View Part One of my Series on How to Get Your eBay Listing to Appear in Google
Since its introduction as the default method of displaying the search results in January of 2008, Best Match has had a profound impact on eBay sellers. For the lucky few who either by blind luck, finesse or brute force have been able to achieve a position at the top of the search results, Best Match has been a tremendous boon to their business.
However, the vast majority of sellers have not had such a favorable experience with Best Match. While eBay is still an excellent platform for these sellers to conduct the actual sales transaction, they can no longer count on eBay to send them the volume of traffic that made up the bulk of sales they had previously. Consequently, many sellers are without alternatives and struggling to be successful.
That’s why I developed the techniques I share in Beyond Best Match that empower eBay sellers to bypass the hassle of Best Match and get their listing to appear in the Google search results. Getting your eBay listing included and ranked highly in Google has some significant benefits. Specifically improved buyer trust, increased traffic from customers, and (ironically) an advantage in eBay’s Best Match.
One of my eBay Listings on Page 1 of the Bing Search Results
The Benefits of Natural Search Results
*Trust* – The customers that find your listing in Google are more apt to trust you. There are several reasons for this. The first is the simple fact that they actively searched for what you are selling and found your listing – you didn’t find them. They didn’t click on an ad – which involves a healthy level of suspicion and skepticism – nor were they lured away from doing something else online by a random link to your listing. They went to Google with an itch that needed scratching and clicked through to your eBay listing because they thought you might be able to help. Additionally, warranted or not, many people assign you instant credibility because you were ranked highly in Google. After all, Google does have a reputation for providing relevant search results.
*Traffic* – If you carefully research and choose a relevant keyword phrase and are successful in your Search Engine Optimization efforts, the traffic from Google will be significant. After I adapted and successfully implemented Search Engine Optimization techniques for eBay, the number of customers visiting my listings increased over seven-fold compared to the traffic eBay was sending. Incredible considering the fact that I’m paying eBay for traffic while Google’s is free. It may seem obvious, but it bears mentioning that an increase in traffic directly correlates to an increase in sales.
*Best Match Advantage* – With the exception of the collectibles categories, eBay calculates something called a “listing performance score” for fixed-priced (Buy It Now or BIN) listings. The listing performance score is a ratio determined by the number of sales generated (for multiple quantity listings) divided by the number of times the listing has appeared in eBay’s search results (impressions). Scoring well for this particular metric positively influences that listing’s ranking in the search results under Best Match.
Recall the formula for the listing performance score: sales divided by impressions. To increase this score, a seller needs to either:
- Decrease the number of impressions while holding sales constant;
- Increase the number of sales while holding impressions constant;
- Or a combination of the above.
Appearing in Google’s search results doesn’t count as an impression. Therefore, any sales you make from customers that didn’t come from eBay’s search results improves your listing performance score significantly. Ironically, efforts you take to compensate for the lack of traffic from eBay’s Best Match can actually increase the amount of traffic you get from Best Match!
The Way Forward – Get Found in Google
Getting your eBay listing indexed and ranking highly in Google and the other search engines requires a basic understanding of the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and some labor on your part to implement them. These fundamentals include identifying and using the appropriate keywords. Additionally these SEO fundamentals require addressing the on-page factors such as the listing title, the headlines, and an appropriate description. Finally, the techniques require addressing off-page factors such as links from several credible external web sites.
Sound hard? I won’t deny that this technique requires an investment in effort and some commitment to be successful. However, if you are looking for a way to increase the traffic to your eBay listings and corresponding bump in your sales, I know of no better way.
In my next post, we’ll start by covering the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization.
Ready now to get your eBay listings in the Google search results?
Visit http://www.BeyondBestMatch.com to download your copy immediately and get started today!
Get your eBay listings to appear in the Google search results and watch your sales soar!
Download your copy of Beyond Best Match today!
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