This eBay Hack Will Change The Way You List Forever

Summary

This video reveals a significant eBay selling hack: keywords can be placed in item specifics, not just the title, to enhance searchability. The seller discovered that by inserting uncommon words into recommended item specifics, such as style, occasion, or theme, the listings became searchable by those terms. This method was seen to be more effective than having the keyword in the title alone. The video emphasizes the importance of using relevant keywords and avoiding keyword stuffing, and encourages sellers to utilize this strategy to improve their listings' visibility on eBay.

Takeaways

• 🔍 eBay's search algorithm can find keywords in item specifics, not just the title.
• 🎯 To increase visibility, include important keywords in recommended item specifics like style, occasion, and theme.
• 🚀 Testing with uncommon words like 'jentacular' can help determine which item specifics are searchable.
• 📈 The search engine prioritizes listings with keywords in both the title and recommended specifics.
• 🔑 Recommended item specifics are more likely to be searchable than additional item specifics.
• 📊 Experimentation with different item specifics can reveal which fields are most effective for searchability.
• 🛍️ Large online resellers are already using this technique, giving them an advantage over smaller sellers.
• 🚫 Avoid keyword stuffing, which is adding irrelevant or inappropriate keywords to listings.
• 🎁 Utilize the newfound knowledge to add relevant keywords to your eBay listings, especially for giftable items and holidays.
• 📈 The research suggests that placing keywords in multiple recommended specifics can outperform having them only in the title.
• 📝 Document your findings and share them with the community to help others improve their listings and search visibility.

Q & A

What is the common misconception about keyword searchability on eBay?

The common misconception is that only keywords in the 80-character title are searchable on eBay, and descriptions are not considered searchable fields.

Where did the speaker discover that keywords could be hidden for searchability?

The speaker discovered that keywords could be hidden in item specifics such as style, occasion, and theme, which made them searchable even when not included in the title.

What was the purpose of the speaker's experiment with the word 'jentacular'?

The purpose of the experiment was to test if an uncommon word could become searchable when hidden in item specifics other than the title, to prove that eBay's search algorithm could pick up keywords from recommended item specifics.

What was the outcome of the experiment with 'jentacular'?

The experiment showed that it was possible to make listings searchable by inserting keywords into recommended item specifics, even without including them in the title.

What is the significance of recommended versus additional item specifics in terms of searchability?

Recommended item specifics are searchable by eBay's algorithm, whereas additional item specifics do not contribute to a listing's searchability.

How did the speaker determine which item specifics were searchable?

The speaker conducted a series of tests by inserting the keyword 'jentacular' into different item specifics and waiting 24 hours to see which listings appeared in search results for that word.

What is the advice against keyword stuffing in eBay listings?

Keyword stuffing involves adding irrelevant or inappropriate keywords to a listing to manipulate search results. This practice is discouraged because it can lead to listings appearing for searches they are not relevant to, and it may result in penalties or reduced visibility.

How can sellers apply the newfound knowledge of item specifics to their eBay listings?

Sellers can enhance their listings by strategically inserting relevant keywords into recommended item specifics, such as occasion, style, and features, to improve their visibility in search results without resorting to keyword stuffing.

What was the surprising finding about the 'character' item specific?

The surprising finding was that the 'character' item specific did not contribute to a listing's searchability, confirming that it is as ineffective for SEO as previously believed.

What was the effect of combining a keyword in both the title and recommended specifics on search results?

Listings that had the keyword in both the title and at least one recommended specific tended to appear higher in search results, indicating that this combination is more effective than having the keyword in the title alone.

What did the speaker suggest as the most beneficial strategy for using keywords on eBay?

The speaker suggested that the most beneficial strategy is to include keywords in the title and multiple recommended item specifics, as this combination seemed to yield the best search result placements.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 eBay Keyword Searchability Myths Debunked

This paragraph reveals a common misconception among eBay resellers regarding keyword searchability. The speaker shares a discovery made during research for a Christmas video, challenging the belief that only keywords in the 80-character title are searchable. Through extensive research and experimentation, it's found that keywords placed in item specifics, particularly recommended specifics, can indeed make listings searchable. The speaker emphasizes the importance of this hack, which is already being used by large online resellers, and encourages community sharing of such valuable information.

05:02

📈 Experimenting with eBay's Search Algorithm

The speaker details an experiment conducted to test the searchability of keywords in different item specifics on eBay. By using an uncommon word 'jentacular' and inserting it into various recommended and additional item specifics, the experiment aimed to determine which fields were searchable. Results showed that keywords in recommended specifics were searchable, while those in additional specifics were not. The speaker also discovered that combining a keyword in the title with recommended specifics significantly improved search result rankings, outperforming listings with the keyword only in the title.

10:02

🚀 Maximizing eBay Listings with Searchable Keywords

In this paragraph, the speaker discusses the implications of the findings and how they can be applied to eBay listings. The focus is on utilizing recommended item specifics to insert keywords that can enhance the visibility of listings in search results. The speaker warns against keyword stuffing, emphasizing the importance of using relevant keywords. The speaker's personal approach to applying this knowledge involves adding relevant holidays and keywords to item specifics like 'occasion' and 'style'. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to share their plans for using this information and ends with a definition of the experimental keyword 'jentacular', relating to breakfast.

Keywords

💡eBay

eBay is an online marketplace that allows individuals and businesses to buy and sell a wide variety of goods and services worldwide. In the context of the video, eBay is the platform where resellers are optimizing their listings to increase visibility and sales. The video discusses strategies for improving searchability on eBay, specifically through the use of keywords in titles and item specifics.

💡Searchable Keywords

Searchable keywords refer to the words or phrases that buyers use to find items on platforms like eBay. These are critical for sellers to include in their listings to ensure their products appear in search results. The video reveals that contrary to common belief, keywords can be effectively placed in item specifics beyond just the title to enhance searchability.

💡Item Specifics

Item specifics are the detailed attributes of a product that are used to describe its features, such as color, size, style, and occasion. On eBay, these specifics are searchable fields that sellers can optimize with relevant keywords to improve their items' visibility in search results, as demonstrated in the video through experiments with the keyword 'jentacular'.

💡Title Optimization

Title optimization is the process of crafting a product title that includes relevant keywords to improve its search ranking and visibility on e-commerce platforms like eBay. The video emphasizes the importance of using the 80-character limit effectively but also challenges the notion that titles are the only searchable field by exploring the use of item specifics.

💡Algorithm

In the context of the video, the algorithm refers to eBay's search algorithm that determines the visibility and ranking of listings in search results. The video's research suggests that the eBay algorithm can pick up keywords from item specifics, not just from the title, which can be leveraged by sellers to enhance their listings' searchability.

💡Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping in this video refers to the practice of withholding valuable information or strategies from others in the eBay reselling community. The speaker accuses some members of not sharing the knowledge about the searchability of item specifics, which could help other resellers get their items seen and sold.

💡Recommended Specifics

Recommended specifics are predefined categories or attributes on eBay that are considered more important for searchability. The video's experiments show that placing keywords in recommended item specifics can make listings more searchable, as opposed to adding them to additional, non-recommended specifics.

💡Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is the practice of overusing keywords in a listing, often irrelevant to the product, in an attempt to manipulate search results. The video advises against this practice, emphasizing the importance of using keywords that accurately describe the item and are relevant to the search context.

💡Search Engine

The search engine in this context refers to eBay's internal system that processes and responds to buyer queries by displaying relevant listings. The video's research indicates that this search engine can identify and rank listings based on keywords in both titles and item specifics, with a particular focus on recommended specifics.

💡Jentacular

Jentacular is a rarely used English word that means 'of or pertaining to breakfast.' In the video, it is used as a test keyword to demonstrate the effectiveness of placing keywords in item specifics for searchability on eBay. The term 'jentacular' is chosen for its uniqueness, ensuring that it has not been previously used in eBay listings.

💡Promoted Listings

Promoted Listings on eBay is a paid advertising service that allows sellers to increase the visibility of their listings in search results. The video suggests that by optimizing item specifics with relevant keywords, sellers can improve their organic search ranking without having to rely solely on promoted listings.

Highlights

eBay's search algorithm allows keywords to be searchable even when they are not in the title.

Keywords can be hidden in item specifics such as style, occasion, and theme to increase visibility.

The commonly held belief that only the title's first 80 characters are searchable is incorrect.

Large online resellers are already using this technique to boost their searchability.

The video creator conducted extensive research to debunk the myth about eBay's search limitations.

Item specifics like color and size are known to be searchable, but it was believed that descriptions were not.

The experiment involved using an uncommon word 'jentacular' to test the searchability of item specifics.

Recommended item specifics appear to be searchable, while additional item specifics are not.

The search engine does not pick up changes for 24 hours after a listing is revised.

Keywords added to recommended specifics can make a listing appear more relevant in search results.

Using keywords in multiple recommended specifics can outperform having the keyword in the title alone.

The video creator warns against keyword stuffing, which involves adding irrelevant keywords to listings.

The research found that certain recommended specifics, like 'features', can significantly impact search results.

The video provides a practical application for sellers to improve their listings' visibility on eBay.

The discovery challenges traditional eBay selling strategies and offers a new approach to optimizing listings.

The video creator encourages sellers to share this information to help each other improve their sales.

The definition of 'jentacular' is revealed at the end of the video, meaning of or pertaining to breakfast.

Transcripts

we've been trained that descriptions are

not searchable on eBay and if you have a

keyword that you want to be searchable

you have to fit it into that 80

character title guess what that's not

true this is one of the most important

videos I've ever made for eBay resellers

period hands down I stumbled upon

something while researching for a

Christmas video and I've spent the last

week researching every intricate detail

as a very active member of this

reselling community on YouTube on

Instagram I can tell you if anyone says

to me in the comments Rachel I already

knew this then I'm sorry to say you're

either a liar or you're gatekeeping

information that could have been helping

other resellers get their items seen and

here on this channel we don't do either

I will never gatekeep a single secret

that helps me get my item sold I want

you to get your item sold also this is

something I have never heard anyone talk

about this is a hack that I'm already

seen massive online resellers overseas

utilizing in their stores so far the

only people not using this are the ma

and PAW the me and you listing from our

home offices it's not technically top

secret somebody knows about it just not

you all

righty there I was searching the sold

comps for Christmas it was my only

keyword and suddenly items that had

nothing to do with Christmas nor winter

started to flood the sold comps

immediately my eyes Dart to the title

I'm confident they have Christmas in the

title but they don't why is this item

showing up when I search Christmas and

Christmas only so I start to open these

listings one by one and the word

Christmas while it's not in the title

nor the description it's in the item

specifics wait what as an eBay seller

you should be aware that item specifics

like color and size are searchable but

individual words we've been trained that

descriptions are not searchable on eBay

and if you have a keyword that you want

to be searchable you have to fit it into

that 80 character title guess what

that's not true the word Christmas in

these sold comps I was find finding was

hidden in places like style occasion

theme but is Christmas just a word that

the algorithm is trained to pick up you

know if the occasion is Christmas of

course it's going to pull in those

Christmas items is it is it possible

that this could work with any word there

was only one way to find out I needed to

find a word that was so uncommon that

there wasn't a single chance that

someone had ever used it in an eBay

listing in items specific and there was

no way that the eBay algorithm was going

to be trained to pick up this word I

tried my own name that didn't work I

tried super califragilistic xby

alidocious that didn't work I did what

anyone would do Google what's the least

commonly used words in the English

language jentacular that ought to do it

I searched eBay and may come as a

surprise there were in fact zero

listings for the word jentacular would

it be possible to populate this search

result with my own listings by hiding

the word jentacular in places other than

the title there was only one way to tell

I spent the next five days you guys

experimenting with different items

specifics and the results are in I am

thrilled to announce you can insert

keywords into places other than the

title on eBay and become searchable I

started by inserting the keyword into

places I'd seen it work in other

people's listings like theme style and

occasion I was careful even during this

experiment to apply the word jentacular

to listings that I thought it could

possibly work with because these were

still active eBay in these high heel

shoes I put it under style in this

juicer I also put it under style when

you revise listing on eBay it takes 24

hours before the algorithm and the

search engine actually picks up those

searchable words to the human eye the

change takes place immediately but the

search engine will not pick up the

change for 24 hours I waited 24 hours

the shoes were there but the juicer was

not and the juicer was more gentac than

the shoes one important key difference

was separating what item specific was

searchable to the ones that were not

although each item received the word

under its item specifics the heels

received it under recommended item

specifics and the juicer received it

under additional item specifics it

appeared as though that search engine

was only going to pick up words under

recommended and never under additional

to test this Theory I found a place to

add it under the recommended for the

juicer and I waited another 24 hours but

I didn't stop there I had to know what

other recommended specifics became

searchable on a word basis also wanted

to know if I added the word to the title

as well as an item recommended specific

would that possibly change my placement

in search results to this green Jell-O

mold I put it under food compatibility

that didn't cause it to show up but

adding it to type did now under type you

can only use one word or phrase It's not

a spot like style where you can have

several different style keyword

separated by commas under type you could

only have one thing so I previously had

Jello mold I put gent tacular jell mold

this also served to prove that the words

became independently searchable or or

searchable in any variation or

combination of the three words so

jentacular was searchable on its own

Jell-O mold was still searchable so I

didn't lose the searchability of jello

mold by adding an adjective to it you

could even search gentac mold in this

thing would come up you could search

Jell-O mold you could search jentacular

Jello-O and my Jello-O mold is still

going to pop up what about the most

useless of all item specifics that is

character I added jentacular to

character and it did not yield a

searchable result as it turns out

character is as useless of an item

specific as we ever thought it was while

character didn't work features did and I

feel like features is one of those kind

of similar to style or occasion you

could put a lot of different things in

there and I feel like that field alone

could yield the potential to place a lot

of different keywords but let me be

clear about one thing I am not talking

about keyword stuffing keyword stuffing

is when you stuff your listing with

keywords that are are popular and very

searchable and searched by many people

maybe even trending but they don't apply

to your listing it's the reason why when

you get on Poshmark and you type in

Gucci you see everything but the brand

do not do that this is not that do not

add keywords that do not apply to your

listing and do not add brands that are

not representative of your listing you

could probably get in trouble for that

don't keyword stuff do not do that okay

back to the research I tried for a set

of books to add gent tacular to the

genre and I thought for sure that would

work but to my surprise that's not a

keyword searchable field so let's try

adding jentacular to a title alone with

this Fork here we're going to add it to

the title and a recommended specific

with this Orange Bowl every time I

changed a variable I had to wait another

24 hours to observe the change so can we

just pause and out of respect for the

week alone that it took to make this

video hit that thumbs up and consider

subscribing to the channel of the six

items that became searchable the top

Place went to the listing that not only

had gent tacular in the title but also

in the recommended specifics so if

you're thinking Rachel I don't need your

life-changing advice about keywords

showing up in other places than the

title I use my 80 characters in the

title and I get by just fine have fun

appearing at the bottom of search

results the second place was the most

interesting to me because I never put G

jentacular in the title here this one

literally beat out items that had the

word in the title I placed it in two

different places in this mold and both

of those places were recommended

specifically so it appears that

keywording two different recommended

specifics trumps having the word even in

your title if you remember the fork had

jentacular only in the title and that

came in in third place this fourth place

item also had the keyword in two

different specifics but one was

recommended and one was additional

essentially that was as good as having

only one recommended because as it

turned out through all of my research

this week placing the keyword in any

additional item specific yielded no no

results it may as well not have been

there but those recommended those were

so searchable while the search engine

appears to be searching those

recommended specifics for keywords it is

not searching additional specifics the

fifth and sixth place spots upheld the

same evidence as the item appeared in

one recommended specific and those all

kind of just fell in line right there

together so the order that the eBay

search engine is looking for these

keywords and the order that it will

appear as most relevant is this having

the keyword in your title and at least

one recommended specific having the

keyword appear as two recommended

specifics having the keyword appear in

your title only which is what most of us

have been doing and why we're not

appearing above these other listings and

lastly just one recommended specific to

reiterate inserting the keyword into any

additional item specifics yielded no

results that appears to be unsearchable

it's the recommended item specifics that

you appear to be able to place keywords

in I feel like like I need to go for a

walk to digest everything we just

learned in today's video so how do you

apply this to your eBay store and what

am I going to be doing differently in

mine remember in past keyword videos

when we talked about listing holidays or

even the keyword Christmas gift in your

titles let's see what happens when I

search Christmas gift right now oh my

gosh 3.5 million results in the first

one doesn't have anything to do with

Christmas okay let's take a look here

okay but this seller has Christmas gift

in the title uh and they have nearly

every specific filled in and Christmas

is Led listed under occasion yeah the

second listing has done the same thing

I'm going to be looking through my

listings to see where I can apply

certain keywords not only in the title

but also in the recommended specifics

I'm going to be adding every single

holiday that my item could be giftable

under occasions I'm serious like why

isn't my pocket watch showing up um when

someone searches Father's Day it could

be and remember the offbeat keywords

that we talked about in that last

keyword video the the core words I'm

going to be adding those most to my

listings not only again in the title but

under style which is in clothing

categories a recommended specific I will

definitely detail my findings report

back to you guys uh what is working but

in a world where we're paying for

promoted listings um just so that we can

appear at the top of search results why

would you not take this free way to

appear at the top of the search results

everyone that I'm seeing using this item

specifics plus the the title for their

keyword um they are sellers out of China

out of India like I say big corporations

that are shipping with free shipping

like they have so many advantages over

us already someone has been gatekeeping

this I just can't imagine that this

information and knowledge wasn't put out

in some type of report an email uh maybe

a seller update but I want to know how

you guys are going to use the

information in this video so comment

below and definitely let me know and

because you stayed this long I

definitely owe you the definition of

jentacular it means of or pertaining to

breakfast thank you guys so much for

watching this video God bless and

remember treat your business like your

business