Monday, August 14, 2006 at 5:13 PM
By Clint Guerrero, Online Operations CoordinatorSo what goes on behind the scenes at Google Base? We thought you might like to hear a little more about who we are and what we're working on, so I'm going to share a little bit about myself, Clint Guerrero, and my role at Google Base.
I'm an Online Operations Coordinator, and one of my main projects is to keep on top of how we're keeping up with the needs of Google Base users. Every week, the whole support team meets to review our progress, discuss the latest changes to Google Base, and identify goals for service improvements. I prepare the agenda each week, keep a running log, and file a report for the team.
What sort of issues come up on our agenda? First are weekly statistics on our core work: how quickly we're able to review bulk uploads and respond to your emails. We try to keep our turnaround time short, and we also look out for common issues you have identified. I also read the discussion threads on Google Base Groups to make sure that we're tracking what you're talking about.
Next on the agenda is our Provider Satisfaction Survey. Every so often we solicit feedback so that we have a tangible measure of how you think we're doing. Then we discuss product updates, team goals, strategies, and whatever else comes up.
We work hard to help get your content displayed on our various search applications, and here's my biggest tip: Make sure to provide as many attributes as possible. The more attributes we have, the better we can match search queries to your content. Attributes also enable us to include your items in refinement searches. If you're searching for [women's tops], you can refine the search according to "price," "brand," and "designer name." If you included these attributes in your bulk upload of women's clothing, these refinements may trigger your items.
I'd like to see more content related to non-profit work on Base; before coming to Google I worked with a volunteer agency based in Texas. We were involved with some development projects in Botswana, and there is definitely a need for people who can volunteer their time to education and training, especially in relation to technology. Some day I'd like to run my own business, and this is one area I hope to pursue.
