Google Data » Vivek Tata https://googledata.org Everything Google: News, Products, Services, Content, Culture Thu, 19 Mar 2015 22:49:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.5 Important changes to Google Product Search feed specification & policies https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/important-changes-to-google-product-search-feed-specification-policies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=important-changes-to-google-product-search-feed-specification-policies https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/important-changes-to-google-product-search-feed-specification-policies/#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:07:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=85291b2e02b9e97513c124fd1224d1f0 Updated 7am PST to include updates on China and Australia.

In 2011, we are committed to making Google Product Search an even better shopping experience for our users. Our goal is for shoppers to quickly and easily find the information they need on Google Product Search - and in turn to send more shoppers to our merchants.

To support this effort, we’re announcing a number of changes to the Google Product Search Feed Specification and Policies. Starting on September 22, 2011 we will be taking action against accounts with feeds targeting the United States, France, United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany that do not comply with the new specification and policy requirements. We will be sending emails to those accounts with feeds targeting China, Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, with more information about changes in those countries.

Summary of Changes
We are confident that the new feed specifications will have a strong impact on the user experience. Below are several examples of how the feed spec is changing in the United States; please note that other countries have slightly different requirements:
  • Availability: We’d 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: We 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: We’re 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, we ask 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: We will continue to regularly check feeds for accuracy of pricing, availability, and general product information, and take action against accounts that violate our standards.
Merchant Resources
Below you’ll find the new feed specification and policies and resources to help you prepare for these changes.
We will also provide a video with a more in-depth look at the changes soon. Check back for more information.

Enforcing the new Product Search Feed Requirements and Policies
After September 22, 2011, we will be taking action against accounts with feeds targeting the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and France that do not comply with our policies (please review the policy document referenced above for details). Note these changes only apply to Google Product Search - not to Google product ad formats or Google Commerce Search.

Posted by Mayuresh Saoji, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center

]]> Updated 7am PST to include updates on China and Australia.

In 2011, we are committed to making Google Product Search an even better shopping experience for our users. Our goal is for shoppers to quickly and easily find the information they need on Google Product Search - and in turn to send more shoppers to our merchants.

To support this effort, we’re announcing a number of changes to the Google Product Search Feed Specification and Policies. Starting on September 22, 2011 we will be taking action against accounts with feeds targeting the United States, France, United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany that do not comply with the new specification and policy requirements. We will be sending emails to those accounts with feeds targeting China, Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, with more information about changes in those countries.

Summary of Changes
We are confident that the new feed specifications will have a strong impact on the user experience. Below are several examples of how the feed spec is changing in the United States; please note that other countries have slightly different requirements:
  • Availability: We’d 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: We 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: We’re 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, we ask 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: We will continue to regularly check feeds for accuracy of pricing, availability, and general product information, and take action against accounts that violate our standards.
Merchant Resources
Below you’ll find the new feed specification and policies and resources to help you prepare for these changes.
We will also provide a video with a more in-depth look at the changes soon. Check back for more information.

Enforcing the new Product Search Feed Requirements and Policies
After September 22, 2011, we will be taking action against accounts with feeds targeting the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and France that do not comply with our policies (please review the policy document referenced above for details). Note these changes only apply to Google Product Search - not to Google product ad formats or Google Commerce Search.

Posted by Mayuresh Saoji, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center

]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/important-changes-to-google-product-search-feed-specification-policies/feed/ 0 Focus on the Feed: Four Ways Submitting a Product Data Feed Can Help Your Business https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/focus-on-the-feed-four-ways-submitting-a-product-data-feed-can-help-your-business/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=focus-on-the-feed-four-ways-submitting-a-product-data-feed-can-help-your-business https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/focus-on-the-feed-four-ways-submitting-a-product-data-feed-can-help-your-business/#comments Fri, 20 May 2011 16:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=b9b2fa8c8d498615887fb2d3101d058c If you’re a retailer, you've probably seen the shopping results on Google.com and Google Product Search. These results are generally based on product feeds that retailers submit, for free, to the Google Merchant Center.

There are four key benefits for retailers who upload product feeds:
Free, Qualified Traffic through Google Product Search, a shopping search engine that helps consumers discover product information, compare prices and find a retailer from whom they can make a purchase. This is free traffic to your retail website, which you can only benefit from by submitting a product feed.
Richer AdWords Formats such as product extensions use the product feed to automatically display your products within AdWords ads where relevant.
Improve On-Site Conversion with Google Commerce Search. Commerce Search leverages your product feed and innovations of Google.com to deliver a powerful search and discovery experience on your e-commerce site. Among other things, Google Commerce Search provides an interactive shopping experience - which includes features like automated promotions and instant results - found only on the top retail websites, as well as a powerful merchandising suite that helps you integrate business goals and adapt to market dynamics.
Reach Mobile Shoppers through Google Shopper, our shopping application for Android and iPhone, Shopping for Mobile, our shopping website, and Google Commerce Search on your mobile website. On-the-go shoppers will be able to discover goods you submit in your product feed.

To take advantage of the unique features associated with the merchant feed, first submit your product data feed at the Google Merchant Center and then explore the hyperlinks listed above.

Posted by Kirill Kounik, Google Commerce Team]]> If you’re a retailer, you've probably seen the shopping results on Google.com and Google Product Search. These results are generally based on product feeds that retailers submit, for free, to the Google Merchant Center.

There are four key benefits for retailers who upload product feeds:
Free, Qualified Traffic through Google Product Search, a shopping search engine that helps consumers discover product information, compare prices and find a retailer from whom they can make a purchase. This is free traffic to your retail website, which you can only benefit from by submitting a product feed.
Richer AdWords Formats such as product extensions use the product feed to automatically display your products within AdWords ads where relevant.
Improve On-Site Conversion with Google Commerce Search. Commerce Search leverages your product feed and innovations of Google.com to deliver a powerful search and discovery experience on your e-commerce site. Among other things, Google Commerce Search provides an interactive shopping experience - which includes features like automated promotions and instant results - found only on the top retail websites, as well as a powerful merchandising suite that helps you integrate business goals and adapt to market dynamics.
Reach Mobile Shoppers through Google Shopper, our shopping application for Android and iPhone, Shopping for Mobile, our shopping website, and Google Commerce Search on your mobile website. On-the-go shoppers will be able to discover goods you submit in your product feed.

To take advantage of the unique features associated with the merchant feed, first submit your product data feed at the Google Merchant Center and then explore the hyperlinks listed above.

Posted by Kirill Kounik, Google Commerce Team]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/focus-on-the-feed-four-ways-submitting-a-product-data-feed-can-help-your-business/feed/ 0 Google Shopping Arrives in Australia, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-arrives-in-australia-italy-spain-and-the-netherlands/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-shopping-arrives-in-australia-italy-spain-and-the-netherlands https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-arrives-in-australia-italy-spain-and-the-netherlands/#comments Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:11:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=f4be172a1634ca51ff1d59fade516ef5 It’s fair to say Europeans love to shop online. According to industry analysts comScore, three quarters of Europeans visited an e-commerce site in January this year, spending an average of 52 minutes on e-tail sites during the month. That’s why we’re delighted to announce that Google Shopping (also known as Google Product Search in the US) is now available in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. We're also launching both the Google Merchant Center and Google Shopping in Australia today.

If you’re already submitting a feed to the Google Merchant Center and you'd like to reach more customers in these countries, you don't need to create a new account. Just create a new feed for each country, and make sure it complies complies with our policies. Then, when registering your feed, choose the target country from the drop-down menu. If you're a new merchant, we recommend reading the "Getting Started" articles in our Help Center.

In conjunction with Google Shopping, retailers that choose to advertise their product catalogue can now do so through AdWords product extensions in these countries as well. Product extensions use the product information submitted by the retailer and automatically displays this information within ads, where relevant. To learn more about product extensions, visit our AdWords Help Center.

Happy shopping!

Posted by Amy Gepfert, Program Manager, Google Shopping]]> It’s fair to say Europeans love to shop online. According to industry analysts comScore, three quarters of Europeans visited an e-commerce site in January this year, spending an average of 52 minutes on e-tail sites during the month. That’s why we’re delighted to announce that Google Shopping (also known as Google Product Search in the US) is now available in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. We're also launching both the Google Merchant Center and Google Shopping in Australia today.

If you’re already submitting a feed to the Google Merchant Center and you'd like to reach more customers in these countries, you don't need to create a new account. Just create a new feed for each country, and make sure it complies complies with our policies. Then, when registering your feed, choose the target country from the drop-down menu. If you're a new merchant, we recommend reading the "Getting Started" articles in our Help Center.

In conjunction with Google Shopping, retailers that choose to advertise their product catalogue can now do so through AdWords product extensions in these countries as well. Product extensions use the product information submitted by the retailer and automatically displays this information within ads, where relevant. To learn more about product extensions, visit our AdWords Help Center.

Happy shopping!

Posted by Amy Gepfert, Program Manager, Google Shopping]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-arrives-in-australia-italy-spain-and-the-netherlands/feed/ 0 Changes for Google Product Search Merchants https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/changes-for-google-product-search-merchants/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=changes-for-google-product-search-merchants https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/changes-for-google-product-search-merchants/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:26:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=688d396bacfeaaeffd7c1b43113ed69c To help Google Product Search shoppers accurately compare prices and learn more about products they want to buy, we’re making some changes to our data requirements and our feed specification.  Please note that these changes will only affect Google Product Search listings and will not apply to Google Commerce Search or AdWords ad formats.

For Feeds Targeting the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany

Unique Product Identifiers [required for most categories]: With user reviews, prices, related items, and videos, "product pages" (example: Canon S95) help users make decisions about what to buy. To help us match product listings to these pages, we ask merchants to provide “unique product identifiers.” Starting May 3, we will require unique identifiers for all products except apparel and one-of-a-kind items. Products without unique product identifiers may not be listed in Google Product Search, though the feed may not be disapproved. To learn more about these identifiers, please visit our Help Center.

Shipping Information [required] When shoppers are trying to find the best deal, online or offline, they need to know the full cost of an item - including the cost of shipping.  To help them accurately compare prices, we will begin requiring shipping information for Google Product Search on June 6th.  After that date, we may disapprove feeds from accounts that do not include this information.  Please visit this Help Center article to learn more about how to specify shipping costs either at the account or item level.

For Feeds Targeting the United States

Tax Information [required]: To ensure that shoppers have a seamless experience when they click through from Google Product Search to your site, we’re making tax information required for all feeds targeting the United States. As we’re doing with shipping cost information, we will be making this change on June 6th; after that date, product listings that do not include tax information at the account level, or in the “tax” attribute, may be rejected. You can learn more about providing tax information in this Help Center article. (Please note that feeds targeted to countries other than the United States already require inclusion of VAT in the “price” attribute.)

New Sale Price Attributes [recommended] Shoppers everywhere love sales. To help make sure your sale price is included in Google Product Search, and for the right duration, we’re adding two attributes to the United States Product Search feed specification, “sale price” and “sale price effective date.”  The attributes are recommended for the items that you have put on sale, but are not required.  If you do include these new attributes, you should continue to provide the “price” attribute with the non-sale price from your website.  You can learn more about these new attributes in our Help Center.

Posted by Enrique Munoz Torres, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center]]> To help Google Product Search shoppers accurately compare prices and learn more about products they want to buy, we’re making some changes to our data requirements and our feed specification.  Please note that these changes will only affect Google Product Search listings and will not apply to Google Commerce Search or AdWords ad formats.

For Feeds Targeting the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany

Unique Product Identifiers [required for most categories]: With user reviews, prices, related items, and videos, "product pages" (example: Canon S95) help users make decisions about what to buy. To help us match product listings to these pages, we ask merchants to provide “unique product identifiers.” Starting May 3, we will require unique identifiers for all products except apparel and one-of-a-kind items. Products without unique product identifiers may not be listed in Google Product Search, though the feed may not be disapproved. To learn more about these identifiers, please visit our Help Center.

Shipping Information [required] When shoppers are trying to find the best deal, online or offline, they need to know the full cost of an item - including the cost of shipping.  To help them accurately compare prices, we will begin requiring shipping information for Google Product Search on June 6th.  After that date, we may disapprove feeds from accounts that do not include this information.  Please visit this Help Center article to learn more about how to specify shipping costs either at the account or item level.

For Feeds Targeting the United States

Tax Information [required]: To ensure that shoppers have a seamless experience when they click through from Google Product Search to your site, we’re making tax information required for all feeds targeting the United States. As we’re doing with shipping cost information, we will be making this change on June 6th; after that date, product listings that do not include tax information at the account level, or in the “tax” attribute, may be rejected. You can learn more about providing tax information in this Help Center article. (Please note that feeds targeted to countries other than the United States already require inclusion of VAT in the “price” attribute.)

New Sale Price Attributes [recommended] Shoppers everywhere love sales. To help make sure your sale price is included in Google Product Search, and for the right duration, we’re adding two attributes to the United States Product Search feed specification, “sale price” and “sale price effective date.”  The attributes are recommended for the items that you have put on sale, but are not required.  If you do include these new attributes, you should continue to provide the “price” attribute with the non-sale price from your website.  You can learn more about these new attributes in our Help Center.

Posted by Enrique Munoz Torres, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/changes-for-google-product-search-merchants/feed/ 0 Keeping the Momentum Going in 2011 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/keeping-the-momentum-going-in-2011/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=keeping-the-momentum-going-in-2011 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/keeping-the-momentum-going-in-2011/#comments Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:43:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=75ebf318d06ced25e42d47e8b863e142 Now that you’ve settled into 2011, you’re probably thinking about what you need to do to make it a great year. To help get you started, we’d like to offer two suggestions to improve your Google Product Search experience:
  • Include “rel=canonical” tags on your website. Many merchants have several identical product pages for each item. With the rel="canonical" tag, your webmaster can indicate which URL you'd like to include on Google.com. This tag is necessary for participation in Rich Snippets, and also allows you to provide clean, user-friendly URLs that don’t include excess tracking or category navigation parameters. You can read more about the “rel=canonical” tag in a previous blog post. 
  • Update your technical contact in the Google Merchant Center. If you’ve ever wondered why your feed didn’t process, then you should ensure that your contact information is up-to-date in the Google Merchant Center’s Settings page. We'll send an email to this address if there are technical issues with your account, such as problems with the content you submitted. We may also send you helpful suggestions on topics like data quality.

Posted by Natasha Prats, Partner Manager, Google Product Search]]> Now that you’ve settled into 2011, you’re probably thinking about what you need to do to make it a great year. To help get you started, we’d like to offer two suggestions to improve your Google Product Search experience:
  • Include “rel=canonical” tags on your website. Many merchants have several identical product pages for each item. With the rel="canonical" tag, your webmaster can indicate which URL you'd like to include on Google.com. This tag is necessary for participation in Rich Snippets, and also allows you to provide clean, user-friendly URLs that don’t include excess tracking or category navigation parameters. You can read more about the “rel=canonical” tag in a previous blog post. 
  • Update your technical contact in the Google Merchant Center. If you’ve ever wondered why your feed didn’t process, then you should ensure that your contact information is up-to-date in the Google Merchant Center’s Settings page. We'll send an email to this address if there are technical issues with your account, such as problems with the content you submitted. We may also send you helpful suggestions on topics like data quality.

Posted by Natasha Prats, Partner Manager, Google Product Search]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/keeping-the-momentum-going-in-2011/feed/ 0 Google Merchant Center Launches in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-merchant-center-launches-in-spain-italy-and-the-netherlands/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-merchant-center-launches-in-spain-italy-and-the-netherlands https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-merchant-center-launches-in-spain-italy-and-the-netherlands/#comments Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=b5d3ccd6730e84dfa2d3e47c72d38b37 Later this year, we plan to launch Google Shopping*, our shopping search engine, in Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. To participate in this free service, merchants use a site called the Google Merchant Center to submit and track their product data feeds. To give all merchants time to submit their products and be included in Google Shopping when it launches, we have opened the Google Merchant Center for these countries early. Once Google Shopping has launched, products submitted through the Google Merchant Center may also appear in relevant 'Shopping results' on Google.es, Google.nl, and Google.it.

If you're a new merchant and would like to start submitting your products to Google for Spain, Italy, or the Netherlands, we recommend checking out the 'Getting Started' articles in our Help Center, and then reviewing the data feed instructions and requirements for your target country. Existing Merchant Center users now have the option to select Spain, Italy and the Netherlands from the target country drop-down menu when registering their feeds in the Merchant Center.

As we launch in new locations, we want it to be easy for you to make your products accessible to customers around the world. Our data requirements differ by country, so you can now view the data feed specifications for all countries in your native language by using the drop-down box on the top of the Data Feed Specification help article.

*Known as Google Product Search in the United States and the UK.

Posted by Kirill Kounik, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-merchant-center-launches-in-spain-italy-and-the-netherlands/feed/ 0 Woodcraft.com Hammers Home a 34% Increase in Search Revenue with Google Commerce Search https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/woodcraft-com-hammers-home-a-34-increase-in-search-revenue-with-google-commerce-search-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=woodcraft-com-hammers-home-a-34-increase-in-search-revenue-with-google-commerce-search-2 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/woodcraft-com-hammers-home-a-34-increase-in-search-revenue-with-google-commerce-search-2/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:25:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=a787c87b064f20e8a385c5d038e457c4 (Cross posted on the Google Commerce Blog.)

Editor’s note: Woodcraft Supply is one of the nation’s oldest and largest suppliers of quality woodworking tools and supplies, offering more than 20,000 products through its retail stores, catalog, and website. We’ve invited today’s guest blogger, Nancy Miller, VP of Internet Sales and Development for Woodcraft Supply, to talk about how Google has helped her increase search revenue and transform Woodcraft’s online store. To learn more about her experience, read the Woodcraft.com case study.


At Woodcraft, we strive to provide the best experience for our customers, which means helping them find the right tool for the project. To this end, our retail stores are staffed with knowledgeable woodworkers. Online, we need a powerful search engine.

Prior to our switch to Google Commerce Search, Woodcraft had been using another popular third-party search solution - but we just weren’t seeing the same level of satisfaction on our website as we were in our stores. Visitors to our site often couldn’t find the products they were looking for, and our support team fielded a lot of complaints. Our customers were frustrated and our conversions suffered so we decided to make a change.

After thorough research, we picked Google to host our e-commerce search; their service provided better results, improved rankings, and an intuitive administrator interface. Google Commerce Search is simpler to maintain and much more effective than our old solution - even before customization. In fact, during our testing period we moved half of our traffic to Google Commerce Search and left the remainder on our existing solution – and with Google our conversions from search were 27.7 percent higher and our search revenues were up 34 percent!

Beyond providing a multifaceted search experience with better results, and increasing our online sales, Google Commerce Search has made our customers and employees much happier with our website. The complaints have virtually disappeared, giving us more time to focus on our passion: woodworking.



Above: Nancy Miller, Kyle Crabtree, Chris Brown, Matt Hall, Steve Markle September Fleming, and Daniel Pennock with their latest woodworking project.

Posted by Nancy Miller, Woodcraft Supply]]> (Cross posted on the Google Commerce Blog.)

Editor’s note: Woodcraft Supply is one of the nation’s oldest and largest suppliers of quality woodworking tools and supplies, offering more than 20,000 products through its retail stores, catalog, and website. We’ve invited today’s guest blogger, Nancy Miller, VP of Internet Sales and Development for Woodcraft Supply, to talk about how Google has helped her increase search revenue and transform Woodcraft’s online store. To learn more about her experience, read the Woodcraft.com case study.


At Woodcraft, we strive to provide the best experience for our customers, which means helping them find the right tool for the project. To this end, our retail stores are staffed with knowledgeable woodworkers. Online, we need a powerful search engine.

Prior to our switch to Google Commerce Search, Woodcraft had been using another popular third-party search solution - but we just weren’t seeing the same level of satisfaction on our website as we were in our stores. Visitors to our site often couldn’t find the products they were looking for, and our support team fielded a lot of complaints. Our customers were frustrated and our conversions suffered so we decided to make a change.

After thorough research, we picked Google to host our e-commerce search; their service provided better results, improved rankings, and an intuitive administrator interface. Google Commerce Search is simpler to maintain and much more effective than our old solution - even before customization. In fact, during our testing period we moved half of our traffic to Google Commerce Search and left the remainder on our existing solution – and with Google our conversions from search were 27.7 percent higher and our search revenues were up 34 percent!

Beyond providing a multifaceted search experience with better results, and increasing our online sales, Google Commerce Search has made our customers and employees much happier with our website. The complaints have virtually disappeared, giving us more time to focus on our passion: woodworking.



Above: Nancy Miller, Kyle Crabtree, Chris Brown, Matt Hall, Steve Markle September Fleming, and Daniel Pennock with their latest woodworking project.

Posted by Nancy Miller, Woodcraft Supply]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/woodcraft-com-hammers-home-a-34-increase-in-search-revenue-with-google-commerce-search-2/feed/ 0 Announcing Google Shopper for iPhone https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone/#comments Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:38:00 +0000
(Cross-posted on the Google Mobile Blog)

As we announced last November, millions of people have downloaded Google Shopper for Android to help them shop on the go. Today, we're excited to let you know that Google Shopper, our popular Android shopping application, is now available for iPhone as a download in the App Store. Google Shopper turns your iPhone into a shopping assistant, so you can:
  • Learn more about products and read relevant user reviews
  • Compare prices at online and local stores
  • Save and share products for later consideration
Let's say you're planning a special meal for Valentine's Day - but you need a cast-iron skillet to get the recipe just right. With Shopper, finding one is easy enough: just type in "cast iron skillet" or say it using Voice Search. Then, from the results, you can choose a specific product that appeals to you. Alternatively, if you were in the store and wanted to see product reviews, you could also scan the barcode of a particular product.


Once you've selected a product result, you can compare prices across web retailers, and even find where you can purchase the item nearby, which is especially useful for those of us who are last-minute shoppers. For some retailers, we also provide inventory information so you can see if a particular store branch has the item in stock, has limited availability, or if the item is out of stock and you should head to a different store.


If you're not sure about making a purchase or are building out a gift list, you can "star" products for future consideration. You can also share items with friends across your social network to let them know about products you love or great deals you've found.

You can download Google Shopper for free in the App Store. Shopper is available for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 with iOS 4.0+ in English only for the United States and the UK.

We hope you enjoy shopping with Google Shopper!

Posted by Richard Hung, Senior Product Manager, Google Shopper
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone/feed/ 0 Announcing Google Shopper for iPhone https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone-2 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone-2/#comments Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:38:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=8f72b55fcb1b11f6a81f8e7dc9266209
(Cross-posted on the Google Mobile Blog)

As we announced last November, millions of people have downloaded Google Shopper for Android to help them shop on the go. Today, we're excited to let you know that Google Shopper, our popular Android shopping application, is now available for iPhone as a download in the App Store. Google Shopper turns your iPhone into a shopping assistant, so you can:
  • Learn more about products and read relevant user reviews
  • Compare prices at online and local stores
  • Save and share products for later consideration
Let's say you're planning a special meal for Valentine's Day - but you need a cast-iron skillet to get the recipe just right. With Shopper, finding one is easy enough: just type in "cast iron skillet" or say it using Voice Search. Then, from the results, you can choose a specific product that appeals to you. Alternatively, if you were in the store and wanted to see product reviews, you could also scan the barcode of a particular product.


Once you've selected a product result, you can compare prices across web retailers, and even find where you can purchase the item nearby, which is especially useful for those of us who are last-minute shoppers. For some retailers, we also provide inventory information so you can see if a particular store branch has the item in stock, has limited availability, or if the item is out of stock and you should head to a different store.


If you're not sure about making a purchase or are building out a gift list, you can "star" products for future consideration. You can also share items with friends across your social network to let them know about products you love or great deals you've found.

You can download Google Shopper for free in the App Store. Shopper is available for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 with iOS 4.0+ in English only for the United States and the UK.

We hope you enjoy shopping with Google Shopper!

Posted by Richard Hung, Senior Product Manager, Google Shopper
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-shopper-for-iphone-2/feed/ 0 Going to the Source to Improve Product Data https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data/#comments Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:01:00 +0000 Does this drill require one battery, or two? How long is the included AC adapter cord? When you're buying items online rather than in a store, it can be hard to make sure you have all the information you need about a product. To help solve this problem, Google Product Search's "product pages" aggregate all the information we have about an item on one page (for example, see our page for the Canon S95 camera). To make these pages even better, we plan on working with suppliers and manufacturers to get product data straight from the source.

We are starting this effort through a business partnership with Edgenet, a provider of product data management solutions. Manufacturers and suppliers can work directly with Edgenet's Ezeedata service to submit high-quality product data and images to Google. For more information, you can visit their website, at www.edgenet.com.

Posted by Brian Lam, Strategic Partner Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data/feed/ 0 Going to the Source to Improve Product Data https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data-2 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data-2/#comments Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:01:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=8b76e7d2e363a6e15034baa8ff8b584a Does this drill require one battery, or two? How long is the included AC adapter cord? When you're buying items online rather than in a store, it can be hard to make sure you have all the information you need about a product. To help solve this problem, Google Product Search's "product pages" aggregate all the information we have about an item on one page (for example, see our page for the Canon S95 camera). To make these pages even better, we plan on working with suppliers and manufacturers to get product data straight from the source.

We are starting this effort through a business partnership with Edgenet, a provider of product data management solutions. Manufacturers and suppliers can work directly with Edgenet's Ezeedata service to submit high-quality product data and images to Google. For more information, you can visit their website, at www.edgenet.com.

Posted by Brian Lam, Strategic Partner Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/going-to-the-source-to-improve-product-data-2/feed/ 0 Go ‘big’ in 2011 – Join Us at NRF’s BIG Show https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show-3 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show-3/#comments Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:59:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=fa7d5f611881d96e4f05b6d8b589c34a (Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)
If your company runs an ecommerce website, you’re probably taking a well deserved break with the end of the holiday rush. But as we move into a new year, it’s also a great time to start thinking about how to give your customers an even better online shopping experience.

We’re also looking forward to an exciting 2011 and to kick things off, we’re heading to New York next week to be part of the National Retail Federation's BIG Show. Visit us at Booth #3239 from January 10-13 where you’ll be able to speak with the Google Commerce Search and Google Product Search teams, and learn how our commerce offerings can help bring visitors to your site, optimize their experience, and convert them into loyal customers.

On Monday, join our afternoon session where we discuss ‘In Stock Nearby: The Next Step in Shopping’. Paul Lee, Senior Product Manager, will set out how to serve today’s cross-channel shopper, regardless of platform or location.

On Tuesday morning, don’t miss our session on ‘Search Insights’, where Nitin Mangtani, Group Product Manager on Google Commerce Search, will explain how increasingly sophisticated online shoppers are driving innovations in search.

We’re looking forward to a ‘big’ few days and hope to see you in New York next week.

Posted by Derek Niddery, Google Commerce Search Team
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show-3/feed/ 0 Go ‘big’ in 2011 – Join Us at NRF’s BIG Show https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show/#comments Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:59:00 +0000 (Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)
If your company runs an ecommerce website, you’re probably taking a well deserved break with the end of the holiday rush. But as we move into a new year, it’s also a great time to start thinking about how to give your customers an even better online shopping experience.

We’re also looking forward to an exciting 2011 and to kick things off, we’re heading to New York next week to be part of the National Retail Federation's BIG Show. Visit us at Booth #3239 from January 10-13 where you’ll be able to speak with the Google Commerce Search and Google Product Search teams, and learn how our commerce offerings can help bring visitors to your site, optimize their experience, and convert them into loyal customers.

On Monday, join our afternoon session where we discuss ‘In Stock Nearby: The Next Step in Shopping’. Paul Lee, Senior Product Manager, will set out how to serve today’s cross-channel shopper, regardless of platform or location.

On Tuesday morning, don’t miss our session on ‘Search Insights’, where Nitin Mangtani, Group Product Manager on Google Commerce Search, will explain how increasingly sophisticated online shoppers are driving innovations in search.

We’re looking forward to a ‘big’ few days and hope to see you in New York next week.

Posted by Derek Niddery, Google Commerce Search Team
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/go-big-in-2011-join-us-at-nrfs-big-show/feed/ 0 Nearby Shops launched for Product Search in the UK https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:30:00 +0000 Product Search, they can use the ‘Nearby Shops’ link to show merchants near them that may sell that item.



For UK merchants, you can appear in the Nearby Stores feature by linking your Google Places and Google Merchant Center account with the same website URL. To learn more, visit our help center.

Posted by Emma Burrows, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk/feed/ 0 Nearby Shops launched for Product Search in the UK https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk-2 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk-2/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=801d45a6b86277fd13f9ce7eacf983c9 Product Search, they can use the ‘Nearby Shops’ link to show merchants near them that may sell that item.



For UK merchants, you can appear in the Nearby Stores feature by linking your Google Places and Google Merchant Center account with the same website URL. To learn more, visit our help center.

Posted by Emma Burrows, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/nearby-shops-launched-for-product-search-in-the-uk-2/feed/ 0 New Shopping APIs and Deprecation of the Base API https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/new-shopping-apis-and-deprecation-of-the-base-api/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-shopping-apis-and-deprecation-of-the-base-api https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/new-shopping-apis-and-deprecation-of-the-base-api/#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:30:00 +0000 Content and Search. As part of this launch, we’re are also sunsetting the Base API and replacing it with these new Shopping APIs.

Content API for Shopping
Thousands of retailers upload product data to Google for use on multiple destinations like Google Product Search, Product Ads, Google Affiliate Network, Google Commerce Search, and shopping rich snippets. Our new Content API makes it easier and faster to upload this product data to Google. Retailers can use the Content API to upload their data and make incremental updates to frequently changing attributes like price and availability. Marketplaces and Aggregators can also use the new Content API to manage multiple client accounts. The Content API is immediately available and you can learn more about it here.

Search API for Shopping
We are also announcing a new Search API that makes it easy for our Google Commerce Search customers, Google Affiliate Network publishers and developers to build innovative applications using product data. The Search API simplifies access to product data and is optimized to deliver the most relevant product results. To get started with the Search API, you can sign in to the API console.

Shopping APIs Replace Base API
These new Shopping APIs replace the existing Google Base Data API for our content providers & search applications. We are deprecating the Base API and will fully decommission it on June 1, 2011. Developers using the Base API for shopping data should migrate to the new Shopping APIs for uploading their content and using data for search applications. There are a few non-shopping data types that won’t be supported with new Shopping APIs, such as jobs, real estate, events, and activities. We hope this won’t cause too much disruption, and we recommend developers use Google Site Search and other search technologies for those use cases. You can read a more detailed FAQ on Google Base Data API Deprecation here.

Posted by Philippe Altherr and Wenchao Tong, Software Engineers, Google Shopping Team
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/new-shopping-apis-and-deprecation-of-the-base-api/feed/ 0 Holiday Updates to Google Product Search and Google Shopper https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/holiday-updates-to-google-product-search-and-google-shopper/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=holiday-updates-to-google-product-search-and-google-shopper https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/holiday-updates-to-google-product-search-and-google-shopper/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:10:00 +0000 Official Google Blog:
  • On Google Product Search and in Shopping results on Google.com, we are now showing local availability information to help shoppers find products in stores nearby. We also announced that we have partnered with software providers like Epicor, JDA, and Oracle to make it easier for retailers to submit this local availability data. To learn more, you can read the blog post on the Google Retail Blog, and visit our information page.
  • We're rolling out two new features in our search results on Google Product Search, "popular products" and "aisles," to help users discover new products. "Popular products" shows you what other users are viewing online, and "aisles" helps you refine your search based on product-specific subcategories. When a shopper searches for "camera lens," for example, we'll show her some popular lenses, as well as offer the option to filter her searches by relevant criteria like "maximum aperture."
  • Lastly, we've launched a new version of our popular Google Shopper application for Android - version 1.3 includes search filters like "price" and "brand" to help shoppers easily find the right product. You can learn more about Google Shopper 1.3 at the Google Mobile Blog.
We hope these launches make holiday shopping a little easier - online and offline.

Posted by Vivek Tata, Product Marketing Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/holiday-updates-to-google-product-search-and-google-shopper/feed/ 0 Getting Your Product Data Ready for the Holidays https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/getting-your-product-data-ready-for-the-holidays/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=getting-your-product-data-ready-for-the-holidays https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/getting-your-product-data-ready-for-the-holidays/#comments Fri, 05 Nov 2010 23:40:00 +0000
  • Tip #1: Update your feed with frequent inventory information. Make sure that the "Quantity" attribute in your feed matches the inventory levels on your site. A Zero ("0") quantity must be explicitly specified (blank does not equal zero), and indicates the store typically carries the product but is temporarily out of stock. Learn more about the "Quantity" attribute on our feed specification.
  • Tip #2: Ensure that all prices that appear in your data feed match the prices that appear on your website. For items sold in bulk quantities the price for the lowest purchasable number of items must be defined in this attribute (not the per unit price) as described in our policies. Our feed specification has more details about the "Price" attribute.
To give our users the best experience possible, we'll continue to take action against inaccurate listings and products that violate our policies. If you receive any email messages with the subject "Problems with your items on Google Product Search," please correct your feed immediately to avoid your account being suspended or disabled. If you're interested in learning about additional ways to improve your data feed, please visit our help center.

Posted by Chris Coyoli, Shopping Partner Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/getting-your-product-data-ready-for-the-holidays/feed/ 0 Shipping Costs Available for UK Shoppers https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/shipping-costs-available-for-uk-shoppers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=shipping-costs-available-for-uk-shoppers https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/shipping-costs-available-for-uk-shoppers/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 23:46:00 +0000 announced that we were beginning to accept shipping cost information from merchants in the UK. Today, we have begun to expose that information to shoppers. If you are not yet providing shipping cost information, there are two ways to do it: you can set account-level values in your Merchant Center account, and you can include shipping costs for specific items in your data feed (which will override the account-level values). We urge you to include these costs in your Merchant Center account and data feed as soon as possible, so holiday shoppers can take advantage of this information.

Posted by Emma Burrows, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/shipping-costs-available-for-uk-shoppers/feed/ 0 Google Shopping Now Available in Japan https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-now-available-in-japan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-shopping-now-available-in-japan https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-now-available-in-japan/#comments Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:37:00 +0000 Google Commerce Search and Google Shopping in Japan. If you'd like to make your items available to Japanese users, you can register a feed for Japan, with prices in Yen. Japanese speakers can learn more about this launch on the Google Japan blog.

Posted by Kosuke Suzuki, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-now-available-in-japan/feed/ 0 Google Shopping Launches in France https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-launches-in-france/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-shopping-launches-in-france https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-launches-in-france/#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:22:00 +0000 Google Shopping in France. Merchants who would like to make their products searchable to French users can now create a new French data feed in the Google Merchant Center.


If you’re already submitting your items to Google Merchant Center, you now have the option to select France from the target country dropdown when registering your feed. Please make sure that your data feed complies to the Google Product Search requirements for France. Your products will then appear on Google Shopping France and may be displayed in ‘Shopping results’ on Google.fr pages.

Posted by Robin Zueger, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/google-shopping-launches-in-france/feed/ 0 Treat Your Site Search to to Some Customization this Halloween https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/treat-your-site-search-to-to-some-customization-this-halloween/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=treat-your-site-search-to-to-some-customization-this-halloween https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/treat-your-site-search-to-to-some-customization-this-halloween/#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 18:49:00 +0000 (Cross posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)

If you’ve been to a grocery store or even switched on your television this week, you may have noticed that Halloween is here – a telltale sign that the holiday season is approaching. And since holidays mean more shopping, here at Google our Commerce Search team has been working very hard to help get your retail websites ready for the business boom.

For most retail businesses the holiday season can be the busiest time of the year, and we want to help you get excited about it. We’ve been listening to your feedback and noticed that many of you desire a greater ability to customize your site search so that it’s exactly the way you want it. Today we are pleased announce that we are giving you your holiday gift early, and in the form of three new customization features.

1. Control over auto-completions. Query auto-completion leverages the machine learning of Google to automatically provide a relevant list of suggestions every time a user types a search query on your site. While this eliminates the need for manual entry of query suggestions, many of you still wanted administrative control.

With this feature, users can now control their auto-completions. Let’s say you are an online candy reseller and typing “ch” triggers “cherry cough drops” and not “chocolate covered almonds,” your most popular treat.


You can add “cherry cough drops” to your list of exclusions and “chocolate covered almonds” to your list of inclusions to display the auto-completions you prefer. For more extensive customization, you can even upload inclusions and exclusions in bulk, so you don’t have to enter the query customizations line by line.


2. Easier Facets. We have made it easier to build navigation features by auto-populating the options based on what we know about your specified attribute. So, if you want to build a facet around “shirts,” options for price, color, size, and any of your own particulars will be listed automatically. This makes it simple to customize search results.

3. Improved Documentation. Now you can find information about how to customize your search with improved documentation and code samples. These can be found at the GCS code page.

These new features can be activated today by visiting your GCS control panel, and we hope that while you’re eating Halloween treats you’ll utilize them to prepare your e-commerce site for the holiday rush. If you are new to Google Commerce Search, visit google.com/commercesearch for more information or to sign-up now.

Posted by Andy Herrman, Software Engineer and Salmaan Rashid, Senior Technical Solutions Engineer, Google Commerce Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/treat-your-site-search-to-to-some-customization-this-halloween/feed/ 0 Launched Today: Advanced Usage Settings for Greater Control Over Your Feeds https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/launched-today-advanced-usage-settings-for-greater-control-over-your-feeds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=launched-today-advanced-usage-settings-for-greater-control-over-your-feeds https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/launched-today-advanced-usage-settings-for-greater-control-over-your-feeds/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:02:00 +0000 Google Merchant Center, our goal was to create a central place for merchants to upload and manage their product listings. Merchants are now using their Merchant Center data to get qualified traffic from Google Product Search, improve their on-site search with Google Commerce Search, and enrich their AdWords campaigns with product extensions.

Today, in order to give merchants more control over which of their feeds and items appear in these destinations, we’re launching some advanced feed usage settings in the Merchant Center. For merchants who are only using Google Product Search, there is no need to change any settings; those who are using either Google Commerce Search or product-based ads formats can use the new "Set advanced feed usage settings" link within the Data Feeds tab to exclude or include a feed for a particular destination. For item-level control, merchants can use the new "exclude destination" attribute in their feed. To find out more about these changes, see this article in our Help Center.

Posted by Emma Burrows, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/launched-today-advanced-usage-settings-for-greater-control-over-your-feeds/feed/ 0 Working With Bizrate for Trusted Seller Reviews and Ratings https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/working-with-bizrate-for-trusted-seller-reviews-and-ratings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=working-with-bizrate-for-trusted-seller-reviews-and-ratings https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/working-with-bizrate-for-trusted-seller-reviews-and-ratings/#comments Wed, 29 Sep 2010 05:19:00 +0000 camera for capturing memories and an umbrella for the infamous drizzle to music that would go well with the cloudy skies! One of the tools I used to help me pick the online retailers I bought from were Google seller ratings and reviews. We get these reviews and ratings by aggregating consumer feedback from across the web.

Of course, for both shoppers and merchants, it's important that merchant reviews are coming from real users who've completed transactions at the online stores they're reviewing. That's why we're excited to announce our agreement with Bizrate Insights in the US, UK and Germany. The Insights program gets reviews from shoppers who have actually completed a transaction on your site, which means that it's content you can trust to help you improve and promote your customer experience. Bizrate ratings have been an important component of our seller ratings, and we'll now be able to include the full text of the review, so shoppers can get the full picture before they buy. Bizrate Insights is free; for more information on how to participate, visit their site.

Posted by Kinnari Jhaveri, Strategic Partnerships
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/working-with-bizrate-for-trusted-seller-reviews-and-ratings/feed/ 0 Introducing Merchant Center Shipping Settings Internationally https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/introducing-merchant-center-shipping-settings-internationally/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=introducing-merchant-center-shipping-settings-internationally https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/introducing-merchant-center-shipping-settings-internationally/#comments Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:05:00 +0000
1. Set default values directly in your Google Merchant Center account. The rates and values you set will serve as the default values for all your items. You can input these values on the "Tax and Shipping settings" tab under “Settings” in your account.



2. Include values for the shipping attribute in your data feeds. These values will override any account-level default values that you have set for that item.
Where possible we recommend using both settings: create a default shipping method on the account level and add the item-level shipping attribute for products with more detailed information.

We will be making shipping cost information available to UK users in the near future (it’s already live in Germany), so we strongly recommend adding this data to your account and your feed soon.

Please visit our Help Center for step-by-step instructions and more information on formatting the shipping attributes.

Posted by Emma Burrows, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/introducing-merchant-center-shipping-settings-internationally/feed/ 0 An Update on Unique Identifiers in the US https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/an-update-on-unique-identifiers-in-the-us/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-update-on-unique-identifiers-in-the-us https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/an-update-on-unique-identifiers-in-the-us/#comments Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:00:00 +0000 posted about our plans to change the way we display results to help users access all the information we have on a product from one "product page." This week, we have begun to make these changes in the United States. Product offers in the Electronics, Books, and Media categories that are submitted without Unique Product Identifiers may not be listed, or may appear in a lower position in the results. We recommend checking the Data Quality tab in your Merchant Center account to see examples of products which may have missing or incorrect identifiers, and as always you can refer to our Help Center for more information.

Posted by Jia Sheng, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/an-update-on-unique-identifiers-in-the-us/feed/ 0 Tell the World What You Have In Stock With Google Local Shopping https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/tell-the-world-what-you-have-in-stock-with-google-local-shopping/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tell-the-world-what-you-have-in-stock-with-google-local-shopping https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/tell-the-world-what-you-have-in-stock-with-google-local-shopping/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:39:00 +0000

Since we announced the Local Shopping inventory beta some months ago, we have received great user feedback on the feature, and retailers have been clamoring to take part. Today, we’re making public our help documentation for participation. Please take a moment to review those documents, and if you’re interested, fill out the local shopping interest form. While we won’t be able to accept all retailers who apply, we will keep your name on file if we can’t take you at this time. Please note that excellent Product Search data quality is a prerequisite for participation, so make sure that you are submitting an accurate and complete data feed, including unique product identifiers. Additionally, to take part you’ll need to have your stores listed on Google Places, so make sure you have submitted and verified your store listings.

Posted by Paul Lee, Business Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/tell-the-world-what-you-have-in-stock-with-google-local-shopping/feed/ 0 A Friendly Reminder on Unique Product Identifiers https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/a-friendly-reminder-on-unique-product-identifiers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-friendly-reminder-on-unique-product-identifiers https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/a-friendly-reminder-on-unique-product-identifiers/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:41:00 +0000 announced a few weeks ago, product offers in the Electronics, Books, and Media categories from US merchants may not appear in Product Search if your data feed does not include the relevant unique product identifiers (UPIs), such as MPN, Brand, GTIN/UPC/EAN or ISBN. We plan on making this change towards the end of this month in the US, so we urge all merchants who sell items in those three categories to begin including these identifiers wherever possible to avoid losing traffic from Product Search.

In the case of products which don't have certain unique identifiers, we will have an exception-request process in place when we make the change. These requests will be reviewed after submission. Please note that if some merchants are able to include unique identifiers for a given product, we may not list submissions for that product from merchants who do not include the relevant identifiers.

Posted by Jia Sheng, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/a-friendly-reminder-on-unique-product-identifiers/feed/ 0 A New Way to Get More Clicks from Product Search https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/a-new-way-to-get-more-clicks-from-product-search/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-new-way-to-get-more-clicks-from-product-search https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/a-new-way-to-get-more-clicks-from-product-search/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:23:00 +0000 We are excited to announce a new advertising format that will help you use your data feed to get even more traffic from Google Product Search. This new format is based on the popular product extensions on Google.com, with a slight difference: on Product Search, users will see your products and prices without having to click on a "plusbox" to expand the ad.


These ads are a great opportunity to market the breadth of your product catalog and highlight any promotional messages directly to conversion-ready shoppers on Google Product Search. To take advantage of this format, make sure your product extensions ad campaigns are being served on "search partner" sites. If you're not already an AdWords advertiser, sign up today.

Posted by Andrew Poon, Product Manager, Google Product Search
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/a-new-way-to-get-more-clicks-from-product-search/feed/ 0 Adding PowerReviews to the Google Product Reviews Program https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/adding-powerreviews-to-the-google-product-reviews-program/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=adding-powerreviews-to-the-google-product-reviews-program https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/adding-powerreviews-to-the-google-product-reviews-program/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:23:00 +0000 In April, we launched the Google Product Reviews Program to give shoppers on Google easy access to product reviews and user ratings from participating retailers. Today, we're pleased to announce that we will be adding PowerReviews, a leading provider of customer reviews, as a partner to this program. Clients of PowerReviews who are interested in submitting full-length product reviews to Google should contact PowerReviews to learn more about how they can participate. For more information, please see the PowerReviews press release about our partnership and this page about the Product Reviews Program.

Posted by Brian Lam, Strategic Partnerships
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/adding-powerreviews-to-the-google-product-reviews-program/feed/ 0 Improving the Product Search Experience https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/improving-the-product-search-experience/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=improving-the-product-search-experience https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/improving-the-product-search-experience/#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:58:00 +0000 product page for a Canon Rebel camera). Users appreciate this information, and we want to make sure your product offers are included on these product pages. To do this, we’ll need your help - starting in late August, product offers in the Electronics, Books, and Media categories from US merchants may not appear in Product Search if your data feed does not include the necessary unique product identifiers, such as MPN, Brand, GTIN/UPC/EAN or ISBN. We will make similar changes to Product Search in the UK and Germany at a later date.

These attributes will not be required for your feed to process correctly, so any product-based ad format will continue to show and product offers in other categories will continue to be listed on Google Product Search. However, to avoid seeing a drop in traffic from Product Search, we urge you to start including these unique identifiers as soon as possible, for as many categories as you can get this data. You can find unique product identifier information on Product Search product pages, under the “technical specifications” section for Electronics items, the “Tracks” or “Details” section for Media, and the “Overview” section for books.

For more details, including what specific identifiers you should include for each category of item, please see our Help Center.

Posted by Jia Sheng, Product Manager, Google Product Search

Update, July 23: For merchants in the UK and Germany, the changes mentioned above will occur on a different schedule from the US, and will begin with items in the Electronics category. Starting in the first months of 2011, listings for Electronics items in the UK and Germany that do not include appropriate unique product identifiers may not appear on Google Product Search. For these items, please include at least two of the following identifiers: MPN, EAN, Brand.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/improving-the-product-search-experience/feed/ 0 Announcing Google Commerce Search 2.0 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-commerce-search-2-0/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=announcing-google-commerce-search-2-0 https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-commerce-search-2-0/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:21:00 +0000 Launched earlier today in the US and UK, Google Commerce Search 2.0 is now available for online retailers looking to optimize their website search experience and overall site usability. With new features including a full merchandising dashboard, simple ranking rules, time-based promotions, and query autocompletion, Google Commerce Search is even more powerful and easy to deploy than before.



To learn more about how improving the website search tool can increase conversions and sales for your retail clients, be sure to sign up for an upcoming webinar on June 23rd. If you're unable to make it, you can learn more and request a demo at google.com/commercesearch.

Posted by Eric Larson and Salmaan Rashid, Enterprise team
]]> https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/announcing-google-commerce-search-2-0/feed/ 0 Help Us Improve Your Google Merchant Center Experience https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/help-us-improve-your-google-merchant-center-experience/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=help-us-improve-your-google-merchant-center-experience https://googledata.org/google-merchant-center/help-us-improve-your-google-merchant-center-experience/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:13:00 +0000 help forum in the "Tips and Suggestions" category. Each week's thread will focus on a different part of the Merchant Center, and one of our team members will post a response to your comments at the end of the week. We'll use your feedback to help guide our product development.

Thanks for participating in Google Product Search, and we look forward to getting your feedback.

Posted by Rakesh Gurbani, Google Merchant Center Team
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