Off Site Advertising

[frugalmarketplace]

I have never felt any need to do off site advertising as my items would always show up in a Google search. Lately I have been looking around, and guess what…they are not there. Could it be that someone nefariously isn’t letting them get there “on their own” but want us to pay for that pleasure.

Has anyone else noticed that? 

[robbie31415]

Nope, mine still index.

The clicks i get are pretty offsite heavy and I don't pay for any offsite ads.

 

[frugalmarketplace]

@robbie31415 

 I looked at mine, and there were almost none…also my sales have been almost non existent. 

[robbie31415]

Idk.

I don't use eBay guidelines for my listings but use Google Merchant Center guidelines to make sure I meet what they ask for for proper indexing.

Also use Google SEO methods in my descriptions.

I focus my listings for Google not eBay as Google gets way more traffic.

[movieman630]

---

@robbie31415 wrote:

Idk.

I don't use eBay guidelines for my listings but use Google Merchant Center guidelines to make sure I meet what they ask for for proper indexing.

Also use Google SEO methods in my descriptions.

I focus my listings for Google not eBay as Google gets way more traffic.

---

Can you please tell me what the difference is?  How are you doing this?

[richard1rst]

Ditto that. I get about 40-45% of my sales from Google search and I do NOT spend any money to advertise - anywhere.

[robbie31415]

You know mine looked more like yours when I had PL off.

But having PL on my organic traffic doubles.

Now that is one I don't understand.

[knnjamison]

FYI: I have been promoting offsite since august 20th and when I generate a report I see that eBay is only promoting 10 of my 192 listings offsite. All seems kind of pointless at this point. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@frugalmarketplace  I don't know about Google Search itself, but I have been unable to find any of my listings in Google Shopping...ebay recently stated they submit all new listings once a day to Google Shopping. It does seem odd that none of mine appears, even when I turn on the ebay filter provided by Google Shopping, so that the results are supposed to be ONLY ebay items.

If anyone here finds one of my items on Google Shopping, I'd be very happy to hear about it.

[frugalmarketplace]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Nor I.    No doubt we are being encouraged to pay for the privilege.

[robbie31415]

I checked a few of mine and they were at the top of the list in 'Popular' on Google shopping and I'm not paying for anything.

Perhaps create a google merchant account and go over all the things that Google wants to see to optimize your listings placement.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@robbie31415 just to be clear, I was not implying that eBay items are not showing up in Google shopping. I was simply pointing out that my own items were not showing up, at least those that I actively looked for, and that some other people actively looked for.

Thanks for the advice about the Google merchant account, maybe when I get a chance, I'll look into that. 

[robbie31415]

I understood that.

The question is why.

I checked one. Cramer Owl In Tree Ceramic 16" Mug Tree Halloween Fall NO MUGS 6 Branches 1970s

And I saw multiple of your eBay competition on google shopping. I didn't see yours.

That isn't necessarily due to eBay.

Google could be deprioritizing you for some reason.

Brief review of your listing on eBay I didn't see any critical issues.

Except for the title. Not really google standards.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Yes, the question is why, and who is responsible, ebay or Google? Or, somehow, both? Or is it related to a flaw in my listings?

Back when I had the Listing Quality Report, ebay would show me any Google Shopping Rejections (there were very, very few as I recall), along with the reason for the rejection. But I am one of the sellers who no longer has the LQR (and why some have it and some don't is another "why" question, and one ebay has been dodging for a long time....it has been asked repeatedly, by a number of different people, and ebay just ignores it. I have no idea why.)

When I get some time, I will tweak some of my listings (I've already done that to a few, with no luck). If I were Below Standard, I could understand ebay not submitting my listings, but I am---and have been, for a long time---TRS, with most, if not all, listings, TRS Plus. And I've never received any notice from Google telling me I'm in any kind of trouble with them (Of course, I don't know that they send anything like that anyway).

Incidentally, I have also had Concierge customer service since 2017 (a perk for attending ebay Live that year), but that was recently removed as well, again, with no notice or explanation. It's all just a mystery, but I have learned : ebay will do what ebay will do , and trying to understand the inner workings of ebay is generally an exercise in frustration.

Many of my items are part of a PLS campaign, for whatever that matters.

So, it's a mystery. And we're headed into Q4, I have a LOT of unlisted inventory that needs listing, so trying to solve this mystery is destined for the back burner for now.

But I do thank you for looking at my listing and providing some insights.