Etsy's Handmade Blog
Tech Update: Search Suggestions
Story by davidgiffin, FooBar42, KevinLawler, nicholascook, sean11, TechUpdates
Published on January 12, 2010 in Etsy News 		Photo by

TummyMountain

We're excited to announce the launch of a fun new Search feature called Search Suggestions. Now when you perform a search for an item, you will often see links for suggested searches below the search bar as you type.

The suggested searches you'll see are recent related searches performed by other Etsy visitors, and the suggestions are available for searches within Handmade, Vintage, Supplies, All Items and top-level Categories.

This feature is now live for a small percentage of Etsy traffic (so you may not see it yet), and we will be gradually rolling it out to everyone over time.

Search Suggestions are designed to help shoppers — especially new visitors — when they search, providing ideas and inspiration for effective searches that might interest them. We've found that many shoppers are unsure of which search terms to use when they arrive on Etsy and welcome a little help.

Tip: Sellers can get ideas for item tags from relevant Search Suggestions, as they represent actual recent searches from Etsy shoppers.

There's a truly amazing variety of unique items available here on Etsy, and Search Suggestions make it easy and fun to try some searches you might never have thought of before.

Give it a try when you see it and let us know what you think! Questions and comments welcome in this Forum thread.

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Tags autosuggest, categories, Etsy News, ETSY NEWS, handmade, improvements, search, searching, search suggestions, shopping, site features, Solr, supplies, TechUpdates, Tech Updates, usability testing, vintage
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180 comments     Login to add your own!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:40 p.m. lifeartdesigns

Nice. Love the related item picks all together there. :)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:41 p.m. KIMMSMITH

Great info! Fabby picks to match too!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:42 p.m. poppyswickedgarden

Awesome! Thank you for listening to our suggestions:)
I love the cute related items too;)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:43 p.m. sushipot

Can't wait to try it out! Thank you tech guys!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:45 p.m. CastAwayCreation

Sounds like a great new feature... glad to see these changes happen so quickly!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:45 p.m. JemmDeeCreations

It looks great! Love the letters too.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:47 p.m. jacarandadesigns

Thanks - going to go try it out!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:49 p.m. lonetagrace

hoorah for the tech guys, thank you for constantly finding ways to improve the site

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:52 p.m. vaeda

Great idea, I can't wait to try it!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:54 p.m. shabbyvintagemom

Very cool & helpful, looking forward to it :)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 1:56 p.m. Krystyna81

ah...I see! very interested in the suggestions for "original art" and "fine art"

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2 p.m. strawberryluna

Off to check it out, intriguing!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:01 p.m. shecological

This is fantastic! I am excited about the new changes!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:07 p.m. dragonhouseofyuen

thank you - it looks to be an invaluable piece of information regards seller tags!!
one that I have always fumbled with

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:07 p.m. JourneyDesigns

Excellent idea! And those related items...clever, clever!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:08 p.m. Agentplay

Great feature! Thanks for all the work you do to improve the site!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:11 p.m. missindie

Awesome! Thanks for working on this, guys! :]
[looove the related items, haha]

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:13 p.m. MyissaG

YAY! Love the realted items option :)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:14 p.m. stitchntyme

<~~~ Doesn't have it :( Well be sweet when it is live for everyone.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:16 p.m. birribe

I look forward to use this, thanks.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:23 p.m. CocoaBeans

I love this, this will be such a nice addition:)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:23 p.m. Emmamaha

Excellent! Everyone needs a refresh on search every once in a while.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:28 p.m. rakshniyavintage

that is awesome and will helps buyers a lot :)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:28 p.m. MagicMarkingsArt

what a help tool for tagging as well as for searching - also love the creative "searching" letters -

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. SewnNatural

fabulous. we're going to pay some serious attention to this for tagging - thank you!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:32 p.m. EJPcreations

Sooo awasome! Way to go Etsy!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:36 p.m. urbanknitfits

hooray!

How very google of you!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:37 p.m. heatherfuture

That's flippin' awesome!

Thank you so much for your hard work!!! Looking forward to all the new improvements in the works.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:37 p.m. 2ndcoming

very cool! P.S. Love the related items...very clever indeed

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:40 p.m. SandBagsDesigns

This will be a great addition to the site. Such a clever "SEARCHING" collection; love it!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:42 p.m. squeakydingo

terrific feature for shoppers and sellers! awesome! thanks!!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:43 p.m. IcingOnTheCupcake

Excellent, GREAT new feature!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:45 p.m. PipocaHandmade

Thanks for the update. This looks like it will be very helpful.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:45 p.m. recycledwares

this will be helpful for sellers too....now i can put in a word and see what people were recently searching - YAY!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:46 p.m. thriftage

what will you come up with next? the site is already so clean and easy to navigate! great work Tech Dept.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:47 p.m. humblebea

Very cool~ Thank you so much! (-:

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:51 p.m. rutik

Looks like a tag system expanded, the question is whether when we write, silver earrings, someone, look for plastic earrings, whether the system will know to find the plastic tag

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:51 p.m. WishesAndSpells

Great idea! Lets check it out!!!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 2:59 p.m. MyMoms

Thank you for keeping us up to date. Thank's for the info!
Great article, very inspiring!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:06 p.m. Sigmosaics

fabulous new feature indeed! looking forward to seeing this in action :)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:10 p.m. OneClayBead

Cool! And I'm loving the clever graphics here, too.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:35 p.m. WearableByDesign

Thank-you!!! And I love the "Searching" photos. Too cute!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:35 p.m. paperairplanedesign

great idea! love the related items ;)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:37 p.m. pamwares

Great - next can we have view all items in shop button! Just an idea!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:40 p.m. thefrayedribbon

Fabulous idea. One more addition to Etsy to make it even more wonderful! Thank you! :)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:42 p.m. uknowuneedanother

That looks like a REALLY nice feature! it's going to help on all sorts of levels!

:) I have a question, are the little people on the tree branch a painted rendition of the Etsy Toon Peeps?

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:48 p.m. twiddletoes

Can't wait until it's implemented for everyone! I can see it being a great resource for tagging.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 3:51 p.m. twolefthands

This is wonderful! Thank you!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:04 p.m. mythunderstood

Now if you could only perfect
the 'Loose Association' search tool:
I have a terrible time with tagging! : )

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:05 p.m. byemma

Sweet...thanks (*^__^*)！

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:18 p.m. corelladesign

Awesome. Thanks. Great Items.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:22 p.m. petitwovenplay

Woohoo! Let's test it out.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:33 p.m. novella

Yippee! Thank you. Good news.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:39 p.m. MeadowbelleMarket

I can't wait to try this. Your added search functions will be relevant to all!! Congrats on yet another great idea, etsy team.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:41 p.m. blueberryshoes

OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS EPIC! you guys are smarties, REALLY.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:44 p.m. TheSucculentGarden

a much needed improvement... thanks for the hard work!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 4:58 p.m. soap

looking forward to seeing it live site-wide :)

Jan. 12, 2010 at 5:12 p.m. momochas

This is a great idea!!. Very helpful for shoppers to buy and for sellers to tag our items. Thanks so much!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 5:28 p.m. steinschmuckdesign

That is fantastic,
Thanks very much!!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 5:32 p.m. ME2Designs

Wonderful improvement for all of us - thanks so much!!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 6:08 p.m. trudiedavies

good ideas for words for tags...thanks Etsy!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 6:38 p.m. mazedasastoat

You tech guys are awesome - thanks so much for continually making Etsy even more fabulous for us!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 6:56 p.m. BethanyOgle

Great improvement! Thanks for all the hard work to make Etsy even more awesome.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 7:07 p.m. BlackStar

off to see if I have it yet.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 7:25 p.m. FreshLemonBlossoms

I love this feature on google and I think it's an awesome idea for searching here!! Can't wait to try it!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 7:34 p.m. oldworldprimitives

I can't wait to see this new feature in action!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 7:38 p.m. QuiltFinger

Exciting changes. Can't wait to see what the rest of the new year has to bring.

Jan. 12, 2010 at 7:45 p.m. thelittlefox

What an amazing feature!Thank you Etsy!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 7:59 p.m. taylorhouse

I love these features on other sites so thank you so much for including it here on etsy! Anything making it easier to find things is always a plus for me : )

Jan. 12, 2010 at 7:59 p.m. corrnucopia

Thanks tech guys! Looking forward to using this and all the new goodies that are being discussed for site improvement this year!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 8:09 p.m. Waterrose

Thanks for another way to help shoppers!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 8:55 p.m. dalexis

I'm a dork for teck improvements,great search option

Jan. 12, 2010 at 9:13 p.m. emmasgems

Excited to see this! Thank You!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 9:16 p.m. ManoCelebrates

Thanks a lot,I'm going to try it!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 9:31 p.m. beccaperhay

this will be very helpful!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 9:42 p.m. girltuesdayjewelry

Great! Very clever spelling out SEARCHING. I might need to buy a letter R now...

Jan. 12, 2010 at 9:49 p.m. SlimHands

Very helpful! Thank you so much!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 10:34 p.m. rctees

Love seeing all the helpful improvements that are being made. Proud to be a part of it all!!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 10:51 p.m. CreationsbyCat

Great idea! Hopefully it will help buyers search more effectively!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 10:59 p.m. DrawntoLetters

Less guessing more finds. Thanks Etsy tech people!

Jan. 12, 2010 at 11 p.m. CuriousSparrow

Wonderful!!! Thanks!

♥ Visit me at www.curioussparrow.etsy for dainty jewelry ♥

Jan. 12, 2010 at 11:27 p.m. battysbath

Great update! I'm off to try it out :)

Jan. 13, 2010 at 12:16 a.m. LastChantsStudio

Oh you sweetie pies....Etsy is so much fun now as you guys keep opening the curtain to let us see more & more of the behind the scenes action.

Jan. 13, 2010 at 3:37 a.m. anemonecomms

great new feature! thanks tech team :)

Jan. 13, 2010 at 3:50 a.m. bertiescloset

love tech updates! shopping on etsy in 2010 is going to be so good. thank you!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 5:03 a.m. jolinne

That is great! Thanks!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 5:35 a.m. craftaria

This will help me for sure! Great idea.

Jan. 13, 2010 at 8:53 a.m. ReneeSuich

Thanks~for all your hard work~
this is wonderful

Jan. 13, 2010 at 8:59 a.m. ShebboDesign

waw! perfetto! It would be perfect, I like this feature using google search also..It is very useful! Thanks!!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 9:48 a.m. tasifashion

Thank you Etsy team! I hope it will make the search easier for the customers!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 10:07 a.m. nowonder

A big improvment! Thank you!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 10:13 a.m. herbolution

Sounds like a similar to Google feature. How cool is that!
THank you so much for your great job and devoted time!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 10:27 a.m. debhillart

Nice, off to check it out.

Jan. 13, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. 3squares

I see it, and it's awesome. Thank you!! A big help for buyers and sellers.

Jan. 13, 2010 at 10:37 a.m. BusyBeadLady

I like it, it will help me think outside of my own box!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 10:44 a.m. TheStardustShop

Great addition! This will help with tagging, which will ultimately help increase traffic and sales.
Thanks so much!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 11:57 a.m. glamasaurus

Ohh this is a great new feature!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 1:21 p.m. Pantora

Hello, I will be donating 7% of all sales to help aid Haiti in its time of need. View my shop at www.pantora.etsy.com if you'd like to make an additonal donation please feel free to convo me

SINCERLY AND OH SO FASHIONABLY
ANDREA

Jan. 13, 2010 at 1:21 p.m. SensitivePerceptions

I agree, it will help alot to define a search & make it easier to identify a particular niche....:-) Good Going!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 2:18 p.m. SunnyDayVintage

I dig it! Love that change is happening all over Etsy.

Jan. 13, 2010 at 2:51 p.m. OpendoorHandmade

great job...Etsy tech is " always on the ball!" so fun to see it evolve!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 2:57 p.m. theenchantedcupboard

Love all these very helpful changes! Keep up the good work Etsy!!!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 2:57 p.m. whimsicals

This is definitely a handy and helpful feature - thanks.

Jan. 13, 2010 at 3:19 p.m. LavenderField

Thanks for continuously trying to improve Etsy overall!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 3:42 p.m. LANCERIKA

This is really AwEsOmE !
thanks Etsy

Jan. 13, 2010 at 4:26 p.m. pworiginals

I'll join in...thanks for this!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 5:32 p.m. sean11

Update: Search Suggestions is now fully rolled out -- go try it out!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 7:08 p.m. spongetta

Someone had way too much fun searching for letters!

Jan. 13, 2010 at 8:31 p.m. alectonyx

I suggest my store. lol No, for real I love the signs!

Jan. 14, 2010 at 9:14 a.m. CheriChic

Very cool. Love this idea. Lol alectonyx!!

Jan. 14, 2010 at 10:11 a.m. deba822

I came to read the article and got totally side tracked by the photo from TummyMountain.

Fabulous store!

Jan. 14, 2010 at 10:12 a.m. deba822

Also the feature is available to me and I've been using it. It helps quite a bit. Thanks for adding it.

Jan. 14, 2010 at 12:46 p.m. thedoggiehouse

Thanks Etsy People and Friends to put Etsy moore easy 4 us....

But i have to said I dont see too much promotion to the categorie of Pet...Etsy please put moore front items and emails and blogs about Dogs and Cats....Thank You

Sylvette

Jan. 14, 2010 at 3:41 p.m. TataniaRosa

Great idea. Thank you :)

Jan. 14, 2010 at 9:10 p.m. itsmolly

I try to do back-to-back Treasuries (yes I am addicted) and I'm going to love this new feature to help me out! Thank you Esty! :O) Hugs to all that worked on it! xo

Jan. 14, 2010 at 9:41 p.m. riveraurora

Excellent idea! I myself have trouble finding exactly what I'm looking for- especially when there are literally thousands of items that may interest me!!

Jan. 15, 2010 at 12:12 a.m. VintageFrocksOfFancy

I was kind of wondering where the 'pop-down' menu
originated. No need to wonder anymore! Thanks!

Jan. 15, 2010 at 11:18 a.m. chocolatecreative

I am off to try myself, well done!!

Jan. 20, 2010 at 6:43 p.m. VioletsNewVintage

I think this may help shoppers find items faster.

Jan. 21, 2010 at 9:44 a.m. ImJewelee

Ok so this post makes me feel a little better I am not so sure I like this relevancy thing but now maybe I will. Off to revamp so I can be relevant! YAY!

Jan. 21, 2010 at 9:46 a.m. ImJewelee

Hmmmm... going to check on my relevancy level.. ha!

Jan. 27, 2010 at 11:10 a.m. jackandjenn

I'm so distracted by TummyMountain's adorable artwork at the top.

The search selections was a great idea and is really helpful!

Jan. 30, 2010 at 9:18 a.m. neogranny

This is creating a whole new language for items- I love it. There are so many sellers, this just narrows it down to specifics.

Jan. 31, 2010 at 10:44 p.m. HighRidgeRockNbeads

This is a great help! I find that tagging can be exhausting at times! Did I tag correctly?? Should I go back and edit my tags??...(most of the time I do). It would be great if you could change a tag and insert the change where you want it to go in the line up. If there is an easier way and I am unaware...someone please let me know:):)

Feb. 9, 2010 at 10:29 p.m. livelovenest

LOVE this idea!!! - Great addition! Having so much fun with Etsy!!

March 8, 2010 at 5:53 p.m. TownCountryJewelry

Yikes! What happened to Advanced Search? It was great and now it seems to have disappeared. Is it permanently gone? You could easily search for specific criteria.....and find it! Can anyone tell me? Maybe I've been working too hard......thanks