2011 Fall Seller Update
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80-character item titles
Reach more buyers by using longer item titles
Keywords in your listing title are a big factor in determining which listings are relevant to a buyer’s search. Using more of the right keywords in your title can also help encourage interested buyers to take a closer look at your listing. Now with 80 available characters, you’ll be able to make your titles work harder to reach more buyers.
Why is eBay expanding the title length to 80 characters?
Do I need to change all the titles for my existing listings to use all 80 characters?
Does eBay offer any tools to help me change/update my existing listing titles?
How do I optimize my titles so search engines can find my items?
What characters and words are not allowed in titles?
What happens if my listing titles contain characters or words that aren’t allowed?
Does this change impact subtitles?
Can I revise my listing title without it affecting its performance score and position in search?
I sell internationally. Will the new 80-character titles apply to other eBay sites?
Highlights
- Starting September 6, the number of characters available for your item titles will increase from 55 to 80.
Take Action
- While there’s no action required, it’s highly recommended that you take advantage of the additional characters to optimize your titles, your exposure in search results, and the likelihood of your items being sold.
- Review the best practices for high-performing titles below and update yours as needed to improve exposure.
Best Practices
To get the best possible exposure for your listings, follow these best practices when creating your listing title:- Use up to 80 characters to create a compelling title for your item. Add keywords a buyer may use to search for your item.
- Include terms to describe your products that are consistent with those used by the market—manufacturers, buyers, and other retailers. Using significantly different terms from those used by the market can actually prevent interested buyers from seeing your listing.
- Place important keywords at the beginning of your title. While all 80 characters are used to determine search relevancy, there may be some instances where all 80 characters are not displayed due to the size limitations of some pages.
- Repeating information or including multiple synonyms in your title--for example, "ipad I pad 32gb 32 gb"—makes it harder for shoppers to read. eBay also checks for synonyms in the background. Instead, use the characters to provide buyers with more distinguishing information—additional keywords, words highlighting what’s unique about your listing.
- Don’t use all capital letters. It appears as if you’re “shouting” at buyers and upper and lower-case titles are easier to read.
- Save any characters that would otherwise be used for punctuation to add more information about your listing. It’s a title, not a sentence—punctuation makes it harder for buyers to scan the title.
- Don’t include special characters or gimmicks like “L@@k” in your title. Buyers don't use these terms in searches and they make your title less readable and relevant.
- Make sure your title accurately describes the item for sale. Keyword spamming and misleading titles violate eBay’s policies.
Frequently Asked Questions
In some situations, the 55-character limit did not allow for the inclusion of all the most relevant keywords for optimal exposure to interested buyers. The new 80 character limit is consistent with many other e-commerce sites and allows sellers to create titles optimized for buyer searches without being too long to read.
No action is required as a result of this change. Titles with 55 characters continue to be fully supported. It’s highly recommended, however, that you update your existing listing titles to take advantage of the new 80 characters limit for optimal exposure to prospective buyers.
Yes. Starting September 6, all eBay tools will support edits to titles and the new 80-character limit. See Tips and tools to edit listings. Sellers who are using third-party tools to list their items should contact their tools providers for more information.
You can optimize your title by following the best practices we outline in the writing a good title help guide. Also including the UPC of your item in the UPC field will greatly enhance your ability to be found by outside search engines.
In general, titles should follow the guidelines outlined in writing a good title. Some words are not allowed in titles, the reasons ranging from the profane to fraud. Words which do not meaningfully describe the item you are selling such as “L@@K”, “Wow”, and “Great Deal”are strongly discouraged. Special characters like “#”, “@” and “*” are also discouraged because they are ignored in eBay search and do not help buyers find your listing.
A good title succinctly describes what the product is and contains enough detail to differentiate it from other items. It does not include details about price, condition, or the person selling the item which is information that can be found in other parts of the listing. It also doesn’t contain extra words and characters that do not help to describe the item:
A good title succinctly describes what the product is and contains enough detail to differentiate it from other items. It does not include details about price, condition, or the person selling the item which is information that can be found in other parts of the listing. It also doesn’t contain extra words and characters that do not help to describe the item:
- Example of a good title: “Apple iPod classic 5th Generation Black (30 GB)”
- Examples of bad titles: “GREAT DEAL! Samsung 46” 1080p LCD HDTV! Save $150” or “
AVAILABLE NOW!!! New great looking ipad 32gb with case!!”
Currently these words are ignored by eBay search. In 2012, sellers may also be blocked from creating listings with these words and characters. Sellers will be given ample notice of this change before it goes into effect.
No. This change only affects item titles.
Changing your title or price does not automatically reset your listing performance score (the listing's ratio of sales to impressions) or necessarily impact your position in search. Of course, title can affect relevance as it is a factor in how well a listing performs in Best Match search. Follow all the usual best practices for maximizing your position in search.
Yes, this change will apply to all eBay sites worldwide.