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Hello,
I am wondering it anyone else has notice this and am very concerned because while I was playing around this afternoon, I googled an item I currently have listed, found the picture and the listing hit both and it takes me to an eBay page that just shows text information or the picture listing and says that my item is sold; when it is not. I have two stores and selected different items from each and every one of them does this, ITEM SOLD. Looking at it, I am thinking that when you relist you generate a new ID number and that number is not being updated by either google or eBay and with the old ID number no longer being used it thinks it is sold. Not sure where to go and will call eBay in the morning. Any help would be appreciated.
Side note: It is interesting that if you come into eBay from a general google search the listings shown have the item conditions listed as well; yet, when you do the same search within eBay it does not. New observation for me.
Theresa -
It can take a couple of weeks for new listings to appear in a google search. That’s one plus good till canceled has.
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I just checked a couple of mine through google search but it did not say sold.
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Disregard my previous answer, now I see what you’re saying. When I google even my oldest ebay listings the link goes to an ended item. Not sure if that would be an ebay problem or a google problem?
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I am going to call eBay in the morning and ask about what I have seen and I will post what they say.
This is really not good and a great concern. I have over 1800 listings that can now only be found by searching within the eBay site and not general google searches.-
To those who have gotten some SEO under there belt it is fairly well known that Google spiders and bots crawl the web almost constantly. But with such a vast number of web sites, listings, postings [probably in the billions] it takes as much as 90 days for a Google bot or spider to possibly get to your site. A new listing on Ebay, even with Ebay spreading the news, will not neccassarily get picked up by Google.
Now when it does, there is a formula for what Google will show in it’s blue headline link based on keywords and their placement. Then after Google does pick up on your store and or listing it may be months before a spider or bot returns. Then according to the newer aspects of the Google Panda and Penguin alterations to Googles old alogoryhtyms, they search mostly for new content. That is the reason behind those instructions to always be either writing new content or alterring content. The bots found you the first time, now they are seeking new info. If they don’t find any [ a stale or dorment listing], they move on. There is too much ground for google to cover to dwell on any site more than a few mille-nano seconds.
So yes to the GTC listers, this is good news if you leave your new listings for weeks if not months. google will evently pick up up. But to the 30 day listers, when you kill that listing, then the Google bots upon their return will find a dea listing and report it as such. They will not automatically go searching to see if there is another newer created duplicate listing.
The bots will return to this geographical web area sooner or later and at that time they may find the new listing, but if it is several months, that listing may have been ended and re-created a couple of times.
So the 30 day relisters are not going to get too much in the way of help from Google. Google is just too slow in it’s detection of new data and getting it listed. The GTC guys do have a much better chance of being found [eventually] and then that listing, when clicked on within a Google search, the searcher [buyer] getting taken to that listing. But there is a BUT.. even outside of Ebay, if Google does come crawling agagin either a bot or spider, and it finds “stale” [undated information, same old wording, layout, photos, no changes at all, it too will internally declare there is no fresh content here, log that into it’s memory and not really return any more. Maybe it will come by and crawl agagin, but who knows how long.
So, some posters I have read on some of the SEO forums I used to frequent would advocate, do postings, blog articles, your own domain information pages then return to do updates on that content every few months. If left alone Google will see that article or page of info as dorment and not return. The original content will stay though. That is why some listings take you to dead pages or ended listings. The original listing is there with the link back to your store, but if that original was based on the first or older ID number, then of course the click through page says the item is ended. It has as far as that ID number goes. And at this point in time, a Google bot or spider has not crawled your newly, “relisted” item post under a new ID number.
So here is another thing to consider in the never ending battle of to relist or go GTC. If you are only concerend about internal Ebay searches, each newly relisted item and new ID is searchable immediately. If you are trying to build off site, Google web traffic, then a longer listing with some periodic refreshing is in order.
But as Jay has said before, and I agree, very little traffic comes from outside Ebay for Ebay stores and lsitings. especially since google slammed Ebay for their “black hat” link farm tactics several years ago. But also it is more of an understanding of how SEO really works and that is what Google is built on.
I bet a lot more sales would be made if Ebay allowed duplicate listings. Then sellers could have “two” stores and list the eaxct same items, only one store would end and auto relist every 30 days, and the other would be all GTC. That would cover all bases.
But unless you are trying to build your own organic traffic on Google, it is best not to worry about that unless you have your own domain name and your own web store or a Shopify store. We do and those listings will produce interest from Google’s bots and spiders finding them. We are now in the midst of creating our own Shopify store and there we can have the same listings we have on Ebay and leave them just as a GTC. Google will find them and then those who click on the Google finds will be taken to our store not Ebay, and that is fine by us.
Those unfamiliar with optimizing web sites can Google that of course and get tons of information as to what may be needed to build organic traffic to your own store. Even Shopify has it’s own online University for training on the “how to’s ” for all of this.
We get picked up a lot organically just for the fact that I include our store name in almost everything we list, describe, post, reply on, write or blog about. Miami Dade College of Art is also MDC Galleries but we are MDC Galleries and Fine Art and most of the time we are on Googles first page up at the top above them and they are a well established museum.
There is a lot to it and hope this may provide some tid bits of info.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
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Thank you for taking the time to write such an in-depth answer. Your points are well made and informative and you have given me much food for thought.
The reason for this post was that I have searched Google before for my listings and had never had this happened to me before and I was wondering if something had changed with all that has been going on with eBay lately.
A Bing or Yahoo search has different results than one done by Google, In their searches you may not find your item directly, but if you do the listing you are directed to does not say it is sold. So, I am not sure what that means but I find it interesting.
Again, thank you and enjoy your evening.
Theresa
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