just annoying and aggravating.

[PrairiePrimitives]

@SewlyButtons Yes, Etsy now wants titles that are less than 15 words. 

Try unchecking the box on the left side of the titles they want you to change. I did that last night and my number went down, although some of the same listings kept appearing as needing better titles so I don't think this was doing entirely what you'd like it to do, but maybe you can get the number down somewhat! 

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

It took me a second and then I "got" your shop name!

[SewlyButtons]

@JJewellerySuppliesUK 
LOL....  It's fun to play around with words sometimes.

When I was selling on RubyLane I was "Sew Many Buttons"...  but that was a while ago, and not nearly as "mind-bending" as Sewly  (OK... mind-bending is a stretch... but it is catchy!).  **grin**

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

@SewlyButtons I love playing with words too.  I have a button shop here on Etsy and elsewhere called Buttons Bonkers!  It's such a corny name it makes me laugh!!

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

PS.  I think "corny" might mean something different in the US.  

[SewlyButtons]

@JJewellerySuppliesUK 
Buttons Bonkers!!!  LOVE it!!!
Corny pretty much means silly or funny, right?  It is a corny name, true that... but corny enough that people will remember it... and that's a good thing!!

[PrettyObsolete]

I'm never going to use that tool. It's become more and more clear they don't train these things - they just throw it into the ring and it learns by playing games with our businesses. 

Won't be long now until the forums are full of new faces wondering if Etsy's new title tool messed up their listings bc their traffic went blip. Happy holidays! 

[SugarTaffySoap]

@SewlyButtons  You say ALL of your listings are "buttons".  You have the Bloodhound Terrior button under "Craft Supplies" so you're confusing the AI system. It's not recognizing it as a clothing related item I.e. sewing button - and it's not in your title as a button. 

You may want to re-work that listing (move to proper category and add "button" to the title and the beginning of the description. I can't see your tags) but if its not there add button related tags there too. You can always add in your description that the button is intended for sewing or crafting further down in the description.  Plus the "collage" listings should be corrected as well.  Hope this helps.

[SewlyButtons]

@SugarTaffySoap 

OK, forgive me for this... but now I'm just plain annoyed...

The Bloodhound button IS listed under buttons. Here's the etsy heirarchy for buttons:
Craft Supplies & Tools > Closures & Fasteners > Buttons
And BTW... buttons ARE craft supplies... like for sewing.
Also, the title for that listing is:
Dignity and Impudence ~ Bloodhound and Terrier ~ Antique Brass Picture Button of Two Dogs ~ just over 5/8" 17mm
How have I missed stating it's a button? And, yes, the word button is in the description AND in my tags

Regards the "collage" issue. If you do a search using the word "choice" in my shop, you'll see I have TWELVE listings for Choice... so why is etsy fussed about this one listing but not the others???
The one that etsy has an issue with is a "CHOICE of one" listing with 9 picture buttons listed to choose from. Here's the listing. So how I should correct the first image?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4339958118/choice-antique-pressed-horn-womens-head?

[PrettyObsolete]

@sewlybuttons

Is that one of the listings the AI doesn't like? I wonder if you tried swapping the two parts of the title? Since Etsy is on this '50 characters short title' thing now, it might help to have the item type in the first part instead of the dog stuff.

The full title is 89 characters, so in the app, your full title: 

Dignity and Impudence ~ Bloodhound and Terrier ~ Antique Brass Picture Button of Two Dogs ~ just over 5/8" 17mm

is showing as: 

"Dignity and Impudence ~ Bloodhound and Ter..."

Once you click into the listing itself, it's the same length - so anything after 'ter' gets cut off and only browser uses will see it. But an AI that's only 'reading' the visible portion wouldn't see button in there. Granted you have tags, categories etc, but what if Etsy's current title experiment is about keywords in visible areas? It would make sense, since title is for humans primarily. Etsy might be telling the AI 'ignore picture, tags, attributes, category and description - using the first 50 characters of the title, describe the item'. 

Anyway, a new title might be: 

"Antique Brass Button of Two Dogs: 17mm wide ~ Bloodhound and Terrier"

then put 'picture button' and 'dignitiy impudence' in the tags. This way, 'button' is seen in the visible portion, anyone shopping on the app will still see the 17mm measurement and the tags can pick up everything else. Personally I'd prefer 'picture' to be between 'brass' and 'button' but it takes up visible space and a collector already knows that term. Presumably the tags and description can cover that ground. 

Isn't this a massive headache? Etsy seems to delight in the mind games. I wish they'd just be honest about what they want (data for testing) instead of saying 'prefer' and 'recommend' and 'guidance'. UGH

[SewlyButtons]

@PrettyObsolete 

No, the dogs listing isn't one of the ones etsy has an issue with (but it might as well be....).
Etsy has taken issue with the category choice for:
1. A brass button with a lion picture
2. A mother daughter set of glass buttons
3. A pair of celluloid litho picture buttons

Go figure????

However, the dogs button and everything else aside...  your comment about the 50 characters and speculating that etsy might be truncating titles to the first 50 characters as part of their search algorithm is quite interesting. It would be just like etsy to run a test like that without communicating it to sellers. Definitely food for thought!

[CoolCyberCats]

Ignore it. The AI Etsy is using is mental. It suggests I change titles that effectively change my products. One that is a 3 pack of deer hair cat wand attachments becomes Rabbit Fur Cat Toys and I suspect because in the description I state one of the attachments has a rabbit fur tail (5% of the total attachment at best). Well, claiming they are "cat toys" is misleading, they are wand attachments meant for interactive play NOT solo play. THe AI title changes are awful and can be dangerous in my opinion. 

[GlassyFields]

I totally identify with your frustration.

When Etsy came up with their search visibility tool, over 200 of my listings were flagged.

I've addressed most of the issues - took me months - and my sales are up. So, although I'm tempted to say that the AI is stupid, it might know more than me when it comes to what works with search algorithms.

Many had a collage as the first photo - because I wanted buyers to know that there were variations in the listing. I've replaced those with a single item and a strip of tiny photos across a corner or a border of tiny photos. 

Some Etsy suggested a different category - mostly my vases which I had as art vases. I used Etsy's suggestions and have sold more vases.

Some Etsy said the photo was too dark - usually something light that I photographed on a dark background. Adding a white border resolved some of those. (And some I agree were photos that were just too dark).

[SugarTaffySoap]

@SewlyButtons  Just to simplify things, the first 2-3 words are to tell Etsy > What it is <   You start the title with > Choice ~ Antique Pressed Horn...

Back to the other Dignity listing. I did not see it under Buttons. I just see >  Craft Supplies & Tools <  I understand it can be for sewing or crafts but you have to think like AI.  LOL. I don't know why some listings are targeted and others are not. I hope this helps. Don't get mad at me I'm trying to help you.

[SewlyButtons]

@SugarTaffySoap 
I'm guessing you're looking at the breadcrumb that etsy shows when you click on a listing. The breadcrumb is incomplete. The listing is in: Craft Supplies & Tools > Closures & Fasteners > Buttons

If you do a search and drill down through the category filters to reach buttons, that's where you'll find it... under BUTTONS.

Also, please note. I am not asking for help. I understand how things work, and I also understand how button collectors will search for my items and which keywords are the most important.

My complaint is this:  I have SEEN etsy's suggestions. It's my choice whether to act on them or not. I just want to make the frickin' red "notice" DISAPPEAR one I've seen and acknowledged the "suggestions"!

[PWOriginals]

@SewlyButtons 

I get your frustration! It appears Etsy has unleashed its untrained bots especially on the craft supply category, and is applying weird stuff with an uneven hand. Some of us have had our handmade craft supplies changed by the bots to handpicked, making it look like we're resellers. It's not seen the same way by everyone - just randomly, and Etsy has told us that there is nothing they can do to fix it. Perhaps they fired all the coders and engineers and now just employ brainless bots.

They made us go through all our listings and provide more "core" details, and then they just arbitrarily go in and change those or randomly  grab a few of our listings and tell us we did it wrong.

I knew that the introduction of so many sub-categories was going to be a problem, as Etsy couldn't even handle the 3 original ones - handmade, supplies, vintage. I don't understand why they made things so complicated.

[SewlyButtons]

@PWOriginals 
I couldn't agree more. Lately it feels like every change etsy makes... every "improvement"... just increases the amount of time anything takes. I can list at least 5 items on eBay in the same amount of time it takes for 1 listing on etsy. NO tags, NO alt-text, description is always shown in it's entirety... and while the title is limited to 80 characters it's workable. Listings are simple and straightforward. Everything here just seems to be increasingly complicated, time-consuming and "click-worthy".

And today it's all making me very cranky...

[SugarTaffySoap]

@SewlyButtons  My apologies. I hope the red circle goes away before you lose your mind. lol