Search SUCKS

[#1]

I type in search box---Handmade Sterling Silver Poison Rings & the first page of ---Recent--- has 54 regular rings, earrings & bracelets. I post every day in the morning ,afternoon & evening & my first visible post in ---Recent--- shows up on page 9.

I've been posting for a year like this & my items in ---Recent-- were always in pages 1 thru 20. Now all of a sudden I'm in no mans land. If this is AI---count me out. Why are all the items mixed up---regular rings should be in regular rings, poison rings with poison rings, bracelets with bracelets & earrings with earrings etc.

I've been on this site for a year & have a whopping 41 sales---hardly worth the time & effort.

It's 2025 Etsy & surely you can do better than this.

[cindylouwho2]

@925SilverSecrets "I don' see 1 of my listings in the first 10 pages." As others have mentioned, search is personalized and contextualized, so we all see different things.

You could also be seeing a test right now, which is specific to users, not the shops; that would explain why other people have no problem finding you. "there are all of a sudden more regular rings than poison rings mixed into search" hints to that being the cause. Try another device to see if it gets different results. 

If you are searching your own stuff frequently, you are likely being frequency capped https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/search-advertisement-recommendation/899478564529 so stop doing that. 

"I would always list in the morning, afternoon & evening" Do you mean you are renewing some listings each day? That is a big waste of money, as it doesn't effect ranking except for "recent", which buyers don't use much. Years ago it would help the "most relevant" search, but no longer does. You are just flushing cash doing that. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@925SilverSecrets: "... because when I search ..." As has been pointed out by others, your search results are not indicative of the search results others will have using the exact same search term.

[925SilverSecrets]

@cindylouwho2

Since I opened my shop a little over 1 year ago EVERYONE that I asked young & old told me they searched---Recent---first & that's why I spend $40. per month to keep current there. As I've already stated that has worked GREAT for me until recently having items on every page 1 thru 20 & now nothing.

[cindylouwho2]

@925SilverSecrets LOL almost no one on Etsy searches by recent, because any experienced shopper here knows that items have to be renewed every 4 months, so you don't see truly recent items. Last I heard it was used by 1-2% of Etsy shoppers.

The overwhelming majority of Etsy searchers use the default of "most relevant", which does not care about constant renewing at all. Etsy strongly advises sellers not to waste their money this way. 

"As I've already stated that has worked GREAT for me until recently" - actually, you said "I've been on this site for a year & have a whopping 41 sales---hardly worth the time & effort" so it clearly wasn't all that "great". I know that 41 sales in a year would not be worth my time, but we all have different standards, of course. 

I strongly suggest learning how Etsy actually works, as you could easily have sold a lot more by now. 

[DougsVintageStore]

As stated here about this search engine, you cant call it a search engine anymore. Its more like a window shopping engine now. Its a bunch of stuff that the code thinks you will want to see displayed.

And ebay still uses the old type of search engine placement results for a more refined result.

[925SilverSecrets]

@cindylouwho

"OUCH"

[FallenAngelBrass]

Ouch, but true.  

Isn't is best to know the truth of how Etsy actually works rather than guess at it or collect random information from off-Etsy?  That method is spotty, at best. I know that my own shop would be struggling mightily without my daily check-in with this forum, full of active, experienced and successful sellers.  The collective knowledge here is gold - and literally money in the bank. 

[CoquetteBath]

all in all, Etsy is going to do what works for the majority of folks, per the metrics that they pull...

I work for a VLC (very large company, LOL) and we have metrics on our metrics (I swear...)

Almost every meeting we go over our trends, and projected early/projected late, conversion, etc...

ALL publicly traded companies have some sort of this, if this is not in your world, it seems alien, but it is how it is.

Now..the bigger question is what to do? Well, you cannot change what Etsy is doing. Etsy will make a change when they see/believe that doing so will make them more money. Otherwise? Nope. As long as the profit metrics are solid...no reason to change course. May not work for you, or a few hundred/thousand/more others, but that's not their concern. They are not invested in the individual but in the aggregate.

So, again, what to do about that? Well, ensure that you aren't leaving anything to chance. Constantly work on photos, descriptions, etc. Vary titles. Try to always think of new ways to do X or Y.

I went to your shop, OP, and I immediately wanted to leave. I like what you are selling (I used to sell that type of ring, also bought from Bali, when I had my retail store...) but...

You should ask for a critique.

[georgiacrafter]

Etsy has become a mess. My sales have stopped completely. No views either. It’s as if I don’t exist anymore. I’m about done with Etsy.

[TickleYourWitch]

Oh boy. You really need a critique. Put your flame proof undies on and ask for one. It will surely help a lot, if you can listen without defensiveness. You will get some good advice. (Though the delivery can sometimes be tough.)

Number one, stop worrying about search and the algorithm and focus on what you CAN control. 

[TastefulArtisan]

I haven't read all the replies but can we circle around to that poison ring?

What is that and where does one legally get it.

Asking for a friend.

[QuirkyAntiquesStore]

@925SilverSecrets Did you try looking in "incognito" mode? If you open a new tab and click the three vertical dots upper right-"open a new window in incognito mode" should be the third down. This is cookie free browsing so you'll get a better idea of what other people that don't have a tailored search algorithm like yours will see.

[BagmakerSupply]

@QuirkyAntiquesStore: Using incognito / private mode does NOT hide your identity from a website, just from other users of that device. While Etsy cannot track your activities across multiple visits using cookies in incognito mode they can still use other tools like browser fingerprinting to infer that the same device / browser / user is visiting.

[cindylouwho2]

While @BagmakerSupply is correct that Etsy could do all of that, they don't seem to be doing it yet in regards to searches, so the suggestion from @QuirkyAntiquesStore is useful at the moment, especially for anyone who doesn't have easy access to a clean device to do a bit of searching on. I get completely different results in my main account compared to incognito in the same browser. 

Etsy did say they are getting better at figuring out when visitors come back, so I expect this tool to be gone eventually, though
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