Etsy Search Ads : Pay to Get Your Items To the Top
21. Sep, 2011 
24 Comments
With the recent changes to the Etsy search, some sellers have seen a drop in traffic to their shops. Etsy has just announced what their surprise is… Etsy Search Ads. Sellers will be able to pay for ad spaces in very targeted searches based on keywords. Sellers will be able to budget their ad campaign on a weekly basis.
Search Ads on Etsy: An Introduction from Etsy on Vimeo.
Find out more about how you can use Etsy Search Ads to get your items in front of buyers HERE.
What do you think about this new method of getting your items to the top of the search?
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I am not sure how well it will work, however, I signed up to try it for a week. It would be worth it not to renew as often. We shall see!
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I also signed up for a week and plan to keep an eye on my shop stats. I’m very curious…
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So, if we are tagging keywords, and relevant search terms does this mean we can be “bumped out” by those who may have the same words but are paying? I am curious to see how much this helps or hurts.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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It looks like the return of the showcase to me. But Showcase ads only applied to the top category. The addition of keyword matches and the limit on the number of impressions make this more of a targeted promotion.
I’m signed up too.
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The video made me so crazy; kept stopping and starting, grrr. Anyway, I signed-up today, but my ads won’t start until the 27th for some reason. Oh well, fingers crossed this actually works; worth a try at least!
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I am also curious to see whether this means that paid keyword results ‘bump out’ non paid ones.
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Yup, one week trial for me too.. Just imagine how much money Eysy will make on this one. It looked like Google adwords when i set it up? Hhhmmmmm?
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My usual plan is to let everyone else work out the kinks before I throw my money in. I’ve never jumped on “the cutting edge” which is one of my faults…..not a huge risk taker……more like the turtle in the race. But in reality, my shop items are mostly priced under $10, I never renewed over and over and I don’t see a lot of wiggle room to work this into my costs without raising my prices to pay for it.
I’m still thinking during the rush.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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am concerned (like others) that this means that paid keyword results ‘bump out’ non paid ones. This will defeat the purpose of trying to regularly relist items to get them to the top for a while. I won’t pay more money to Etsy – they already take enough.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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I think our money would be better spent to take out ads on another venue like Facebook. This keywords is not only a rip off, it is completely unfair to those who have spend an enormous amount of time tweeking their listings to work with the new search. Relevancy is good! It is how the internet works. This is going to wind up being the typical Etsygreed on what is probably an untested, unreliable program…like so many of the “changes” which have been foised upon us.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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I have some questions. 5.00 for 5000 impressions. How is it determined which keywords will be used for the impressions? If I only drop 5.00 in and the chart says that “50s dress” is one of the most expensive keywords will that one never be used as my budget is too low? What times will the impressions be shown – is that random or based on your budget or based on your keywords or ? So I could spend that 5.00 and get my impressions from the least searched catagory of keywords at the least searched time slots. How will I find out when they are being shown and which catagories are being chosen?
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I really don’t like the whole idea…. Aquí hay gato encerrado…
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Ribasus, I have got to ask how you have come to that conclusion?
These paid listings will simply be replacing the four large ‘Recently Listed’ items at the top of the search results. They will not affect the search results below.
Right now you are paying $.20 to list an item and get it to appear in that spot. It will stay there for as long as it takes for others to do the same and knock it off…sometimes a matter of moments. Who knows if someone is even out there searching for that item at the time yours is up there?
With these new search ads, your item has the potential to be seen so many more times for your money. You’re only charged if your item appears at the top of someone’s search results. If it does appear, you’re paying less than a penny for that exposure.
Terri, you can see the cost of keywords here:
http://www.etsy.com/search-ads/keywords
I seriously cannot wait to give it a try. I run Adwords for my day job and know how much potential these types of ads can drum up
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Whoops, nm Terri. Misread your question
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Yes, my question isn’t about cost. It is about how Etsy will determine which keywords to use based on the budget I have determined. I did see the cost chart and realized immediately that most of my keywords are too expensive to get impressions so I am wondering how that gets handled.
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What happens if one doesn’t pay? Are they totally knock down & out? People who sell all kinds of items will be facing a challenge.
Here we go again–spend a lot of time learning instead of getting more items listed for sell.
Interesting this is starting back to back with last month’s new updates. What else is coming?
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Please please read this BEFORE you sign up for this. VERY important information on how many think this is doomed.
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7714/ideas/discuss/9016264/page/1/
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I have been sitting here for almost two hours now writing and my post got way too long.
I’m going to write and send it in by mail…LOL
I share all of the above concerns.
I share all your concerns good and bad, I feel there is a solution but I can’t seem to express myself clearly enough tonight to put it on paper.
However having said that much, I would like to add:
I feel there will be more issues with server load-balancing, and I am interested to see what the holidays bring in the way of performance.
( Google Analytics notifies me when a page cannot be loaded, a simple “refresh” from the person browsing and the data will load, but at the exact millisecond the “Instance” they tried to access the page, it couldn’t be loaded due to stress on the system. )
I’m getting a notice every day and sometimes as many as 3 per day on weekends.
But I do think it’s important to keep in mind, what Etsy did, was to implement “industry standard” search algorithms, and “industry standard” ppi/ppc ad space purchase.
My big questions is Why?
Naturally it is because the customers can’t find the vendors they are looking for, and the vendors are seeing drops in sales which exceed the market trends.
Everyone is working harder on both sides, etsy’s people to bring a solutions and the vendors promoting their products.
But at a “Homemade” site, to receive back over a million returns on a simple search well perhaps has grown well beyond it’s initial conception. A solution is all anyone is seeking.
I have allot more to say on this subject, allot. but later
Stay Safe, Be happy
~elaine.
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Endorsing Pam’s link:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7714/ideas/discuss/9016264/page/1/
READ it and weep, especially you NightsRequiem and anyone else who blindly follows whatever Etsy rolls out thinking that it will actually work.
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‘Amen Sista’ (and hubby too)
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Well, after thinking it thru I realized that it is a difficult thing to be a thinking person who sells on a site like Etsy or E-bay. The masses will blindly follow the carrot every time and for myself that is a tough thing to watch. I am the tortoise. I will plod along until the end putting much thought into every step. I am not likely to hop on any band wagon blindly and I am definately not hopping on this one!
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I decided to give it a trial run, Sure with I had some different keywords, though.
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Personally I am all for free enterprise, that is why I do what I do, but enough already! I feel like I am being nickle and dimed to death. Everyone is asking for more and more mony to provide the same service. It has become very discouraging. It’s no longer a level playing field. Who ever has the most money wins!
OK… I vented. I feel better now.
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As a BUYER I find these ads frustrating. They almost never show what I actually type into the search engine. For example, if I look for “Green Hat” the ads will show me hats, or green things that are not necessarily hats. They do not put two and two together. I find it annoying an simply stop looking at them.
I think coming up with such highly irrelevant ads will only deter buyers from the site and the shops that have the ads, rather than what they actually intended to do…
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