Disappearing from Search Results? Then You Must Read This...

Here's the source code from the eCrater listing of the denim jacket, which is rather short compared to Etsy's:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
<title>Misses Vintage Gasoline Denim Jacket Converts into Vest Junior Small 1983 Like New</title>
<meta name="description" content="This vintage Junior Misses Gasoline Denim Jacket has a fully lined and lightly insulated torso. One of the coolest features of this jacket is that the" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Clothing & Accessories, Women's Clothing, Blazers & Jackets, Clothing & Accessories, Women's Clothing, Blazers & Jackets, Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Outerwear > Coats & Jackets > Denim Jackets, Gasoline, indigo blue, cotton" />
<meta property="fb:app_id" content="378302802232761" />
<meta name="og:locale" content="en_US" />
<meta name="og:locale:alternate" content="en_GB" />
<meta name="og:locale:alternate" content="en_AU" />
<meta property="og:title" content="Misses Vintage Gasoline Denim Jacket Converts into Vest Junior Small 1983 Like New" />
<meta property="og:type" content="ecrater:item" />
<meta property="og:url" content="http://purpleiris.ecrater.com/p/19785186/misses-vintage-gasoline-denim-jacket" />
<meta property="og:image" content="http://s.ecrater.com/stores/175895/534e8842bf23f_175895b.jpg" />
<meta property="og:description" content="This vintage Junior Misses Gasoline Denim Jacket has a fully lined and lightly insulated torso. One of the coolest features of this jacket is that the" />
<meta property="ecrater:store" content="http://purpleiris.ecrater.com" />
<meta property="ecrater:price_value" content="119.99" />
<meta property="ecrater:currency_code" content="USD" />
<meta property="ecrater:currency_symbol" content="$" />
<meta property="ecrater:price" content="$119.99 USD" />

<link rel="canonical" href="http://purpleiris.ecrater.com/p/19785186/misses-vintage-gasoline-denim-jacket" />
<meta name="robots" content="index,follow" />

PickyChicky I saw all those links in my source code for Etsy like you said. I was going to post the source code for it but figured I already has so much up on the screen lol.

I'm looking forward to your post on this...

With how you are talking about doing it, I think it is a good idea....it's sort of like the anatomy to meta in source code.

PS: Nicole, sometimes when I'm posting I'm thinking out loud, even when there is a question mark I may just be talking in general. Please don't ever feel like I'm expecting you to answer every question. I can always do a search on Google....that's my savior. Funny how Google is a pain in the you know what but yet it comes in handy for questions. I do appreciate when you take the time out to answer though but please don't ever feel pressured to.

This is kinda related, so I will post what I wrote to Presto, along with Peters Response.
I'm sure that Bonanza would probably never respond if I asked them.

___________________________________________

Subject: Well, it doesn't look good.
Description: We are almost mid month, and sales have dropped so bad there has only been one sale this month.

I would like to put my head together with you guys to see what we can do to fix this. I am aware of the recent Google Algorithm changes. I am also aware that I am nearly invisible for many of my items. What I am most frustrated with is the fact that Presto Mart shows up before my actual website for alot of my listings and where I used to have my images all over Google, they are not showing anymore. I never had this problem before. I'm not blaming Presto. I am just trying to come up with a reason why this has changed for both my website AND Bonanza. I have so much stuff out there I normally get inquiries left and right. There has been nothing. I tweet all day and use Pinterest and still nothing. Even Twitter has not helped to boost these listings like it used to.

So where do we go from here? A bunch of us are discussing it on our selllers forum, and I know it may involve adding a code to block my boilerplate (which is only condition and directional buttons to subcategories) but these are necessary parts of my listings. Google has really screwed small sellers this time. It's been progressively going on since 2011, (That's when I first started noticing a decline in sales each month), but at this rate, I won't be able to keep a store at Presto unless we can come up with a way to get visibility again.

Any suggestions?
Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Something has to give. I had my internet disconnected for a week because of lack of sales. Funny though, it made no difference. I can't get any more invisible than I already am.

Marianna

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PrestoBiz response: 06/13/2014
Hello Marianna,

I scheduled a full review of your site and Google Webmaster account to look into enhancements for your pages/items. I am confident we can find a few ways to help including "nocontent" tags around boilerplate text and other hints.

In addition, we are working on enhancements with all feeds to Google Shopping so that the budgeted free advertising that we use for your Google Shopping items are used in the most effective ways - such as looking at visitor/conversion rates (i.e. which items are more popular this day/week/month for shoppers).

We will respond back within 1 business day with additional details and assistance.

Thank you for your patience.

PrestoBiz Support


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PrestoBiz response: 06/16/2014

Hello Marianna,



Thank you for your patience.



I completely agree that Google is squeezing small sellers with many of their "enhancements" in 2012 and 2013 both to Google natural search and Google Shopping. Specially, they have been rewarding large retailers - especially those that pay for advertisements.



The good news is that I think we can help with a few changes to your web site and submissions to Google Shopping.



First, I have found an area on some of your boilerplate content that we could add the "nocontent" tags. This will help Google better understand the important item titles and descriptions on your item pages.



Second, I would like to enhance your Google Shopping listings so that your listings are optimized based on consumer behavior. Items that have few visitors during a week/month will receive a lower priority than items with more visitors for a period of time. This will allow PrestoStore to set budgets for your more popular items that will compete for top results in Google Shopping.



Lastly, I would like to submit your listings to Google Webmaster and Google Shopping with enhanced item titles. This will not affect the way your item pages are displayed, rather it only make sure to include keywords found within your item descriptions which might benefit a shopper search.



Please let me know if you approve these marketing changes and I can get started this week. Your actual web site will not change in how it appears to you or your customers. The enhancements will take place with your included ("free") marketing that we perform for your site. These enhancements will be take place slowly so that we can monitor these new techniques for improving your shopper visits.



Best regards,



Peter C. | PrestoBiz Webmaster





momspennies response: 06/16/2014

Of course Peter, anything that will help would be greatly appreciated. I was very surprised to actually get two sales on Fri-into Saturday, but there's been nothing else since.



I think you may run into some difficulty with bulk editing my boilerplate areas because they are not all the same. I'm guessing we would want Google to ignore the directional buttons that lead to subcategories, and I was also wondering if the conditions that are the same throughout many of the listings are being seen as duplicate content. I trust you are most knowledgeable about all this so I also trust your advice and actions to get around all this. If there is something I could be doing, let me know that too.



Google should not be allowed to effect small sellers the way that they are without being penalized themselves. Their search feature leaves a lot to be desired lately, and where I used to count on visibility for my "Images", I have a hard time seeing them now. I have sold probably over 1000 peg votives in the past few years. In the past 6 months, I have sold just a few. It's very frustrating as you can imagine. My best sellers are invisible.



Please stay in touch with me if you can Peter and let me know what changes are being done and what improvements you are seeing as a result. You guys are the best. I really do want to stay with Presto for this reason.



Marianna





PrestoBiz response: 06/20/2014

Hello Marianna,



Thank you for your patience. I really appeciate the opportunity to make improvements to your web site as it will benefit all PrestoStore sellers when the changes are automatically rolled out to all sellers.



I completely agree that Google should be penalized but in this case we are going to make changes to better work with Google to get listed side-by-side with some of the large retailers.



Earlier in the week I focused on "nocontent" and "robots" tags to help Google and other search engines better understand which textual content is focused on your item listing versus extra information about your store/business (such as "Browse more categories here" and "Copyright 2013 - Moms Pennies From Heaven"). Helping Google ignore certain duplicate content will provide a higher search relevancy.



Tonight we are implementing the optimized submissions to Google Shopping for your store and other sellers. The goal is to set higher budgets for your more popular items to attract shoppers to items that were more popular in Google Search but may not be shown in a higher position in Google Shopping. This will not affect your item pages and does not affect your subscription. The "budgets" are money that we spend to keep your items listed in Google Shopping and now we want to distribute it better across your items.



Next week I am going to work on the indexing of your item images. I agree that we should get sellers items higher in Google "Images" search.



When Google algorithms look for images, they search for contextual information about the image, as well as any written content that appears near the image on the web page. Also it looks for page title, body, and image’s ALT text. We will be automatically optimizing the content around your images if you have not already entered your own image titles and description. At a minimum, your full size image will have text below it that will display the item title. This will better align with the Google search changes in late 2013 and 2014 regarding images.



I will keep you posted as to the changes and you are welcome to share with other sellers that we are putting these changes in all stores.



Best regards,



Peter C. | PrestoBiz Webmaster