Items not showing up in searches. Have you checked yours lately?

[raindancerauctions]

PROBLEM: 

My items aren't showing up in  searches.

I was trying to help a potential client find a bracelet as a gift.  I didn't think we had anything that was in her price range that was a good match.   So, I searched and realized OUR items weren't showing up in the searches.  I called in and they first dismissed me with very faulty logic.

I have several Native American bracelets, among other things, and they aren't showing in searches.  Here was the test.  It happened with bracelets listed in my husband's account and my account.

They all have the following words somewhere in the title: Navajo, Turquoise, Bracelet.

TEST PROCESS:

• I searched: Navajo turquoise bracelet.  I then sorted by lowest price first so I could find the item.  I looked at the returned results around and through the price in which they should have landed, including 2 pages before and after the price range they fell in. 
• I searched from my account. 
• I searched from my husband's account. 
• I searched not logged into any account. 
• I searched using Chrome, Brave, and Firefox.  
• I searched with and without caps.
• I searched Native American turquoise bracelet, Navajo turquoise cuff bracelet, Navajo turquoise bracelet 7 (for the size 7.25)  All these should have returned the first bracelet.  Without the 7, and cuff, all the bracelets should have shown up in the results. 

Again, I am so far finding bracelets from both of our accounts that aren't showing in the searches.

TESTED SEARCHES:

I was as first told that there was no issue (mind you she is getting all this from her upline in support) because, if they entered a much tighter search parameter such as "Navajo Turquoise Cuff Bracelet Size 7.25" for the first bracelet I gave, which was a near exact match to the title and it showed up in a search.  Therefore, there was no problem.     Problem with that logic:   1) Big deal.  That's not how people search.  2)  That's not how search engines work.  i.e. The fewer words to match the more results.  The more words to match, the fewer the results.  Therefore, entering fewer words in the title should have still brought the result expected.

But, let's say that's true.  Let's say that my bracelets didn't show up because I had the word "cuff" in some of the descriptions (which was the argument).  Other bracelets that had extemporaneous words such as cuff did show up.   Rings showed up.  Bracelets that didn't have Turquoise or Navajo showed up such as a Zuni Coral Needlepoint bracelet.

The support person told me that the Algorithm punishes ALL CAPS.  (Note taken, as I've done that on a couple of listings. )  Problem with that logic:  Listings with ALL CAPS showed up.  My listings weren't in all caps.

The support person ( that I am not showing up because the word "cuff" is in my description.  Problem with that logic:  Other bracelets were in the results that had the word "cuff" in them.

I thought I might have confused the results because I noticed the particular bracelet I was searching for had a calculator and I knew I had free shipping.  So I looked and had forgotten to change the shipping from calculate to flat rate and checked the free shipping.  Problem with that logic:  This was also happening on bracelets that had flat rate and no shipping both correct.

Search results may not show for an item that has been edited for up to 24 hours.  Problem with that logic:  None of the items had been edited for several days, some for weeks as they are on the "fixed price auction."

If you want examples,  just look at the bracelets on the IDs lcbergh or raindancerauctions and see if you see them.  If you do, I'd like to know. 

WHAT IS KNOWN:

• I don't have a store. 
• I have been selling since the beginning of eBay with one of the accounts and for a few years with the other account. 
• I have 100% positive feedback on both accounts.
• We have not agreed to get the "preferred seller"  on my listings because we clearly state we don't accept returns, though we also make it clear that if I made a mistake of the auction in the description, we would make it right, and did authorize a return for that reason once.

NEW DISCOVERIES TO ME THAT YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW

• YOU GET PENALIZED FOR ALL CAPS
• Search results may not show an item that has been edited for up to 24 hours.  

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

What is the algorithm for returning results?  What factors don't we know?  How many of us have been presenting items for sale and not have them show up?

I'm also curious if anyone else has tried searching for their own items.   Maybe you should.

[pjcdn2005]

When I type in Navajo turquoise bracelet ebay defaults the search to the bracelet category. Since your bracelets are in collectibles I wouldn't expect to find them there unless the searcher changed the category to collectibles.

[pburn]

Your items showed up when I searched for them.

[eburtonlab]

@raindancerauctions 

As the other poster indicated, a search for Navajo turquoise bracelet is steered into the following category:

Jewelry & Watches > Ethnic, Regional & Tribal > Native American > Bracelets

While your item is in the following category:

Collectibles > Cultures & Ethnicities > Native American: US > 1935-Now > Jewelry

The category you have chosen may very well be the most logical category for you to list that item in; nevertheless, users searching using those search terms will only see items in the former category, not the latter. In some cases you may be able to list your items in both categories, or list some in one and some in another to maximize exposure.

When deciding which category to list an item in, it is often a good idea to try a general search as a buyer might, to see if the search is steered into a particular category.

In addition, when sorting your search by "lowest first", the results will often have a message at the top:

"We removed some search results to show you the most relevant listings. View all results"

Unless you (or your buyers) follow that "View all results" link, the page will only display a subset of the search results for that particular sort. Other sorts should show all results by default, however. eBay does not really explain what criteria it uses to determine which results are relevant, but most likely it has to do with whether certain keywords that appear in the item title are associated with sales in that category.

[gamersbaystore]

I can tell you from my own experience its very unlikely ebay will index every listing you make into their search index. Part of the problem you're having is that you have so little for sale, just 45 listings. Sorry, but you aren't going to draw solid sales from so few listings, it will not happen.

The advice eburtonlab gave you makes sense as well. It seems you may have a mismatch between categories, and it may be necessary to change the categories you list in to see if search indexing improves.

It may also help to learn SEO. Here you searched for "Navajo Turquoise Bracelet", but your titles are a train wreck that make no logical sense to humans, much less a search engine. Its best to put things in plain English that are easy to read.

Your listing title states "Vintage Bell Trading Post Navajo Sterling Silver Turquoise Ring Size 7 1/2."

That title is a mess! A better title might be "Vintage Turquoise Navajo Ring - Sterling Silver (Size 7 1/2)"

Then you could add the additional information in the description itself.

Likewise, ebay's "Best Match" algorithms mean exactly what they state, they are looking to match buyers search queries with keywords that are the most relevant to the search term at hand.

That being said, you're typing in "Navajo Turquoise Bracelet", but your title includes the word "Vintage", which would not be relevant for the search term you mentioned.

[coolections]

These hidden items topics are always too easy. I picked 3 of your items and here are the results:

Navajo Sterling Silver Ring 7 1/2    Best Match 13 of 220    Lowest First  37 of 220

Navajo Native American Onyx Earrings    Best Match  14 of 732   Lowest First  102 of 732

Navajo Native American Turquoise Coral Watch Tips    Best Match  4 of 125   Lowest First  49 of 125

Result: Nothing Hidden.

[gamersbaystore]

Another thing to note is that search engines generally weight the keywords farthest to the left the highest! Google even does this.

Think of it this way, you are searching for "Turquoise Navajo Bracelet",

but the first 4 words of your title are "Vintage Bell Trading Post."

[coolections]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

Another thing to note is that search engines generally weight the keywords farthest to the left the highest! Google even does this.

Think of it this way, you are searching for "Turquoise Navajo Bracelet",

but the first 4 words of your title are "Vintage Bell Trading Post."

---

TRUE. If the OP listed their items exactly like I just search everyone would find them. No need for all the fluff in a title. KISS is the best way to list.

[slippinjimmy]

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@coolections wrote:

These hidden items topics are always too easy. I picked 3 of your items and here are the results:

Navajo Sterling Silver Ring 7 1/2    Best Match 13 of 220    Lowest First  37 of 220

Navajo Native American Onyx Earrings    Best Match  14 of 732   Lowest First  102 of 732

Navajo Native American Turquoise Coral Watch Tips    Best Match  4 of 125   Lowest First  49 of 125

Result: Nothing Hidden.

---

When I did the search eBay did the category redirect (see post #4). When I changed to All Categories the number of listings went from about 14,000 to 17,000.

This tells me that most of these items actually are listed in eBay's suggested category and the OP (or any seller) would be best advised to check  to see if the category they plan to list to is actually the one that most other sellers use because that is where eBay will direct buyers when they do a search.

This situation comes up for sellers who deal in items that have multiple categories that could apply, if they do that then their items won't be "hidden" (actually not hidden but rather just hard to locate).