Best Match Demystified

eBay's Best Match, the default Sort order since April, has been a hot topic amongst our members, so it wasn't surprising that there was Standing room only at the "How To Improve Your Visibility in Best Match Search Results" seminar.

Jeff King, Senior Director, Finding, and Lynda Talgo, Sr. Director, eBay Global Trust and Safety, walked a packed room through Finding 2.0, eBay's new search algorithm, shared specific tips about how sellers can improve their visibility in Best Match, and answered questions from an emotionally charged audience.

Jeff explained how Finding 2.0, a Search experience designed for buyers, uses all available item information  to improve buyers' "recall" and navigation around search results. He demo-ed the differences between classic Search ("essentially a title search") and Finding 2.0 by searching eBay.com for items in front of the audience. His search for "Nike shoes size 12" using Finding 2.0 resulted in nearly double the items compared to searching via classic Search -- a bigger selection for buyers.

Jeff explained how Finding 2.0 takes into account information not included in the listing title, such as Item Specifics. He urged sellers to use Item Specifics as much as possible, as otherwise they would be just "giving away free exposure." 

Jeff also walked the audience through Finding 2.0's improved navigation (e.g. displaying search results by size, brand, etc.) and the new visual browse method called "Snapshot View" -- which displays item thumbnails  so buyers can get a better visual comparison of the inventory.

Best Match Score
Jeff also talked about something many sellers have been asking -- how exactly does Best Match rank a particular item? Jeff explained that the Best Match score depends on Demand Factors + Listing Factors + Seller Performance factors.

Some ways sellers can influence their Demand Factors include:

• using a clear and relevant item title
• using the right category for the item
• using Item Specifics

As for Listing Factors, Jeff explained that they include listing aspects such as end time, price, shipping cost, format (fixed vs. auction), geographical distance from the buyer, having a return policy on the item, etc. (Having a return policy is good for raising item visibility in Best Match.)

How can you know if your item title keywords are "clear and relevant"? Well, eBay has a tool where you compare your keywords with the most popular keywords used by actual buyers on the site. Check out the eBay Research Labs site -- you can plug in your keywords and see how relevant they are from a buyer point of view.

Lynda Talgo took over from Jeff to talk about the Seller Performance Factors, a key component of the Best Match equation. Explaining what goes into Seller Factors, Lynda said, "basically any information eBay can use where the Community has weighed in with input about the seller." This can be Detailed Seller Ratings (sellers with positive DSRs less than 98% will have reduced visibility in Best Match). The pattern of buyer claims against a seller for "item not received" or "item significantly not as described" also were a factor, Lynda said.

It was clear from the Q&A that sellers still feel very emotional about DSRs. Several people wanted eBay to do more to make sure buyers understood the impact of leaving lower DSRs on sellers' businesses. Here's PowerSeller inandoutcomputersstore urging eBay to improve buyer education.