Yesterday out of curiosity & in the name of research I decided to Search under Christmas (aprox 49 pgs) and see where my 3 christmas design happen to fall (somewhere on pg 40+). H-m-m-m no wonder why I haven't sold any. Which made me wonder how are designs placed within the categories? Is it by: Popularity of the store or image as determined by clicks, reviews, sales? Which store has the most product? When the design was created & loaded? Is there a way for us  to boost the ranking?
 
Also on a different note I noticed while getting to page 40+ that there were a lot of non-christmassy images to the point where on some pages I thought I had accidentally clicked into a different category. I understand that some people are looking for non-traditional christmas designs like the Festivus cards, which is a fun alternative and definitely belongs here, but a lot of these didn't have a hint or reference to the winter holidays on the front or inside which just made me wonder why they came up under Christmas.

There are two different ways that the shopping pages are displayed and it depends on how you've gotten there.
 
If via onsite search words, there's a search algorithm based on matches to the search words:  This ranks cards based on matches to the cards keywords, card title, inside verse, category and more.
 
The best matched cards based on points are displayed first.  That's why as you page through (deep into page 40+) the cards become less relevant.  Chances are if a shopper doesn't find what they're looking for in the first page or two they're going somewhere else.  
 
If via clicking thru Categories, there's a "Popular Cards" formula.  This formula is a combination of factors like sales, inside verse, clicks, cards in cart, rating, comments, favorited, GCU pick, and more.  
 
As for somewhat relevant cards, Festivus for example.  You'll notice those cards are not only in a Christmas sub-category but also have Christmas as a keyword.  Agree, not the most fitted match for someone searching for "Christmas" but they're on page 40.  Search for "Festivus" and they're on page 1.
 
Two comments on getting your cards more notice...
1. we're working on filters that shoppers can use to better sift through pages to find exactly what they want - like adult, humorous, newest, photography, verse/no verse and more.
 
2. you can see why it's very important to create your cards with great relevancy and specificity...card title, keywords, inner verse, category.
 
Hope that helps.  Let me know if you want to know more  
Mindy
 

Quote from Kerra_131306 on Sep 28^th, 2007, 4:05am:

 
Yes, card titles are important not only for the shopper to see at a glance but for our onsite search as well as any text content being important for search engines.  The more specific and descriptive the better.  They of course should be unique from other cards and reflect the artwork, event, recipient - in very few characters
 
With a quick peek your card title seem to be right on target.
 
Mindy

thanks for all the information everyone!!!! good to know!!!
 
Cheers,
Diana

Hi Lynne,
You're on the right path, and yes it takes a lot of time and some online savvy to get this down.  We try to give guidance without you having to know what goes on behind the scenes, but most of us like to understand "why?"    I know I do.
 
The order in which cards are displayed when clicked through categories is based on
our popular formula which we continue to perfect.  Many factors go into it and these factors are weighted - so some are more influential than others.  The great thing is it takes data from all of our BigDates properties, not just GCU.
 
Many of these factors you do not have direct control over.  Keywords do NOT play a role here.  The top 5 influencers in the popular formula are...
Purchases
In Cart
Favorited
Inside Verse
GCU Picks
 
When I click on Holidays >> Thanksgiving category I notice right away that the top 6 cards have inner verses.  I can also tell you that these top 6 have also been purchased and the top 3 are Favorited.
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/shopping/cb.asp?cid=10
 
You can argue that the most popular formula creates a self fulfilling prophecy.  The most popular cards will continue to be the most popular cards because they get the most exposure.  To some extent that is true.  That's why we are working on a new feature for sub-sorting.  It will help the shopper sort by characteristics like newest, card type (adult, humorous, etc.), as well as age and more!  Keep your eye out for a post on this soon.
 
Now, the order in which cards are displayed when using our onsite search is different.  The goal is to display the more RELEVANT cards first not the most popular.  This is where card title, keywords, inside text, artist name, profile and category come into play and is extremely dependent on the exact search words the shopper uses.  It does use some elements of the popular formula but it's a minor influence.
 
The reason we suggest not to use the occasion name for example in your keywords is that we use the most influential occurrences for the search word match.  Similar to multiple occurrences, repeated keywords are not necessary since duplicates are ignored and doesn't weight the card differently.  
 
For example, a Thanksgiving card in the Thanksgiving category with Thanksgiving in the title and inner verse as well as in the keywords and profiled for Thanksgiving does not necessarily produce any higher ranking for search word Thanksgiving than a card simply in the Thanksgiving category with no other occurrences of the word.
 
More specific search words get more complicated and produce much different results.  That's when search really works for the shopper.  For example:  Thanksgiving family leaves
 
You certainly can add these words to your keywords however in most cases it will be ignored.  The chances that you have Thanksgiving in the keywords and not in the related category or profile is quite small, so in most if not all cases it would be ignored.  Also, keywords is a limited space field, we suggest you better use your characters for words that better describe the image/art on your card.
 
I know that's much more than you asked for but hope it helps you and others!
Mindy

Mindy & all,
 
I honestly don't want to make a nuisance of myself....but, I want to try and understand this. Recently, I had an order for 150 of one of my holiday cards "Peace", (which absolutely thrilled me), and have since created several Christmas cards, mindful of including appropriate titles, keywords, category designations etc. etc.
 
Still, when I go to the "Paper Cards" page, scroll down to Holidays>Christmas...as I would do as a consumer looking for a Christmas card, I went through pages and pages of cards...and gave up before I ever saw the Peace card...or any others except for the "Snowmoon" card. I encountered several Festivus cards (one on pg.2)...a "Peace Now" card on pg.2, a "Sunflower" card on pg.4, "Carnation Mosaic" on pg.6, "Happy Spring" on pg.7, "Pumpkin Patch" on pg.8, "Little Ballerinas" on p10, "Framed 4th of July" on pg.11, "Sunset" pg.12, "Loves Glow" pg.12, "I Need You" pg.13, "Free Falling"pg.14, "two Bunnies" pg.15, "Chili Peppers" pg15, etc. etc....and, like I said...gave up trying to find my cards.
 
This is not a rant. There are so many beautiful (and relevant) Christmas cards, and I am trying like the dickens to understand why a "Sunset" or "Happy Spring" card would take up precious space in the first 10 or so pages of the category!?
 
Any comments from others out there? Please understand that I am not being confrontational...just trying to "get it"!

Thank you, Mindy. I’m always somewhat reluctant to make posts like the previous...because I am mindful of the fact that your job has to be daunting (to put it mildly), with so many participants, stores, details etc. etc., which is a reflection of the huge success of GCU. The last thing I want to do is add to your headache! I am so grateful to have this opportunity, and truly admire your (& GCU staff) ability to keep such a huge (global) enterprise as smoothly running as you do, and still maintain  personal contact & individual service.
 
Thanks again for your time and patience...and ditto, here’s to more bulk sales for everyone!
 
Lynne

Hi Jessica,
Welcome!  We do have loads of categories and the list grows every day.  GCUniverse is well on our way to being the largest and most varied cardstore around.  
 
Don't let the categories intimidate you    Take your time.  Focus on a few that you can relate to and go from there.
 
If you have a talent for Spanish cards (your Feliz Navidad is very nice) consider creating some for all types of events and card sending occassions.  We could use more cards in our Spanish cards Collection:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/shopping/cb.asp?cid=412
 
Do keep in mind that cards with inside verses will get more exposure than those left blank inside.
 
Good luck and thanks for joining!
Mindy