eBay

gemsandgadgets · ‎04-27-2019

We closed our brick-and-mortar store last year, and changed the name of our business, which included changing the name of our Ebay store. The name was changed, however, when you Google the new name... it shows up, but with the old URL with the old name, and the link is a dead page. Ebay said they couldn't change it, and that it's Google's problem, but when I went to submit a URL change on Google, I found that only the 'owner' of the URL (which is Ebay) can submit a change. Does anyone know who the responsibility party really is? Right now we are dead in searches on the internet.

gemsandgadgets · ‎04-29-2019

WOW - 72 Views and NOT ONE response! Aren't there any knowledgeable people at Ebay anymore? Ebay - can you at LEAST look into it.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-29-2019

I'll tag someone from eBay.

@Anonymous

eburtonlab · ‎04-29-2019

@gemsandgadgets

Depending on how valuable your time is and how much business you think you are losing, it might be worth considering opening a starter store using the old name, and creating a banner at that storefront to point to your current store. That way when folks follow the google link they at least have a chance of ultimately reaching your current store instead of getting a jarring "This page does not exist" message.

When google winds up updating that search link, then you can drop that extra store subscription.

gemsandgadgets · ‎04-29-2019

Although that would be a sufficient temporary solution, it shouldn't be a necessary one. The issue should be addressed, and fixed. I do appreciate your response!

kensgiftshop · ‎04-29-2019

@gemsandgadgets wrote:
We closed our brick-and-mortar store last year, and changed the name of our business, which included changing the name of our Ebay store. The name was changed, however, when you Google the new name... it shows up, but with the old URL with the old name, and the link is a dead page. Ebay said they couldn't change it, and that it's Google's problem, but when I went to submit a URL change on Google, I found that only the 'owner' of the URL (which is Ebay) can submit a change. Does anyone know who the responsibility party really is? Right now we are dead in searches on the internet.

That should be on Google's end, not updating.

How long has it been since you changed it?

Have a great day.

barbz40 · ‎04-29-2019

It was changed before Christmas, so wouldn't Google have updated it a number of times since then?

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2019

@gemsandgadgets wrote:

We closed our brick-and-mortar store last year, and changed the name of our business, which included changing the name of our Ebay store. The name was changed, however, when you Google the new name... it shows up, but with the old URL with the old name, and the link is a dead page. Ebay said they couldn't change it, and that it's Google's problem, but when I went to submit a URL change on Google, I found that only the 'owner' of the URL (which is Ebay) can submit a change. Does anyone know who the responsibility party really is? Right now we are dead in searches on the internet.

Hi @gemsandgadgets, I just want to start out by clarifying that the eBay Community Boards are a peer to peer support forum and while staff is able to step in from time to time to clarify policy or pass along feedback, any account specific assistance you may need should be addressed by Customer Service.

That being said, I will get this example over for review to see what action we may be able to take. We may not have any options to make this kind of request to Google, but I will look into if this is possible or what we may be able to do to redirect to your new store URL.

Anonymous · ‎05-01-2019

@gemsandgadgets wrote:

We closed our brick-and-mortar store last year, and changed the name of our business, which included changing the name of our Ebay store. The name was changed, however, when you Google the new name... it shows up, but with the old URL with the old name, and the link is a dead page. Ebay said they couldn't change it, and that it's Google's problem, but when I went to submit a URL change on Google, I found that only the 'owner' of the URL (which is Ebay) can submit a change. Does anyone know who the responsibility party really is? Right now we are dead in searches on the internet.

Hi @gemsandgadgets, I just wanted to give an update - while I am still working to get in touch with the appropriate team for this kind of request, I did find a tool from Google that allows you to request the removal of outdated or inactive pages from their search results, regardless of if you own the domain or not. You can find this here. I have already submitted the old URL for your store and received confirmation that the tool identified this page is no longer available; the submission is still processing for full removal from search results, which would cause the old URL and snippet to be removed and then Google search results would update with the new URL, with an up to date snippet.

I just wanted to add this in case anyone else runs into the situation. There are also steps in Google's help pages about requesting the removal of a search result when you do not own the domain but own the content (such as a blog on a blogging website) which may apply to your store, and also steps on requesting a removal when you do not own the page or it's contents. Either way, I'll keep an eye on the request I've submitted to have the old URL removed and also continue to work on getting this to the appropriate teams.

Anonymous · ‎05-02-2019

@Anonymous wrote:

@gemsandgadgets wrote:

We closed our brick-and-mortar store last year, and changed the name of our business, which included changing the name of our Ebay store. The name was changed, however, when you Google the new name... it shows up, but with the old URL with the old name, and the link is a dead page. Ebay said they couldn't change it, and that it's Google's problem, but when I went to submit a URL change on Google, I found that only the 'owner' of the URL (which is Ebay) can submit a change. Does anyone know who the responsibility party really is? Right now we are dead in searches on the internet.

Hi @gemsandgadgets, I just wanted to give an update - while I am still working to get in touch with the appropriate team for this kind of request, I did find a tool from Google that allows you to request the removal of outdated or inactive pages from their search results, regardless of if you own the domain or not. You can find this here. I have already submitted the old URL for your store and received confirmation that the tool identified this page is no longer available; the submission is still processing for full removal from search results, which would cause the old URL and snippet to be removed and then Google search results would update with the new URL, with an up to date snippet.

I just wanted to add this in case anyone else runs into the situation. There are also steps in Google's help pages about requesting the removal of a search result when you do not own the domain but own the content (such as a blog on a blogging website) which may apply to your store, and also steps on requesting a removal when you do not own the page or it's contents. Either way, I'll keep an eye on the request I've submitted to have the old URL removed and also continue to work on getting this to the appropriate teams.

Hi @gemsandgadgets, just a final update on this; I've received confirmation from Google that the outdated URL has been removed using the tool they provide. When searching for your store on Google, I now find your new URL and am correctly routed to your store. I'm still going to work on my end to see if there are any changes we can make to avoid these kinds of issues for our sellers or anything we can do with Google to affect a change, but don't hesitate to let me know if you have any other questions.

shipscript · ‎05-03-2019

Wow @Anonymous -- super helpful sleuthing!

ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.

Anonymous · ‎05-03-2019

@shipscript wrote:

Wow @Anonymous -- super helpful sleuthing!

Don't give me too much credit, @shipscript - I had to find this information recently for some outdated links that showed up in Google searches when searching my own name, so just so happened to know where to look I still have hope there is something we can do our end to either notify Google of changed URLs for stores or seamlessly redirect to the new URL when needed.

gemsandgadgets · ‎05-03-2019

@trinton ... Please let me know what you searched for on Google, because as far as I can see, absolutely nothing comes up now, unless I search for 'gemsandgadgets' without spaces, then the same outdated URL comes up. Please advise.