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Traffic Question


HisaDrug
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I know it's a silly question, but what does high traffic do on search? 

I pay 30L weekly to be on search and what does my traffic count have to do with anything except being popular? Does it mean I'd show up on top of search or does it really mean anything to begin with? Does my traffic have to be over certain numbers to indicate something significant? 

Once my traffic was about 2000. I searched my own shop and nothing really changed as before where my traffic was under 500, so I was like what?

My friend who is also a merchant has 10 bots bouncing around in his shop, and his traffic is magnificant. He said he does that to attract more customers. So I don't really understand how that works internally. Because there are so many high traffic inworld shops but by their own bots. Even if so many people come to check out the place due to the high traffic count, I dont think that necessarily means more money for merchants. I dont know.. 

Am I being a noob about this or is it something I have to learn in time. 

 

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The 30L$ only list your parcel on SEARCH

if you don't pay you are not listed

traffic and keyword on your description list is important it's help people to find what he want

it's depend also of SQM if you have little land or big

you can also use a AD for 50L per week but some people use big amount like 100K for have good result

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First, using bots to game traffic like your description of your friends shop is against the TOS and can and should be AR'd by anyone that knows about it.  Even if they aren't AR'd LL may find it out because they have ways of monitoring for this kind of abuse and supposedly do.  So your friend just hasn't been caught YET.  Bots must also be registered as scripted agents and if you friend didn't do that then he or she will get into even more trouble. 

Search order is determined by a secret formula that LL uses to rank places.  It is secret so that people can't figure out how to manipulate or game it.  Traffic plays only a minor part in the formula. To learn more about search and rankings see this article.

Having a huge traffic number sometimes works against you.  Savvy people know that any particular kind of venue, no matter how popular, should not have a traffic number way out of line.  There are exceptions that could account for a temporarily high number, such as a very popular store having a huge sale.  However personally if there is no way to account for it, I probably would think they are gaming the system somehow and avoid doing any business with them.  Gaming the system is dishonest and I don't want to deal with any dishonest merchants.

On the other hand some businesses may have low traffic but still be very successful.  An example would be a store selling a limited number of items.  Also people don't always browse around in stores especially some types of them.  Sometimes they TP in , buy the product they are looking for then TP immediately out.

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How come bots are against TOS? Because almost every sim I know has bots laying around. The fake accounts that the owners set out for traffic at least 3-4. Not just some stores but also adult sims. It's tiring to see them.

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HisaDrug wrote:

How come bots are against TOS? Because almost every sim I know has bots laying around. The fake accounts that the owners set out for traffic at least 3-4. Not just some stores but also adult sims. It's tiring to see them.

She didn't say they were against th eTOS.  She said it was against the TOS to use them to game traffic.

Here is WIKI on it:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Bot_policy

and for history:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/About_Traffic

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For the last few years traffic only seems to help in the PLACES category so if you have a really good day you might check to see how your listing has changed in THAT category.  There are many more things counted in now (it apparently changes from time to time and is  a secret) in the overall search listings. How many folks in your group comes into play in part.  For the most part search terms don't seem to help at all and not only can you often not get your listing anywhere near the top, you can't actually find what you are looking for.

 

Type in something obscure like sewing machine and you get clubs and rental units etc. So you might want to think about other ways to increase your traffic besides search. I have been in search and not and have not notice any difference in traffic or sales. The one thing search IS good for is if people want to find your exact shop because they have heard of it. Then it most often works.

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I know it's a silly question, but what does high traffic do on search?  It depends on what the person is searching for. 

I pay 30L weekly to be on search That just makes your parcel and your products show upon in-world search.  Where they appear in the list depends on other factors.

Does it mean I'd show up on top of search?  Not really. I have very low traffic, except when there is a hunt, because most of my sales are on the marketplace.  However, for some searches, my product is at the top of the list with higher-traffic parcels below mine.

I maximize my search exposure in-world by naming the vendors for the products they contain and setting them to show in search, naming the shop buildings for the type of product they contain and setting them to show in search, and making sure everything for sale is set to show in search and well-named (many people don't realize you can do this).

Part of the trick is using specific names: If I name every prim on my parcel the same long list of every product I sell, as some merchants do, I screw my search results.  If someone is looking for an African Elephant, my elephant is named "African Elephant". and the description is "rear view of an African elephant on a 1-prim decorative flat panel" with an SLURL.   If your parcel is named "monkeys elephants lions tigers bears wild aniimals bongs bikinis Goth" ... which one do you think is more likely to get the shopper's attention?

Look me up in-world and go to my parcel ... right click the buildings, the vendors, the statues and the decor.  Almost every prim that is rezzed shows in search with a useful name and description (a roof, a wall, and a floor can each have their own description). It's tedious to set up if you haven't been doing it, but it does help in-world shoppers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As someone mentioned, gaming the system is a no-no.  However, optimizing your store is simply good business practice. I won't rehash what's already been said; instead, I'll give you a few more ideas.


The search algorithm will eandeavour to list organic results in a helpful manner.  This is it's primary purpose.  It will, therefore, examine your keyword phrase ("victorian furniture") and cross-reference it with relevance and quality.  The aim is to decide what you are seeking and give you the best of the relevant results. In the case of Victorian furniture, depending on the algorithm's cleverness, it will determine you wish to buy Victorian furniture and offer you this furniture to buy in a decreasing rank of what it assumes is quality. We can, therefore, assume the top results are the best Victorian furniture stores. That's how it works in a perfect world. I'm not in-world right now, though, so the top result could well be a transgender bar!


So . . . with that being said, how do we optimize for this algo?


(Omitting ideas already stated above)

1. Use relevant keywords on vendors and related prims. Stick too a primary keyword if you can. Think what people searching for your product will type into search and use that phrase. I haven't tried this next part but you could also test "speech marks" around your primary keywords. If those get listed better than without the speech marks, it'll be evidence that perhaps they make a difference.

2. Length of time in store should be natural. An avatar visiting for 10 hours may mark against you and, thus, push you down in rankings. I would guess natural visiting times will count for you. There will be a natural upper limit too. This can be safely reached by not gaming the system. Simply make your store condusive to longer visits: friendly atmosphere, well laid out, nice design and colours, no annoying music.

3. Visiting frequency. A new store is unlikely to have a burst of traffic that lasts days. We might expect a burst on opening but a burst lasting a week may count against you. If your visiting times are in line with the average of other stores, you'll benefit. So this is another reason against using bots.

4. It's possible that heavy purchasing of classified advertising will give you a bump. Google certainly works this way with adwords, though it would never be admitted by them. If you have the money, experiment with this.  Keep every variable the same but increase classified advertising. It may depend on length of advertising and amounts.  Anyone's guess.

5. Relevancy. Your vendor and prim keywords should match those associated with your type of store.  In a good algo, this would win you points. By the same token, keywords in your vendors and prims that diverge from store-associated ones may count against you.

6. Keywords in description and tag fields. Never repeat them in the same field. Keep them relevant and consider using related keywords based on geographic variants: aeroplane and airplane; armour and armor.

7. Traffic channels. It should be a benefit to have multiple traffic channels. Multiple places on search (from keyword targeting), ad boards, classifieds, newsletters, random arrivals from other places (due to word of mouth or repeat buyers).

8. Never game the system. The black mark from the algo may never go away. It could be attached to your store. Worse:could be attached to your avatar.

9. Description. Don't flood it with keywords. Write about your store and cleverly weave in primary keywords into the text (don't just list them). Should give you another plus point.

10. Traffic. This should, in a good algo, determine placement - the proviso being that the traffic is judged to be honest. This is basic web.2 algo thinking. More natural traffic is an indication of value. Search algos are all about delivering value. So work on building your traffic levels. Consider swapping traffic. Make friends with related stores (not the same) and offer good old-fashioned banner exchanges. Try not to make your store ugly though, obviously. Consider nicely framing the boards to make them less of an eyesore.

I took a break from running stores due to other committments but I may (may) get back into it now. Feel free to message me any time if you think I can help. I can always try.


Regards,

Krueger.

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