It's a myth that products don't appear in the MP or search results if a store doesn't have at least a zRank of 4.
The help page is outdated but it doesn't mention anything about individual products, just stores.
I have a second small store currently at zRank 3. One of the items that has sold a couple of times is a Spanish language Christmas card. I searched for [religious spanish card]. 1,065 results and mine is on the first page even though my zRank for that store is only 3 and it doesn't have a personal cover. I searched a number of other items that have never sold, including ones just published in the last few days, and they all came up in searches.
@Lensman has two stores, I don't know which has the zRank of 3, but I had no problem finding random products of his from both stores in searches. Also when I used the Creator Store filter, his stores were there.
I did some more test searching using the Creator Store filter and I think this is where the second bullet point above might still apply. When you first apply that filter you get a couple of choices and then you can click View All to see more stores. Whether your store appears in the first choices, in the secondary View All list (seems to show up to 100 stores), or not at all on the list - I think that depends on numerous factors including how broad or narrow your search was and thus how many relevant results there are. If there are a bunch of stores with relevant products then yours with a zRank of 3 might not make it onto the list.
I can't imagine customers using the Creator Store filter. First they'd have to click Add Filter, then scroll down and choose Creator Store, and then pick one at random to check out. If zRank does effect placing here, I personally am not worried about it.
Bottom line is that having a zRank less than 4 is not keeping your products out of the MP or searches. My other store was only at zRank 2 when its first two card designs sold and that couldn't have happened if they weren't showing in the MP. 😉
It's a myth that products don't appear in the MP or search results if a store doesn't have at least a zRank of 4.
The help page is outdated but it doesn't mention anything about individual products, just stores.
I have a second small store currently at zRank 3. One of the items that has sold a couple of times is a Spanish language Christmas card. I searched for [religious spanish card]. 1,065 results and mine is on the first page even though my zRank for that store is only 3 and it doesn't have a personal cover. I searched a number of other items that have never sold, including ones just published in the last few days, and they all came up in searches.
@Lensman has two stores, I don't know which has the zRank of 3, but I had no problem finding random products of his from both stores in searches. Also when I used the Creator Store filter, his stores were there.
I did some more test searching using the Creator Store filter and I think this is where the second bullet point above might still apply. When you first apply that filter you get a couple of choices and then you can click View All to see more stores. Whether your store appears in the first choices, in the secondary View All list (seems to show up to 100 stores), or not at all on the list - I think that depends on numerous factors including how broad or narrow your search was and thus how many relevant results there are. If there are a bunch of stores with relevant products then yours with a zRank of 3 might not make it onto the list.
I can't imagine customers using the Creator Store filter. First they'd have to click Add Filter, then scroll down and choose Creator Store, and then pick one at random to check out. If zRank does effect placing here, I personally am not worried about it.
Bottom line is that having a zRank less than 4 is not keeping your products out of the MP or searches. My other store was only at zRank 2 when its first two card designs sold and that couldn't have happened if they weren't showing in the MP. 😉
Yeah, it's a prevalent myth.
My other store at zRank 3 is only at 65% completion. One of the requirements is to create 10 Collections. With only 26 products that's not going to happen. I'm not going to hastily create a bunch of junk just to meet that goal when I know the products that I do have there already are coming up in searches. I'll add to that store when the mood strikes, as it did this week. Not saying that a higher zRank doesn't help you when there's lots of competition, but a lower rank isn't keeping you out of the MP.
