Reflections on Cassini and eBay Search

Cassini Spacecraft, Artists Rendition.  Courtesy NASA.

Wednesday, Hugh Williams, eBay VP of Experience, Search, and Platforms, presented "Search at eBay" as a part of the Top Rated Seller Webinar Series.

The webinar discussed Cassini, the search algorithm eBay designed to replace the old "Voyager" search algorithm which was in use for over 10 years.

eBay Powerseller Joe S. took excellent notes during the event, and has graciously agreed to share his "take-aways" with you here:

Overall, it is the buyer experience sellers need to focus on, always considering three factors: Trust, Safety, and Relevance.

1. Keyword spamming and otherwise taking short cuts won't pay off... the buyer sees through it.
2. Cassini is being implemented in stages, it is not completely here yet for live listings. 
3. Cassini is fully implemented for all sold/completed items, going back for 90-days.
4. Duration: If you list for 30-days or Good Till Cancelled, it does not make a difference for you search ranking.
5. HTML: In your listings, having HTML does not make a difference when determining search placement as Cassini strips it out.  However, be aware of mobile listings as HTML and Flash may not read well on smartphones or tablets.
6. Category: The category you list your item in is important since search is not always by queries (this is when buyers enter keywords in the search box); they also shop by also category browsing.
7. TRS/Top Rated Seller Status: Is very important for search rank results.
8. Photos: Having bright, large size pictures is very important .
9. Sales:  Many sellers ask "why are my sales down", most often because of price competition, or because the seller is failing with one of the values above Trust, Safety, and Relevance.
   

These webinars move so fast, everyone catches something different in their notes, which is why I'm so grateful for Joe's help!

I picked up a few other "nuggets".

There are three factors that affect how you get visibility.  1) Search recall, 2) Search refinement, and 3) Best Match.

For best results in Search Recall, use powerful keywords in your title and (if appropriate for the category) make sure you are using the eBay catalog.

Mr. Williams would not explicitly say what determines "value" for the buyer, but I inferred from what he discussed that having the lowest price for a comparable product is a huge factor.  I have a LOT to say on this, but will reserve these comments for a stand alone blog post very soon.

Best Match factors which eBay used to clearly give us (1-day handling, free shipping, etc.) are still important, but Mr. Williams refused to answer most questions on what factors are considered now.  He did explicitly say that 'new vs. old' and listing on a mobile device vs. a desktop computer (regardless of listing service) are not factors.

Studying the Top Rated Seller program and using its "pillars" is important to meet the 'Trust' factor in search success.

And this final nugget is something I realized for myself when he was discussing language translation software... Always remember when writing your descriptions that they need to use simple language that translates easily.  Don't just say "Turquoise" make sure you say "Turquoise blue" because blue will translate better.  Avoid idioms in your listings ("setting up this computer is as easy as falling off a log") because they won't make sense when translated (instead, "This computer is very easy to set-up.")