Optimise your Google Base Feed

Optimise your Google Base Feed using related searches = simple!?

Well lets take a closer look.....

What don't I mean by this!

Do NOT simply take an example product of  'cake stand' and think of all products relating to it, (e.g wedding cake stand, 2 tier cake stand, tiered cake stand, glass cake stand etc) and place all these within your description or even worse a custom attribute just so they are included in each of your items.

What do I mean?

I wanted to bring to every one's attention "related searches" this will give users suggestions that other users may have searched for to find the products that they crave.  I would suggest test running against your own products in order to gather knowledge of your potential customers and target your listings as such. For example, taking the example used in the screenshot. If you believe that users performing my search for "cake stand" may click on related searches for a more specific type of cake stand, then it may be worth paying close attention to similar products to ensure that your cake stand items are not only targeting that one term.

Your target would be to show within product search for all of these terms. If you were to get lost after the initial search then the chance of a click through or sale is very remote, however, if you show as a reliable listing in all areas, the chances increase of the user looking upon you as a stockist of all their cake stand needs.

In simple terms, targeting all your items for the one term "cake stand" may see you fall off the radar after one click from a user on one of these related searches. Look to these as guidance, if you sell the items listed in the related searches, make sure they too are optimised for prime position. If a user sees your name enough, they are surely going to take a peek.... no?

Just another angle to spin on in the already vast area of optimisation!

Product_Type attribute shows itself at last!

When performing some searches on Google Product Search yesterday, I noticed a change at the foot of the result pages. Shows a new addition of Categories, these are all branches from the Google Base Taxonomy.

So for all of you who do not currently use the taxonomy as your current product_type, this is definitely that push to do so shows the complete searchable extent for Categories within the iPod search.

Currently this is only visible within the www.google.com/products, however, I still encourage all www.google.co.uk/products and http://www.google.de/products users to start using the taxonomy now in order to be ready for this change if or when it does get pushed to the UK and DE.

Please be aware that this is not another attribute, Category is NO longer a valid attribute and you should not create one for this purpose, this information is pulled from the product_type attribute and that alone. I am unsure how this works currently with custom product_types, that do not follow the Google Base taxonomy, extend upon it or for those who have created their very own branch system for categorisation of their products, but as soon as I have played witness to this I will let you all know.

Again, don't miss out on clicks and sales when users click a link within this area, leading them to a page where you cannot be found. Do the sensible thing, improve the quality of your feed with Google Product Search now.

How to set up a Multi-Client Account

What is a multi-client account, who needs one and how do you get one?

First things first! You only need a multi-client account if you wish to control more than one store under your Google Base account.

This is not your only option, you can do the following

Setting up a base account for each store -

Each Google Base account is tied to an individual Google Account (email, base, adwords etc) so if you were looking to have two or three separate store names e.g Example1, Example 2, Example 3, etc then you would have to set up a different Google Account to manage each.

*IMPORTANT*

Having different Google Base accounts and listing the same items with different URL's is a policy violation and can see one, if not all accounts disapproved. If this is your intention for a multi-client account or multiple individual accounts, then stop reading and back away from the computer. :)

If however, you are wishing to control two or three unique stores such as, Pet Food, Clothing, Furniture, etc then a multi-client in my opinion if the best way to go.

Benefits

All accounts can be managed, under one sign in and password (great for the forgetful few).

From the dashboard you can see a snap shot of all accounts and there status, ACTIVE etc.

Downfalls

In my experience, new features can be delayed in being pushed to multi-client accounts but in the end they do appear, so it isn't such a big thing when compared to the ease of using one account for all.

HOW?

The much needed instructions :

http://base.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=account2&ctx=direct

Firstly, using the above URL, request an account. ( You need to have a Google Account before they can do this, so if you dont already have one, create a google account.

Once you have been granted the account, you need to login to Google Base (base.google.com) with the login that you requested the multi-client account be created under.

This will open your dashboard and you will see a link that says "create another account to manage"
Simply register your account(s) like you would in a single user account.

Once you have added the appropriate details you will then be taken back to the "My Client Center". Click the registered display name and register your new data feed.

Once you have completed this, upload your feed and allow to process. You can then add more stores in the same way. Checking under each display name will allow you to check the status of each feed.

*AGAIN (for good measure)*

Google do ask that you avoid submitting duplicate websites selling similar content as this can lead to disapproval.

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Shameless promotion follows!

If however, you wished for management of your feed to be controlled by an external source, why not take a look at TomTheDevelopers Google Base Feed Management Service. :)