The latest news, tips, and resources
straight from the Google Base team.
Introducing the Google Merchant Center
Monday, September 28, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Today, we're excited to announce that we're launching the Google Merchant Center, which will replace Google Base for those of you submitting Product-type items to Google. If you submit products to Google, Google Merchant Center is now the place to upload your feeds, check on the status of your items, and get information on the performance of your listings. Google Base is still available for other types of structured content, but the Merchant Center provides a better, optimized experience specifically for product listings. The Merchant Center is where we'll continue adding features and improving the tools for uploading and managing product listings.
In general, the Merchant Center interface is very similar to the Google Base interface, so we hope it's easy to transition. Sign in to the Merchant Center using the same Google Account information you did for Google Base. Your existing data feeds, items, FTP settings, etc. will be there for you.
For any non-product items you've submitted to Google Base, those will remain there and you can continue using Google Base to manage those items and settings. If you used the same account to submit both product and non-product items, you'll need to go into Google Base and reset your FTP settings. There's more info in the FAQs about this and other questions you may have.
As part of this launch, we're switching to a new blog as well. Please join us at the Google Merchant Blog, which will replace this blog and cover both Google Base and the Merchant Center. Be sure to subscribe to the new blog and change your bookmarks!
Posted by Ioannis Kalafatis, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center
Google Base Undergoing Maintenance
at 12:58 AM
Google Base is undergoing maintenance and will be unavailable for the next few hours. During this time you will not be able to access your account, and some items may be temporarily disapproved. We apologize for the inconvenience and will post again when Google Base is back up.---
As of 11:30 AM PST, we've completed planned maintenance on Google Base and you should be able to access your account as normal. Thanks for your patience.
Posted by Ioannis Kalafatis, Product Manager, Google Base
When You Just Can't Wait: Helping Users Shop Offline
Friday, September 11, 2009 at 2:15 PM
A few days ago, a friend of mine needed to get a protective sleeve for her brand-new laptop. She found an online retailer, but didn't want to damage her laptop while waiting for the sleeve to ship. So she used Google Maps to find the retailer's nearest store location, and got her sleeve the same day. She's not alone - most shopping still occurs in-store, where you can interact with items in person, pick up bulky products, and avoid shipping charges. So to help users find merchants who have store locations, we've launched the "nearby stores" feature in Google Product Search. For retailers that have stores close by, users will be able to get more information on the nearest store locations. They can then call a store to make sure the item they want is in stock and buy that last-minute birthday gift - or that laptop sleeve.We're going to continue refining this feature in the next few weeks, so check it out and make sure you submit your local store information if you haven't already - the instructions are in this blog post. Additionally, please consider submitting the online only attribute, to let us know which items you only sell online and do not stock in stores.
Lights, Camera, Action!: YouTube Videos in Google Product Search
Wednesday, September 09, 2009 at 4:54 PM
Video product reviews are getting a lot of buzz right now, as shoppers increasingly turn to the web to help them figure out what to buy. We're excited to announce that we are including relevant and high quality YouTube video reviews on a number of our product pages in Google Product Search. Videos include reviews from sources like USA Today, Wired, and Digital Trends, and they appear above the "Similar Items" section of the page. For example, see the product page for this Nikon D90 camera.We'll be periodically reviewing content for inclusion in this feature. While we can't guarantee that submitted videos will be selected, please do the following if you'd like a video to be considered:
- Add the "youtube" attribute to your data feed. In this attribute include the YouTube video ID for each one of your products with a related YouTube video review. Video IDs are the values that follow the 'v=' in the YouTube URL of the video.
- Include UPC, ISBN, brand, and MPN information in the tag of your YouTube video review.
Posted by Paul Lee, Business Product Manager, Google Product Search
New Policies for Marketplaces & Aggregators on Google Product Search
Wednesday, September 02, 2009 at 3:58 PM
Today we're happy to introduce multi-client accounts as a solution to help aggregators and marketplaces manage feeds for multiple sellers under a single account. By allowing marketplaces better control over their sellers' product data, shoppers get more accurate and relevant information when they search for things to buy on Product Search, and individual sellers don't need to submit their own feeds. The multi-client accounts allow aggregators and marketplaces to consolidate and manage data feeds and reporting for sub-accounts, submit changes more rapidly, and get more accurate Google Checkout badging at the seller level. Marketplaces and aggregators will be required to use multi-client accounts to submit and manage their sellers' feeds starting on December 1st, 2009.
As a result of these changes, individual sellers on marketplaces no longer need to submit a feed to Google Product Search. To avoid duplicate listings we will be notifying individual sellers and retiring their accounts. Please see the full Marketplace and Aggregator policies for more information.
Posted by Paul Lee, Business Product Manager, Google Product Search
Linking Your Checkout and Base Accounts
at 9:59 AM
As we announced on July 30th, we're retiring the "One at a time" upload option on Google Base today. If you've been using the "One at a time" upload option, we recommend submitting through a data feed, which allows you to submit single or multiple items quickly and easily. For those providers who want Google to host a page for their item - for example, if you don't have a website - just submit your data feed without anything in the "link" attribute, and we'll create a Google Base page for your item.For those users who are interested in selling items hosted on Google pages, we're making it easier to link your Google Base account to Google Checkout, our payment processing solution. When you sign in today, you'll notice a new page in your "Settings" tab called "Checkout." If there's a Checkout account linked to your Base account already, you'll see it listed on this page. If you're not already linked to a Checkout account, or want to add a different account, you'll be able to do that by entering the Checkout Merchant ID. Any Checkout accounts added in this manner will need to be verified in Google Checkout, so your payments information is secure. We hope you find this expanded functionality useful.
