The three important scores of the eBay search engine Cassini

Every search query you make on eBay returns multiple item listings. These are assigned to a ranking list based on various scores. The most important scores are the Relevance Score,  the business score and the quality score. The excerpt from the U.S. patent tells us what each of these means.

As can be seen, the Best Match Score is composed of these three important individual components: Relevance, Listing Quality and Business Rules. Accordingly, it can be seen from the diagram that the relevance score is composed of how likely it is that a purchase will be concluded, i.e. a transaction, if the search result page were to be displayed in this way. In summary, the score indicates how likely it is that a purchase will be made if product X is ranked highly for a certain search term. This also explains the name. This means how relevant the product is for the keyword entered.

The Business Rules Component

The business rules are essentially based on markups and markdowns and also includes vendor data.As you can see in this patent extract. This means that not only the optimization of the product listing is crucial, but seller data in general is included in the ranking assignment of the eBay search engine Cassini.

The Listing Quality component of the eBay search engine Cassini

The Listing Quality, which includes typical parameters such as the number of calls, the number of transactions, the price, the shipping costs, but also the length of time the offer has been online, has a very interesting chart that illustrates why it sometimes makes sense to delete eBay offers that have been active for a long time and re-post them. This has already been referred to in one of our YouTube videos.
Here we see a formula which is again composed of three parameters  parameters.

This is why you should delete your eBay listing under these circumstances

The predicted listing quality score, the observable listing quality score, and a time parameter called weight. This time parameter changes over time and has a variance radius of 0 to 1. That is, at the beginning after the eBay listing is posted, this value is 0. Accordingly, the total Listing Quality is composed only of the value of the predictable LQ score. That is from the price, condition, shipping methods offered, etc.
However, the longer the offer is online, the higher the time value Weight. That is, if it reaches the maximum of 1, the predictable QL score is multiplied by 0, since 1 – 1 = 0. Thus, in this case, the total listing quality score is defined only by the value of the observable score. If only no more views and transactions are generated, then the offer falls in the ranking.

eBay search engine Cassini understand to develop sales strategy

That’s why it sometimes makes sense to end listings that don’t sell and repost them on eBay. Hopefully, you now have some idea of the basic composition of the Cassini search algorithm. Of course, there will still be some changes and deviations in the near future through updates. These innovations may involve, for example, the personalization of search result display. This means that person A can be shown something different than person B, even though they both enter the same keyword. Nevertheless, the basic concept embodied in the U.S. patent will remain in place.
Therefore, it’s worth taking the time to understand how it works with the help of the patent so that you can then incorporate it into your own eBay sales strategy.

How Cassini reads the user

One of the most fascinating features of Cassini is its internal analytics tools: For example, if you want to buy a T-shirt somewhere, Cassini stores directly what you are interested in. Item descriptions, response time, return policies product descriptions and many more facts are aggregated and all listings are given a score depending on how well the predetermined criteria have been met and are displayed accordingly in the search results.

How does effective eBay SEO work?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) means the improvement of the ranking on search engines and the associated increase in traffic. The key to good eBay Seo is to make the product title as appropriate as possible. The title must provide an accurate description of the product and you must not leave anything to chance. The more appropriate the product title, the more likely you are to sell your product. With a high conversion rate, the algorithm will show you higher in the search results and favor your offer. Furthermore, you should always make sure to specify the categories correctly and disregard irrelevant categories. For example, if you are selling Nike shoes, it is enough to select the category “Sports shoes” under Shoes instead of selecting 3-4 others. The selection must be simple and to the point.

Pitfalls in SEO optimization

Many sellers don’t notice that eBay already has the item for sale in its assortment. All you have to do here is enter the Ean or UPC and the platform will fill in the rest automatically. Moreover, you should keep in mind that Cassini filters the results according to positive and negative reviews and that you should not only strive for the best possible customer feedback for this reason. The satisfaction of your customers is also a determining factor for your visibility on eBay. As with traditional SEO optimization, the description must be attractively designed and include the appropriate keywords. The balance must be right: relevant keywords and readability must balance each other out and not be mutually exclusive. This is where your writing talent and gut feeling come in. The longer users hang around your site, the more Cassini will reward you.

Item features and shipping

Item features that you enter when listing products are converted into filters because potential buyers use them when searching. The non-use of item features can therefore cost you dearly and must definitely be considered by you. To really get the most out of your opportunities as a seller on eBay, you should consider the free shipping option. This will make you rise even higher in the favor of the users and bring even more traffic and sympathies.

The eye eats with you: Pictures on eBay

It is not only that beautiful images have a psychological effect on buyers, but also that Cassini prefers pages with high-class images. The sharper and more professional the images are, the more likely your product will be displayed. The number of images and their alt text play an essential role: many high-quality images with the appropriate alt text automatically mean higher visibility and more paying customers. If you don’t know what an alt text is, we’d like to help you out here: the alt text is a short phrase that can be specified as an attribute of an image and thus reveals its content. You can add the alt text via html and get the most out of your images.

Commitment pays off

To stop falling further in the Cassini ranking, you need to increase your activity on eBay and take care of your listings. Even if you make only small changes to your pages, Cassini interprets it as you trying to increase the quality of your content, which is rewarded with a higher ranking: Cassini thinks that buyers should be more satisfied with your offer and rewards you for even the smallest improvement. Moreover, the algorithm loves fresh posts and updates. Anything new is preferred and you would be well advised to refresh older offers. Auctions are not as common as they were in the early days of eBay, but remain an excellent way to generate traffic. Wherever there is an auction, people hang around, get involved and watch. A win-win situation for everyone who is a seller on eBay. Another little-noticed tip is to turn off your RSS feed. If you set your feed to “vacation” before going to bed and then set it back to normal the next day, the algorithm will give you a temporary boost in ranking.

Be careful when copying content

Item descriptions and other content should be pasted directly from the clipboard into the listings: Most notepad will automatically remove and eliminate the html elements. This is important because the embedded code prevents the text from being read and analyzed properly and your offer from being listed low. A little-noticed factor in visibility on Cassini, is third-party traffic: Since eBay’s leaders want to maximize their traffic, you get rewarded for recruiting users via social media. For eBay’s creators, self-advertising for their products is also eBay advertising for the platform. One hand thus washes the other.

Get started on eBay

All in all, it can be said that the eBay algorithm rewards sellers who are particularly reliable, diligent and active. There is no shortcut to success and you have to fight for your ranking every day. However, the ability to create attractive offers and a good shopping experience is at the heart of everything we do on eBay. Constant dripping wears away the stone: With the right partner, you can still make a lot of profit from eBay as well as create a real presence.

eBay SEO with eBakery

Besides this secret eBay patent, there are other factors to consider to expand the visibility of your eBay listings. If you are interested in further optimization possibilities, we as eBay SEO agency are at your disposal. For a free consultation appointment you can simply contact us by e-mail or phone.