@robshelp wrote:
Related: There has been some discussion on the web and in discussion groups arguing to avoid the display of photos within item descriptions and avoid use of HTML in general. First of all, I'd like to point out that any formatting done using eBay's "Standard" editor adds HTML to the item description even if only new lines and blank lines are incorporated within the text (HTML p and/or br tags). Much more HTML is added by the Standard editor when text is bolded, colored, indented, etc. -- formatting that organizes the content and/or makes it easier to read. I doubt anyone would advise we enter textual description without any formatting whatsoever, so based solely on the presence of HTML, using our own HTML* instead, such as the test example 141018516788, to further enhance the organization, readability, attractiveness, and to facilitate display of cross promotional content just makes the presentation better.
What about search engines? Part of the argument against using HTML and displaying images within item descriptions is based on speculation of what search engines see, including eBay's. Using eBay's dumb phone site http://wap.ebay.com/ we get an insight to how HTML formatting and photos are most likely stripped from item descriptions by eBay's search engine. Go ahead and take a look at the item description for 141018516788 at that dumb phone site to see how it all disappears leaving only the text. We can't be sure how search engines measure relevance but the presence of HTML and images is certainly not a handicap.
Thank you for this info, it's something I've wondered about recently, and have read that the reason templates are discouraged by some is because it repeats quite a lot of the same HTML across all listings and eBay's search engine views it as duplicate content, and therefore listings containing it are of less relevance, but I had no idea how accurate that claim is, and if it's stripped by the search engine anyway, I presume any influence it has on rankings would be a minor one (I use Freeform2, by the way, the same template in a little over 300 listings, and have never had any issues - as far as I know - with search and rankings 🙂 ).
Unfortunately, I can't test the listing (no access to a mobile device at the moment), but will be interested in any results, also thought I'd ask if you'll be running the test with the upgraded store design? The basic framework is much the same as the current store design, and the store categories can still be in a lefthand menu on listings, but it's supposed to be more mobile friendly overall, and at some point (who knows when, 
) all stores are going to be uprgraded to the new look.
Cheers. 🙂
