SEO terms no longer being used ?

[kate_lily_cache]

For the past two years, my listing titles followed the SEO guidelines. For example, selling a Charles Wysocki puzzle "Pumpkin Hollow" would be listed as "Puzzle 1000 Pieces Pumpkin Hollow" since PUZZLE 1000 PIECES is an SEO term within eBay. When I used eBay's SEO terms, my listings were almost always at the top of the Best Match Search Results.

Since eBay's announcement a week or two ago of switching to "product-based shopping experience," I notice the SEO terms seem to be irrevelant. Even when using SEO terms, my items are way, way down the list of search results for Best Match.

I have searched many of my items, and can find no consistant rule for the top search results--it seems to be quite random...

- sometimes the top result has free shipping, other times buyer pays shipping;

- sometimes the top result has 30-day returns, other times no returns allowed;

- sometimes the top result is TRS, other times not;

- when I filter for "Used" I am given many "New" items in the search results.

Any one else noticing this?

[cargo11]

Do you see if they are newly listed or closing soon - sometimes a short run of 1,3,5 days keeps the listing at the top of the page as well.

[kate_lily_cache]

@cargo11

I just checked five of my listings (where I am no longer on top with SEO terms).

Of those five listings I checked, the top results being competitors: 4 were regular 30-day BIN and 1 was 7-day auction.

[timemachine777]

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@kate_lily_cachewrote:

For the past two years, my listing titles followed the SEO guidelines. For example, selling a Charles Wysocki puzzle "Pumpkin Hollow" would be listed as "Puzzle 1000 Pieces Pumpkin Hollow" since PUZZLE 1000 PIECES is an SEO term within eBay. When I used eBay's SEO terms, my listings were almost always at the top of the Best Match Search Results.

Since eBay's announcement a week or two ago of switching to "product-based shopping experience," I notice the SEO terms seem to be irrevelant. Even when using SEO terms, my items are way, way down the list of search results for Best Match.

I have searched many of my items, and can find no consistant rule for the top search results--it seems to be quite random...

- sometimes the top result has free shipping, other times buyer pays shipping;

- sometimes the top result has 30-day returns, other times no returns allowed;

- sometimes the top result is TRS, other times not;

- when I filter for "Used" I am given many "New" items in the search results.

Any one else noticing this?

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DW has stated a number of times over the past several months that eBay would be changing the platform and SEO's a lot, yet eBay didn't really say much in the Spring Seller Update. I just find that every few months the search just keeps getting worse, and sellers can't keep up with all the site changes in general anymore.

[timemachine777]

BTW...Youtube must have hired some of eBay's search engine team, or school mates. Their search engine has tanked over the past month too. Nothing is relevant over there either. When I search eBay news over there with today as a filter, I get the weather and loads of other vids that have nothing to do with eBay news, nor eBay in the text. 

[blueberryjellyfish]

Try changing around the titles of those listings and see if it makes a difference. There are more factors that go into best match search placement than item title.

SEO on eBay has changed a lot. Even with stores sellers can add keywords for each store category, but last year Griff said those meta tags have become more or less obsolete.

[kate_lily_cache]

@blueberryjellyfish

@timemachine777

Pre-2018, to be at the top of search results, SEO trumped non-SEO titles; free shipping trumped paid shipping; returns allowed trumped no returns allowed.

Now there is no consistency as to which items appear at top of search results.

Seriously, I am offended that a "L@@K New In Box Puzzle" with no returns trumps my SEO "Puzzle 500 Pieces" with free shipping, and 14-day returns, and TRS status.

[timemachine777]

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@kate_lily_cachewrote:

@blueberryjellyfish

@timemachine777

Pre-2018, to be at the top of search results, SEO trumped non-SEO titles; free shipping trumped paid shipping; returns allowed trumped no returns allowed.

Now there is no consistency as to which items appear at top of search results.

Seriously, I am offended that a "L@@K New In Box Puzzle" with no returns trumps my SEO "Puzzle 500 Pieces" with free shipping, and 14-day returns, and TRS status.

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I've never found Cassini to be consistent with my listings, nor listings that came up in my research searches.  The search engine is totally dysfunctional, and was suppose to work using data points for placement in beat match.

[n2knowledge]

Only other thought I could give is that those with promotions (100 free) seem to get more sales during a promotion and they could be boosted on the first page during a short period.  Ebay does weird searches - something I know some people revise their listings and change words around to see if that will boost their ratings and many just open  a new listing rather than relist or use sell similar for the "bots" to think of their item as "fresh".  Could be a number of AI reasons - which we are not privy too.

[n2knowledge]

....Plus....I know personally - I don't look at the top first page people on "Best Match" - my search is normally to ending first, low to high and new listings - so placement in the best match is meaningless for me and many of my friends.

[timemachine777 · Accepted solution]

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@n2knowledgewrote:

Only other thought I could give is that those with promotions (100 free) seem to get more sales during a promotion and they could be boosted on the first page during a short period.  Ebay does weird searches - something I know some people revise their listings and change words around to see if that will boost their ratings and many just open  a new listing rather than relist or use sell similar for the "bots" to think of their item as "fresh".  Could be a number of AI reasons - which we are not privy too.

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Here's a thread where we were messing around with search results in response to mixing up keywords.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Selling/Let-s-figure-out-Cassini-once-and-for-all/m-p/25747642...

"Cassini isn't as smart as people think. This is a great placement example using one of my items. I used 4 of the primary keywords only, and then I mixed up the order and checked the placement. The last search I mash the the name together and got pretty much the best placement aside from one other. All the other placements weren't that great. The point is that by using the exact same keywords, I should have either placed the same every time, or those that matched my title the closest should have placed the best, yet that wasn't the result. Also notice that about 3 sellers didn't make all the results. Plus I didn't check close enough to make sure all the sellers were the same in each sample. The point is that nothing about the actual listing was changed, only the order of the exact same keywords that were used to do a search. The result was thatplacement varied."

My original title is:  

Shirley Temple Doll Huge 33" Playpal Lovee Doll in Box DANBURY Mint Twist Wrist

Here are my results:

shirley temple playpal doll

17 of 35

shirley temple doll playpal

20 of 32

playpal shirley temple doll

20 of 32

shirley playpal temple doll

10 of 35

playpal temple doll shirley

7 of 35

doll playpal temple shirley

20 of 35

shirleytemple doll playpal

8 of 32

[grasshopperx]

Time machine? you know that video you posted on the CEO on you tube? I call him Weiggy.  I watched that. What do you think about the part where he was talking about a product picture search. How ebay was investing all this money, so when a buyer who couldnt describe what exactly they were searching for, They could just snap a picture and the "new" photo based search would find the exact item for the buyer? I think its a waste of time.. Then the second thing that stood out to me was Weiggy talking about really fast shipping? I thought to myself... thats silly, when half the site is chinese goods that take weeks to arrive?  It'd be one thing if it were all US sellers here, but we're over run with chinese junk. Despite the point, we have no control over the post office. Maybe Weiggy ought to call USPS and tell them what to do too?

[kate_lily_cache]

@timemachine777

I looked through the old thread you suggested "Let's figure out Cassini..."

What I am doing right:

- TRS status

- 6 or more pics

- using eBay's SEO terms

- 30-day returns

- have 2 or more watchers on each item

- 1-day handling time

At this point, it seems creating the listings as new (instead of sell similar) is the only option I haven't pursued. It is time-consuming, but I have already started this morning. Hope it makes a difference.

[timemachine777]

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@grasshopperxwrote:

Time machine? you know that video you posted on the CEO on you tube? I call him Weiggy.  I watched that. What do you think about the part where he was talking about a product picture search. How ebay was investing all this money, so when a buyer who couldnt describe what exactly they were searching for, They could just snap a picture and the "new" photo based search would find the exact item for the buyer? I think its a waste of time.. Then the second thing that stood out to me was Weiggy talking about really fast shipping? I thought to myself... thats silly, when half the site is chinese goods that take weeks to arrive?  It'd be one thing if it were all US sellers here, but we're over run with chinese junk. Despite the point, we have no control over the post office. Maybe Weiggy ought to call USPS and tell them what to do too?

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There are older vids of him talking about wanting to take eBay to an all image search format through both photo recognition and scroll through photos. I think the latter got shelved. I can see photo recognition working for some items, and as a "lets see if we can make a match with this one in a million do hicky, thingamabob". 

However, there is so much stuff out there that photo recognition will not match due to photo angles of the items, and rarity. Not to mention OOAK pieces. Your still going to need a keyword based search feature. 

DW, has made a deal with the PO to ship Chinese packets faster, but not that fast. As for here in the US, he back tracked on trying to beat Amazon. The only way that eBay can speed up shipping in the US, is by defaulting a buyers search results by location, and showing them only sales as close as possible to their location, and leaving out the ones farther away.

This practice, if it's going on, would account for the fact that over the past 6 months, I no longer get West coast sales, when that use to be mostly what I got. Now all my sales come from the Northeast. On one of my accounts, almost all my sales have been from PA.

[timemachine777]

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@kate_lily_cachewrote:

@timemachine777

I looked through the old thread you suggested "Let's figure out Cassini..."

What I am doing right:

- TRS status

- 6 or more pics

- using eBay's SEO terms

- 30-day returns

- have 2 or more watchers on each item

- 1-day handling time

At this point, it seems creating the listings as new (instead of sell similar) is the only option I haven't pursued. It is time-consuming, but I have already started this morning. Hope it makes a difference.

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I've been told in recent conversations by eBay reps to do just that. Back in Jan I had a huge batch of listings end after 30 days with not one view. I kept them running to see if any would get a view or sell. Nothing. They stated that with all the different changes that eBay has been making along with site and app problems going on, that it could be almost any number of things that could be affecting listings. I was also told that if I recreate the listings, not to use TL, but to use the on site listing tool.