There’s a relatively unknown marketing advantage to using eBay that, to my knowledge, is underutilized by most businesses – and that advantage is free Google listings.
Pay-Per-Click marketing and Search Engine Optimization can be expensive, time consuming, and frustrating, not only for small businesses, but for any business. It can be costly to try to reach a vast market, and difficult to narrow down demographics. But there is a way to use eBay to ease some of these burdens. Simply put, let them “foot the bill”.
For example, using the search term “used star trek” brought up these results in Google.
The first organic result is from eBay as well as one of the top PPC ads. The title and description for the Organic result is generated from the listing submitted by an eBay seller. The PPC is most likely dynamic keyword insertion, but both can be used to a business’ advantage.
eBay spends quite a bit of money on PPC and because of their own Search Engine Optimization efforts have achieved a Google Page Rank of 8. By listing an item, a business can benefit from eBay’s efforts.
The key is to list your item using keywords that a Google searcher would use as well as an eBay buyer. For example, these keywords were all searches made on Google last month:
- Books on sale
- Used books for sale
- Cheap used text books for sale
- Selling used books
- Used book stores
- Buy used books
Normally an eBay seller would not include those terms because an eBay shopper is on the site to purchase already and does not need to be told the books are for sale. But, these keywords would be relevant to a searcher on Google.
Another reason this strategy works is longevity. The listing in the image above expired weeks ago, but it is still being indexed by Google in the first position of the search results. So, if the seller has a link to their website on the “eBay About Me” page they have a cheap way to get traffic- and it is still optimized for Google. So the business is getting marketing value without having to pay the eBay final value fee.
The Test
I’d like to take this theory one step further and see how this strategy could affect local listings in Google. Here’s what I’m going to try:
- Create around 5 listings for different types of businesses and products
- Include keywords that are optimized for Google searches
- And include geographic targeted keywords, such as “in [State]” or “Near [City Name]”
I’ll update you with my results at the end of the experiment. If you have insight or suggestions on how to make this test more successful, or more variables I should test for, please leave a comment.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Good approach, Danny. And it shows the importance of putting some thought behind your marketing plan and approach to SEO. As you say, the listings may be expired, and leaving the visitor behind the click hanging is never a good idea.
That’s a really good point. I never really thought of it that way, but I sell a lot on eBay and you’re right. I went and googled some of the search terms that applied to my products and they showed up on the first page. Amazing. I’m going to incorporate this into some of my other business ventures. Thanks for the idea.
Excellent post – I will try this with my girlfriends cleaning business – thanks!!!
ebay selling tips´s last blog ..Sell Affiliate products using eBay classified Ads