Since GTC are you getting any views in Google Shop & Other Off site engines?

[abfabvintage]

My favorite subject: getting views on off site search engines. What has changed for me since GTC? Considering eBay has professed the main reason for mandatory GTC was to get better visibility in Google and other engines. I only use GTC and not auctions so haven't tested what happens if you have auctions listed.

whohou.com:  shows all of my meager 12 active listings as of today. Matches what I have listed now on eBay.

Google Shop (GS): newly listed GTC items from 2 weeks ago only showed 3 of I think 9 active and only sat there for 2 days. Then gone to 0. Then I listed another newly listed batch a few days ago and they are in GS today but will disappear soon.

Before all of these changes GS showed all of my active listings. And those that rolled over into another GTC 30 days don't show at all. However, for those that are active on ebay now (12), some not all are intermingled here and there amid hundreds of Google Images, rather than just specific to the GS.

Topratedseller.com: no active listings show like they did before this change over, yet do show listings that ended with or without a sale with pix blocked out. Only good thing now about this site it has a clickable button to see your full account which takes me to all my active ebay listings.

Long story short...what experience are others having related to this topic? Did your visibility increase on other search engines? And been down this road here: yes, all of my listings meet the outside search engines' criteria. 

[luckythewinner]

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@abfabvintage wrote:

Considering eBay has professed the main reason for mandatory GTC was to get better visibility in Google and other engines.

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Here's what Harry Temkin said in his message posted here to sellers: 

"We’re making this change because we have seen that GTC listings offer more sales opportunities than any other fixed price duration. Over time, GTC listings keep and grow watchers, sales history, and SEO authority as they maintain the same item ID and URL for the life of the listing. We believe all of the above improves the ability for buyers to discover items on eBay"

I don't like the GTC change at all ... but to be fair, the name "Google" does not appear anywhere in his post and SEO is only mentioned once in a list of several alleged benefits. 

[kathieskorner]

As they say the "proof is in the pudding" not what an eBay VP postulates.  I split my monthly listings between GTC and manual relist.  The GTC listings get far less additional views than the cancel and manually relist items.  And I still have not sold one GTC item that automatically rolled over.  

[abfabvintage]

@luckythewinner 

Thanks for your reply. Understand the Temkin post, but there are many recent threads here where the Blues promoted GTC related to getting better visibility with search engines (SEO) by converting to GTC. And considering my outline above, why even bother about Google Shop or the other engines since your items are only there for a fraction of the time they are listed. I do know for at least Google Shop, it is eBay who is supposed to pay whatever fee Google charges for visibility particularly if you have a store. Been there on this topic forever. Trying to get a handle of why on other SEOs your stuff is there and not fully advertised in Google Shop. Oh, and when all of my active listings were in Google Shop they were all fixed 30 days with no roll overs.

[abfabvintage]

Add to my post: and the Blues actually quoted the name "Google." Or used the term "outside or other search engines."

[mcdougle4248]

@abfabvintage 

I did see a bump on Google Shopping exposure when I started using GTC (March 1st), 15-20 of my items returned on the first page.  Now, it seems to be about the same as before GTC, 6-8 of my items (650+ active listings) show up on the first page of Google Shopping results.  Most of the remaining 32-34 items on the first page are from Etsy sellers.  Curious note is that a large amount of the Etsy sellers do not use a white background for their pictures, which is what I thought Google liked.

[abfabvintage]

@mcdougle4248 

Are you speaking about Google Shop or the "regular" google searching? When I access Google Shop since the changes I only see my items, no one elses. Now...prior to this past January 2019, I would have all my items shown plus those from Betsy, Amazon, and others only because they used the term "abfab or abfabvintage or absolutely fabulous" within their descriptions/titles. I no longer see those referenced. And you are correct, the other sites a lot of them don't have the white background. 

In your experience, for how long do you see your active items listed in GS...2 days, 15 days, always for your item duration? I also look up some of my fave sellers usng the Shop and if they have say 300 active items listed, maybe a 1/4 is shown.

I just don't understand why, like whohou.com, has all of my active listings yet GS not?

[mcdougle4248]

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@abfabvintage wrote:

@mcdougle4248 

Are you speaking about Google Shop or the "regular" google searching? When I access Google Shop since the changes I only see my items, no one elses. Now...prior to this past January 2019, I would have all my items shown plus those from Betsy, Amazon, and others only because they used the term "abfab or abfabvintage or absolutely fabulous" within their descriptions/titles. I no longer see those referenced. And you are correct, the other sites a lot of them don't have the white background. 

In your experience, for how long do you see your active items listed in GS...2 days, 15 days, always for your item duration? I also look up some of my fave sellers usng the Shop and if they have say 300 active items listed, maybe a 1/4 is shown.

I just don't understand why, like whohou.com, has all of my active listings yet GS not?

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I usually just do a generic GS search for "recycled can ornaments" because that is what my shoppers at craft fairs call them.  I only check GS once every week or so and what I see does change from week to week.  I wish I knew how eBay shoppers found me in search, GS or even on eBay.  I do get messages every now and then that say something like, I am so glad I stumbled across yours ornaments.  Makes me think they somehow accidentally saw one of my listings while searching for something else.  Could be a promoted listing another seller's page?

I just did a GS search using my seller ID and it returned 491 items (out of 650+), all of which were mine.  I took a quick look at whohou.com and it looks like all of my active listings are displayed.

[this*old*attic]

I don’t have a store anymore...

Is there still a traffic section where you can see how many views came in from off site?

Thinking of using summer to list like crazy and see what shakes loose.

[m60driver]

I think it is far too early to make a determination whether the GTC policy has any benefit for sellers relative to visibility on other sites.  So far I have seen no increase in sales using GTC and I really don't expect to see anything positive, but I shall wait a full six months before confirming my suspicions that The Temkin speaks for the San Jose Borg collective out of his backward facing orifice.

[clu3]

Based on my "traffic" reporting, I would say I've had less visibility from off ebay.  But it could be related to all the fiddling I've been doing with listings in the past two months.

As a seller, I've always used GTC and then 30 day durations when I had promotions available.  I wasn't thrilled about having the 30 day option eliminated and having to keep track of those listings.  But I think I'm organized enough and technologically adept at setting reminders to cancel things before I incur listing fees.  (although I feel for those that have A LOT of listings to manage, I'm small potatoes on that spectrum)

As a buyer, GTC has greatly improved the "saved search" feature.  With on-site ebay searches, the "newly listed" sort should also be more useful.  I've purchased far more than I've sold this month.  In the overall scheme of things, if it works better for buyers, I'll try to adapt as a seller.

[tealt]

It's hard for me to say whether letting about half my FP listing run as GTC (I previously used 30-day) has improved my visibility in GS or not.  A few GTC items have sold in the last month or so, but then a few of the 30-day things would also sell once in awhile.

HOWEVER...I just had an most unsettling experience with eBay.

I found one of my silverplated flatware GTC listings on a GS first page (item 392271432202) and clicked on the listing title.  Instead of going to my listing on eBay, as I would have expected, an eBay page with 98 results for that pattern popped up.  What?!  Even worse, my listing was the 20th down the page.

A buyer manages to find my listing via GS, is interested enough to click on it, and...is taken to a page with 97 competing listings, and mine isn't even the first one on the page?

Thanks a lot, eBay!  Are those 19 listings before mine all promoted?  Are they all mega sellers that eBay caters to?  It is very, very discouraging, as a small seller, to be, for want of a better word, squashed, by eBay when a buyer actually finds one of my listings via GS.

[abfabvintage]

@this*old*attic 

Hi, I have a starter store, used to have Basic from 2014 to June 2018. I am not sure if sellers who don't have a store are listed in google shop (not the conventional google search as most things will show up there along with thousands of other people lol). And to back up my back up to my comment related to eBay should be paying for the visibility in Google Shop, here is what is on my listings re: Google Shop:

"Products and offers that match your query. Google is compensated by these merchants. Payment is one of several factors used to rank these results. By default, ranking on Google Shopping is based on a combination of advertiser bids and relevance, such as your current search terms and your activity. Visit Google's Consumer Ads Help Center or the About Google Shopping page to learn more."

I don't pay for anything related to off site engines. What convinced me to get a Store back in 2014 was this automatic visibility in Google Shop. From 2014 up to the Starter Store all my active ebay listings were there. That is one of the major reasons I opted into a Store. And the traffic question you have: I think I used to be able to click on some link in eBay that showed you traffic related to ebay and other engines. I don't use Seller Hub, not sure if that gives you the info...maybe some other more experienced seller can chime in on how to see all traffic. It used to be a graph and number of views.

[abfabvintage]

@mcdougle4248 

Hey, go to search on google, click tab Google Shop, then put in your selling ID. That should show you your items. That is how I access it. BUT...for some reason after a lot of research on how to input my ID because just putting in abfabvintage brought up items related to the British show, I now do "abfabvintage" and that is how my stuff comes up. Have no clue why. I am the most stupid techie on this planet lolol. BUT I put in one of my fave sellers without the quotes and their stuff comes up (although only about a 1/4 of what they have actively listed. Hope this makes sense.

[abfabvintage]

@m60driver 

Hi, I have been beating this drum since mid summer 2018 about my items not showing up in Google Shop. Then all of a sudden there they were suddenly in September, and all of them. Then through first of year 2019 it was piece meal or not at all. I am not blaming the mandatory GTC for this since this was a problem prior to March 18...I will say again, how come all my actives are on the whohou.com which states they are an ebay affiliate or something like that. Maybe because I downgraded to Starter June of last year? But they were all there (30 day fixed, not GTC, not auctions) again in September 2018. And have been back and forth with various posters, one saying I have to pay for it (NOT), another saying who cares about the Google Shop. Just trying to get some kind of common sense answer. Am sure some other posters are tired of me beating the, to me, alive horse versus dead horse.