I tested Etsy's Search and it was BAD!!!

[serpentsdelight]

I am an Etsy Seller and buyer. I started creating little oddity jars with mini animal skull replicas and real dead cicadas that I found in nature. I just love cicadas and other cool insects. I wanted to buy some cicada stickers to put on my crafting cart. I typed in Cicada Sticker in the search bar and hit enter. I was really frustrated by what came up. So many listings that were not what I was searching for. On the first page of my search there are 65 listings not including Etsy's picks at the very top. Out of the 65 listings 38 were actually for cicada stickers. 27 of those listings were not cicada stickers. Some were not even stickers at all. This will be long winded, but her is what came up in total and in order:

1.cicada sticker

2.praying mantis shirt

3. beetle sticker

4. cicada sticker

5. three cicada stickers in a row

6. one cicada plush 

7. three cicada stickers in a row

8. one cicada patch 

9. moth sticker

10. beetle sticker

11. real cicada insect

12. bug shirt

13. spider sticker

14. real cicada insect

15. three cicada stickers in a row

16. cicada exoskeleton

17. three cicada stickers in a row

18. wood carved cicada wall hanging 

19. real cicada insect

20. moth sticker

21. cicada sticker 

22. cicada patch

23. spider sticker

24. cicada sticker 

25. real cicada insect

26. three cicada stickers

27. cicada necklace

28. lantern sticker 

29. cicada sticker

30. framed real cicada 

21. two cicada stickers

22.cicada exoskeleton

23. four cicada stickers

24. praying mantis sticker

25. four cicada stickers

26. tarantula sticker

27. cicada exoskeleton

28. seven cicada stickers

29. random bug stamps 

30. random bug sticker

31. cicada patch 

I really think this is ridiculous. I was very annoyed as a shopper, so how do our potential customers feel? Ans we wonder why we are not making good sales. People can't find our items with this crappy search. 

[NancyQstudio]

Sellers have been sharing their frustrations with Etsy's search for a long time here on the forums.  It is a problem for sellers and shoppers.  But it is not a problem for Etsy.  Etsy has publicly shared they are proud of their search system.  They've stated they use several search systems together to help with the shopping experience.  So for whatever reason it seems to be working for Etsy.   

[serpentsdelight]

Thanks for your input Nancy. Yeah, I really don't get it. I wish that Etsy would listen to us and work with us on these issues. I feel like it falls on deaf ears. 

[SeasideRoseCreations]

This is intended behavior and they told us it would take awhile for AI to learn.  It's been awhile.

Three years, if memory serves (maybe longer).

[TagTeams]

@NancyQstudio

You are so right, "Etsy has publicly shared they are proud of their search system."

Perhaps I'm just too cynical but it seems some of their pride comes from falsehoods in Trend Results.  Example:
If I’m understanding their verbiage correctly, the Trend Reports are based on searches rather than purchases.  Well, obviously that's inaccurate because several sellers search for items in order to “research" their item's history but have no intention of buying those items.

Nonetheless, search results are simply exhausting & it doesn’t look to be improved anytime soon.

[SeasideRoseCreations]

Search is smarter than you (general).

It knows what you want, before you do.  It thinks if someone else bought a praying mantis item at the same time as a cicada item, YOU will be influenced to make a similar purchase.

Throw in all the testing and ways they jumble our items in search (mixing and matching, thinking for us, AI "learning") and search sucks.  Plain and simple.

[FancyTogs]

Were you logged out and on a private / incognito browser window?

Searches are personalised, they are affected by user search history on Etsy and on other websites.

For testing you need to eliminate personal history bias by using a private / incognito browser window (so no cookies) and not log in (so no user history on Etsy's servers).

The search results pages are now being changed live as you look at listings, you can watch listings you look at change position in your search results. Therefore each test search needs to be done in a fresh private / incognito browser window to eliminate history bias.

Lawrence (Clare's other half)

[serpentsdelight]

I was searching on my desk top computer.

[FancyTogs]

@serpentsdelight 

"I was searching on my desk top computer."

That is irrelevant.

If you were logged in to Etsy your identity would be matched to your search and viewing history saved on Etsy's servers.

If you were logged out of Etsy and using a normal browser window then that browser's search and viewing history would be identified by browser cookies saved on your computer.

In either case Etsy would be modifying your search results based on your previous searches and listing viewings.

Lawrence

[BagmakerSupply]

@FancyTogs: "... so no user history on Etsy's servers ..." Keep in mind that even in private / incognito mode your browser is still sending your IP address, your computer's operating system, and version, your browser information, etc., so Etsy CAN at least partially identify you. Also if you enable certain addons / extensions to work in incognito mode, you may possibly be tracked through those. 

[FancyTogs]

@BagmakerSupply 

I know, but you can do what you can to avoid bias when doing test searches.

Every time you connect to a website the browser identifies your system with the User Agent information.

The IP address of your device is not going to be visible when you are sat behind a NAT router. The IP address is a poor way to define a user when many internet service providers have dynamic internet IP addresses.

There are also legal limitations on data collection, with data anonymisation requirements.

Lawrence

[OneEyeCatStudio]

@BagmakerSupply  I can verify that there is a big difference in what I'm shown incognito and what I'm shown when signed in to Etsy.

I use incognito frequently to search just because I'm shopping for something new and I don't want the search pages filled with irrelevant things related to what I looked at yesterday, at the expense of something that I might actually want to buy.

[IvyFoxIllustrates]

Yeah I can’t even find my pet portrait listings through search and they don’t show up on Google at all

[FancyTogs]

@IvyFoxIllustrates 

That is a different problem.

If you want assistance then ask for a shop critique by starting a new discussion in the shop critique section of the forum.

Lawrence

[SugarTaffySoap]

@serpentsdelight  What you are seeing is different than what I or anyone else sees.  Also if you type in cicada sticker and then type in cicada stickers you'll see different listings.

Your cicada terrariums are cool. I would add more words in your titles and tags such as:  nature enthusiasts, entomology aficionados, insect collectors, gardeners, biology enthusiasts, nature lovers and anyone interested in unique and handcrafted decor

[serpentsdelight]

Thank you so much for your reply and compliment.  I appreciate your tips on the titles and tags, I will work on adjusting those soon. 

[BriarMoonBeads]

Search works for Etsy - that's all Etsy cares about. They don't care about us, that's the first thing a seller has to remember! (sad but true)

I searched 'cicada sticker' both in my regular, signed-in account in this window, and in a private browser, not logged in. Both browsers had my location set to USA. The search results were pretty clean; nowhere near as varied as yours. This is likely down to Personalization - Etsy's AI takes into consideration everything we've ever clicked on and looked at as a shopper and arranges different listings in ways that it thinks optimizes the chances there are to make a sale. Even if that sale is not for the cicada sticker we set out to find. 

Search is set up to browse and discover, because there's so much unusual stuff here. If you see a cicada stuffed toy when you were looking for a sticker, it's because the AI has said to itself 'hey this shopper loves cicadas, maybe they'll like this toy'. It's trying to get that toy listing more visits, so it can lead to sales. If you click on it, the AI learns that you're open to stuffies, and the next time you search it might show you more stuffies. And if you buy it, more so. And the seller of that toy gets a little boost, and can be shown again to cicada lovers... 

So if you sold cicada stickers you might be a bit annoyed by the search, but if you sold stuffed cicadas, you'd see it as helpful. Sooner or later someone who often searches with keywords like 'pin up' 'retro' 'betty page' 'sweater girl' is going to see your bullet bra listings. They might search 'betty page', or 'sweater girl print'. You have those keywords anyway but the fact they regularly engage with listings that share those keywords means the AI is likely to see you as a good fit for them. 

The search knows we are human and relies on our very human habit of being distracted. Just because a shopper comes here for a cicada sticker, doesn't meant they're 1000% disinterested in everything else right now. Shoppers are rarely 100% focused on the item they searched for and have eyes for nothing else until they find it. if they do, they'll usually go back to looking for it after they got distracted by the plushie. If they're the kind of person who gets fed-up and leaves, Etsy's okay with that. That shopper wasn't willing to stick around and click a few things, and a click-willing shopper is the shopper Etsy wants. They might lose a sale but since that kind of shopper is rare, they also might not. 

Also if it makes you feel better, because everyone sees a different search, someone might see a much better search than you got. Sounds like I did at least, signed in or not. The next person to search 'cicada sticker' might even see your own cicada listings. 

It's best not to spend any time worrying about it, just see the 'good side' in the way the AI shows our listings to people who didn't expressly ask for them. There's so much stuff here that would never get seen if Search didn't run the way it did. As someone who sells non-ordinary things, I'm glad of that. 

[JMOldeVintage]

I search for "non-ordinary things", niche collectibles. I "expressly ask for" these items when using the search bar.
These are the items I might spend my hard earned money on.

That search insists on showing me irrelevant things (that now I often can't filter out) has me heading for the door.

Yes, maybe I'm a minority, I'm a focused shopper. But if Etsy would show me what I want, give Search a pat on the back when it only shows me 80 relevant items, I'd be happy. And to Etsy's surprise I might turn into a frequent buyer.

Between all the "related" and "similar" items plastered on a listing's page Etsy is already doing quite a bit to encourage buyers to keep browsing for other things Etsy thinks they should like.
But imo a buyer's search term should be the number one priority. 

[OneEyeCatStudio]

I agree. Search has been pretty useless for a few years now. 

And Etsy's sales are down.

And they are letting employees go.

Etsy does not seem to understand that "if they cannot find it they cannot buy it".

[howtobooksandmore]

Out of 65 items If 27 items had nothing to do with what you were searching for, that means 38 items were what you searched for.  And in an Etsy AI search, that's pretty good.  But I still think search sucks.

[bohemians]

Inquiring minds would like to know how often the search results force buyers to resort to Google and how often that results in OSA revenue?

[JMOldeVintage]

And dare we ask - If Etsy had fixed search to show relevant items first & foremost, could they have saved time & money by not deploying Gift Mode? Did they come up with Gift Mode because their search results caused potential buyers to get frustrated, which in turn had them leaving? But Etsy saw this as "buyer disappointment"? 

[MouseGarden]

If you're a collector it sucks.  Because you put in the kind of thing you collect, and it gives you everything else.  One day I wasted a lot of time trying to find the secret combination of keywords and filters to get what I wanted.  Most people won't stick around for that.

Then Etsy takes away the ways you refine searches.  Boolean searches, hiding categories. 

Or they mess with your search so a previous search follows you round into the next searches, after you've already lost interest in the first search.

Ads are particularly bad for not having any relevance.  

[JDTotesnDolls]

I use the text box.

I typed in cicada sticker.  I got 93% cicada stickers.  The odd things were mostly ads since there probably is not enough cicader sticker ad users to fill.  I did not get your results at all.

I find Etsy search to be okay.  I seldom have issues with it.  I only use the textbox.  Never categories or browse,  I try to get my first search to be the best terms I can think of.  I seldom have issues with it.  One thing I have noticed for searches I use many sellers don't include some needed information like mm or inches in title.

I would love if Etsy would go back to allowing us to use the minus sign as that is one strategy I miss having but I doubt Etsy will reimplement. 

[JMOldeVintage]

I typed in "cicada sticker", search shows 1,000+ results.

Page one results - 64 items, 23 were not cicada stickers. 

Page two results - 64 items, 42 were not cicada stickers.

I saw t-shirts, jewelry, figurines, general garden flags of birds, to name a few.

So my results were 50/50. Though I did find some creative mingling of these insects & a coffee company, lol.