Last week Etsy's new CTO, Chad Dickerson wrote an honest account of some of the technical challenges Etsy.com is currently facing, specifically in reference to the search function. In that article, Chad mentioned some new hardware and "other tweaks" to improve things. Many of you may be curious about what we're working on, how it's helping and how it will impact your ability to shop and sell on Etsy. So let's get right into the nitty gritty ...

New Hardware

Without getting into too many technical details, last week we added some new hardware with the goal of improving speed. We're happy to say so far it's helped, and some of our slowest queries more than doubled in speed. This is a great improvement, but still below our internal goals — which means there is more work ahead. The Engineers are continuing to monitor search speeds and page load times.

Simple Searches Redirect to Categories

Many shoppers use simple one-word searches, such as earrings or purse. Since there are several thousands of items that will match such a simple query, the current system gets bogged-down in an attempt to return all the possible results. To help alleviate that demand, we've begun automatically redirecting several one-word searches to the corresponding category or subcategory pages. 

[ ABOVE: Screen shot of the Art category page. ]

As you may have noticed, we've already done this for terms like jewelry and art, and we will be adding more redirects as necessary. From a category page, shoppers can easily narrow the results by clicking subcategory links or searching within the category.

Limited Number of Search Terms (or "My nots are not working!")

Just as one-word searches can cause problems, too many terms in a search can be taxing on our current search structure. Therefore, we've limited the maximum number of terms available in a single search to seven. The current search system will return results based only on the first seven terms in an inquiry and simply ignore the rest.

[ ABOVE: Screen shot of the search results page for women dress -green -doll. ]

Unfortunately, "not" is counted as a term, so if you try to exclude several terms from a search, you are likely going to find that some of your "nots" weren't effective. The good news is that we've enabled the use of the minus sign (-) to work exactly like "not" in a search. The minus sign (-) does not count against the seven-word limit. For example, these searches should now produce identical results: women dress not green not doll and women dress -green -doll. We'll be updating our Search Tips sidebar and Search Help Guide with this info.

Batch Loading in Search and Categories

When you list an item on Etsy, there's a note that says it may take up to 24 hours for your item to appear in category and search pages. New, renewed and relisted items are posted in your shop immediately, but they are not added to search results and categories in real-time. Instead, Etsy adds items at regular intervals in batches to the category and search pages. This is a function of the mechanics of the master-slave database system Chad explained last week. Once loaded into the master database, items are replicated to "slave" databases. It takes some time for the data to be replicated; the technical term for this is "slave lag." This system is generally good for overall site performance (i.e., speed) and stability, but not so great for the instant gratification of sellers who want to see their items immediately appear at the top of their chosen categories.

Category pages and search results pages currently default to display the most recently listed items first. When there are many items being simultaneously listed, relisted and renewed it creates a traffic jam in some of Etsy's more populated categories. There could be dozens of items in a batch, however, each category and search result page on Etsy shows 21 items. This means some items could make their first appearance in a category on page two, or even farther back. Listing, relisting and renewing will place your item toward the front of a category, but not necessarily on page one and not instantaneously.

What Does This Mean For Sellers? (or "How will shoppers find my items?")

It's critical that sellers tag their items correctly. This will ensure that your items appear in the correct categories and subcategories. It will also make it easier for shoppers to find your items when they use specific multi-word searches. If you have items that fit equally well in more than one category, try placing some items in each category. For example, a potter could list one handmade ceramic bowl in the ceramics and pottery category and another one in housewares to have greater cross-category visibility. The articles on tagging in the Seller Handbook will help you determine the best way to tag your items so shoppers can find them.

So, is renewing for exposure worth the $0.20 if you don't land on page one each time? Ultimately, that's up to each seller to decide. While your item may not appear on page one for jewelry, it may be on page one of specific search for blue flower earrings or steampunk cufflinks or a specific subcategory page (like necklace within the jewelry category). Also, items still appear in other browsing features that function independently of the batch loading system, such as Time Machine 2, Recently Listed on the home page and Shop Local.

There are many ways to promote your Etsy shop on the site (Promotions Forum, Virtual Labs, Showcase) and through off-Etsy methods (blogs, advertising, etc). The best way to get customers into your shop is to target your own marketing. There's a wealth of information on advertising and marketing linked in the Seller Handbook. As an alternative to renewing to hit the top of a category, sellers may want to consider purchasing a Category Showcase spot. This is a one-day paid advertising spot displayed on the top of each page of a main category. To learn more about Showcase, check out 13.5 Questions about the Showcase and Showcase Deconstructed.

Looking Ahead

Chad and the Engineering Team are working on longer-term solutions to our current search issues. We don't want to disrupt site performance during the holiday shopping season, so in the meantime, the above measures are aimed at the goal of ensuring people can find and purchase the many incredible items available on Etsy.

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