Yesterday, Etsy rolled out a new default search option...Relevancy. As opposed to recency where your items were found first in search based on when they were listed or relisted, relevancy focuses more on how close your title and tags are to what is actually being searched for.
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I for one love this change. I always used relevancy as my search option before and found what I was looking for more easily. I'm glad to see it as the default search now!
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So what does this change mean for Etsy sellers? It means rethinking how you title and tag your items. My best piece of advice...Forget The Cutesy Titles.
In an article on the
Etsy Blog, it states "As titles are the most direct way for sellers to explain what they have to offer, we have given them more weight in our search results...Additionally, we look at words at the beginning of your title first."
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Use this listing as an example:
Family Scrapbook Photo Album Chipboard Mini Album in Purple and BrownI put the most important words at the beginning of the title and put other words toward the end. When someone searches for a "family scrapbook" or "family photo album" I'll be toward the top of search.
If I would have used Pretty Purple and Brown Mini Album - Family Theme, my item won't be found near as quickly for the same search terms because my most important words are at the end of the title. I see so many sellers "naming" their pieces and this will now hurt them in relevancy search. Keep your names, but put them at the very end of your title.
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When it comes to your tags, think like a buyer! Exact search terms will now have more weight than search terms with only a few matching terms.
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Take this listing for example:
Custom Personalized Wine Bottle Stopper Engraved Optic CrystalIf someone searches for "Wine Bottle Stopper" this listing will come up toward the top in search. If I just had Wine Stopper in my title or tags, it wouldn't be found as quickly.
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One good way to see if your tags are working is to check your Shop Stats on Etsy. From there you can tweak your tags to match what people are searching for in your shop.
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Changes can be confusing, but I hope this post helped clear up a few of the big points of relevancy search :) Did you find this helpful...leave me a comment and let me know :)
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