Flippa.com is an unusual beast when you really try and get an idea of how it really works, and how what you list can be seen by more people. I suppose that is the benefit of me also being an SEO Expert is that in just about everything that I do, I am always considering how I can drive more traffic to that page or auction. Not only that, but my internet marketing side comes out as well, and says “but what about the quality of that traffic”.
Now, when I create an auction, I always have one thing in mind, and that is always the person who is going to buy that website that I am selling. Who are they? What are they after? How much do they want to spend? What do they consider as being “good value”? And ultimately, how are they searching for sites like mine?
So, sitting down with Dave and Danny last night before recording our first podcast (coming soon by the way), I had a bit of a strange thought. What if there was an algorithm behind Flippa that ranks auctions based on a few basic criteria. So, I sat back, did some testing as I do, and I was quite confused to be quite honest.
I will go over this in more detail in a moment, but first, I want to give you an idea about why understanding how the search on Flippa works could be a detrimental part of how you list an auction. Lets face it. If you know what it was that people are searching for, you would be able to virtually sell anything for as much as you want, right? Providing that the website that you were selling actually provided some good value of course, however, imagine if we could understand what it is that delivers results to Flippa search, and how we can, for example, get our profitable site to the top of that search listing?
A quick disclaimer. The following information is not 100% proven, and is not supported by Flippa or backed up by information supplied by Flippa. This is the authors conclusion after testing, and is open for debate. This information has been provided as a means to try and help other website flippers understand that there may be other methods of optimization for an auction. Only try the following at your own risk.
Start by watching the video below to see what it is that I have found.
When it comes to ranking an auction in Flippa for a particular search query. here is what I have found so far, and you can test this all you like, and prove me wrong if you like (I would love to be proven wrong to be honest):
1. Keywords In Titles Are Not An Influencing Factor
Testing the keyword “Profitable” in a search turned in absolutely no results in the first page that even contained the keyword in the heading, or subheading. In fact, no related keywords seemed to be present either, which was what first confused me.
2. Tags Are Not An Influencing Factor
Yep. That’s right, I talk a lot about how important correct use of tags is, but you know what? Out of the first page results for the keyword “Profitable”, there were only a handful that used that as a tag, and even then, they were halfway down the page. I have proven myself wrong. However, I will state that when it comes to measuring what the market is actually after, they are very useful.
3. Keywords In The Description Seem To Be An Influencing Factor
Oddly enough, even thought tags seemed irrelevant, and keywords in the heading seemed irrelevant, the one thing that the majority of auctions that were ranked high and searchable for good keywords all contained the keyword once or twice in the description. Not to say that this is unusual of course, this is how Google can tell how relevant a website is after all….
So, why would you want to know all of this?
When it comes to getting my content to the right audience, and marketing websites that I may run, monetizing, and so on, the right keyword choice can be the difference in no profit at all, and making enough to retire on. The very same principal applies to marketing your auction to a hungry audience that is ready to pay what you are asking for your site. Its that simple, so, in that sense, one could only imagine how specific phrases that you optimize your auction for can influence the kind of buyer that you attract to your auction. Consider that for a bit, and if you have anything to add or debate, believe me, I am all ears!
I will advise though that this is not proven, so try this at your own risk. I am sure that like all kinds of optimization, to get a proven method for optimizing an auction will come with months of testing. Again, I am open to all kinds of feedback on this one.
