Here we go again: product not found in marketplace

[Anne]

My business card can not be found in the marketplace:

https://www.zazzle.com/colorful_sweet_bakery_dessert_photo_logo_qr_code_business_card-25689688189997...

Thanks for looking into this.

[BKMuir]

11:06 am June 19, 2023

I searched this exactly as shown "colorful sweet bakery" business card

Results 392 - yours is 24th on the first page sorted by Popular. Oh sorry, this one does not have the QR Code on back!

Okay - I went through the 2nd and 3rd page and see the QR Code card is 4th at top of 4th page!

[Scott · Accepted solution]

Moving this to General since I dont believe there's an issue here.

Search functionality works in a few ways. Firstly, it does take into account an exact match. So if the product title is specific then searching for the product title may show you that product. This is my first step when I try to locate a "missing" product. But in this case the product title contains a lot of popular terms, and when that's taken into account then this product may not rate quite as highly as the rest of the products (especially when sorting by Popularity). This is because the exact term isn't the only thing considered when searching.

I can't get too deep into describing how Search works, mostly because it's super complex and I don't understand all of it myself. When you're searching for one of your own products it's sometimes wise to narrow down the search to just your store (use the Designer Store filter) and also set the sort to Newest if the product is relatively new.

[Anne]

Thanks so much for your explanation, Scott. Since BKMuir was able to find it and I am not, I am really puzzled. Being logged in or not or being in another country may affect this too maybe. So I guess the best way is to change the product title and see if that helps. Thank you.

[knightlyattire]

Hi Scott, any idea how popular sort works? number of views or most items sold?

[CreativeLeahG]

I recently published 90 products only 20 are showing in my store. They're not grouped. Some showing were created later than others that are not showing.

[Anne]

O wow, that is so sweet of you BKMuir!
I added a screenshot that says it is not in the marketplace and then did not check out all those pages.
Thank you so much!

So a new search. However, I can't find it. I searched the first 10 pages in both popular and newest products on topic of the exact name of the product and just don't see it ...
It gives more than 28000 results, so that is already an indication that it can't find it ...

[chriiisss]

Not understanding how search works drives me crazy. one of my products was selling well, it stopped selling, last saturday I went looking for it and I couldn't find it, imediatly I made another one. But now I don't trust my eyes. I even dream about this, that I can't find any of my best sellers 😲 THE horror

(a few days ago, I couldn't find a tablecloth, I made another one, but then @KeegansCreation found it, it was just my blindness. I deleted the new product and stopped trusting my eyes, but I can't stop looking when a product starts selling any less)

[Cat]

I have basically come to the conclusion that searching for my own products in the marketplace is a waste of time. All I've ever accomplished by doing that is to get anxious & upset, and on occasion it turns me into Blamey McBlamington. The only metric that really matters is sales, so I try to keep my energies focused there. It seems to produce better results and I'm also a LOT happier! Just my 2 cents!

[Anne]

On the contrary, Cat. Products that are not in the marketplace cannot be sold. I learned something new as a result of my filing this issue, as Scott explained a possible reason as to why it was not showing up. And I changed the title of the product and now it is there. Happy. Thanks.

[Cat]

Well, that's obviously true, but just because they don't show up in the searches that you're doing, doesn't mean that they're not there (as evidenced by the fact that other designers could find it when you couldn't.) I think it's a mistake to assume that people are going to search for items in the way that you would search for them because people's brains work so differently in this respect. At any rate, I simply try to use keyword rich tags and titles, and write good descriptions so items have a chance of getting picked up in Google searches, and it seems to work for me. When I spend too much time obsessing over where I show up in the marketplace it seems to do more harm than good since it takes time away from things that I know have a proven track record for success (creating new products based on good sellers and promoting my products with covers & links.) 

Anyhow, I don't mean to be argumentative, if spending time analyzing where you show up in the marketplace works for you, I think that's great. I just haven't found it to be a great use of my time. But as always, YMMV! 

[chriiisss]

@Cat I understand what you're saying, and when I grow up I want to be like that 😎 without worrying about these things. for now, I still only have a few articles that sell regularly, and that took so much work to get. It's true that I get anxiety with this, but as I think that some products disappear from the MP I can't stay calm.

It's not just a problem of how the client searches, because by consulting the insiths we know how they usually search. If my product appeared in that search and now I can't see it, I get worried precisely because I still have just a few articles that consistently sell.

Anxiety sometimes makes me not see them, that's also true.

Anyway, for example this item, if someone manages to find it in the MP, I don't worry anymore, I hoppe 🙏

[Cat]

Well, I searched for "business logo tapestry" and found it on the 5th row. Business Logo Tapestries | Zazzle

I dunno, perhaps I'm just more trusting than your average bear, or maybe it's because I spent so many years trying to outguess the Google algorithm for my websites, but in my experience, companies are always updating their search algorithms, and new competitors are always appearing, so you can't really expect things to maintain their position in the marketplace. A search string that yielded great results for your product one week might not even pull it up the next - I think that's just the nature of the beast.

I just see a LOT of posts where people are panicked that their products have "disappeared" from the marketplace, when really they're just not showing up in a particular search. I'm not saying that it isn't worth paying a little bit of attention to - maybe you've got a typo in the title or keywords that's making it not show up or something like that, but I think you can spend a LOT of time and energy chasing ghosts and I'm not convinced that it gets you anywhere. I could be wrong, perhaps there's some way to "crack the code" and show up in every imaginable search, but for me it just feels like spinning my wheels. 

As always, YMMV!

[chriiisss]

@Catthanks for searching! not the same product, the one you find is a horizontal design, the missing one is a vertical design and they have different titles. thanks for your opinion, I really want to be more cool about this but for now I cant help myself 😞

[Cat]

Interesting... maybe it's because it's the same design, just a different placement (vertical vs. horizontal?) Like maybe the search algorithm will only pull up one? Seems like the orientation should be something the customer could change on the product page. 

I dunno, I could be completely wrong about this, and perhaps it's worth asking Scott to look into it for you. I'm not sure that my attitude is "cool" maybe I'm just lazy! 

[chriiisss]

ya, maybe, but i have others like this (I ajust the design depending of the placement) and they are all on the MP. in this case both have already sold, but meanwhile one has disappeared. This is just an example of the cases that make me anxious for not understanding exactly why they happen.

[Caprice]

If I click on your link above, I get something for SUGAR SWEET...not 'colorful'.  Have you changed title recently? Could that be it - hasn't re-indexed?  Dunno - just thinking aloud.

[tsikona]

I have listed products about month ago, but   using zazzle search (exact titles i created)  i can’t see my products. As i see i have everything done by instruction. 

[Scott]

Can you link me to a few products that you're unable to find?

[tsikona]

sure, thank you much for attention.  Using exact titles in search i couldn't see most of my listings. I really put much effort learning Zazzle seo tools, using google keyword research. Perhaps I am doing smth wrong. Here are some of my listings.

https://www.zazzle.com/elegant_periwinkle_floral_wedding_invitation-256325903086442119

https://www.zazzle.com/elegant_blue_wild_flowers_bridal_shower_announcement-256097792966094965

https://www.zazzle.com/floral_boho_elegant_neutral_bridal_shower_invitation-256876156402072168

[Scott]

Try searching for the name, then sort by Newest.

[knightlyattire]

I wish Zazzle would set its default sort settings to Newest instead of Popular. Sort of giving a boost to new product listing.

[Scott]

Locking this post because it's mostly from June 2023.

Engineering is aware of the indexer being slow, and we've made some adjustments to help it catch up a bit sooner. We're sorry for the slowness here.

Also, if you happen to come across slow indexing it's always best to check the Technical forum for an existing discussion.