Why do website search results keep showing random, irrelevant stuff?
Keyword-based search systems frequently return unrelated listings or repetitive content that users never interacted with. This forces people to scroll past irrelevant results just to find what they actually searched for, making standard website search feel outdated and broken.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 56.8× more often in r/Etsy than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Why do website search results keep showing random, irrelevant stuff?
- 1tuning search plugins like RelevanssiDid this help you?
- 2considering creating a custom plugin for meaning-based AI/vector-powered searchDid this help you?
- 3scrolling past unrelated results to eventually find some matching itemsDid this help you?
- 4Using manual filters after the initial search to narrow down productsDid this help you?
- 5Using existing search apps or default platform search and discovery toolsDid this help you?
- 6deleting the app, using a private web browser with a cleared cache and cookies, utilizing a VPN, and logging in only at the time of purchaseDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“the new Etsy algorithm is frustrating and impossible. You search for one thing and get anything but what you search for, no matter how specific you are or how many filter boxes you check or if you change the results from "Relevant" to "Lowest Price" or "Newest" etc.”source ↗
“Whenever I search for something, it doesn’t show me what I’m looking for. It just shows me a bunch of tarot readings and witches that I have never interacted with before and it’s always the same one.”source ↗
“It happens with everything I search and I’ve never had this problem before.”source ↗
“It’s really starting to annoy me because only after scrolling for a bit will I find some of what I actually searched before it goes back to these random listings.”source ↗
“Relevanassi search results are ok after a lot of tuning, but I still see many irrelevant results for common search terms and keyword based search feels outdated.”source ↗
“What Most search boxes basically do is: you type, then 200 results will appear, you have to use filters to get the desired product.”source ↗
“Same. I'm less interested in smarter suggestions and more interested in reducing the number of irrelevant products before the user even submits the search.”source ↗
“Honestly, if a customer types 4 attributes into the search bar, the store should probably use all 4 instead of making them select four filters afterward.”source ↗
“This is basically what made me question the current setup.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 8Why does my store and brand name disappear in AI search?
- 2Why are my new shop listings not showing up in search?
- 5Why is Google not indexing new content on my site?
- 2How to make Shopify search look inside page body text
- 6How to find a product online when you don't know the name
- 5How to stop juggling bookmarks for admin tools and reference sites