Class and Course Search is Better Than Ever

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Lily

We’ve added some new features to TeachStreet search. First, to help students find the best possible classes that meet their needs we have added a more in-depth filtering system. Now students can filter their search result by:

  • Type: Local versus online classes;
  • Distance: Set a distance they are willing to travel from their current location;
  • Time: Select what time of day a class is scheduled;
  • Price: Select a given price range.

filters_search

The second big change in search is that multiple classes by the same teacher are now rolled up. Before when someone did a search for, let’s say fun piano lessons, the search results would display all classes that match the search query which would sometimes mean that teachers or larger schools that offered multiple classes in that one subject, piano, could dominate the first couple of pages of results. To increase the visibility of all teachers, search results now roll up multiple classes under the teacher’s first and best matching class listing to the search query. Now students who search for piano classes will see a broader range of teachers who offer classes on TeachStreet, and still have the option to view all the piano classes that a specific teacher has available by simply clicking the “See more” link if they wish to do so.

class_rollup

We hope you enjoy the changes made to search! If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know by contacting help@teachstreet.com anytime.

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  • janetlia

    It seems like the new improvements to the search are great, but I still wonder why someone with more reviews shows up lower in the list than another with less?

  • http://www.nosnivelling.com daveschappell

    Hi Janet — can you give us some searches that you're wondering about? (give us the 'what' and 'where' that you're searching for, and then which of the results are confusing?)

    We'll try to explain some of the things that cause people to surface in different places.

    One short explanation is that there's more involved in search ranking that just reviews. Some other things that impact it:

    a) are they active on the site (do they respond to messages quickly, have they updated their listings, do their listings have prices, are they payments-enabled)
    b) do they have images, and good descriptions
    c) are they a 'Premium/Pro' member (since they're paying for more featured exposure)

    but, there have been times where we've found mistakes in our search, and we constantly try to make the results better — so, please share some examples, and we'll do our best to explain

  • janetlia

    Hi Dave,

    Thanks for responding to my question.
    One example would be that yesterday after I read about the new search
    updates, I searched “watercolor, seattle” and I saw my current
    offering came up 4th, after several other who I do not think have
    enabled payments and are “pros”. I know in the past my drawing
    classes have ranked several pages down the line even when they are
    active, but my art lesson (private) listings seem to be up there
    towards the top…

    I do try to stay current with the site, have photos, lots of reviews
    and take all the great advise you guys give but it's still a mystery
    to me.

    So if enabling payments would rank me higher (consistently) that would
    be important information to know.

    Thanks Again for all the attention.

    As one of your first teachers on board, I am happy to feel connected
    to TeachStreet in any way that is helpful to you guys!

    Janet

  • http://www.nosnivelling.com daveschappell

    Hi Janet,

    I just checked for that search “watercolor” in “seattle, wa” you were indeed in 4th position. Of the 3 teachers above you:

    #1 is a Pro
    #2 and #3 are both Payments-Enabled.

    And, I verified that if you turned on payments (in your settings area), you would indeed jump ahead of both of the #2 and #3 results, into the #2 position yourself. (NOTE – if you make the change, it can take up to 30 minutes for search results to update).

    And, you're correct that you're already very vibrant on the site (good images, descriptions, tags, etc.) — you can keep your 'vibrancy' high by asking and answering questions every so often, writing articles, and making sure your listings are current, but so far, you're doing a great job with your listings.

    Thanks for your continued participation!

    Dave

  • janetlia

    Thanks Dave,

    The information is good motivation for me to enable payments on the
    site! Just what I was looking for.

    Janet

  • http://www.nosnivelling.com daveschappell

    That's great to hear — and, know that we're pretty sure that we're going to remove the need to accept TeachStreet Payments in order to get high search placement in the next month or so. At the same time, we'll be lowering payment fees, and likely implementing a listing fee (that will be good for 30 days). We've heard loud & clear from teachers that there are many great reasons why they want to collect payments off of the website, and so we're working to enable that in a way that's financially viable for us. So, I hope you stick with us — we keep trying to make the site better for students and teachers!

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