Do Abbreviations Effect Algorithm Search Results?

[mozartbach1971]

I saw a video in which the person said that the Ebay algorithm does not like abbreviations and will not favor you in the search results if you use them. Does anyone know if this is true?  I use a lot of them such as VTG for Vintage and am thinking about no longer using them.

[namtrag1]

Normally people don't use abbreviations or slang  for search such as:  VTG, NIB, BOLO,LRG, Cool, Sweet, Totally Awesome, Rad, OMG, etc.

So regardless of any algorithms people will search with words that accurately describe an item like Large, Size 8 Medium, Red, Blue, 

If something is Vintage then say so.  Whatever something is just say so in no uncertain terms.

Hope this helps.

[slippinjimmy]

It's not that eBay "doesn't like" abbreviations, they are fine IF the search uses the same abbreviations.

For your items the keywords are pretty obvious in most cases, the rest of the space in the Title are there to inform and entice viewers AFTER they have searched and are looking over the results.

You already put most of the acronyms or abbreviations at the end of the Title which is where they belong so I would just continue as you always have.

[inhawaii]

I use whatever I think my potential customers will use when doing a search.

[mozartbach1971]

Normally people don't use abbreviations or slang  for search such as:  VTG, NIB, BOLO,LRG, Cool, Sweet, Totally Awesome, Rad, OMG, etc.

So regardless of any algorithms people will search with words that accurately describe an item like Large, Size 8 Medium, Red, Blue, 

If something is Vintage then say so.  Whatever something is just say so in no uncertain terms.

Hope this helps.

In regards to VTG. If I put VTG in the title, and if you put in Vintage in the search all the titles that say VTG will turn up. So it will save me space by using VTG, however if the algorithm will penalize me for it then I will not use it and just use Vintage. 

[pls-consignments]

Yes, the algorithm will search abbreviations. However, this only applies to abbreviations of standard words, not names or slang. For example, if you search for "VTG", you will see over 5 million results that also query the word "Vintage". However, the algorithm struggles with most special characters as well as acronyms, since they can represent any number of word combinations. 

Remember, if you have a question about your title, just test search it to see how many direct results you receive, both with and without questionable words. I like to test out my titles to optimize before listing to see what I'm up against. Hope this helps. 😉

[mam98031]

I'm not sure why a seller would do that.  The advice I give to other sellers when creating a title is to think like a buyer.  What would the buyer put into the search box to find your item.  The title is the most important part of a listing.  It can make or break the listing so to speak.  IMHO using vtg instead of vintage is not likely a good idea.

I would also not ever advise a seller to start their auctions for a price that won't even cover their selling fees.  I realize that some bank on the prices to get bid up and that a buyer would buy multiple items.  It is unlikely that you would lose any business if you raised your prices so that you can at least break even if the item sold.  

[pls-consignments]

Well, although that is true to some extent, the algorithm is designed to also think like a buyer. That is why it's programmed to query anything with the word "vintage" when "vtg" is searched, and I might add, vice versa. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@pls-consignments wrote:

Well, although that is true to some extent, the algorithm is designed to also think like a buyer. That is why it's programmed to query anything with the word "vintage" when "vtg" is searched, and I might add, vice versa. 

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This is what I understood, also - a semantic search will have equivalents, and the last I read "Vintage" and "VTG" are both recognised on eBay.  That was an odd one-off that I read, though - not sure about other abbreviations, but agree there are junk words no one needs.

[brightlightbookseller]

I can’t speak for the algorithm itself because it’s not open to read the source, but in our experience, abbreviations like VTG HCDJ and TPB (all common in the book world) haven’t hurt sales. Special characters up against a word on the other hand do seem to dramatically reduce sales. The search function struggles with anything out of the ordinary.

[chapeau-noir]

The problem with making determinations like this is that eBay's search engine is going to work a little differently than Google's, for example. Google is a bit more disclosive about their search so I try to follow their guidelines unless eBay has actually stated something. Unfortunately, most entries I find concerning eBay's search criteria are posts from users like myself, so even if we know about SEO in general, anything specific to eBay is still a best-guess. But a best-guess is better than nothing and I'd say a pretty good bet.

[richard1rst]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I saw a video in which the person said that the Ebay algorithm does not like abbreviations and will not favor you in the search results if you use them. Does anyone know if this is true?  I use a lot of them such as VTG for Vintage and am thinking about no longer using them.

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Well I am in agreement that you should spell it out except for times when the abbreviation is the absolute norm: IBM for example. Otherwise it could mean different things to different people.

Some time ago I had a belt buckle for sale imprinted FTW. Now, most netizens might recognize that as For The Win. But in this case it stood for Furious Truckstop Waitresses which is the official name of a Roller Derby team in Tucson, Arizona.  Don't laugh - They'll hurt you.

[pls-consignments]

Uhm... there is a difference between abbreviations and acronyms. Nearly all brand names are acronyms, but they are also trademarks, which the algorithm understands. However, it cannot decipher text slang, which are mostly acronyms. It will only search those it understands to be relevant to the platform.

[the_auto_shop]

eBays search algo does indeed know what these abbreviations are and can match them just fine with the real words. Many many many years ago you had to be very specific for your search terms because of how fickle it was. It was essentially just matching strings of words or that word in particular. These were the days when people would cram as many keywords as possible into their ad. These days search engines are smart enough to know that VTG means vintage. Go ahead and give it a try. Just type in something simple like VTG men's shirt. What you will notice is probably a few ads get higher priority due to using the exact match VTG but will still show you ads that do not use VTG at all but do have vintage in their title. Easy thing to experiment with. Back in the day with the search engines the way they used to be, you could 'exploit' it by using common misspellings. For example labtop instead of laptop. Now if you misspell, eBay's search knows very well what you mean and will show you both results but maybe you rank a bit higher with the misspelledword if someone still searches for it. This goes for most businesses today using searches. Your keywords are now weighted in combination with ad spend. Even the order in which you use these keywords can give you different results as they are weighted differently based on their location in the string and depending on what the person is searching for. -Source: I am a programmer and work in digital marketing. Make sure the people you listen to have a background in creating these systems, otherwise they are just regurgitating the same incorrect thing. The best thing you can do though is just experiment yourself and do A/B testing. Ebays search engine is called Cassini and it works both on traditional algos and also machine learning. The machine learning system is what makes the algorithm adapt.

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.