Etsy’s Most Relevant Search is a living feature in active development, and it will evolve over time as we monitor its performance and make improvements to the listing process.

Etsy’s search and sort algorithm currently considers three main factors:

• Tags
• Titles
• Descriptions

Tags are the 14 keywords Etsy allows sellers to categorize and describe the item they are listing.  This is the most heavily weighted part of the algorithm.   Guidelines on effective Etsy tags  are here.

Descriptive and short titles are the next most important factor in the Etsy relevance algorithm.  The algorithm seems to relate lengthy titles with keyword spamming, thus penalizing longer titles.  According to Etsy:

Super long and unnaturally written titles don’t work well for Most Relevant, and they are unappealing to shoppers. A good, accurate, buyer-friendly title can help your relevancy; a super-long title, jam-packed with keywords — or, conversely, a short title with no descriptive information — will hurt it. Aim for the “sweet spot” in the middle here. Make sure to put very important search words, such as what the item is, in the title.

Finally, a keyword filled and lengthy description is the third key to ranking well in Etsy’s relevance search and sort.  Don’t skimp on the description, because the algorithm is looking at the words and phrases you include here.  What words you take out of the title should be included in the description.

Having inadequate descriptions for your items will bring down your relevancy.  Think about what keywords your ideal buyer would be using in her searches, and try to weave that into the story you’re telling.

Unlike eBay rolling out Best Match, Etsy has given sellers a few weeks to experiment and prepare.  Now is the time to act.  Make the recommended changes to your listings and see how they fare on “Relevance Thursdays.”  Take note of what works and what doesn’t and make tweaks for the following week.  Wash, rinse and repeat.

What tips do you have to share regarding Etsy’s “Best Match” experiment?

Introduce Your Child to Classical Music 52 Easy Lessons.

My listing is currently showing up at position 6 on the first page of the Google search results. My intent is to create some text links to the listing that the Google spider will find and follow – improving the listings position in the search results using a search engine optimization (SEO) technique called link popularity.

Here’s a little bit about the book in case anybody is interested in reading more about it:
Introduce Your Child to Classical Music 52 Easy Lessons will introduce your child to some of the most famous pieces in classical music. These lesson plans open the door to the instruments, musicians, periods, and musical forms of the classics. Each work included has background for the parent, followed by tips on introducing it to your child (at four different levels, beginner to advanced) including a “What to listen for” section which contains questions you can work through with your child. What sets this book apart from anything out there in the market is that it is designed to study entire pieces of classical music.

Hopefully, the book will stay on the market long enough to have some discernible results for the experiment!

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks tweaking AuctionLink for use by international eBay sellers.  Besides eBay.com, AuctionLink now works for people or businesses who sell on the Canadian, Australian, and UK eBay sites.

What is AuctionLink and Why Should I Care?

AuctionLink is shortened, easy-to-remember web address that returns your current eBay listings.  It makes it easy to include a link to all of your current listings in your e-mail sig files and Twitter tweets.

Here’s an example of an AuctionLink:

http://AuctionLink.to/whistonjohn

Even more significant is AuctionLink’s potential to help your Listing Performance Score – a key factor in getting to the front page of the Best Match search results.

A Listing Performance Score is calculated by dividing the number of sales generated for a particular listing by the number of times that listing has appeared (impressions) in the eBay search results.  Listings appearing on AuctionLink are not considered as generating an impression.  So, the more sales you can generate while keeping your impressions to a minimum will help your rankings in the Best Match search and sort calculations.

Visit http://AuctionLink.to today to get your own AuctionLink right now.