eBay
eBay listing SEO: titles and item specifics that actually rank
eBay gives you exactly one keyword field shoppers will ever read: an 80-character title. No tags, no hidden search terms, no 13 slots to fill. Everything a buyer might type has to live in that title or in your item specifics — the structured name/value pairs most sellers half-finish and forget. That makes eBay SEO simpler than Etsy's, and less forgiving: waste ten characters on filler and you've burned an eighth of your entire keyword budget.
Free title preview and SEO score — no card
eBay listing limits at a glance
Title
aim for ~75 characters (hard cap 80)
eBay's cap, our target
Search keywords
up to 12, each ≤ 30 characters
Ours: no such field
Item specifics
up to 8, each ≤ 65 characters
eBay's length, our count
Description
the first ~200 characters carry the SEO weight
Ours
eBay's numbers checked against its own pages on 2026-06-06. The ones marked ours are Sellura's budgets, not eBay rules. Sellura generates within all of them automatically.
This page covers how Cassini — eBay's search engine — decides what ranks, why item specifics are the closest thing eBay has to tags, and how to spend all 80 characters on words buyers actually type. No invented search-volume numbers, no algorithm folklore — just the mechanics and what to do about them.
How search works on eBay
Cassini, eBay's search engine, runs in two passes. First, matching: it checks the words in a buyer's query against your title and your item specifics. If "levis 501 vintage 32x32" appears in neither, you are not in the results — not ranked low, absent. This gate is why the title and specifics carry nearly all of your keyword work.
Second, ranking. Among listings that match, Cassini weighs signals you earn rather than type: your seller performance record, your price against comparable items, and your shipping cost and speed. A keyword-perfect title on an overpriced listing with slow shipping still sinks. Keywords decide whether you're in the race; performance, price, and shipping decide where you finish.
The description plays a different role. Cassini's keyword matching focuses on the title and specifics, so the description's job is converting the human who already clicked. Only the first ~200 characters show above the fold in the mobile app — open with what the item is, its condition, and what's included, not a paragraph about your store.
- The 80-character title cap is hard — eBay's API rejects longer titles (ErrorCode 70) rather than truncating them. Aim around 75.
- Every title word should be one a buyer would type: brand, item type, model, size, color, material. "WOW," "L@@K," and decorative punctuation match nothing.
- Keywords that don't fit in the title belong in item specifics, where Cassini still matches them.
- Free or fast shipping and a competitive price typically help placement, not just conversion.
Cassini in full: the Best Match factors eBay publishes, and how to check where you really rank → · Absent rather than low? Diagnose a zero-views eBay listing before you relist →
Item specifics: the tags eBay never gave you
Item specifics are structured name/value pairs — Brand: Levi's, Material: Denim, Inseam: 32 in. They do two jobs at once. Cassini matches query words against them, so a search like "denim trucker jacket medium" can find you through specifics even when those words didn't fit your title. And they power the filters down the left rail: when a buyer narrows by Size or Color, every listing missing that value silently disappears, however good its title.
How many specifics you get depends on the category — some offer dozens — but you don't need them all to compete. A core set of about eight does most of the work: brand, type, material, color, size, style or era, and whatever buyers in your category filter by most. Each value caps at 65 characters, which is plenty, because the right move is short and canonical, not creative.
Canonical matters more than it sounds. eBay suggests standard values as you type — pick them. A value of "Blue" survives the Blue filter; "gorgeous ocean-blue wash" matches nothing. Specifics are a database field, not ad copy: fill everything eBay marks required or recommended, use the suggested values, and save the persuasion for the description.
Amazon Handmade works the same way: product-type attributes feed its filters → · Beyond titles and specifics: eBay selling tips on photos, returns and handling time →
What Sellura does
How Sellura writes for eBay's limits
- Titles come out front-loaded at roughly 75 characters — most of eBay's hard 80-character cap, never over it, so nothing bounces at upload.
- Since eBay has no tags field, Sellura outputs search keyword phrases to fold into your title and specifics, plus a core set of eight item specifics as name/value pairs, each value within the 65-character cap.
- Descriptions are structured so the first ~200 characters — the slice above the mobile fold — state what the item is, its condition, and what's included.
- Every generation shows the title and a deterministic 0-100 SEO score free, no card; unlocking the full listing (keywords, item specifics, description, CSV) costs 1 credit, and your first unlock is free.
Generate an eBay-ready listing in about 60 seconds.
Free title preview and 0–100 SEO score on every generation — no card.
The Grader works with any public eBay item URL (ebay.com/itm/…) — if eBay briefly blocks an automated read, retrying usually works.