eBay Tips 2008: eBay Shops and Search Engine Optimisation

The old order changeth yielding place to new. I can’t recall which poet wrote that (Tennyson?), I’ll Google it when I’m done with this post. But it is something that eBay sellers would do well to remember, especially with reference to how Google is transforming how people shop online.

Time was that people would come to eBay directly, search and buy. Nowadays much online shopping begins with Google, eBay turns up in results and then buying commences. It’s sage to expect that this trend is going to continue (it’s why I reckon that diversifying away from eBay into other channels is wise). Hold me to this, if eBay still exists: in time you’ll be getting more of your eBay customers from Google, than eBay itself.

This means that making your eBay Shop and listings as sexy as possible to Google and search engines is more than just about boosting the bottom-line. This is about survival.

eBay Shops SEO options
Aside from the name of your Shop, there are two key areas to consider: your Shop ‘blurb’ and your category structure. The good news is that eBay also gives you help with keywords. Check out the section in your Shop Manager.

Shop Blurb: The obvious temptation is to write something along the lines of ‘Hi there! I’ve been trading on eBay for 3 years and really hope you’ll buy from me! Check out my… blah, blah, blah…” This might be friendly but it’s bad for Search Engines. This would be better: ‘Daphne’s Furniture and Homeware Shop sells furniture and household goods. We’ve got chairs, tables, shelf units, sofas and storage units. Check out big brands… blah, blah, blah.”

Shop Categories: It’s the same game with your categories. Make sure that your Shop Category structure is working really hard. Of course, the terms will depend on what you sell, but the discipline in the same: cram in the keywords!

To use a field I know well, imagine ‘Dan’s Doctor Who Emporium’:

You could go for:

Action Figures
Audio
Books
DVDs
Toys

But this would be better:

Doctor Who Action Figures
Doctor Who Audio

Big Finish
Vintage

Doctor Who Books

BBC
Target
Virgin

Doctor Who DVDs

Box Sets
Vintage
William Hartnell
Tom Baker
David Tennant

Doctor Who Toys

Dinky
Dapol
New Series

It’s just about giving the search engines fodder to chew on to help them catalogue you. Hamlet summed it up: ‘words, words, words.”

Read the comments on Tamebay.