Listing Optimisation
All roads lead to Data
Titles – Prime Real-estate
Nothing is more important than a title. It is the first text a buyer reads. It is their first impression of your tone, level of care, depth, presentation and attention to detail.
But before the buyer sees the title, he has to find it. Titles straddle a line between being keyword optimised for visibility, but without casting too wide a net to impair conversion metrics long term.
Our methodology follows scientific theory around subconscious decision making in our emotionally driven brains but balances this with channel algorithm studies and a sprinkling of common sense.
We’ve had a bit of a rant on eBay seller titles in the past that got some attention when first posted, but have since pretended to calm down and be OK with all the bad titles out there we see…
Categorisation
Sounds simple enough and in point of fact it should be. Your product needs to be in the right category to benefit from the right kind of traffic the marketplace drives to that area.
The right data is requested of products depending on their respective categories, so you need to list the product in the right spot to benefit from the filters and indexed values.
But what about a product that technically fits two different categories? Or more? Is it better to list in a category with loads of traffic and competition, or less competition, but less traffic?
Attributes
You may come to realise we rant at times, and did rant on this topic which Tamebay picked up.
We like to think our rants are why more and more sellers have understood the value of attributes (which eBay calls item specifics) over the years and built them out better. Wait… no. Many sellers are still skipping this crucial optimisation step. I guess our rants aren’t ranty enough! Note to self: Must rant harder.
Attributes do many things:
- They help your product get found by acting as extensions of your titles.
- They qualify buyers with key important information, preventing returns.
- They feed filters, a natural and well-used tool a buyer will adopt to narrow search results.
We examine your descriptions and scan your images, building attributes as deeply as we can to fit channel taxonomies, because we know it’s in your interest. It’s not exactly fun easy work, but it’s worth it.
Search Terms
We do free audits for clients interested in our services, and this topic routinely comes up. It’s sad really. A geek somewhere in our office sheds a tear every time.
Amazon has a whole dedicated field for search terms… and so many of you sellers use it poorly, or not at all! All channels rely on search terms in titles and attributes… and so many of you are either spamming the hell out of them that its damaging your conversions, or not giving this enough thought after you launch the product.
There are many many tools out there promising to mine the perfect search terms for your product. They are helpful. But they are machines, and last I checked the toaster still burns toast if you don’t set it up and monitor it properly.
Everything Else.
You’re getting the idea by now. When it comes to any and all data on your listings, we want to help you. Many of you need our help, judging from what we see online. We won’t point fingers, but please, if not us, spend a lot of time on these things. They are important.
Our other recommendations:
- Amazon Bullets are subjective and valuable.
- Images sell product online. Make them plentiful and high resolution always.
- Secondary categories should be used with thought, not thrown everywhere.
- Subtitles should be used carefully to promote the product, not to include generic info the buyer has elsewhere on screen already.
