Case sensitivity for eBay listings

[Jay]

Let’s bring the conversation here.

[AdventureE]

Thank you Jay.

Would it be possible to bring over the posts already available in order to have consistency and avoid repetition?

[Jay]

Sorry, that’s just not how this forum software works (or at least how my knowledge works). You can simply copy and paste each post you want to include here.

But again, in the future its best to just start a new thread that you want to isolate.

[AdventureE]

During a call on Scavenger Life Episode 333: The Illusion of Keeping Up With Everything, a caller noted that case sensitivity may effect search results which prompted this forum.

AdventureE 11/05/2017 at 9:59 pm
Participant
Location:

I could not remember what steps to take to create a forum, so I am posting this here.
The question you brought up about eBay results being case sensitive got me thinking, so I did a little research. Yes, there does seem to be a differentiation in results based on case. For some items, the item page placement difference is large while for other items the item page placement difference is slight.
Here are two examples,
Ferragamo Women’s Shoes
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Ferragamo+Women%27s+Shoes&_pgn=2&_skc=48&rt=nc
ferragamo women’s shoes
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=ferragamo+women%27s+shoes&_pgn=2&_skc=48&rt=nc
Nike Shoes
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Nike+Shoes&_pgn=2&_skc=48&rt=nc
nike shoes
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=nike+shoes&_pgn=2&_skc=48&rt=nc

T-Satt – 11/06/2017 at 9:25 am
Participant
Location:

That is wild. Amazing that for the Nike Shoes, the number of results were different, and in both cases, best match was different.

Winded 11/06/2017 at 5:41 pm
Participant
Location:

Hey,
First time posting so if this is the wrong thread to post in sorry.
So I just did a quick few test searches regarding the case sensitive keywords and it looks like they changed the order of your best match in the mobile app also number of listings did stay the same.

Jay 11/06/2017 at 6:05 pm
Keymaster
Location: Virginia

Feel free to share some of these searches so we can better understand the differences.

T-Satt 11/06/2017 at 8:04 pm
Participant
Location:

While interesting, I am wondering what change we would make in our listings? Would we do lower case in the title? I’m not sure of the improvement we would make.

BethGreen 11/06/2017 at 9:14 pm
Participant
Location: Ohio

If I think about it, when doing a search on eBay as a buyer or when looking something up for research, I use all lowercase every time

T-Satt 11/06/2017 at 10:53 pm
Participant
Location:

I do too…but would you make your titles all lowercase?

AdventureE 11/06/2017 at 10:11 pm
Participant
Location:

Personally,
I do not think we should start making any changes until we flush this out some more. Just because there are differences does not necessarily mean we should change what we are doing just yet. I would offer to look at how case sensitivity effects features such as sold, best match, mobile etc. on multiple types of listings. Another Scavenger made mention in their post from today of what they noticed as to how it effected best match, and mobile. Also, take a look at how the listing title line was actually done. When I looked, some were in varied case and still came up high. One way that we may start to explore this is to search for your own current listings by typing in your own listings in both upper and lower case and see what effect it has on their placement as well as the placement of other similar items. Another experiment might be to identify 2 or 3 listing titles (for items you have not listed yet) you want to do in lower case and then submit the listing. Check to see where they are placed. Then go back and change the listing title to your normal case type. Then check for any differences.

T-Satt 11/06/2017 at 11:00 pm
Participant
Location:

What change would we make to our listings based on any investigation? Regarding capitalization, we have 3 options:
1 – Capitalize the First Letter
2 – all lowercase letters
3 – ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS
Are 2 & 3 viable options? Even if search results change, how would potential buyers react to seeing titles like 2 & 3?

Winded 11/06/2017 at 11:36 pm
Participant
Location:

Since I did the search under default settings I would assume best match just sees that people that type one way or another tend to click certain listings more than others. The good thing is it looks like all the listings are the the same just not the rankings.
I wouldn’t go changing titles yet either but it just seems bonkers that something that small would change your listings rankings. I would like to see how it works out in the mobile browser and the desktop as well.

AdventureE 11/07/2017 at 12:42 am
Participant
Location:

I would say 2 and 3 are not to be used.
3 looks like you are screaming and may even lower your rankings if the filter for that is applied and working correctly although there are some using this method. All lowercase does not appear to increase ranking based on my research.
Look at the Ferragamo Women’s Shoes example – https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Ferragamo+Women%27s+Shoes&rt=nc
ferragamo women’s shoes
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=ferragamo+women%27s+shoes&_pgn=2&_skc=48&rt=nc
If you take a look at the actual listings (click in on them), you will see the name I typed in and category are prioritized. In addition, simply taking the apostrophe out of women’s changed the results. What is most searched for also effects the rankings.
In addition, it is my understanding that listings rank highest when they are first listed, so that is going to impact the results. Another factor that effects rankings is the newness of the account/store. It is my understanding that those who just opened the store will have high rankings and then the ranking will drop off.

Nancy 11/07/2017 at 10:23 am
Participant
Location:

I’ve had a similar search thing happen as the caller. When doing research on something I’ll enter keywords and have zero or few results. Then below it will say “results matching fewer keywords” but there will be results there that match ALL my keywords. I’ve played around and sometimes it seems to depend on how far apart my keywords are in the other search results. Like they don’t count if they aren’t right together as I typed them. I haven’t tested this out it is just something I’ve noticed.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hey guys… well if this is going to be a topic of interest maybe Jay should rename this topic thread experiments of SEO [Search Engine Optimization] because upper and lower case research is an element of SEO. See item #6 and #13 on this link.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/top-31-seo-experiment%E2%80%8Bs-you-want-to-know-about/63855/

Then maybe check out the other 29 hints.
Since Google rolled out it’s Panda and Penguin alterations to it’s algorithm they have killed off millions of sites that had what is called “Black Hat” tactics going on. Guess what??? Ebay was one of them and got slammed hard and still maybe hasn’t recovered after years of trying.

This is an old story but you can still research what Ebay was doing, how it was not what Google wanted it done and how Google dropped Ebay out of it’s line up. It is because of that issue with how Ebay was allowing titles and descriptions to be written that got them into some trouble along with ad placement and back link farming, plagerising and etc, etc.

I think that is why Ebay had to gravitate to using “Item Specifics” and separate fields for things. Google just was ignoring how Ebay was allowing members to cram and keyword stuff and copy and paste other’s info. into the Ebay listings. Cassini is just a “baby” when it comes to Mother Google.

Also remember that online searches of any kind and on any platform is based on “Boolean Language”. Look up Boolean and you will see what every search engine will and will not look for and will and will not recognize. If you are all going to dig into the exploration of Upper, Lower, Case, Initial Caps, then why not just take the research on out in full blown SEO research. What to write, how long, how many times a key word can appear, in what position. etc., etc. AND Boolean Syntax will explain a lot of what search engines recognize and how. The words OR, IF, NOT are now included as given and hidden in the coding. Singular and Plurals will read the same, one word in front of another may or may not return equal results.

Think about it, how does Google, Cassini, Bing, decide on the difference between reeds [bushes] and reads a paper, or reeds a book or the missed spelled word REDS as REEDS or READS. then apply the WITH-WITHOUT-NOR-OR-PLUS-MINUS, It can just get so deep that you can waste a year re-doing a 2000 item store and not list anything and not have a truly tested way of deciding if anything worked out not.. So tread carefully on your time management.

Many people make a living “optimizing” web sites for owners and that includes their Ebay, Etsy, Shopify stores et. all. So if you are going to start playing around with this sort of stuff, in my opinion before spending a whole of time changing a few items I would research the whole gamut of SEO “White Hat Tactics” then decide what you need to change in your store, or if you should just hire someone who is an expert to do it for you, or just decide to list another 1,000 items in your store, sell another $20,000 worth of stuff and then who cares. That is going to be our approach.

But just my opinion. That and $.50 will get you half a cup of coffee. LOL

Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[Marjean28]

I reached out to ebay via ebay Facebook for business. I can’t copy and paste the response from my phone, but the rep experienced the same thing when making a similar search. She indicated the results are varying, not as a result of capitalization, but based on reindexing of listing based on seller updates to listings. I imagine this has a greater impact on new goods. So, in the end, the rep had no suggestions from either a seller or buyer perspective for a best practice relating to capitalization.

[Author]

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