Read the Directions: Optimizing on Shopping.com

You know, invariably I sometimes fall into the stereotype of the person who does not want to read the directions, but instead wants to just jump in and start finding my own way, and blaze my own path.

Well, that’s great in terms of creativity, but it’s also essential in planning and preparation to read the instruction manual. Such is the case with Shopping.com. A while ago, I was reviewing their materials and came across an important piece in optimizing product titles.

Shopping.com has built their systems to scan product titles by looking for the brand or manufacturer in the first portion of the product title, for a description of item in the middle of the product title, and then the product type at the end of the title.

Lifted straight from Shopping.com’s instructions, you can find the following breakdown:

The best product title structure: [”Product Brand” “Descriptive Copy” “Product Type”]

According to Shopping, here are some examples of good product names that follow this structure:

Nike Shox Turboz Running Shoe
McCartney “Proud American” Dog Breed T-Shirt
Marvel Heroes Chess Set
Spalding Official Size Top Flite 100 Basketball

I have been using this strartegy for a while and have seen excellent results. Different structures will vary in effectiveness on different channels, but in general what works for one channel will in many cases work for others. If, as a merchant you have not tried structuring your titles like this on Shopping’s comparison shopping engine, I encourage you to give it a try and watch your improvement. Simple adjustments like this in product content can make all the difference in seeing excellent results or just getting lucky with what you already have.

February 16th, 2008