Search Engine Land » Google: Base

Update Your Google Product Feeds By September 22nd

Barry Schwartz — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:46:47 +0000

Google has posted a reminder that the updates to the Google Product search feeds is just around the corner. If you do not update your product feeds with the new guidelines by September 22nd, Google may suspend your account.

Google said:

As we announced in July, the new Google Product Search Feed Specification and Policies will go into effect on September 22, 2011. After this date, accounts that do not comply with the new requirements may be suspended.

For more details on those changes, I recommend you ready our post from July.

Google Trusted Stores: For Organic Rankings & Search Ads?

Barry Schwartz — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:05:33 +0000

Google Operating System Blog discovered a new feature to be released by Google named “Google Trusted Stores.”

The landing page for this feature will be at google.com/trustedstores but it is currently not live. There was a video that was released today that was just made private. The video was shared on Google Operating System Blog but was then marked as private shortly after.

The blog reports that the service “makes it easy for online shoppers to identify stores that provide an excellent online shopping experience.”

We know Google was likely to incorporate merchant reviews as ranking factors since a New York Times article exposed how treating your customers poorly or even abusing them can lead top rankings. Google disputed that and days later released an update to use merchant reviews as a ranking signal.

Now this new feature, Google Trusted Stores, may be simply ad related and have nothing to do with the organic reviews. Google recently removed the checkout badge from the AdWords listing. Maybe this will replace it? Maybe this is just a feature for Google Product Search?

A Google spokesperson told us “We’re always exploring new ways to help improve the online commerce experience but don’t have anything new to announce today. Stay tuned for more.”

Google Product Search Changes Feed Specifications

Barry Schwartz — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:21:36 +0000

The Google Merchant Blog announced “important changes to Google Product Search feed specification & policies.” These changes go into affect September 22, 2011 and if you are not compliant, you will find your products missing from Google Product Search.

To see the changes, you can go to this document and select the country that you target with your content. Then read the documentation the loads beneath it. Here is the overview of changes to U.S. merchants submitting feeds to Google.

Availability: Google would like a user to be able to find your products even when they are out of stock. For this reason, the [availability] status of all your items will be required.
Google Product Category: Google have added a new required high-level attribute called [google product category] that contains the category of the item in Google’s taxonomy (currently only required for a select number of categories). This is in addition to the current [product type] attribute.
Images: Google is making [image link] required and we encourage you to submit up to 10 additional product images through [additional image link]. This way, you can improve the visual representation of your products.
Apparel: In order to create a better experience for product variants such as dresses or shoes that are available in multiple colors or sizes, Google is asking you to include information like [size] and [color] in your product feed. In addition, we require you to provide [gender] and [age group].
Data Freshness: Google will continue to regularly check feeds for accuracy of pricing, availability, and general product information, and take action against accounts that violate our standards.

Those are just some of the changes for the United States.

Here is some helpful documentation from Google on these changes:

Google To Replace Base API With Two Shopping APIs

Pamela Parker — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:34:15 +0000

Google is retiring its Base API and replacing it with two shopping-centric APIs, requiring developers to modify applications that manage and search product data. Google Base will be shuttered permanently as of June 1, 2011.

The Content API for Shopping will be used for uploading data, and the Search API for Shopping for accessing product data. The Content API can be used to add, delete, query or modify any item individually or with a batch protocol. The Search API is aimed at helping Google Affiliate Network publishers and Google Commerce Search customers.

Both of the new APIs use the Gdata protocol used by many other Google APIs. Those who upload XML or CSV files directly can continue to use the Merchant Center.

The company will no longer support data types such as jobs, real estate, events, and activities, after Google Base is retired in June.

Separately, Microsoft also announced an API change, urging users of its adCenter API to shift to version 7, which was released to production earlier this year. The company says version 6 will sunset this spring.

Google Launches Merchant Center For Google Base Users

Barry Schwartz — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:30:23 +0000

The Google Base blog announced the launch of the new Google Merchant Center. This is the location for you to “upload your feeds, check on the status of your items, and get information on the performance of your listings.”

The Merchant Center is replacing Google Base for those who submit products to Google. This new portal is designed around product listings and submitting data for product listings. Transitioning between Google Base and Merchant Center should be very easy, Google said they would automatically show your existing data feeds, items, FTP settings and other data in the new Merchant Center, based on your login.

Again, the Google Merchant Center replaces Google Base for anyone who uses Google Base to submit product data to Google. For anyone else, submitting anything else, stick with Google Base.

Plus, there is a new Google Merchant Blog.

Get YouTube Videos In Your Google Product Search Feeds

Barry Schwartz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:25:23 +0000

The Google Base Blog announced they have added a new attribute for Google Product Search merchants to submit product videos for specific products. Google Product Search can now show videos from YouTube.

Here is a picture of the Nikon D90 with YouTube videos:

How do merchants get their videos to show up for Google Product Searches? When you submit your Google Base data feed, make sure to include the new youtube attribute. This will help Google determine if they should show a video for that product listing. Google said, “we can’t guarantee that submitted videos will be selected.” Either way, it is likely worth doing, if you have the videos to link to.

Google Expands Mobile Product Search & Adds Suggestions

Barry Schwartz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:54:11 +0000

Google has announced they have expanded Google Product Search for mobile to both Palm Pre and any mobile device with an internet connection based in the US, UK, Germany and South Korea.

To access Google Product Search on your mobile device, just visit google.com and click on shopping or go directly to www.google.com/m/products.

Google also added Google Suggest for iPhone and Android users. Here is a picture of how it looks on the iPhone:

Google has also posted a webmaster video on frequently asked questions on products via Google base, here it is:

New Clean Look For The Google Base Bulk Upload Dashboard

Barry Schwartz — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:11:12 +0000

The Google Base Blog has announced that they have cleaned up and streamlined the Google Base Bulk Upload Dashboard. Google said the new dashboard provides “a better overview of the status of your bulk uploads and your items.”

Here is a before and after of this dashboard. First, the new Google Base Dashboard:

Next, the old Google Base Dashboard:

For more information on the Google Base Bulk Upload dashboard, click here.