Searching?

[FairyTalesandDreamz]

When searching an item so something specific , why do I see items that are not relevant to the search? 

I've noticed this a lot lately the search seems to throw in what ever it wants that's not related to the search terms

[audreytherese]

Sometimes it's because shops use non-relevant tags in their listings to come up in more searches, but mostly it's just because Etsy has decided they want to show you what they think you want to see, not what you actually searched for. There have been many, many threads here about how awful the search really is. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@FairyTalesandDreamz: You need to give up on the concept of Etsy search providing the results that you expect. Due to "personalized searches" there are many many factors that affect listing placement and the relative weight of each factor probably changes constantly. Even exact word matches to your title no longer ensure that you will appear high in search. Etsy is proud of the fact that they provide search results which they think you will actually purchase regardless of what you actually searched for.

There is a very interesting post at https://community.etsy.com/t5/Marketing-Your-Business/Etsy-search-is-moving-away-from-relevancy/td-p... that you may want to take the time to read.

[JMOldeVintage]

@FairyTalesandDreamz  - Etsy's search does not take the words you typed in into context. So if for example you are looking for "stoneware serving tray blue" odds are Search will show you anything and everything "stoneware", listings where "serving" is used, tons of "trays" and just about anything "blue".

At times the results are sort-of relevant, you may see only other blue serving pieces or you might see complete dish sets. In other words, Etsy wants to show you things you didn't know you really wanted.
Then yes, some shops use irrelevant tags hoping to have their listings appear in wider variety of results.

I have also seen threads where shop owners state that tags they did not apply to a listing are showing up in searches. So there may be times when the tags displayed were actually added by Etsy?

Depending on your search term, a better array of filters may be available for use so that you can try & narrow down the results. Click on the All Filters link to see what is available.