Presented by Sandi Garcia, a.k.a. “Social Sandi” Top-Rated Seller, Power Seller, and owner

of OfficeThreads.com

Search: Cassini, SEO, &

The “Impossible Dream” May 2014

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6

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12

Cassini, SEO, &

The “Impossible Dream”

#TRSwebinar

AGENDA

• Search Engines 101

• Google & the Three Pillars of SEO

• Cassini & the Three Pillars of Cassini Optimization

• Action Steps

• Key Takeaways

• Presents!

• Questions

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SEARCH ENGINES 101

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Search Engines

• Search Engine: a program that searches for and identifies items in a

database that correspond to keywords or characters specified by the user

– Cassini is the search engine inside eBay.com

– Google Search is the search engine product of Google.com

• The search “recipe” is proprietary and generally protected by a sea of

lawyers and countless patents

• True of all search engines: We may learn some of the “ingredients” from

time to time but we will never get the “recipe”

• Search Engine Optimization: SEO is strategies, techniques and tactics to

increase the number of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking

placement in search results.

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Basic Search Vocabulary

• Query - Search box text entry

• Filter – Item Specifics, for example

• Algorithm – a procedure or formula for solving a problem

• Score – Algorithm result

• Weight – Different levels of importance assigned to “ingredients” in the

algorithm

• Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – Web page that displays the result

of a search in ranked order

• Inbound link – A link that points to your web page

• Web page – For purposes of this webinar, a web page is the same thing as

one of your eBay item listing pages

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“Expect change and accept change”

“Trying to fight the dynamic and fluid environment

of the web is not logical for your business,

nor is it fruitful use of your time.

Keep emotion out of it, press forward and

adapt to the changing environment.”

-Melih Oztalay, Search Engine Journal, April 17, 2014

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GOOGLE &

THE THREE PILLARS OF SEO

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Search: Organic, PLAs, and AdWords

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eBay’s Google Traffic Drop this Week

• What Happened?

– Google took a manual action against eBay

– It seems thin content and doorway pages were the target

– There is still a lot of speculation and Google/eBay will not comment

• Take away (my opinion)

– This is temporary

– eBay will adapt and engage in better SEO tactics

– eBay may need to begin paying for more PLAs to compensate

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Courtesy Larry Kim, Word Stream

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Courtesy Larry Kim, Word Stream

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Google: It All Started with BackRub

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Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met

at Stanford University in 1995.

By 1996, they had built a search engine

(initially called BackRub) that used links to

determine the importance of individual

webpages.

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s

information and make it universally

accessible and useful.

Photo credit:

http://www.google.com/about/company/

Google: BackRub Became PageRank

• PageRank algorithm WAS the original search algorithm at google.com

• PageRank fundamental premise:

– Small programs called “spiders” crawl from website to website through links

– The spiders record data about inbound links and keywords

– The more inbound links a site has, the more influential it was deemed and the

higher it was scored in the PageRank algorithm

– This information was cataloged (indexed) in a database at Google

– When someone performs a Google search, the index is searched (not the entire

internet)

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Image courtesy www.seomastering.com

Google: Over 200 Data Points Now Involved in Ranking

• Hummingbird:

– “Precise and Fast”

– Comprised of over 200 algorithms/data points to assign ranking scores

• Key Algorithms

– Content Relevancy: Per-page optimization

– Vince: Notable & Trusted Brands (Can a brand be trusted?)

– Panda : Quality website content algorithm

– Penguin: Link quality algorithm

– PageRank: Link quantity and the influence of the pages that link to you

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On-Page: Important Ranking Factors in SEO Courtesy of Periodic Table of SEO, Search Engine Land, 2013

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• Content

– Pages well written/quality content?

– Have you researched KW?

– Using words/phrases you hope to be

found for?

– Engaging? Do visitors spend time

reading or bounce away quickly?

– Are pages fresh and about “hot”

topics?

– Is content “thin” or “shallow”, lacking

substance?

– Ads? Is your content ad-heavy

(especially above the fold)?

Green Outline = You can control

• HTML

– Title tags with kw?

– Meta description tags?

– Header tags w/ KW?

– Using structured data?

– KW stuffing?

– Hiding KW with color/design?

• Architecture

– Easy to crawl?

– Manage duplicate content issues?

– Does site load quickly?

– Are URLs short w/ meaningful KW?

– Mobile optimized?

– Do search engines see same page?

Off-Page: Important Ranking Factors in SEO Courtesy of Periodic Table of SEO, Search Engine Land, 2013

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• Links

– Inbound links are from trusted,

quality, or respected sites?

– Do links pointing at pages use words

you hope they’ll be found for?

– Do many links point to your pages?

– Have you purchased links? DON’T!

– Many links from spamming blogs,

forums, or other places? DON’T!

• Trust

– Do links/shares/other make your site

a trusted authority?

– Does site have a long history?

– Does site verify identity of authors?

– Has site been flagged for piracy?

• Social

– Do those respected on social

networks share your content?

– Do many share your content on

social networks?

• Personal

– What country is someone located in?

– What city or local area is someone

located in?

– Has someone recently visited your

site or favorited it?

– Have your friends socially favorited

the site?

Green Outline = You can control

Three Pillars of SEO in 2014 Courtesy of Jason DeMers, Forbes, January 28, 2014

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Three Pillars of SEO: Content

• Keyword Research is a MUST

– Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool (you need a free Google account)

https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

– Terapeak

www.Terapeak.com

• For your eBay listings, your “content” for SEO is all your listing fields

• Put a keyword-rich sentence at the top of your description that gives context

for the item (how it can be used or useful to the buyer)

• Avoid any text in your descriptions that does not help describe the item or

how it is used. Remove terms & conditions from your description field &

start using the new eBay policy fields instead.

• Google’s spiders may not crawl the entire title or the entire description, so

make sure the more important content is at the beginning of each.

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Visualizing Content

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Three Pillars of SEO: Inbound Links

• The quantity and quality of inbound links is also a major factor in the organic

search ranking algorithms.

• Ways to increase inbound links:

– Blogging or Microblogging

– Guest blogging

– Comment on other people’s blog posts IF AND ONLY IF the blog relates in some

way to your products and you can add value with your comment (include link)

• Avoid “bump sites” and other SEO black-hat tactics, you will be penalized in

Google search results

• When you spend time driving inbound links, send traffic to your storefront or

to a FP item that is GTC and you can restock as it sells.

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Three Pillars of SEO: Social

• “Social media gives companies an additional platform to interact with

customers, build their brand, and create a community, all while also driving

traffic to their website.” Jason DeMers

• Determine who your target customer is, then build a presence on the social

media network(s) s/he uses

• “Social signals” are now the fastest-rising search engine ranking factor

– How often do you share content on social channels?

– How often do people visit your website for social channels?

– How many fans/followers do you have?

– Does your website have social sharing elements available for visitors?

– What’s the ratio of followers to people you follow?

– Which influencers are sharing your content?

• Search engine Bing.com integrates your Klout score into ranking

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Three Pillars of SEO: Social (continued)

6 Reasons Social Media is Critical to your SEO

Stephanie Frasco, Social Media Today, Nov. 9, 2013

1. Link building was always about social proof

2. Social Media allows you to “crowd source” your link building

3. Being social is the fastest way to multiply your presence online

4. “Social signals” is a real thing

5. Social links bring real traffic to your website

6. Google hates link building

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Visualizing Social Share: Google+ Ripples

34

THE THREE PILLARS OF

CASSINI OPTIMIZATION

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eBay’s Values & Mission

• eBay’s Mission Statement

Source: pages.ebay.com/ke/en-us/vero/intro/index.html

“At eBay, our mission is to provide a global online marketplace where

practically anyone can trade practically anything, enabling economic

opportunity around the world.”

• eBay Values

Source: eBay Code of Conduct & Business Ethics, ebayinc.com

– We believe people are basically good

– We recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual

– We believe everyone has something to contribute

– We encourage people to treat others the way they want to be treated themselves

– We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people

36

Cassini Objective

• Cassini is a search engine.

• The primary purpose of a search engine is to find the

most relevant content to the person seeking it.

• Cassini functions to try present searchers (buyers) with

results that match what they are looking for. In other

words, it is about getting the most relevant item in front

of a buyer who is seeking that specific item.

37

Cassini: Best Match Algorithm

• New vs. Used

• TRS Status

• Auction vs. FP

• Defect rate

• Buyer location

• Seller location

• Feedback score

• Price

• Buyer’s patterns

• Hassle-free returns

• Length of return window

• Global shipping

• Shipping cost

• Free shipping

• Number of photos

• Quality of photos

• Handling time

• Seller # items listed (overall)

• Seller # items listed in a given

category

• DSRs

• Cases opened

• Seller return rate

• Newly listed

• Ending soon

• Impressions

• Shopping device

• Category

• Clicks

• Fast & Free Shipping

• Repeat buyer rate for seller

38

Best Match is constantly changing, the following could be factors at any time:

Three Pillars of Cassini Optimization

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Cassini Optimization: Trust

• Avoid “Item not as described” cases by carefully describing your

items

Under-promise and over-deliver.

• Accept returns, opt-in to Hassle-free Returns

• Upload tracking information same-day

• Use a lot of high-quality images

• Carefully describe your items;

use the “item condition Description” field for used items

• “Study what it takes to be a Top Rated Seller on eBay; it is our

definition of the key tenets of being a trusted seller on eBay, and we

use those trust signals in search.”

– Hugh Williams, former head of eBay Search

40

Cassini Optimization: Value

• Make sure your item is competitively priced, check both

completed sales and active listings when setting your

price

• Offer free shipping when possible; when that is not

possible make sure shipping is fair

• Offer fast shipping and international shipping

• Accept returns

41

Cassini Optimization: Relevancy

• Make sure you are listed in the correct category

• Make sure your title accurately identifies the item listed

• Complete item specifics as thoroughly and as accurately

as possible

• Don’t keyword spam

42

Cassini Key Thoughts

• Every shopper now gets a different set of results;

you can never be #1 to 100% of the shoppers again

(either on or off eBay)

• eBay relies heavily on data to drive business decisions.

If it can be measured, it could be scored for in Best Match.

• Make sure the most important keywords are always in your title.

• Cassini reads titles, item specifics, item condition, images, and (in

rare cases) descriptions

• At this time, Cassini is only reading descriptions for search

queries with few or no results.

43

Html in Descriptions

• Best Match

– Not necessarily a factor but excessive html may give a poor buyer experience

• Mobile

– May not render properly on mobile phones or in the eBay App

• SEO

– A small amount of html (YouTube videos, outbound links offering more

information) can make your listing page more valuable to search engines, but

make sure there is text above it for the search engine spiders to crawl/index

• Buyer’s opinion

– Too much html (busy templates, distracting gifs, different font colors/sizes/types)

can lead to a very poor visual experience for the buyer. Strip templates down to

the bare minimum to deliver the best possible experience

44

ACTION STEPS

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Action Steps: Optimizing for Cassini Search

• Follow eBay Best Practices

• Do keyword research before writing titles

• Use item specifics (fill in EVERY one you are prompted for)

• Strive for the lowest possible defect rate and TRS status

• List with a mixture of both auction (with BIN) and fixed price items

– I send new listings to auction Weeks 1-2 then move to GTC if it doesn’t sell

• Find a source for new, multi-quantity items to offer in your store and limit the

quantity eBay can see (either manually or with the KiQuantity eBay app)

• Use Markdown Manager and/or Promotions Manager tools

• Price competitively

46

Action Steps: Optimizing for SEO

• Write eBay guides & eBay reviews

• Use social media marketing

• Do keyword research before writing titles & descriptions

• Use item specifics; fill in EVERY one you are prompted for, even if answer

is “Unknown”

• Put a keyword-rich sentence at the top of your description that gives context

for the item (how it can be used or useful to the buyer)

• Stop using eBay vocabulary in titles (NWT, OOAK…)

• Find a source for new, multi-quantity items to offer in your store and freshen

the page from time to time

47

KEY TAKEAWAYS

48

Key Takeaways

• eBay is a data company and all decisions are data driven

• Search algorithms evolve constantly; changes are not always announced

• Search Engines have become effective bullsh*t detectors

• Relevance and Trust are now key factors in ALL search engines

• There is no “easy” button for SEO and Cassini Optimization

– Do the research

– Offer exceptional customer service

– List new content frequently, update non-performing listing pages

• Everyone sees a different SERP (both inside & outside eBay);

You will never again be the #1 search result for 100% of customers

49

Homework

• Content: Keyword Research

– Sign-up for Terapeak’s (Free 14-day trial) www.Terapeak.com

– If you can’t afford Terapeak, learn how to use the free (but more time consuming)

Google AdWords Keyword Planner

• Links

– If you have the time and the writing skill, create a blog and publish weekly

– Visit other blogs related to your products and comment, include the link back to

an FP multi-quantity item you can restock or to your eBay store

• Social

– Open at least one social media account (Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest)

Note: Instagram does NOT use links in posts; it will NOT help you with SEO

– Learn how to promote your business effectively with social media

– Post once per day on your social media account

– Great resources at PageMage.com/education

50

PRESENTS!

(Questions in just a moment)

51

Present #1

• Free Guide:

Optimizing for eBay Cassini & Search Engines

Available later today…

52

Present #2

• Free Webinar:

Introduction to Social Media Marketing

by Social Sandi

• June 25th, 1:00 pm PT (4:00 pm ET)

• Register early! Seats are very limited

53

Present #3

• Announcing the

Social Sandi Education Center!

• www.SocialSandi.com

• Free membership – Join Now!

– Social Media & E-commerce newsletter

– Weekly challenge to help us work together

& develop our businesses

– Discounts on LIVE on-line classes for social media marketing

and e-commerce skill development

– Private forum to ask questions and engage with other e-

commerce sellers

54

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