Topic: Member Workshop: Keywords, Keywords, Keywords and Listing Titles Too!
Host: terapeak Date: Friday 07/18 Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific time Location: Workshop Board
Description: Your eBay listings have a 55 character store front and that is your customer’s gateway to your items! Are you using the best keywords for your item, and are you maximizing your exposure? Join Denise from Terapeak Marketplace Research to explore ways to use market research and find top dollar keywords. We’ll review a few simple methods to evaluate keywords using Terapeak research using some topical examples. The workshop will be open for the hour for any questions relating to research and your eBay sales.
Before we get started with the material, a quick note on what Terapeak is, and how these workshops work!
Terapeak is a web-based market research tool and we are an eBay Certified Provider. Our subscription service provides access to 90 days of closed eBay listings, and two years of category trends. Terapeak can help you evaluate your items, determine how and when to sell them, and even guide you to new niche markets and hot sellers.
Any of the screenshots in this workshop are taken directly from Terapeak. You can visit at any time and try the free tool (which provides reports on a 14 day data set for free) at http://www.terapeak.com.
I’m going to post some information now, please read along and at the end we’ll open the floor for questions. I’m here until noon PST to respond to anything you’re curious about regarding market research and the material we look at today.
As you’re probably well aware, your eBay listing title is limited to 55 characters. This means that you have a maximum of 55 letters to express your item to potential purchasers, and give it the best chance of being found when a shopper does a keyword search. So, how do you find the keywords people are searching for, and the ones that are ideal for your item?
Using market research, you can review what eBayers are searching for online. A great way to start is to check out the Hot Searches tool within the Terapeak site. This tool allows you to review the most frequently searched words associated with a keyword – for example, let’s say you have a pair of suspenders to sell, and are wondering what your title should be.
I’m going to enter “suspenders” in the Hot Searches tool on Terapeak and the web-based search will generate me a list of the top recurrent searches related to the keyword “suspenders”. Remember these are keywords that people are actively entering into the eBay search field.
This gives us a great start to finding our keywords. We know that people most often search for “mens”, “black”, “white”, “leather” and “button”.
We need to be aware from the get-go here of the eBay policy against keyword spamming – words in your listing title must directly apply to the item you are listing – so what you’ll want to do is choose those popular keywords to describe your product – mens black suspenders.
We can now take the first keywords and enter them into Terapeak’s Title Builder. This tool will generate a list of the next recurrent keywords associated with your search.
The trick here is to evaluate the keywords and associated average value. We’ll want to make sure we add the word “braces” since its value is higher than average - $15.26! The technology of the Title Builder allows us to add words and view new reports based on the word combinations we’ve added. For example, if we add “braces” we’ll get a new list of keywords:
If elastic, we’d definitely want to add “elastic” as this is a higher value keyword, and “adjustable”. Adding more words will re-populate our list:
Now we are getting to the specifics –our item is black, so we’ll add “black” and the appropriate size. If we have multiple items here, it’s interesting to note that Gray and 1.25” suspenders have a slightly higher average price. This might be a nice addition to your store!
The Title Builder also tracks your character use –checking there we can see that we’re running out of space now:
I’m going to add “clip” as well:
Unfortunately, we’re left with 2 characters to spare. I think it’s beneficial to use up all of the 55 characters your listing is allotted if you can, to maximize the amount of search words you will match with.
We can also do an item search on Terapeak and pull the top recurrent keywords in closed listings – The top four keywords within a “suspenders” search are:
We can see the success of individual keywords – top money maker and sell-through (percentage of those selling over those that were listed) at 58.08% with “braces”.
And because we can, here’s a fun fact that research can show you! Did you know that the first week of June last year saw $5.123k of sales in the Clothing, Shoes & Accessories > Men's Accessories > Suspenders, Braces category?
For 2008 sales, we can see that the same category closed that week at $9.427k – looks like this is a growing category!
Alright- there are a few examples of how market research can help with your listings! The keyword tools on Terapeak are also great if you’re looking for SEO keywords, etc. for websites. A search in Hot Searches for “record” produces the following top-recurring keywords:
Well, there are a few examples of how and why you’ll want great keywords – does anyone out there have any questions or comments on the material we’ve gone over today?
Please feel free to contribute, no question too small!
We’ll be here until noon PST to respond, and if you’re too shy to speak up here on the forum, please feel free to contact our support department at support@terapeak.com and someone from there will get back to you with answers!
The trick here is to evaluate the keywords and associated average value. We’ll want to make sure we add the word “braces” since its value is higher than average - $15.26!
I do not see that figure (15.26) anywhere on that chart. What am I missing?
Del IT'S ALL WRITE ~ Quality Pens & Refills ~ eBay Store TIMECATCHERS ~ Antiques & Collectibles ~ eBay Auctions
Here's a replacement example for that doubled pic in slide 3! You'll notice the numbers are not the same, since the workshop examples were created last month. The Title Builder tracks current info, so things have changed!
Still, for sake of slight clarification (I hope!) , this is what that first report looks like now
Does the sequence of the keywords matter? Or is it only important to make sure as many keywords as possible are in the title? Kathryn IT'S ALL WRITE ~ Quality Pens & Refills ~ eBay Store TIMECATCHERS ~ Antiques & Collectibles ~ eBay Auctions
The sequence really doesn't matter, that's a really good point. I tend to arrange the words in an orderly way bcs I like them to make the most sense when they're read. But really, a keyword counts as a keyword when performing a search. If you have a two worded brand name, I'd keep those together, but red pants, pants red, all the same!
We usually put the name of one of our products in exactly as the manufacturer has called it. But we were doing some researching and found that people are using a different sequence of a couple of those words. I was thinking we might need to change the title, but it sounds like its ok the way it is if sequence isn't an issue. Kathryn IT'S ALL WRITE ~ Quality Pens & Refills ~ eBay Store TIMECATCHERS ~ Antiques & Collectibles ~ eBay Auctions
Definitely a good idea to keep an eye on what the competition is doing. Keep in mind of course that things change quickly too, so checking in on what is happening keyword-wise is valuable.
Denise, is there any data that shows how many eBay sales originated with a search on the eBay site VS how many eBay sales originated with an off-eBay search? Kathryn IT'S ALL WRITE ~ Quality Pens & Refills ~ eBay Store TIMECATCHERS ~ Antiques & Collectibles ~ eBay Auctions
First, thanks Denise, for this workshop. Secondly, thanks also to Timecatchers for their informative questions!
I'm curious if you have some ideas regarding the various syntax folks use for searches. I should give an example. I have listed some notecards in the past. I realized when some did not sell, that people were searching on 'notecard' and 'note card'.. there are listings under both as well. Is there a way to get both groups of searches so I don't have to use up so much of my 52 characters by putting both formats in? As well, I see notecard and notecards.. Is here a simple way to capture all these searches?
Please continue to ask questions - it helps those that are too shy to ask (just like in class - there are those that sit back and hope someone asks their question for them).
The quick answer to that is no - you'll need both alternative. However in certain areas, eBay search technology may bring up both if you search for commonly grouped words (sort of like how if you search "Jim" you get "James" as well in Google and Facebook.
You would want to firmly establish that your words were being grouped through the search tech by running tests - even then there are no guarantees that the searches will not change.
Thanks kochos for stopping by and for participating in today's workshop.
I second your thanks to timecatchers for their questions.
Now, here's a bit of eBay Live! 2008 trivia? Did you know that timecatchers are 'stars'? Take a look at the following eBay Live! article (complete with video)...
I know it's slightly off topic but it's always fun when we can celebrate our community members and workshop supporters.
Thank you so much for choosing to spend time with us today!
Please take advantage of our special two week trial to Terapeak – you will receive 14 days of free access to Terapeak before any billing takes place. Follow the link below:
Note that you will be billed after the 14 days, so if you do not wish to continue the subscription, simply cancel before the free trial is complete.
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