SEO for Ebay Shop categories - Search Engine Keywords

[havenindia]

One of the hot topics on ebay radio lately is about driving traffic to your ebay Shop through SEO - search engine optimization.

We all know that Ebay gets your shop onto the first few pages of search engines like Google. So what are we actually doing to make sure potential buyers click on our ebay shops link?

Search engines are all about Keywords, so as sellers we need to start thinking like we do when we are searching for something on the internet.

Finding the right 2-3 keywords for our items is easy and all we need to do make sure that our Categories and Shop Name include those keywords!

Many times I have viewed an ebay shop and found less than 5 categories and over 100 items to search through (often more!), chances are if you cant find it - the search engine wont bother.

A simple way to redo your shop categories is to start by separating all your items - be really specific. The next step is to go into sub-categories and name them with the brand names, features, pack sizes, colours etc

An example I have for my UK craft items is:
level 1 category>Glass Colour Paints
level 2 category>Camel waterbased glass colours (so, I have added the brand and the feature here)

This makes it so much easier for the buyers to narrow down the search for what they are looking for. It also means a Search Engine is doing the same.

Dont forget you can also add a specific shop category to the top of all your listings, as you would a custom page.

So, think Keywords - brand names, features, sizes, colours..the more specific the better.

I hope this helps someone to organise their shop and maybe even receive traffic from outside of Ebay (rumours are that Ebay pay us for traffic we generate ourselves)

[amitabh@ebay.com]

Hi Havenindia ,

Very well said.

I wanted to share some more thoughts on how you could leverage search to get better ROI for shops.

Check out the following points to better optimize your shop for Search Engines:

Feature Description
Store Naming and URL The Store name you choose determines your Store's web site address (URL), so choose a descriptive Store name that tells buyers what you sell. This will also help Web search engines find your Store when buyers are looking for the products you offer.

Store Description
A Store description helps increase the likelihood of appearing in search engines.
• Use keywords that people enter when searching for your products
• Be sure your description accurately represents the products in your Store
• Use a Store theme that includes your Store description in the header
• Remember that the description should also be useful and meaningful to buyers visiting your store, so it should be more than simply a list of search keywords.
* You should not change your description often, unless your Store inventory (business) changes often. By changing a description often, search engines will not be able to index your page.
Custom Categories Help buyers browse your virtual shelves-create and organize up to 300 categories and subcategories for your Store. Be sure to use relevant, descriptive, specific and popular keywords in your custom category names.

As an example, if you offer laptops, desktops and printers in your Store, clearly specify your product offering with custom categories. Search engines will not recognize generic terms such as Category 1, Category 2, Other etc.

* Do not change your Store Categories often. This should be a one time set up when you are initially setting up your Store, or when you significantly change the types of items you are selling.

Also as demand is looking for supply which is opposite to what happens in the conventional paid for advertising media , the ROI and conversions are far greater.


Happy optimization

Cheers

piyush bhargav

Regards,
Amitabh