Rank Well on Google Product Search

eTaildTail relies on experts when we can and for online retailers (ecommerce merchants) we found a wonderful article on how best to work with Google Product Search.

MerchantAdvantage helps any ecommerce merchant work with Google Product search and over 200 other marketing channels, so if you are having difficulty feeding your product catalog to Google Product Search and/or working with other marketing and shopping channels, please feel free to contact us.  We help you also analyze cost-effectively all of your marketing campaigns using Chanalytics , which is available as a stand alone product or integrated into our Channel Management products.

The below article from SEOmozBlog about how to leverage Google Product Search will help a lot!  I really liked it.

-- Chip Arndt
Co-Founder, MerchantAdvantage

From SEOmozBlog
By: Tom
April 20, 2009

 

 

Google Base aka Google Shopping aka Google Products

"What do you know about Google Base? If you're running a site which sells something, you should be paying attention to Google Base because it's the service which underpins various vertical search portals from Google, including Google Products.

In case you're not familiar with Google Products and what they look like, let me give you an example:

See how Apple can't even rank top of Google for the phrase 'buy iphone'? Those 3 links above them are pulled from Google Shopping results. So having your products ranking highly in Google Shopping/Products/Base is clearly a good thing. But how do you get good rankings in this arcane Google offshoot? Is it all about pagerank?

Major Ranking Factors For Google Products

Below I present to you a list of the major ranking factors in Google Products, in no particular order. I've not done enough research to determine which are more important than others:..."

CLICK HERE to continue reading....it is worth it!

Microsoft Search One Ups Google Search...And More

MSN is back!

Well it never really left, but now Microsoft is "finally" making significant inroads into Google's market share of online dominance in general and paid search and applications as they apply to ecommerce and mobile commerce (mcommerce) search. 

In past six months, not only has Microsoft purchased ecommerce shopping search engines JellyFish (USA) and Ciao (Europe and USA), to complement existing online shopping products MSN Shopping,  Live Search and Live Cashback, but they also significantly beefed up their online search prowess, so much so that Verizon tapped Microsoft Search to be their default search engine on their mobile devices.

Is all this happening because MSN Search is "better" than Google or is it because Google is suffering the same backlash that MSN suffered a few years back? What is that backlash?

That backlash would be = monopoly...you are too dominant for "our" own good fatigue. Nobody likes a monopoly, especially Americans. Maybe Google - an excellent company - has gotten just too big.  It seems that the tides are turning where people are getting wary of their whole online life being "Googlized".  The irony is that MSN is not so small either.

Regardless...GAME ON....Microsoft has made it clear that they are in the game of search and they are here to stay to meet Google head on into 2009 and beyond.  Competition is a great thing for all of us....now....Yahoo! your move - can you say AOL Merger?!?! mmmmmm......

Here is a quick snippet of the recent MSN/Verizon partnership announcement and a link to the full article:

by Mark Walsh

"Beating out rival Google, Microsoft announced a five-year deal with Verizon Wireless to be the default search provider on the wireless carrier's phones as well as handling mobile advertising services. The long-rumored agreement with the nation's No. 1 wireless operator gives Microsoft a stronger position to challenge Google's commanding share of the mobile search market and make inroads into mobile advertising. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the deal Wednesday in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show..."

- Read the whole story... <<<CLICK HERE>>>

- Chip Arndt

"Some" Fixes To Google Product Base Data Feeds and Search Results..."Some" Problems Still Exist

eTaildTail community, a few days ago I posted about some delays with Google Product Base data feeds. 

Here is their recent update as posted by their Google Base (Product Search) Web guru.

Some fixes have been solved others still seem to exist. Hopefully all is resolved by the time I post this. Below is a post from their technical team.

- Chip Arndt

From Google Product Search Technical Support Team, November 19, 2008

This is a quick update to let you know that the issue regarding items remaining in the "Published...searchable soon" status has been resolved. However, the issue regarding feed processing delays continues to affect larger feed files. On a positive note, smaller feeds under 1 MB are no longer affected by the current processing delays and you should see your feeds processing as usual.

Thanks again for your patience and I will get back to you with more updates.

-The Google Base Guy

Here is a direct link to the posting and their support site, if you have any questions to ask them.

<<<CLICK HERE>>>

Delays To Posting Google Product Base Data Feeds and Search Results

Hi all,

I just wanted to keep the eTaildTail community up to speed on some delays Google Product Search is having with processing and listing product catalog feeds the past few days.

Below is a post from their technical team.

- Chip Arndt

From Google Product Search Technical Support Team, November 17, 2008

We've been experiencing delays in the processing of your data feeds. As a result, items remain in the 'Published...searchable soon' status for longer than normal and are taking longer to appear in Google Base and Google Product Search results.

While we work on fixing this issue, you do not need to re-upload your feed. Once the delays are resolved, your feed will process as usual. I'll be posting back to this thread once I have status updates to
report.

Thank you guys so much for your patience.

-The Google Base Guy

Here is a direct link to the posting and their support site, if you have any questions to ask them.

http://groups.google.com/group/base-help-known-issues/browse_thread/thread/89cdde83a733bd9f

Google Product Base Builds By Accepting Other Shopping Feeds To Google Base

Google Product Base, a shopping comparison engine, has not grown as fast as Google is used to growing so Google Product Base is now accepting data feeds that are formatted for Shopping.com and Shopzilla.com, as well as Google Base, in hopes of getting more e-commerce merchants to sign up with Google Product Base.

Google states: "...take advantage of this option when you register your data feed in your account. Select the type of feed you're registering and then chose from a drop-down list of feed formats. We'll automatically format your feeds for proper integration and uploading into Google Product Search."

Google says existing Google Product Search providers should continue submitting feeds in the Google Base format to take advantage of optional and custom attributes.

Here is a small caveat. Eventhough there are over 150 comparison shopping engines in the marketplace, Google is only accepting feeds formatted for Shopping.com and Shopzilla.com and their own Google Base format, not any comparison shopping engine.

Here is what they suggest, from their Website:

• Please include unique URLs for the items in your feed.
• Please submit your Shopping.com feed as either a .csv or .txt file, as we do not currently support .xls and .xml formatted Shopping.com feeds.
• Note: We will automatically detect your file's delimiter.

 

• Please submit your Shopzilla feed as a tab-delimited text file (.txt).
• Note: This is the same format as the Shopzilla-specified file format.

Here is more information regarding data feed submission in general using Google Base. <<<CLICK HERE>>> for that information.

-- Chip Arndt

Google Analytics Webinars and Education: A Must for Online Retailers Looking to Increase Sales

eTaildTail friends over at MoreVisibility are offering training on Google Analytics, which I think you all must explore to see how your website is performing. I am a big fan of analytics. It is the only way to really see how potential customers are interacting with your site and marketing campaigns.

I actually helped introduce "Chanalytics", at my company MerchantAdvantage, to assist online retailers analyze how their product data feed marketing campaigns -- using comparison shopping sites and marketplaces -- perform in conjunction with other marketing efforts.  Chanalytics compliments Google, Yahoo! or proprietary analytic packages and acts as an important "check" to other statistics you are receving on a daily basis.

I also think that these webinars (see below) are important to helping online merchants understand how people are interacting with your website in order to improve sales and then act on those findings.

You can also check out Yahoo! Analytics, as they are also free, after attending this webinar by MoreVisibility.

There is a cost for the webinars, but I think these costs may be worth it, especially if you are using Google Analytics or are considering using it.

 

The two webinars are offered at these times:

May 13 & 15 @ 1:00 pm: Launching Google Analytics & Integrating with AdWords

May 20 & 22 @ 1:00 pm: Using Google Analytics Beyond Google

<<<CLICK HERE>>> to find out more and register, if you want. I highly suggest checking it out.

-- Chip Arndt

Google Says Mobile Advertising is The Future

So what do you do when Google says that it believes mobile advertising is the future?  (see below article for reference to Google and their plans for mobile advertising)

1. Do nothing.

or

2. Take notice and prepare your online storefront for the advent of mobile shopping.

It is really that simple.

I know that Google "believing in/betting on" online mobile advertising does not immediately translate into more people shopping online, as the first large wave of mobile advertising will focus on sports events, ticket sales for various events, and brand advertising for banks and larger companies that have an established brand, but this news does bode well for the growth of all related mobile services, including mobile shopping.

My belief is that as Google, and the 20-35 year old generation, become even more reliant on the their "little mobile" devices to do everything from make phone calls, text messaging, watch video, listen to music, find directions, look at pictures, and scour the internet, so too will they become more comfortable with shopping and then buying products online.

I personally never thought I would be buying products via my cell phone just 3 years ago, but frankly, after setting up an account once with a mobile technology service, I have bought over $500 worth of gift items and sent them to friends the past two months.

It happened one day when I was reminded that I needed to be at the aiport two hours in advance of my flight to guarantee that I would make it through security and check my bags going to London.

Lo and behold, I made it through security in 30 minutes and had 1.5 hrs. to kill before my flight departed.  I thought about a friend, who did something very nice for me earlier that day, and I bought her a gourmet food item via my blackberry, then, I sent my sister some flowers to cheer her up, and, finally, I searched for the best price for a new HD TV to watch the superbowl (no I did not buy the TV, but it was fun and easy to hunt around and compare prices = comparison shopping).

The point being is that those who say that mobile shopping is not a big deal are missing the boat.  Setting up an online, mobile storefront is easy and inexpensive. It gives you reach and and in less than 3 months you can get real time results of whether it works for your company. 

So, my advice....get a mobile storefront today and get in the game...Google is!

-- Chip

PS For great mobile shopping companies to set up an account check out:

mPoria.com and  mShopper.com, MerchantAdvantage supports both with a click of a button!

From Sky News, UK <<<CLICK HERE>>> for full article

"A huge revolution in location-based advertising is soon to take place, according to the chief exec of Google.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, Eric Schmidt said that mobile users could be affected by the soon-to-be truly mobile internet.

"It's the recreation of the Internet, it's the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us - and it is very likely it will happen in the next year", he told assembled journalists.

At the moment, reports Reuters, analysts have been cautious about the future of mobile advertising, or advertising that targets where the phone users is, and consultancy Forrester predicting revenues of under $1 billion by 2012.

But, according to Schmidt, this is a massive underestimation.

He explained that Google wants to be a key player in this market by bidding for airwaves to launch an open US wireless network, which would see it competiting against established telecommunications players.

Analysts immediately responded by stating their concerns that Google would be over stretching itself as it would be a very expensive move tbut Schmidt dismissed this saying that location-based advertising - which could, for example, direct hungry travelers to nearby restaurants - would be "a very, very good business".