Get Ready For “Product-Based” eBay Search Results
Filed Under Best Match, Industry News & Analysis, Sellers' Insights | 2 Comments
eBay promises a wider roll-out of “product-based” search results before the holidays.
We’re moving toward a ”product-based” search experience, where users won’t have to sift through so many of the same types of search results. When you search for a product, you’ll see a great deal for that product right up front.In fact, we just shipped this new experience for GPS units, MP3 players, and DVDs. Using the new experience, it’s super easy to get a great deal. For example, if you want to buy a GPS unit, you’re now easily able to choose between buying the best deal on a new one from a Trusted Seller, or a refurbished one, and you’re be able to read reviews, see price trends, and more. Try a query such as iPod nano, Garmin Nuvi, or Finding Nemo.
This will impact commodity-type listings that can be catalogued easily.
A search for “GPS” brings the eBay visitor to a page that provides the opportunity to further refine the search by specific product. No specific listings are on this page. Just an overview of products, starting prices, and number of listings.
While this might be great for buyers looking for a bargain, it means an even harder time getting to the prime spot for all but a chosen few sellers. Take a look at the search results page below:
Fortunate is the seller who makes it in the “Value Box!” Every other listing requires an additional click or two — especially if the item is not new.
eBay Actively Testing 15 Different Best Match Search Algorithms on eBay.com
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In a recent press release, eBay discussed changes to the Best Match search algorithm that they are planning and currently testing on the site.
According to the statement, a series of changes will be released over the next twelve months based on the results of the tests. eBay’s Vice President of Search Engineering, Hugh Williams, stated that one of the new technologies that he is most excited about involves “machine-learned ranking.”
This means that the order of the search results will be driven by more data factors than we currently use, and we’ll be able to combine these factors using a computer-generated model. In practice, this means the results will be more relevant to our users, and our search engine will adapt more easily, quickly and accurately to what our customers are doing on the site. We’re already testing this on a small number of our users, and we’re seeing great results.
For those sellers trying to keep up and adapt to the current Best Match algorithm – good luck – because according to Williams, “Right now, we have over 15 different search ranking algorithms on the U.S. site…”
eBay’s Keyword Suggestion Tool is Being Updated w/ Fresh Data
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Last year I reported that eBay’s Keyword Suggestion Tool, the BayEstimator, was no longer being updated with fresh data. After playing around on it this evening, I noticed that the tool was returning different results for keywords than it did just a couple of months ago. I had some screen shots that I was trying to replicate to get a better image resolution for the next edition of Best Match Made Simple, but I just couldn’t get the same results.
Could it be that the BayEstimator is now getting fresh data? A quick experiment with the search term “iPad” shows fresh data!
(The iPad was introduced a year after eBay stopped feeding data to the BayEstimator)
Two More Free eBay Keyword Tools
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I just wanted to pass along a couple of eBay keyword tools that I’ve never gotten around to mentioning on AuctionInsights:
CatMan –
Get a deeper understanding of top keywords, hot keywords, sellers and trends on a per-category basis. Simply click on a category name to view the top key words for that category. Check the box(es) next to category names to view trends. Here’s a couple of Steg Larson books compared:
Like the BayEstimator, this tool is offered on the eBay labs website. Here’s the link: http://labs.ebay.com/Catman/
eBaySaurus -
(Think thesaurus – not dinosaurs like I did) Get a view of the eBay query network along different semantic dimensions. Simply enter a keyword and an interactive chart of related keywords appears. The larger the bubble, the more relevant that keyword is. Click on a bubble to find other terms related to that keyword. Expand and drag to your hearts content to get ideas of keywords related to the one you entered. This tool is based on actual search behavior on the eBay site, so it could be the perfect brainstorming tool to jump start your listings.
Here’s a screenshot:
This tool is also on the eBay Labs site: http://labs.ebay.com/demos/qnet/