Running an ecommerce business is a dance between creating content, such as videos, high-quality images, and descriptions, that resonates with real people and search algorithms that rank and display their offers to potential customers.
Leaning too much to either side results in lost organic traffic and sales opportunities and leads almost inevitably to underwhelming performances.
What’s more, each online marketplace has its own search engine, which utilizes a unique set of parameters to rank and recommend products for specific search queries.
As a result, adding relevant keywords to product listings you create on eBay, Amazon, or similar online marketplaces is far from enough to ensure those listings appear at the top of search results.
We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about search engine optimization on online marketplaces to help you create product listings that your potential clients will love.
Key takeaways
- Top-ranking listings in search results capture over 50% of organic traffic.
- Product listings that are optimized for search engines have higher CTR than those that aren’t.
- Product listings with high-quality pictures are 4.5% more likely to sell than listings with subpar visual content.
- Adding a video to a product listing can increase its conversion rate by 33%.
- 67% of SMBs utilize AI tools to improve their SEO and enhance their content.
The difference between traditional SEO and online marketplace SEO
Conventional search engine optimization is an ongoing process that includes optimizing technical aspects, such as site speed or architecture, and on-page optimization.
In a traditional sense, the process involves implementing the best website-building practices and optimizing the content on those websites for Google search results. However, similar techniques can be used for other large search engines.
Online marketplace SEO is somewhat different, since an eBay seller doesn’t have to worry about the technical side of optimizing their store or product listings for the platform’s internal search engine.
That’s why eBay search engine optimization, or SEO on other online marketplaces, can be described as a subcategory of on-page optimization that prioritizes content quality, keyword implementation, and the use of structured data.
Consequently, sellers on online marketplaces have less control over the search engine optimization process. So changing the product listing’s URL or the layout of the product listing pages isn’t an option.
However, unlike Google’s search engine, eBay’s Cassini and Amazon A10+ search engines don’t take these technical aspects into account and instead use parameters that are within the seller’s control to determine the ranking order in search results for specific queries.
The vital aspects of search engine optimization on online marketplaces
A seller’s success on an online marketplace like Amazon or eBay largely depends on their ability to optimize their product listings and stores for the platforms’ search engines.
This is particularly important for novice sellers or merchants entering an international marketplace for the first time because search algorithms track the listing’s conversion rate, positive reviews, and countless other parameters to determine its position in the search results rankings.
Still, it’s important to understand that the eBay search algorithm is different from algorithms on other online marketplaces, which means that your eBay SEO strategy won’t necessarily work on Amazon.
Let’s go through the core aspects of search engine optimization for online marketplaces.
Listing optimization
Optimizing a product listing for a search engine starts long before a seller populates the product description field and uploads product images.
Experienced eBay sellers and merchants on other online marketplaces conduct thorough keyword research for each product to determine which head or long-tail keywords they should add to the product title, item description, and other mandatory fields.
The process of optimizing eBay listings with keywords is similar to listing optimization processes on other online marketplaces, as sellers must search for relevant keywords and use them strategically and contextually throughout the title and product description.
Thinking about the keywords eBay users may enter in the search bar when searching for a particular product is an excellent starting point, but to create a strong eBay SEO strategy, sellers must go beyond search intent and understand how to balance high- and low-competition keywords.
Additionally, merchants must ensure that all visual materials depicting the products they add to eBay listings or listings on other marketplaces meet the highest industry standards.
Sellers who carefully plan and execute their visual content creation strategy have better chances of reaching a broad audience with their listings.
Moreover, sellers shouldn’t neglect the structured data, such as brand name, color, size, etc., when optimizing their product listings because search engines utilize these attributes when selecting and ranking results for search queries.
Seller performance
All aspects of the seller’s activities on a platform like eBay or Amazon play a part in their overall performance.
Online marketplaces utilize a broad range of performance metrics to assess the seller’s level, which in turn affects the ranking of the seller’s listings.
Your seller rating will depend on the number of new items you add to your store, the transaction defects, and the late shipment rates.
Ensuring that each of these metrics is within the platform’s recommended range increases your chances of ranking at the top of search rankings for the keywords you’re targeting with your listings.
Customer interactions and other activities
Responding to customer queries and resolving their issues promptly directly impacts the visibility of the seller’s listings.
Consequently, sellers who frequently fail to fulfill orders on time or don’t promptly issue refunds to buyers who want to return items they purchased risk having their listings pushed down in the search results.
More importantly, reviews and other types of user-generated content are among the key ranking factors that algorithms consider when recommending products to shoppers.
As a result, product listings with scores of negative reviews have almost no chance of appearing on the first page of search results for relevant queries.
Keyword research as a foundation for a successful SEO strategy
Each time a seller on an online marketplace wants to add a new product to their store, they must first find the appropriate keywords for that product.
Accomplishing this task is easier said than done due to the high level of competition for the keywords with the highest search volumes.
For instance, if a seller wants to add a pair of Nike trainers to their store, they will most likely have to add the model name and color to the listing’s title.
So instead of creating a title that reads New Nike Trainers, a seller should opt for a title like ‘Red Nike Pegasus 41 trainers’ to increase the listing’s relevancy for the search queries targeting the particular model of the brand’s trainers.
In addition, sellers should search for secondary keywords to add to the product description that may help them reach their target audiences.
This task becomes increasingly challenging with volume, which is why most sellers use either the platform’s native or third-party keyword research tools to discover the keywords that best match their products.
Managing other aspects of SEO on online marketplaces
The search engine performance of each listing seller creates on online marketplaces is the outcome of the sum of their activities on that platform.
In other words, merchants who consistently follow the platform’s guidelines and provide a smooth shopping experience to their customers from start to finish have higher chances of featuring their products at the top of search rankings.
Consequently, search engine optimization for online marketplaces involves creating clear and transparent shipping and returns policies and resolving any issues customers may have during their pre-purchase and post-purchase journeys.
Dedicating time to building customer loyalty, providing clear and informative product descriptions, and maximizing the efficiency of the fulfillment process can go a long way in increasing the visibility of product listings and ensuring their high ranking in the search results.
Furthermore, it’s paramount for sellers to understand the algorithm that powers the online marketplace they are using to properly optimize their product listings and their stores for optimal performance.
Optimizing stores on online marketplaces for search engines
Starting a store on eBay or other major online marketplace broadens the range of search engine optimization options sellers have at their disposal.
Most notably, eBay and Amazon sellers get a custom store URL that includes their store’s name, which improves their ranking in Amazon or eBay search results and outside the platform.
Owning a storefront also enables sellers to customize the metadata for internal and external search engines.
Moreover, eBay stores allow merchants to organize their products into categories and subcategories, making it easier for the platform’s Best Match algorithm to understand their relevance for different search queries and improve their position in the search results.
Sellers can also allocate their products to multiple categories, but depending on the platform they are using, they may have to pay a small fee to do so.
Furthermore, offering competitive prices, using store-wide discounts, and other promotional tools can help sellers attract shoppers and increase sales, which in turn would raise the number of positive reviews and improve the listing’s performance in search results.
Marketplace SEO practices sellers should avoid
Trying to trick the algorithm into ranking product listings at the top of search results can do more harm than good.
Although black-hat SEO practices are as old as search engines, implementing these strategies can have serious consequences for sellers, ranging from listing demotion in the search rankings to account suspensions.
Let’s look at the SEO practices sellers on online marketplaces should avoid:
- Keyword stuffing – Excessive and repetitive use of keywords affects the product description’s readability. So, attempting to boost a listing’s ranking by overloading it with keywords usually has the opposite effect. Moreover, sellers should avoid using irrelevant keywords to expand the listing’s reach and focus only on highly relevant keywords to the product listing.
- Duplicating content – Creating multiple listings for the same product is generally considered a black-hat SEO technique that commonly leads to penalties and account suspensions. Moreover, sellers should always assign their products to the correct category.
- Clickbait titles – Even though creating titles that jump off the page and grab the shoppers’ attention can be highly effective, creating misleading titles that make exaggerated claims can undermine the seller’s efforts to reach the top of search results.
Additionally, sellers should research and follow the search engine optimization recommendations of the online marketplace on which they offer their products to avoid potential penalties and underwhelming listing performance.
Achieving sustainable growth with marketplace search engine optimization
The most common mistake online sellers make is thinking that search engine optimization ends with keyword implementation into listing titles and product descriptions.
However, ensuring that the online marketplace’s algorithm treats all sellers’ product listings favorably involves much more than sprinkling keywords throughout listings.
That’s why you must optimize your listings and dedicate substantial effort to amassing positive reviews, resolving customer issues promptly, delivering products in perfect condition, and doing everything in your power to provide excellent customer service to each shopper.
Would you like to improve your eBay store’s performance on domestic and international marketplaces? Webinterpret can help! Schedule a call to learn more about our eBay solutions.
About Webinterpret
Webinterpret supports merchants selling on eBay.
Our AI-based solutions enable more effective selling through automated listing localization, advertising, and returns and ensure all products placed on EU markets are GPSR-compliant.
By giving your international customers a full, end-to-end local shopping experience, Webinterpret improves your conversion and helps establish your business globally.
