topic Re: Titles in Selling

Titles

arnl7178 — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:19:32 GMT

eBay say you should try to use as many characters as allowed in your selling titles.

Does anyone believe this makes a difference to sales?

I've seen some very short titles, such as, Red Heels, do extremely well.

What do others think?

Re: Titles

putney32 — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:33:58 GMT

personally, I try to think of what I would ''search'' if I just happened to need to buy whatever it is I have for sale

so yes Red Heels may work

but some may put in

Red Shoes and miss out

so I'd use Red Wittners High Heel Shoes Size 8 Leather

to cover a lot of possibilities

Re: Titles

***super_nova*** — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:14:20 GMT

If you have a short title it will limit the search possibilities. Also in clothing and shoes I search by size, and do not even bother to go through those that do not state size. There is just too many listings to spend time on those that will most likely not fit me.

Re: Titles

digital*ghost — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:50:09 GMT

One thing I've noticed about my own listing titles, which I write generally with the first letter of each word captialised and everything else in lower case (with a couple of minor exceptions), is that they display completely differently in the tab of the browser.

To use putney's title as an example, I'll write it:

Red Wittners High Heel Shoes Size 8 Leather

but the tab displays it as something like:

RED Wittners High HEEL SHOES Size 8 Leather

I am wondering if these have been selected as keywords and affect BM rankings, and it's consistently 3 words out of every title.

From tests, I also know that the order of words affects search results - even when using a sort order like ending soonest, so there might actually be something to economy of words.

Re: Titles

bsal6160 — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:25:59 GMT

If you list in the correct category then keep the title to the basics. Use the available limit, however be mindful not to keyword spam. Nothing more annoying for a buyer than to be looking for one thing and other non-related items turn up.

With the shoe example;

wouldn't the buyer already be looking in the shoe section ? so why mention shoe in the title?

size ..most definitely

colour also YES

brand?? being a bit too narrow

leather ? are all wittner shoes made of leather? if yes then why even mention leather?

Re: Titles

arnl7178 — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:29:56 GMT

Interesting.

I'm not sure I believe that keywords make any difference at all actually.

I've been keeping an eye on my listings lately, and all of my jewellery listings are way way way down the list, some on the last page, even up to 25 days in the month.

Yet, some other listings, of say, collectables, rank much higher.

I use as many keywords as I can, and as much of the title space as possible. I can't tell if it makes any difference whatsoever.

Let's say, I search "Lapis Lazuli", and I have several Lapis pieces listed, they still rank near last, regardless of the title I use.

I might test is next time with something like "Lapis Lazuli Ring" and see how I go lol.

Re: Titles

wardy079 — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:33:08 GMT

I never look in the category, I just search for what I want because things come up all over the place.

for the above example, I would search Wittner shoes red size 8

i wonder how much I am missing out on?.

Re: Titles

digital*ghost — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:19:44 GMT

Most people only use a few keywords, and generally refine if the results are too broad. The idea behind more keywords is to 'catch' as many search combinations as possible.

With the shoe example, theoretically you should show up when a buyer searches any of the following, which are more likely to be the original search terms:

leather shoes

red shoes

wittner size 8

red high heels

and so on.

One thing to remember is that eBay categories and sub categories are automatic search terms, so it's not absolutely necessary to have the word 'dress' in the title if the item is in the dress category etc. You can also use that to your advantage to fit common misspellings of terms - eg key ring and keyring, if you list in the Keyrings category, you can just put key ring in the title and the item will show up no matter which term is used by someone conducting a search.

It's also good for anything with an apostrophe in the category, which most people omit when they're searching (eg the category might be Men's Wallets, but most type mens wallet - use mens in the title when listing in such categories, and you effectively have both).

Re: Titles

xena-and-alex — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:45:15 GMT

The more the better. If you include words that are related to your item more people can find it. You just need to make sure you aren't keyword spamming.

Re: Titles

zenremix777 — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:24:25 GMT

The more the better. If you include words that are related to your item more people can find it. You just need to make sure you aren't keyword spamming.

x2.

If you do max out the title space, it might be good to try and make the keywords fit in a sentence somehow or just so they don't look all jumbled up.

Re: Titles

*lavender*fields* — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:18:25 GMT

"Keyword spam" What does that mean?

Re: Titles

*new2vintage — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:22:58 GMT

An example of keyword spamming is " Holden VN Commodore Not VS VT VX. "

With that title your listing can appear in 4 searches instead of 1.

Re: Titles

putney32 — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:24:45 GMT

"Keyword spam" What does that mean?

using words to draw in a buyer that really dont refer to the item on sale

eg.

Wittners Red Leather Shoes like Jimmy Choo design

would be keyword spamming on the Jimmy Choo brand

Re: Titles

digital*ghost — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:26:45 GMT

"Keyword spam" What does that mean?

It basically refers to including words in the title that are not related to the item just to be picked up in searches. A common tactic in clothing categories is to use words like

"Wish to Seduce in this [Actual Brand Name] Item", because the item will show up when people look for the brand Wish or Seduce in clothing.

Re: Titles

digital*ghost — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:27:40 GMT

Either too much coffee or not enough... :^O

What they ^ said.

Re: Titles

arnl7178 — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:53:29 GMT

Thanks to everyone for your replies. It's certainly some food for thought.

Re: Titles

*crikey*mate* — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:25:31 GMT

but didn't someone say the other day on here that eBay said it was ok to use the word "like" or was it "fits"

i.e, silver charm like pandora (or was it silver charm fits pandora???

sumfin like that

*shrugs*

Re: Titles

putney32 — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:43:32 GMT

but didn't someone say the other day on here that eBay said it was ok to use the word "like" or was it "fits"

i.e, silver charm like pandora (or was it silver charm fits pandora???

sumfin like that

*shrugs*

NO~~ like / similar to / suits / fits ....{brand name} is a big No no in a title

Re: Titles

2106greencat — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:06:28 GMT

In answer to bsal - Leather - all Wittner are leather, but when searching if I am looking for leather items I want to see a vast range, not just one brand, also many people may not know the names of various brands, so the word leather really is a must in the title 😄

Re: Titles

dazzledayz — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:02:49 GMT

The long and the short of titles is platform dependent.

If you expect most of your sales from the html site the longer titles are best.

eBay mobile however reads much better with short ones.