Last week I explained how to search Google for all of the pages it has indexed for your shop’s URL. My purpose was to convince you that your items are being indexed by Google and that they’re being found in Google searches. Today, I’d like to address the same concern using a different search strategy. Often sellers will conduct a search for the exact title of one of their items and come away discouraged because they don’t find the listing in Google. Let’s take a look at how Google, and most other search engines, treat phrases in searches.
When you conduct a Google search for a phrase and you don’t enclose the phrase in quotation marks, Google searches for all of the words in the phrase and returns a list of matches that contain those words. However, that list may or may not contain pages that contain the exact phrase that you were searching for. If you enclose the phrase in quotation marks, then you’re telling Google to show you pages that contain the exact phrase in your query. If you click the Advanced search link, you can see the difference. Here’s a search for Freshwater Pearl and Turquoise Earrings (the exact title of an item from my Denim and Pearls shop) not enclosed in quotation marks…
Note that my listing does not appear “above the fold” or anywhere on page one. The Advanced search page for this query looks like this…
Note that my query appears in the “all these words:” box.
Now let’s conduct the same search using quotation marks…
This time, my item appeared on page one but “below the fold”. Here’s the Advanced search page for this query…
Note that my query now appears in the “this exact wording or phrase:” box.
If you’re searching for one of your items using the exact title, enclose it in quotation marks. As in my example, your item may not appear at the top of page one but it should show up closer to the top than searching without quotation marks. Keep in mind that shoppers will be searching using keywords instead of exact titles. Your items’ page rank will increase over time. One thing that you can do to help this along is to post links to your items in places such as forums, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Best wishes for much success on Zibbet!
Vicki is committed to assisting her fellow Zibbeters improve their shops for successful online selling. She is the owner of five Zibbet shops: LOC Design Studio, Denim and Pearls, A Stitch and a Prayer, Black Creek Crossing and Think Like a Fish. You can follow Vicki on Twitter and through her LOC Design Studio blog.
Tags: Finding an Exact Match, Google, search, Success on Zibbet
