More confessions from a Google Base fashionista

Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 3:54 PM

By Cynthia Kwon, Strategic Partner Development

Psst! If you haven't already noticed, the Google Base team has updated its product feed specs. These new specs give more detail as to which attributes you should be sending to us by type of product category. Let's say you're a clothing retailer. We are requiring the following general attributes for each product listing you send:

* brand
* condition
* description
* expiration_date
* id
* image_link
* link
* price
* product_type
* title

Further, we want to get even more specific product type attributes that are relevant to clothing. Here are the ones we need at a minimum for this sub-category (you can get to this list by clicking on the "Apparel" option):

* color
* department
* made_in
* material
* size
* style

And whenever you have it, we welcome any additional information that you can provide. Just think of these attributes as a baseline. And we encourage you to use our custom attributes feature. After all, you (the retailer) are the true expert in the category.

So why this change? Simply, we want to provide a more robust product search, and by getting this data from our retail partners, we'll be able to deliver it. And I have to add, that as a fashionista, I have high standards for my shopping habits, so I'm thrilled about these changes that can enable a more evolved shopping experience! So do read through our new FAQs to get answers to specific questions you may have about these changes.