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What Etsy Has Published About Search
Etsy has described query matching and ranking factors, including reviews and response rate. It has not published weights, so this page does not invent them.
Published 2 October 2026 · Last reviewed 2 October 2026 · 2 min read
There is no published Etsy formula you can tune to the percent. What you can plan around is the short list Etsy has actually written down.
Query matching, then everything else
How Etsy Search Works says search takes a holistic view of the listing: title, tags, attributes, description, first photo, reviews, and more. Exact matches can rank higher because Etsy treats them as more relevant. The moves that page names are using all 13 tags, varying them, filling attributes, and choosing a specific category. The practical version of that list is the Etsy SEO guide.
Keywords 101 separates the first step. Query matching, which it calls the first phase of ranking, uses the keywords in titles, descriptions, tags, categories, and attributes. The same article says where a phrase sits in the title does not change ranking. The search checklist agrees, and adds the useful half: words at the front are what shoppers see, and more clicks and sales from search can improve rank over time. That is not a license to stuff the title. Title length and the ban on subjective or price language are in title best practices.
Factors Etsy has named, without a weight
The search visibility page announcement says shops that follow Etsy’s customer service standards are prioritized in search. The factors it lists are average review rating, message response rate, and case rate, from the past three months. The search checklist repeats that list. Neither page says how many points a review is worth.
That visibility article also said that, starting 1 October 2024, US listings with a domestic shipping price under $6 would be prioritized, with exclusions when the item or the origin does not fit. I am quoting the date and the country the way the page stated them. I am not extending the rule to every shop.
New listings are a waiting problem, not a penalty I can see. How to Create a Listing says a new listing can take up to 48 hours to show in search and categories.
If you want a number Etsy will show you about demand, that number is inside your shop, in Marketplace Insights, and the allowance is 15 free searches a week. It is not a weight in a formula NicheKite can reconstruct.