EcommerceBytes Insider sat down with Jessica Ng, Product Marketing Manager for Google Product Search, to get some inside tips on how to make the most of Google's shopping search tool. In future issues, we'll take a look at other Google offerings ideally suited for online merchants.
EBI: What is Google Product Search?
Jessica Ng: Google Product Search is Google's shopping search product. It helps users search for and find products they want to buy. Shoppers can use Product Search to search through hundreds of millions of products and get results that are as comprehensive and unbiased as those of Google web search. Even though users can access it through this page, Product Search is deeply integrated in the Google universal search experience - so users can also find product results by directly searching on Google.com. For merchants, Product Search is one of several tools - a full list can be found here - that Google offers to help drive more sales and traffic to retailers' websites. It's a powerful way to reach shoppers when they're searching on Google for items to buy. Sellers can submit their products for free, and those products will then appear when shoppers type in relevant search terms.
EBI: Is Google Product Search a popular feature with shoppers? How many visitors actually make their way to the advanced search page on Product Search?
Jessica Ng: We see Product Search as a core part of the overall Google search experience, and we've seen strong growth in its popularity and traffic. We think this popularity is due to the fact that users are able to search for products directly from a Google.com search box and get relevant, unbiased search results that aren't affected by any kind of pay-for-placement approach. As for the number of visits to the advanced search page, we can't share numbers on our usage or user traffic patterns, but we can say that traffic on Google Product Search has been extremely strong.
EBI: How does Google select which items to display in Google Product Search box that appears on the main Google search results pages?
Jessica Ng: We determine which items to display based on a number of factors - but, in a word, it's all about relevance, just like in all of Google's search products. We want to make sure that we're helping users find the product information that's most relevant to their search queries. And what we've seen is that this ultimately benefits merchants. At the end of the day, making users happy is what brings them back to our search engine and encourages them to trust our recommendations for relevant product results.
When it comes to determining relevance, we take a number of factors into account. But merchants can actually help us with this task by providing us as much information about their products as possible. They should also make sure that this information is accurate and descriptive. To help them do this, we'll soon be offering customized suggestions in merchants' Google Base accounts for improving the quality and accuracy of product data. It's not surprising that the more accurate the information is, the better we're able to determine whether a specific product is indeed what the user is looking for and make sure the user sees it in his or her search results.
EBI: Does the size of the merchant or their depth or breadth of inventory have anything to do with how Google selects listings for inclusion in this Product Search box?
Jessica Ng: We look to a number of factors to determine which items are most relevant to what users are searching for. Merchant size does not matter, so merchants of all sizes should submit data for their entire inventory.
EBI: What are the five key things online merchants should know about Google Product Search to help them increase exposure for their listings?
Jessica Ng: First and foremost is to submit all your products to Google Product Search. There are no charges for uploading your products, or for the additional clicks and traffic you receive. It's just a great way to target the millions of shoppers who start their shopping experience on Google.com.
Second, you should submit accurate and up-to-date product information using attributes. In addition to using our five required attributes, it's also important to include the recommended attributes that are relevant to your products. There are some recommended attributes - such as MPN, UPC, ISBN, and condition - that are crucial to helping more shoppers find your products. You can find a full list of our required, recommended, and optional attributes here. Submit your data feeds regularly, up to once per day, so your product information is current.
The third thing we recommend is to submit tax and shipping information for all your products. We'll soon start experimenting with displaying this information on Google Product Search to provide buyers with more accurate price information. By submitting tax and shipping information, merchants provide us with crucial price information that helps consumers determine what to buy and which merchant to buy it from, so we strongly encourage all merchants to submit this data. More information and instructions on tax and shipping can be found here.
Fourth are descriptions. Shoppers look to your descriptions for an overview of the product you're selling, so make sure that your descriptions are accurate - which means more than a few words in length! Good descriptions are a great way to help more shoppers find your products.
Lastly, we make announcements and updates through email all the time, so it's a good idea to verify that your email address is up to date in your Google Base account if you're interested in receiving our news and product updates in the future.
EBI: So how can interested merchants get started? How do you set up and maintain a product feed for Google Product Search?
Jessica Ng: The easiest way for interested merchants to get started is to visit our Information for Sellers page. On this page merchants will be able to find more information on how Google Product Search works and ways to submit their products. To submit to Product Search, merchants must first create an account with Google Base, the content submission tool for Product Search. Merchants can click on "Start a data feed" on the Information for Sellers page and we'll take you through the necessary steps for getting started.
You can create your data feed in either text or XML format. Once you've created a file in your chosen format, register it in your Google Base account and select "Products" as the item type. This lets our system know to expect your file, and what item type it is. Once you've registered your file, upload it to your Google Base account. You can do this either in your Google Base account itself or via FTP. Your items will be added to and appear in Google Product Search after your file is successfully uploaded and processed. For more instructions on the data submission process, please refer to our Help Center. As mentioned earlier, remember to include values for the required and recommended attributes in your data feed, as well as resubmit your data feeds frequently to keep your product information current.
If you're already submitting feeds to other shopping engines, you can also submit products to Product Search using existing feeds you've already prepared, saving you time and effort. You can take advantage of this option when you register a data feed in your account, when you'll get the chance to chose from a drop-down list of feed formats.
EBI: Thanks, Jessica Ng. We'll also be sure to keep an eye on the Official Google Base blog to keep up to date on Google Base!
EBI Insider Links for Google Product Search
Google Product Search
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Google Product Search - Getting Started for Merchants
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Google Base Help on Creating a Feed
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Google Product Search Advanced Search
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Other Google Services for Merchants
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Google Base Blog (Latest news and tips from the Google Base team)
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