10 eBay web optimization Tricks to Improve Gross sales
There are two billion transactions made on eBay every day, and most consumers only spend about eight minutes on the website making those purchases.
This is a huge untapped market if you aren't on the site already.
However, if your focus is on SEO for traditional search engines, you may be hesitant to give this website a try. You are in luck, however, as eBay is more or less a hyper-focused search engine.
However, eBay SEO is not the same as Google SEO. To increase sales on eBay, you need to master eBay SEO.
How does eBay's search engine work?
Cassini is not quite like Google in that eBay users often come to buy rather than browse.
Because of this, Cassini and eBay try to find items, educate themselves about them, and decide to bid or buy as efficiently as possible. While the relevance of keywords plays a big role, Cassini also focuses on other factors:
- User friendliness: Users need to know immediately what they are looking for, why they should buy it, and what will happen after the purchase. You shouldn't have to search for information.
- Bang for your money: Prices, including shipping costs, must be reasonable for the items sold.
- Buyer Satisfaction: EBay and Cassini care much more about the buyers than they do the sellers. You need to see that you have good reviews and positive interactions with customers.
Why should you improve your eBay SEO?
If you want to make money on eBay, you need to master eBay SEO. If you show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) sooner, more people will see your listing. The more people see your listing, the more potential customers you have.
10 Tips for Mastering eBay SEO
Becoming a top seller on eBay works differently than other search engines, including many shopping platforms. Below are 10 tips for conquering the world of eBay SEO.
Use effective keywords in eBay listings
When it comes to keywords, eBay and other search engines are the most similar, as keywords are vital to selling online no matter what website you're on.
Make sure your keywords tell consumers exactly what they are looking for. Use these keywords in both your title and description.
It is not enough to tell your potential customers that you sell watches, for example. You want to find out what keywords are used to find your exact article.
Because of this, you need to do keyword research, including identifying what people are looking for in general, and eBay in particular.
Keyword research can be a breeze for consumers with keyword research tools like Ubersuggest.
Looking at watches, Ubersuggest can identify keywords that are used in shopping:
If you want to make eBay an important part of your business, check out Terapeak. If you're a Basic, Premium, Anchor, or Enterprise Store subscriber, you have free access to it. If you're a Starter Store member or independent seller, the monthly payment is $ 12.
Terapeak gives you access to eBay's exclusive support and information including:
- Help with optimizing your offers
- Details of what your competitors are doing
- Market research trends
- Assistance in selling unusual, used and rarely sold items
- Find out what to do if you want to sell internationally
- Tips for improving unsold item listings
When you search for "watches" on Terapeak, you can limit your search to your eBay listing. After you have clicked on "Research", examples of current offers and prices are displayed:
Make your eBay listing title pop
The title of your eBay product list is a critical factor in the performance of the website's SERPs.
When a user searches for "watch" on eBay, they initially see sponsored offers, but they quickly come across organic offers. Here is one of the earlier organic results for watches:
Well-written titles make your products easier to discover by the eBay algorithm and consumers. These titles are:
- Keyword-focused. Make it easy for people scrolling to know what you're selling. However, don't enter your keyword unnecessarily – you only need to display it once.
- Engage. Don't just put words together as a title that describes your product. Make it engaging and easy to read.
- Concise. You only have 80 characters to create your title. Keep your title as short as possible without losing its meaning.
It is not uncommon to see entries that contradict these recommendations. For example, the title above could be something like "Watch Men New Invicta Watch Scuba Chronograph Stainless Steel Black Dial Watch !!" Everything is there and the keyword appears a few times – but which title would you click?
Write detailed but concise eBay listing descriptions
eBay listings need to be both detailed and to the point. To write this you need to:
- Incorporate keywords. Include keywords in your description naturally to make it easier for customers to find your product.
- Highlight the benefits. Show your customers how much they can benefit from your product. Don't just mark the specifications – these are in your item details and IDs anyway.
- Be honest. When selling used items, do not try to cover up any damage. Consumers don't appreciate receiving things that aren't in expected condition, and that could lead to bad reviews and returns – which eBay doesn't like.
- Keep it short and simple. Long, complicated descriptions can put customers off.
First, write your descriptions for people. As search engines get more advanced, keyword stuffing no longer works.
Never use invisible text. Not only does this leave you out of touch with current SEO trends, but it also breaks eBay rules and can cause you to be shut down.
Integrate clear and effective product images
All search engines, including eBay, value a good user experience (UX). Because of this, you need to use high quality images in your product lists.
When you look back on the title example above, you think: If you hadn't been told we were looking at the title, would your eyes be on the title or picture first?
If possible, hire a professional photographer to take your pictures. However, if you don't have access to a professional, you can take your own photos and still get clicks.
Best practices for taking your own eBay photos include:
- Neutral backgrounds
- Good lighting
- Clear pictures with all the details
- No frills like thumbnails, collages or borders
Don't hide damage if your items have some. Tag it in one of the additional photos on your listing so your customer knows what to expect. You can have up to 12 images on the side of an item.
Make your eBay listings accessible
Accessibility is an important component of SEO. Accessibility means that your store is easy to use for shoppers with visual impairments or other difficulties reading text.
Since search engines want to offer a positive user interface to all users, they prefer pages that are designed with accessibility in mind. For this reason you have to pay attention to the accessibility of your eBay shop.
How to Make Your Business Accessible:
- Use picture alt tags. Image alt tags should describe your graphics clearly and concisely so that screen readers can tell visually impaired users what is on the screen. Include your keywords in your image alt text for better visibility.
- Use text effectively. Write your descriptions succinctly using a font size that is appropriately sized, with short sentences and paragraphs, and colors that are easy to read (e.g. black type on a white background instead of yellow type on a white background).
- Use correct grammar and spelling. Not only can poor grammar and spelling cause some users to click away in sheer annoyance, but misspelled words can be a challenge for screen reader users, and poor grammar can unnecessarily confuse things.
Use the correct eBay item category
Choosing the right category for your eBay listing is essential. eBay suggests a category for you. For example, it can automatically select "watch" when you enter "clock" for your entry. However, if you're selling a pocket watch, if you don't fix it, buyers and the Cassini algorithm will get confused.
You can add a second category if you think your article would do well in more than one category. It costs a bit of money, but can be worthwhile. For example, if I sell a 1945 watch, I can choose:
In this way, I appeal to people who are looking for wristwatches and to people who are looking for vintage watches.
Complete the item details and eBay's unique identifiers
In addition to adding a description, add item details using eBay's drop down lists and check boxes. These help eBay figure out what you're selling.
Use as many unique product identifiers as possible. According to eBay, unique product identifiers help the algorithm compare product lists with queries more quickly. They also help make your products more visible.
eBay recently started requiring specific product identifiers for certain types of items. For this mandate to apply, the products must be new or have been refurbished by the manufacturer. However, you can (and should) provide the information for items outside of these parameters if you have them. The required identifiers are:
- brand
- Manufacturer Part Number (MPN)
- Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)
This Invicta watch above has a ton of product identifiers:
The UPC is the GTIN; The model is the MPN.
Adding unique product identifiers may seem painful, but it goes a long way towards increasing your eBay SEO. They also prevent you from having to put every little thing in your product description. Some crossovers are fine, of course.
Provide great customer service
Shop reviews and customer complaints make a significant contribution to how high your rank in the eBay SERPs is.
The first step in excellent customer service is frontloading information. Be very clear about shipping, returns, and product information in your listings. This includes letting you know your operating hours (i.e. when you can reply to messages) and the days that you are sending. Your customers shouldn't have any surprises in store.
If a customer or prospect contacts you with questions, respond quickly. If you get the same question multiple times, update your entry so that it is answered in the description.
Handle complaints and concerns with your best "customer service face". Still, if you run into problems, you can still get a positive rating if you do things quickly and politely.
While eBay may be more customer-centric than seller-centric, it won't let you down when you have a problem. The Seller Support Team can help you with difficult buyers, returns, and more.
As with any other website with reviews, actively encourage your customers to write them. However, they cannot do this in your listings or offer free content or money in exchange for a good review.
Open an eBay Store Account
Every eBay seller needs an account, but not everyone needs a business account. There are tons of retail sellers on the site trying to clear their homes of unneeded items or to sell things on a small scale. However, if you use this as your main source of income, then create a business account.
If you used eBay a while ago you may remember an About Me page that was a great place for you to give consumers a ton of information. eBay eliminated this in 2014. These days, the information you can provide to customers in your business description is quite limited. Let's take a look at the store page for Adidas:
An image, logo, and brief description – that's all you can include. You will find that they do not have a link to the official Adidas website. eBay does not allow external links, except in limited cases, and this never includes links to other stores. You can't even have a website typed but not clickable (in your store or in a listing) or as your username.
However, a store page can be worth the money if you're selling at high volume. eBay Store Subscribers Get:
- Free offers and discounted sales fees
- A surge in traffic
- Tools for listing optimization
- Simple absence functions
- Terapeak access for free
- Access to the Promotions Manager
- Discounts for business services
Subscriptions vary in prices ($ 4.85 / month for starters to $ 2,999.95 per month for enterprise subscriptions) and perks.
Spring for Sponsored eBay Deals
If you want to make sure you get on SERPs early, you can pay for sponsored offers.
When I searched for "Watch," 14 out of 50 entries on page one of the results were sponsored. Somewhat unique, they were spread out everywhere, so they looked more like standard items. Sponsored offers have also been published on the following pages.
The visibility of sponsored offers is on average 36% higher than that of standard offers. And these don't pay per click – you won't be charged until a purchase is made.
Successful (or unsuccessful) promoted campaigns can have a long-term impact on your overall ranking.
Conclusion
One of the best ways to increase sales on eBay is to get your products more visible than those of your competitors.
This is why you need to use these eBay SEO tips.
Whether you are planning to start your business or already have one, watch out for Search Engine Optimization and your sales could go up.
Which SEO tips from eBay did you use to improve your ranking?