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Seller_v7w0TJ6tSBaF8

Amazon search engine

I sell second hand books but after 10 years I remain confused about how the search engine works. I advertised a 1940 book - When Britain goes to war by Liddell Hart, a copy that came from the London Japanese Embassy. As usual Amazon also came up with a large number of totally unrelated items including a “Queen Guinevere wood sculpture” but when I search for a Queen G wood sculpture I just get that, a Queen G wood sculpture. Why does the seller of that item and all the other unrelated items get free publicity for their items when someone searches for my Liddel Hart book but I cannot get free publicity when some one searches in this case for the sculpture or a music box or a pair of men’s shoes or …? Does anyone know what I need to add to my listing to get free publicity and have my books turn up on every other item search. This is not a unique case it happens all the time.

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Tags:Advertising, International expansion, Search
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Seller_DROodOAYHftnc

I too am a book seller of 15 years, and the search engine is the worst ever of any site - presumably all down to how Amazon set their various algorithms.
The book catalogue and search is TOTALLY messed up and has got increasingly worse over the last few years.
Many times the search results don’t even include a single matching word.
I don’t believe there is anything we, as sellers, can do to improve the situation.

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Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M

its not just books, anything you try to search for is a nightmare.

Try to shop for a4 board back envelopes and you need to triple check every listing to make sure you don’t accidently buy a6 instead (I’ve done that before!) you’ll even be able to buy your normal plastic mailing bags and your padded jiffy bags from the same search!

I give up trying to buy a phone case and went to Ebay, Samsung s20 is a nightmare because theres an S20, S20 FE, S20+, S20 Ultra and despite them all being different sizes there is no way whatsoever to narrow the search down on Amazon like there is on Ebay.

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Seller_qZO3ZCjoBXEeL

Wow, my reply to you has been held for moderator approval. Given it was somewhat critical of Amazon it will be fascinating to see if it gets approved.

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Seller_qZO3ZCjoBXEeL

Remember always, Amazon is a sales platform, it is not optimised to sell your product, it is optimised to make any sale possible.

If Amazon’s search algorithms think they have any chance of making more money by showing you seemingly random results then they will. They have literally billions of clicks and sales to tell them what the best way is to maximise revenue from a customer buying session.

Remember supermarkets change their layouts and swap things around to keep customers confused and browsing things they didn’t come for. That is how they make additional sales. The balance is between how much you can p*** off your customers vs. making the shopping experience easy.

In all of this, you being able to make a sale of the item you happen to want to sell is almost immaterial to Amazon, as long as the customer walk away buying something.

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Seller_QVpjrN1BsybDT

You are not alone!! I doubt that there is anyone who can seriously explain how it works.
One of the theories I have put forward before on these message boards is that Amazon links together too many unrelated things . If for example you’re looking for a book called “Ladybirds” you will get Ladybird books( the childrens book series), books about ladybirds , books about US President LBJ and his wife -----all of these are justified. But then it goes mad and starts giving you books about other US presidents - then about US politics - then about politics in general-- then it might be some specific political matter such as Vietnam — then it might connect with Asian geography in general. – and so on and on
Of course what this theory doesnt explain is why the book “Ladybirds” doesnt appear at the top of the list.
What has been said so many times before is that the Amazon database and it’s search engine is in desperate need of updating

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Seller_DROodOAYHftnc

Another crazy search result.
Typed in, as a buyer would,’ Cornwall Tour Ordnance Survey map’

The first 2 results - 1. South Devon Map 2. Cairngorm and Aviemore !
:roll_eyes:

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