As we announced we’d be doing a few weeks ago, we’ve retired Google Base’s separate search page today. We don’t expect that this change will have much impact for data providers. However, if you have any questions about this or any other issue, check out the Google Merchant Center Forums to get help from the Base community and Google staff.

Original Article: Google is shutting down Google Base’s search page. The company has deemed the page all but worthless, saying that people search Google Product Search for products and Google Maps for houses for rent/sale.

"Since not many people use the page, this change should not have a big impact [on] your traffic," says Google Base Product Manager Robin Züger. "All data remains available through the Google Base API and through any applications that make use of it. As before, you can search for your own product listings in Google Product Search."

"We expect this change won’t be very disruptive," adds Züger. "As always, please refer to the Merchant Center help forum if you have questions, and feel free to post a new question if what you need isn’t already answered there."

All data will remain available through the Google Base API and any apps that utilize it. The search page will be eliminated in a few weeks.

Google recently split up Google Base into two separate entities – Google Base and the new Google Merchant Center. The Merchant Center was set up to replace Google Base for users who submit product-type items to Google.

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"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," says Google Merchant Center Product Manager Loannis Kalafatis.

Google Base remains available for other types of structured content, but according to Google the Merchant Center is better optimized for product listings.

"In general, the Merchant Center interface is very similar to the Google Base interface, so we hope it’s easy to transition," says Kalafatis.

Google says they will continue to add features and improve the tools for uploading and managing product listings with the Merchant Center. Users can use the same Google account information to sign in to the Merchant Center that they used for Google Base. Existing data feeds, items, FTP settings, etc. will be there waiting.

Non-product items users previously submitted to Google Base will stay there. Google says if you used Google Base for both products and non-products in the past, you will have to reset your FTP settings in Google Base.

Google Base and the Google Merchant Center have separate terms of service. The terms for the Merchant Center can be found here. There is a FAQ page here.

"Google Checkout sellers of real estate rentals, timeshares, and day sight-seeing tours must have a valid public business URL," says Sammer Abdul of Google Checkout Operations. "The sellers may, however, choose to use either Checkout buttons or Checkout invoices to process transactions for the above allowable services based on their business requirements."

The Google Checkout merchant help center provides a list of product categories (as well as examples), which are still considered unacceptable. Some of these are obvious (illegal goods), and some not so obvious (Travel packages and offers).

The competition is heating up among payment services, with Facebook now widely considered a potential big-player, and possibly Apple too. By not offering real estate rentals, timeshares, etc. Google is missing out on a fair amount of business. This is likely the driving factor behind Google’s decision to allow these.

On a semi-related note, Google recently announced it has made it easier to link Google Checkout with Google Base accounts. There’s a new page in the "settings" tab called "Checkout," where you can add accounts to Checkout by entering a Checkout Merchant ID.

"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," says Paul Lee, Business Product Manager for Google Product Search. "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."

Starting December 1, Marketplaces and aggregators will be required to use multi-client accounts to submit and manager their sellers’ feeds. The new policies for marketplaces and aggregators can be found here.

Google also retired the "one at a time" upload option on Google Base. Those who have been using that are encouraged to submit through a data feed.

"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," says Google Base Product Manager Ioannis Kalafatis.

They have made it easier to link Google Base accounts to Google Checkout. There’s a new page in the "settings" tab called "Checkout," where you can add accounts to Checkout by entering a Checkout Merchant ID.

Users can now easily move a task (along with its sub-tasks) to another list by clicking on the arrow (or using Shift-Enter) to the right of the task, then selecting another list in the drop down at the bottom of the screen.

The second new feature lets users split a single task into two separate tasks or merge two into one. This is done by simply pressing enter or backspace as you would in any word processor.

Don’t forget that Google also offers a mobile version of Tasks for iPhones and Android devices (it’s also accessible by any xhtml-enabled phone).

To activate the Tasks lab, go to the Labs tab under your Gmail settings. You will find it near your contacts. Google says more tweaks to Tasks are being worked on.

At first this seemed like a sign that the forum and/or Google Base might be in trouble; maybe someone was trying to keep it all from going the way of Dodgeball, Google Catalog Search, Google Mashup Editor, Google Notebook, and Jaiku.  But the forum actually looks rather lively, so we’ll just move ahead with the announcement.

 

On the Google Base Blog, Janna Salinas wrote, "While our previous group served as a resource for you to ask questions, find answers, and share your expertise with other users, it’s our hope that the new forum will help you do all of that and much, much more. . . .  We’ve developed many new and exciting features which we think will make it easier and quicker for you to find the answers that you’re looking for (and maybe even have some fun while doing it.)"

The examples she names are the options to applaud "top contributors," note that questions have been answered, and enhance your user profile by adding a picture.

Google Base users can get on with life, then, knowing they’ve still got a handy gathering place to go for information.

The five tips they are now offering include:

– Submit tax and shipping data for your items
– Indclude unique product identifiers
– Use effective titles
– Write accurate descriptions
– Submit your feeds frequently

Submit Tax and Shipping Data

Google provides two ways to submit this data:

1. Set account-level default values in your Google Base account: These preferences will serve as the default values for all of your items. This is the easiest way to set up tax and shipping for your account.

2. Include item-level override values in your data feeds or via the Google Base API: These values will override your account-level default settings for that item.

The company notes that this feature isn’t available for single item posts.

When it comes to taxes, Google provides three options:

- Don’t Charge Tax

– Set a tax rate based on the state the item is shipping to

– Use a ZIP code-based estimate.

There are also three shipping options:

- You can specify a flat (or free) shipping rate

– Define custom tables if the shipping rate you charge varies by price, weight, or number of items

– Apply a carrier-calculated rate (if based on UPS, FedEx, or USPS)

You can find more information about Tax and Shipping options at Google’s Help Page for this category.

Including Unique Product Identifiers

We’ve touched upon this before. When you’re setting up your data feeds, Google suggests using key attributes like MPN, UPC, ISBN, condition, or brand to help increase visibility for relevant queries.

Use Effective Titles

This is the same principle that should be applied to titles of all kinds – articles, blog posts, email subject lines, etc. You have to grab customers with the title before they will even look at your item, so this is a very important part. Don’t expect to sell much without an enticing title. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be simple and to-the-point. Google says to keep in mind that Product Search truncates titles to under 70 characters.

Write Accurate Descriptions

If you’ve gotten their attention with the title, the description is likely the next thing they will look at, so here is where you want to provide accurate and specific details about your product. Google Product Search also truncates these if they are too long (over 150 characters).

Submit Your Feeds Frequently

Google suggests doing this up to once a day. This should give you an additional boost in visibility.

If you are not using Google Base already, perhaps this information will inspire you to do so. Google is laying out details about how you can better utilize their service. Will you take their advice?

We’ve always emphasized the importance of submitting high-quality product feeds to Google Product Search. This means submitting accurate, up-to-date product information in the form of attributes, as well as abiding by best practices for formatting these attributes. Doing so goes a long way toward helping shoppers find your items more easily.

Today, we’re pleased to announce the addition of a new "Data Quality" tab in your Google Base account. On this tab, you’ll find a host of suggestions for improving the quality of the item listings in your product feed. For example, you can find recommendations on the length of your title and description fields, or get a snapshot of the number of items in your feed that are missing key attributes. By addressing these issues, you’ll be able to improve the quality of your feeds and help more shoppers find your products.

When you’re setting up your data feeds, Google suggests using key attributes like MPN, UPC, ISBN, condition, or brand to help increase visibility for relevant queries.

The holiday season is starting whether you’re ready or not, so if you intend to sell through Google Product Search, I wouldn’t waste much time making any adjustments that will increase that visibility.

UPDATE: Google has provided more tips for getting found in Google Product Search, which I have covered here.

And the new:

It’s like this for all the verticals listed on the homepage, including recipes, housing, jobs, hotels, and anything else listed here. It’s a really nice improvement, besides looking better and having more white space, also giving you all those boxes to refine your search, and multiple views for the search results (list view, grid view and map view.

Thanks so much for Arie for pointing me at the new interface.

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