UPDATE: There is a now a link to Advanced Search in the header at the top of every page on Etsy. Look for it next to the Search button.

After a busy period of testing and refining, we’re excited to announce some significant enhancements to  Etsy's Search—and the shopping experience on our site. These changes were outlined in our March 9 article on Search, and a number of you have had the opportunity to preview them in recent sessions in the Virtual Labs about Etsy's Search.

What’s changed?

Simplified search dropdown menu. The main search dropdown menu now offers the following options for searches: Handmade, Vintage, Supplies, All Items, Sellers. Previous options included “Handmade Items: tags, titles,” “Vintage Items: tags, titles,” “Supplies: tags, titles," “Handmade Items: tags, titles, descriptions” and "Materials." Modifiers like tags, titles and descriptions have been removed from the search dropdown menu, and the Materials option has been moved to our new Advanced Search page (more on that in a minute). Etsy searches item tags and titles by default.

Redesigned search results pages. Search results pages for Handmade, Vintage, Supplies and category-specific searches have been redesigned. The Search Tools, Search Tips and Matching Sellers boxes have been moved from the right side of search results to the left side of the page, following a standard in use on many ecommerce websites and search engines. There is now a price filter on all item search results pages, including the pages you get when you click on links for Tags and Materials on item listing pages. Additional filters will eventually be incorporated into this area on the left.

When no results are found for a search, users will now be presented with suggestions for searching and see recently listed items on the site.

Advanced item search. We now have an Advanced Search page, accessible via the Search Tools box on every item search results page.  

The Advanced Search page offers a variety of ways to search for items on Etsy. You can search within Handmade, Vintage, Supplies or All Items. You can also search within the categories specific to Handmade, Vintage and Supplies. By default, searches within these areas will include sellers' item tags and titles, but you now also have the option to include item descriptions and item materials in your search as well. You can also limit your search by including only item tags, titles, descriptions or materials in your search, or any combination of these attributes. You may find that including item descriptions is useful for some searches but not for others, or you may find that limiting your search to item titles returns the best results for your needs.

Expect this Advanced Search page to grow as we roll out additional enhancements including improved options for searching by seller and by location, as well as more intuitive ways to refine your search.

What’s next?

We’re refining a forthcoming option to sort search results by Most Relevant. In its initial rollout, we anticipate that users will have to actively choose to reorder the default search results (search results will continue to be sorted by Most Recently Listed by default). This new Most Relevant option will allow users to sort search results by Most Relevant in addition to Most Recently Listed and by price.

A number of you had the opportunity to preview the Most Relevant option in recent search-focused sessions in the Virtual Labs. We have another search Virtual Lab coming up next Tuesday, April 21. Anyone who is interested in testing different searches will be given access to a special area on Etsy to try out new search features and discuss the future of Etsy Search with us. Join us Tuesday, April 21 at 3:00pm EDT (check when this is in your time zone) in the Virtual Labs to talk search.

As we noted in March, improving the item listing process is central to improving the quality of Etsy's Search, and we’re hard at work on improvements in this area. We will share more details about listing process improvements as they near completion.

There’s much more to come, so keep the detailed feedback coming and stay tuned. We will continue to communicate our progress in this area here on the Etsy Blog, in the Etsy Forums and to the Etsy News email list.

We've closed commenting on this article; please join in this Forum thread to discuss your questions or comments about these improvements to Etsy Search. Also, be sure to mark your calendar for our next special Virtual Lab session on Tuesday, April 21 at 3:00pm EDT.

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