Retiring the "One at a time" Feature

Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 8:49 AM

Over the next few weeks, we're going to be making some changes to Base in order to better serve you, our users. We're announcing these changes early so you can get a head start in adjusting your upload processes if necessary.

We've found that our "One at a time" upload option isn't heavily used - most providers submit multiple items at a time, using our data feed or API upload options. As a result, we're planning on retiring this single item upload functionality in Base in a few weeks. But don't worry - if you'd like to continue to submit items to Google Base, it's easy to use our data feed option.

To keep our listings fresh, items older than May 1st, 2009 with no expiration date or an expiration date far in the future will soon expire. Additionally, draft items and items uploaded through the "One at a time" option will be deleted after expiration. Once you've switched over to uploading items through a data feed, we encourage you to submit as often as necessary to keep the information in your listings accurate.

Posted by Ioannis Kalafatis, Product Manager, Google Base

German Supreme Court Decision and Google Product Search

Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 11:03 AM

As you may know, on July 16th the German Supreme Court ruled in a lawsuit concerning shipping costs in comparison shopping results. We're aware of this decision, and are working hard on a solution for our German merchants. We will report back as we make progress.

Thank you for your patience.

Posted by Ioannis Kalafatis, Product Manager, Google Base

Video: Product Search for Webmasters

Thursday, July 09, 2009 at 3:05 PM

As a member of the Google Developer team, I filmed a video about Google Product Search for our webmaster community. In it, I discuss the benefits of Product Search, suggest best practices when submitting a feed, and answer frequently asked questions such as:

• Do listings expire after 30 days?
• How often should I submit a feed?
• How are different sites sorted in search results when there are multiple results for the same product?
• Why doesn't Google badge PayPal accepting merchants as well as Checkout?
• Does it help search rankings to add custom attributes to my product feeds?

Posted by Maile Ohye, Developer Programs Tech Lead

Reminder: Submit Your Store Locations

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 at 5:50 PM

We posted a few weeks ago about an experiment we're working on to display store locations to consumers on Google Product Search. If you have local stores and haven't already submitted your information to the Local Business Center, there's still time! As a reminder, here are the instructions:

First, go to www.google.com/lbc. Then:

• If you're able to verify ownership of your store locations by receiving a phone call or a postcard at each location, please add and verify your stores individually by using the "Add new business" option.

• If you have 10 or more stores, or if you're unable to individually verify all of your locations, you can bulk upload your listings as unverified data by choosing the "Upload a data file" option. Then, fill out this form to help us associate your Local Business Center data with your Google Base account.

Posted by Paul Lee, Business Product Manager, Google Product Search