topic Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking! in Selling

Best Match - I improved my ranking!

stampingpaws — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 18:15:28 GMT

Hello,

About 6 hours ago, after studing "Tips on ways to improve your listings" I changed the photos on one of my listings. Previously I had just one photo measuring 510 on longest side, this I replaced with 8 photos that were 1270 on longest side. I just checked my ranking for this item, it has improved from 131 to 97.

By no means definite but Best Match seems to take quantity and size of photos into account. Will be changing all my photos in the next few days.

Best Wishes

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

dylan11235813 — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:00:23 GMT

It would seem that not only the best mach system does not work very well but the whole site and ebay blame the sellers

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

dylan11235813 — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 19:05:09 GMT

I would not do the free post to get the so called higher ranking. Add express post to your listings and it will increase sales, even if no one uses it. Make it real expensive too, I charge $13 but will likely increase it to $15

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

harley_babes_hoard — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 21:04:26 GMT

no one I know uses best match anyway the first thing they do is search lowest price + postage or ending soonest.

You are going to be forever changing your listing trying to achieve the unachievable.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

harley_babes_hoard — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 21:12:53 GMT

This is how stupid best match rankings are. I have items that have sold 30 pieces of that are not in best match however I listed a brand new item I have never had before and it is on page one of best match.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

digital*ghost — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:06:00 GMT

A lot of people have suggested that there are certain things the search engine on eBay favours (other than the suggested things by eBay) when it comes to BM rankings - none of the following is info from eBay, just people that use it, and I can't vouch for how much of an impact they have, or how consistently they affect things).

New listings (not sell similiar or relisted items)

No HTML templates (the SE supposedly picks up on the duplicate content of templates)

Photos with relevant keywords as the file names (helps with google search, at any rate)

SKUs

Brand new condition

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

harley_babes_hoard — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:20:38 GMT

hmmm I have a template in both items in previous post (same item, same category), the same picture size, everything exactly the same apart from a section of the title and a section of the description. One item has sold over 30 of and the other is a new item never listed before. You would think the one with sales history would be more prominent than the new listing.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

digital*ghost — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:34:49 GMT

Actually, I understand the theory behind eBay favouring newly listed items.

Now that there are so many business sellers on site with GTC listings that have been running for years, it's probably their way of trying to maintain fresh content in search results so that theoretically (if not actually), people see new and different items rather than the same ones all the time.

The theory is sound, but it neglects to truly take into account how diversity is achieved and why people like it.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

shoptilludroptara — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:38:35 GMT

as a buyer i automatically click off the best match

so for me its not relevent not sure how other look

tara

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

sueken4812 — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:21:37 GMT

So Digital, what do you mean by photos with key words?

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

digital*ghost — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:45:52 GMT

When you take a photo with a digital camera, it is given a file name (eg on mine, images are prefaced with SD then a number, in ascending order, so first saved image is SD001, then SD002 etc). When you upload to the computer, you can change the file name to pretty much whatever you want.

I've always done that so that they're a lot easier to store / find, anyway (that way, I can use a quick keyword search in my image folders, which have several hundred each). I might have 5 or so images of one item, but instead of 5 file names of just numbers, I group-change the name (by selecting all the images, then right clicking and selecting rename) and would put brand, colour and type - by selecting all images and renaming at once, they're automatically assigned a number to differentiate then, so I'll end up with image titles like brand colour type (1) , brand colour type (2) etc

I don't know how much that does help eBay rankings, but it definitely improves google image search rankings.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

sueken4812 — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 00:05:22 GMT

Okay, thanks for that. Will give it a try. You're much more organised than I am. Mine are all just clumped together in folders.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

moktah — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 00:07:33 GMT

I don't believe that the Best Match system works as it hasn't worked for me so far. I do almost everything suggested by ebay to improve my best match ranking yet I see other listings in the top 5 spots that follow almost none of the recommendations when mine don't even get to the top 1000. They do things like:

- Offer no returns

- Use different fonts or different coloured fonts

- Use capitals, special symbols and unrelated words in their title

- Provide only a few item specifics

- Poor descriptions

and the list goes on and on.

Most of the top results are guilty of all or most of those offence.

I offer a 2 week returns policy, regular and express shipping, use no special characters, no capitals and only use related keywords in my titles. I use only one font in the same colour throughout my listings' descriptions, I use high quality, high resolution images taken with a Canon 1100D camera (so not a **bleep**py little phone camera), I provide as many item specifics as I can, give detailed descriptions and I have a returns policy and yet my listings hardly ever appear in the top 1000 of the best match results. I put in the effort for no reward. I feel RIPPED OFF BY EBAY!!!

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

thecatspjs — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 01:48:56 GMT

I heard that you must ensure that your listing was prepared between the hours of 10am and 10.30am PST whilst standing on one foot. The text in the listing must be more than 78 words and less than 100 words and contain no ifs buts or maybes.

And ... if your feedback is at an uneven number when you list then I think it might be just bad luck and that listing will have no chance to rise in best match rankings.

Tongue-firmly-in-cheek ....

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

curraone — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 04:16:47 GMT

wow this is a great idea - digital ghost - I didn't know that was possible!
thanks

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

thecatspjs — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 04:37:58 GMT

I also heard that if you pop on some red sparkly foot clobber, click your heels together three times and keep repeating the caption below that your wishes may come true and your listings might rise in best match rankings ......

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

bigbrickshop — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 06:28:24 GMT

There are numerous threads on ebay.com, articles on ecommercebytes and videos on youtube with tips on how to rise to the top in Best Match search results. Some of them make sense, others may just be wishful thinking on the seller's behalf because you have to remember that every person searching is supposedly given different results.

And of course then you have to hope your listings actually make it into the search results. In the latest update to the US eBay User Agreement eBay stated that there was no guarantee that listings will even appear!

We strive to create a marketplace where buyers find what they are looking for. Therefore, the appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
- buyer's location, search query, browsing site, and history;
- item's location, listing format, price and shipping cost, terms of service, end time, history, and relevance to the user query;
- seller's history, Detailed Seller Ratings, and Feedback; and
- number of listings matching the buyer's query.
  Accordingly, to drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

sueken4812 — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 07:58:08 GMT

So that's the justification for not showing listings. Money has been paid to put the listing out there, but it's not being shown because of 'blah blah blah'.. and we have no idea whether it's getting airtime or not...just left in the dark.

You can't go by 'views' or listing analytics, because they don't give a true picture, of how much air time a listing gets.

So 'sellers' as customers should have information available to them, showing how often a listing has been 'given air time'...and what value they are getting for our buck.

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

*crikey*mate* — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:20:09 GMT

technically, a certain amount of listings are "free".

do eBay give any guarantees or make any promises as to how they will treat a listing that we didn't pay for?

What committment does eBay actually make to us about any of our listings other than to host them somewhere on their site?

Re: Best Match - I improved my ranking!

davewil1964 — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 09:36:49 GMT

@sportandplay wrote:
There are numerous threads on ebay.com, articles on ecommercebytes and videos on youtube with tips on how to rise to the top in Best Match search results. Some of them make sense, others may just be wishful thinking on the seller's behalf because you have to remember that every person searching is supposedly given different results.

And of course then you have to hope your listings actually make it into the search results. In the latest update to the US eBay User Agreement eBay stated that there was no guarantee that listings will even appear!

We strive to create a marketplace where buyers find what they are looking for. Therefore, the appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
buyer's location, search query, browsing site, and history;
item's location, listing format, price and shipping cost, terms of service, end time, history, and relevance to the user query;
seller's history, Detailed Seller Ratings, and Feedback; and
number of listings matching the buyer's query.
Accordingly, to drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer.

The red bit - if I look for auctions only, i would not expect to see BIN. Conversely if I specify BIN...

So, yes I would expect my BIN listings not to be viewable by a member searching for auctions.