October 30, 2006

Google Base 2.0 Revealed?

Garett Rogers found in Google's robots.txt file, "Disallow: /base/s2" and then gave the URL a try and found a potential Google Base version 2.0. When I tried example searches at the /s2 directory, they were being redirected to the main Google Base, such as ice cream maker search, which now redirects to the main Google base. Both Garett and Philipp Lenssen have screen captures of what it looks like.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:32 AM | Permalink

October 3, 2006

Google Base Store Connector

Have an eBay store? How about a Yahoo store or an Amazon store? If yes, and you want into Google Base, you can now get into it easily get your products into Google Base from those three sources. Google released Google Base Store Connector, a tool that allows you to export your products from eBay, Yahoo or Amazon and bulk upload them to Google Base. The listings will then show your products and link them over to your eBay listings, or Yahoo Store or Amazon Store. Some more details at Google Operating System blog.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:23 AM | Permalink

September 25, 2006

Goodbye Froogle; Hello Google Product Results In Web Search

Froogle, Google's shopping search engine that launched with big hopes back in 2002, is to be deemphasized in place of product listings integrated into regular Google search results.

The news has come out through Google's participation at the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance Summit last week in San Francisco. IDG has coverage of it here, saying:

A Google official shared the news with attendees at the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) Summit in San Francisco this week, according to people at the conference.

When people search for products on Google.com, the system will present them with another search box so that they can refine their query, wrote Bear Stearns analysts in a note published on Friday.

After people refine their query, Google takes them to a second page populated with product results from the Google Base listings service, wrote the analysts, who attended the Google official's presentation.

The association with the eBay sellers group and product results "powered" by Google Base is causing some confusion, in my view, about eBay "killer" Google Base "replacing" Froogle. Let's back up.

  • Froogle used to have its own feed mechanism to allow merchants to submit products. This system predated the system for sending material into Google Base.  
  • In June, the Froogle submission system went away, replaced by submission to Google Base (and see also here). If Froogle was being "replaced" by Google Base, this is the time it happened.  
  • Google Base has never been designed as a standalone service for searchers. The user interface there hasn't been that appealing, nor have searchers been seriously directed to it. In fact, the search box on the Google Base home page was just dropped, not something you do for a service designed for searchers. It is something you do, however, to help Google Base's mission of being a centralized submission tool for Google.  
  • Google has been testing ways to flow customized results from Google Base into regular Google, to help deal with the invisible tabs issue I've long written about. My Google Real Estate? It's Google Base Again, Google's Vertical Play from earlier this year explains this integration in more depth.  
  • Putting product results into regular Google results makes sense, just as it does for any type of vertical or custom results that Google does. This has mainly been through OneBox results, but the new Google Base-style placements allow for the search box on results pages to contain more options, ones helpful to narrowing for product or other type of vertical searching.

Froogle as a brand and destination set for demotion was pretty clear when it was dropped from the Google home page last month, a position it held since 2004. That placement never helped Froogle much, in part because many people simply ignore the little links above the search box entirely. In addition, in my view, Froogle is a cutesy name that never explain what Froogle was -- a shopping search engine. If it had been called Google Shopping, take-up might have been better.

Given this, "deemphasizing" Froogle as a destination isn't hard given that few seem to think of it as a destination anyway. Back in July, Hitwise found it ranked ninth among Google top 29 properties -- and sharewise, not that far behind Google Video (0.45 percent of all visitors to the top 20 Google sites went to Froogle versus 0.47 percent going to Google Video).

Google Video's move on to the home page helped that service and hurt Froogle, as Hitwise later notes. But again, sharewise, it was hardly noticeable. Froogle dropped to the 0.02 percent range, while Google Video rose to the 0.06 percent range. In other words, practically no one was going to either service compared to things like Google web search overall.

That's why better integration of all vertical search results into listings will be coming at Google, as well as other search engines. But I hope we will see a renamed Google Shopping service still survive, with a custom home page and URL. Shopping search is important enough that it deserves a standalone brand.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:00 AM | Permalink

September 20, 2006

The Unchanging Search Interface

Why Search Sucks & You Won't Fix It The Way You Think from me on my personal blog Daggle covers a session I did at Euro Foo Camp this week. It looks at how the search interface of major search engines has largely stayed unchanged over time. We're still using what I call the "DOS of Search." Interestingly, the Google Base change that just happened is a unique event -- the first major search engine to have an important property without that all-important search box on the home page. For me, it's just another sign of how Google Base is not intended to be a consumer-facing product, as I've written before.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Google Base Drops Search Box As Part Of Usability Improvements

The Google Base Blog announced that they have updated the Google Base home page to make it easier to use. Garett Rogers over at Googling Google has a deeper look at those changes. Basically, merchants were confused on the different options available to them, so Google made it clearer. A significant change from a searcher's standpoint is that they have removed the search box from the Google Base home page. You can still search, but you need to be within Google Base already to do so, such as from the dashboard. This makes it probably the first Google search product not to feature a search box.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:45 AM | Permalink

August 23, 2006

Google Releases Google Base API

The Google Code blog announced that Google Base now has an API. You can access the API's details at http://code.google.com/apis/base/. The API is like other APIs in that you can now program your own applications to interact and interface with Google Base. So with this API you can create new Google Base data, edit, delete existing data, and query for data items. This can come in handy for retailers or anyone who wants data to be found within Google Base.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:48 AM | Permalink

August 21, 2006

Google Base Adds Click & Impression Metrics For Merchants

The Google Base Blog announced that Google Base has been tracking clicks and impressions since early June. They are now displaying that data to merchants, so that they can see the number of times their Google Base items are viewed (impressions), clicked on and the pageviews of that item. An impression occurs each time a Froogle or Google Base result is displayed for that item, a click is tracked each time someone clicks on that listed item and a pageview occurs each time someone views the items page. The data is mostly just updated daily, but you can use it to tweak your item titles, descriptions and pictures - to potentially increase your click-through rate.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:37 AM | Permalink

July 24, 2006

Google Base Becomes More eBay Like With Rich Text Feature

The Google Base blog announced Friday that Google Base's editor now has the ability to add rich text. Next time you log into Google Base to add or update your listings manually, you should see a WYSIWYG editor. It does not appear those who do bulk uploads, can pass along rich text.

It's important to note, however, that at this time, we're not enabling any scripting, data input controls, or frames. Also, HTML descriptions are only available for single item posts.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Google Base Becomes More eBay Like With Rich Text Feature

The Google Base blog announced Friday that Google Base's editor now has the ability to add rich text. Next time you log into Google Base to add or update your listings manually, you should see a WYSIWYG editor. It does not appear those who do bulk uploads, can pass along rich text.

It's important to note, however, that at this time, we're not enabling any scripting, data input controls, or frames. Also, HTML descriptions are only available for single item posts.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Google Base Becomes More eBay Like With Rich Text Feature

The Google Base blog announced Friday that Google Base's editor now has the ability to add rich text. Next time you log into Google Base to add or update your listings manually, you should see a WYSIWYG editor. It does not appear those who do bulk uploads, can pass along rich text.

It's important to note, however, that at this time, we're not enabling any scripting, data input controls, or frames. Also, HTML descriptions are only available for single item posts.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:22 AM | Permalink

Google Base Becomes More eBay Like With Rich Text Feature

The Google Base blog announced Friday that Google Base's editor now has the ability to add rich text. Next time you log into Google Base to add or update your listings manually, you should see a WYSIWYG editor. It does not appear those who do bulk uploads, can pass along rich text.

It's important to note, however, that at this time, we're not enabling any scripting, data input controls, or frames. Also, HTML descriptions are only available for single item posts.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:22 AM | Permalink

July 21, 2006

Google Adds RSS To Google Base Results

I wrote about Google adding drop down menus to some search results at the Search Engine Roundtable last night and then discovered something new. At least I think it is new. If you go to a Google Base landing page, like this one for Clinical trials results, you may notice a new button at the top right of the page. The button is an RSS feed icon, that links to RSS results for that query refinement in Google Base. I personally have never seen that feature there before, I asked a few people and they haven't either - so I assume it is fairly new. So if you are an RSS junky, then you can subscribe to result sets that interest you in Google Base.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:28 AM | Permalink

Google Adds RSS To Google Base Results

I wrote about Google adding drop down menus to some search results at the Search Engine Roundtable last night and then discovered something new. At least I think it is new. If you go to a Google Base landing page, like this one for Clinical trials results, you may notice a new button at the top right of the page. The button is an RSS feed icon, that links to RSS results for that query refinement in Google Base. I personally have never seen that feature there before, I asked a few people and they haven't either - so I assume it is fairly new. So if you are an RSS junky, then you can subscribe to result sets that interest you in Google Base.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:28 AM | Permalink

Google Adds RSS To Google Base Results

I wrote about Google adding drop down menus to some search results at the Search Engine Roundtable last night and then discovered something new. At least I think it is new. If you go to a Google Base landing page, like this one for Clinical trials results, you may notice a new button at the top right of the page. The button is an RSS feed icon, that links to RSS results for that query refinement in Google Base. I personally have never seen that feature there before, I asked a few people and they haven't either - so I assume it is fairly new. So if you are an RSS junky, then you can subscribe to result sets that interest you in Google Base.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:28 AM | Permalink

Google Adds RSS To Google Base Results

I wrote about Google adding drop down menus to some search results at the Search Engine Roundtable last night and then discovered something new. At least I think it is new. If you go to a Google Base landing page, like this one for Clinical trials results, you may notice a new button at the top right of the page. The button is an RSS feed icon, that links to RSS results for that query refinement in Google Base. I personally have never seen that feature there before, I asked a few people and they haven't either - so I assume it is fairly new. So if you are an RSS junky, then you can subscribe to result sets that interest you in Google Base.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:28 AM | Permalink

June 28, 2006

Data Feed Submission To Google Base

I spent 3.5 hours Saturday night creating and lightly optimizing a completely new data feed (or bulk upload) to get PersonalProtectionStore's home security products up and running on Google Base. PersonalProtectionStore uses Yahoo! Merchant Solutions which allows me to download a catalog and associated information, but it's not in a format compatible with Google Base (superfluous fields in the catalog, non-uniform field names) and the dowload brings with it special characters and HTML code which cause listing errors. Additionally, there are many fields Google Base makes optional which my catalog did not include. These additional fields help with data feed optimization (DFO).

Froogle feed submission used to take a couple days (and a couple iterations) to process correctly, so I was pleasantly surprised to see my feed accepted in less than an hour. More importantly, by the time I checked back early the next morning, my products (and images - this used to be a major issue with Froogle) were up and running. My feed of 153 products consisted of 30 errors which weren't explained very well, but overall it was a smooth process. [It's important to note that I've submitted hundreds of feeds to multiple engines. There are plenty of people on the Google Base Help Discussion Group having problems.]

Submitting to Google Base gets you listed on Froogle. Being in Google Base or Froogle potentially gets you in the Google Onebox product search results in a regular Google search (just under the Sponsored Links and just above the organic results).

Here's one example: -Google Base result for ademco 20pi -Froogle result for ademco 20pi -Google OneBox result for ademco 20pi

While I've been critical of Froogle's Spam problem, and I'm not sure what to make of Froogle's recent update (more info soon), I did say in early April that it's time for merchants to submit their feed to Froogle (Google Base dashboard has now completely replaced the Froogle Merchant Center). My 3.5 hour experience only strengthens that argument.

For good or bad, many merchants are completely reliant on Google for sales, obsessing about optimizing their sites for better orgranic listings and feverishly spending on Google Adwords. Just don't forget about submitting your data feed to Google Base.

If you're having trouble with the your Google Base data feed, there are many companies which can help you out with feed management: ChannelAdvisor, ChannelIntelligence, Performics, Mercent, Vendio/Andale, Marketworks, RedZoneGlobal, MerchantAdvantage, etc.

Posted by Brian Smith at 3:12 PM | Permalink

Data Feed Submission To Google Base

I spent 3.5 hours Saturday night creating and lightly optimizing a completely new data feed (or bulk upload) to get PersonalProtectionStore's home security products up and running on Google Base. PersonalProtectionStore uses Yahoo! Merchant Solutions which allows me to download a catalog and associated information, but it's not in a format compatible with Google Base (superfluous fields in the catalog, non-uniform field names) and the dowload brings with it special characters and HTML code which cause listing errors. Additionally, there are many fields Google Base makes optional which my catalog did not include. These additional fields help with data feed optimization (DFO).

Froogle feed submission used to take a couple days (and a couple iterations) to process correctly, so I was pleasantly surprised to see my feed accepted in less than an hour. More importantly, by the time I checked back early the next morning, my products (and images - this used to be a major issue with Froogle) were up and running. My feed of 153 products consisted of 30 errors which weren't explained very well, but overall it was a smooth process. [It's important to note that I've submitted hundreds of feeds to multiple engines. There are plenty of people on the Google Base Help Discussion Group having problems.]

Submitting to Google Base gets you listed on Froogle. Being in Google Base or Froogle potentially gets you in the Google Onebox product search results in a regular Google search (just under the Sponsored Links and just above the organic results).

Here's one example: -Google Base result for ademco 20pi -Froogle result for ademco 20pi -Google OneBox result for ademco 20pi

While I've been critical of Froogle's Spam problem, and I'm not sure what to make of Froogle's recent update (more info soon), I did say in early April that it's time for merchants to submit their feed to Froogle (Google Base dashboard has now completely replaced the Froogle Merchant Center). My 3.5 hour experience only strengthens that argument.

For good or bad, many merchants are completely reliant on Google for sales, obsessing about optimizing their sites for better orgranic listings and feverishly spending on Google Adwords. Just don't forget about submitting your data feed to Google Base.

If you're having trouble with the your Google Base data feed, there are many companies which can help you out with feed management: ChannelAdvisor, ChannelIntelligence, Performics, Mercent, Vendio/Andale, Marketworks, RedZoneGlobal, MerchantAdvantage, etc.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:12 PM | Permalink

Data Feed Submission To Google Base

I spent 3.5 hours Saturday night creating and lightly optimizing a completely new data feed (or bulk upload) to get PersonalProtectionStore's home security products up and running on Google Base. PersonalProtectionStore uses Yahoo! Merchant Solutions which allows me to download a catalog and associated information, but it's not in a format compatible with Google Base (superfluous fields in the catalog, non-uniform field names) and the dowload brings with it special characters and HTML code which cause listing errors. Additionally, there are many fields Google Base makes optional which my catalog did not include. These additional fields help with data feed optimization (DFO).

Froogle feed submission used to take a couple days (and a couple iterations) to process correctly, so I was pleasantly surprised to see my feed accepted in less than an hour. More importantly, by the time I checked back early the next morning, my products (and images - this used to be a major issue with Froogle) were up and running. My feed of 153 products consisted of 30 errors which weren't explained very well, but overall it was a smooth process. [It's important to note that I've submitted hundreds of feeds to multiple engines. There are plenty of people on the Google Base Help Discussion Group having problems.]

Submitting to Google Base gets you listed on Froogle. Being in Google Base or Froogle potentially gets you in the Google Onebox product search results in a regular Google search (just under the Sponsored Links and just above the organic results).

Here's one example: -Google Base result for ademco 20pi -Froogle result for ademco 20pi -Google OneBox result for ademco 20pi

While I've been critical of Froogle's Spam problem, and I'm not sure what to make of Froogle's recent update (more info soon), I did say in early April that it's time for merchants to submit their feed to Froogle (Google Base dashboard has now completely replaced the Froogle Merchant Center). My 3.5 hour experience only strengthens that argument.

For good or bad, many merchants are completely reliant on Google for sales, obsessing about optimizing their sites for better orgranic listings and feverishly spending on Google Adwords. Just don't forget about submitting your data feed to Google Base.

If you're having trouble with the your Google Base data feed, there are many companies which can help you out with feed management: ChannelAdvisor, ChannelIntelligence, Performics, Mercent, Vendio/Andale, Marketworks, RedZoneGlobal, MerchantAdvantage, etc.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:12 PM | Permalink

Data Feed Submission To Google Base

I spent 3.5 hours Saturday night creating and lightly optimizing a completely new data feed (or bulk upload) to get PersonalProtectionStore's home security products up and running on Google Base. PersonalProtectionStore uses Yahoo! Merchant Solutions which allows me to download a catalog and associated information, but it's not in a format compatible with Google Base (superfluous fields in the catalog, non-uniform field names) and the dowload brings with it special characters and HTML code which cause listing errors. Additionally, there are many fields Google Base makes optional which my catalog did not include. These additional fields help with data feed optimization (DFO).

Froogle feed submission used to take a couple days (and a couple iterations) to process correctly, so I was pleasantly surprised to see my feed accepted in less than an hour. More importantly, by the time I checked back early the next morning, my products (and images - this used to be a major issue with Froogle) were up and running. My feed of 153 products consisted of 30 errors which weren't explained very well, but overall it was a smooth process. [It's important to note that I've submitted hundreds of feeds to multiple engines. There are plenty of people on the Google Base Help Discussion Group having problems.]

Submitting to Google Base gets you listed on Froogle. Being in Google Base or Froogle potentially gets you in the Google Onebox product search results in a regular Google search (just under the Sponsored Links and just above the organic results).

Here's one example: -Google Base result for ademco 20pi -Froogle result for ademco 20pi -Google OneBox result for ademco 20pi

While I've been critical of Froogle's Spam problem, and I'm not sure what to make of Froogle's recent update (more info soon), I did say in early April that it's time for merchants to submit their feed to Froogle (Google Base dashboard has now completely replaced the Froogle Merchant Center). My 3.5 hour experience only strengthens that argument.

For good or bad, many merchants are completely reliant on Google for sales, obsessing about optimizing their sites for better orgranic listings and feverishly spending on Google Adwords. Just don't forget about submitting your data feed to Google Base.

If you're having trouble with the your Google Base data feed, there are many companies which can help you out with feed management: ChannelAdvisor, ChannelIntelligence, Performics, Mercent, Vendio/Andale, Marketworks, RedZoneGlobal, MerchantAdvantage, etc.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:12 PM | Permalink

June 1, 2006

Google Base Absorbs Froogle Feeds; Other Submission Systems Remain Independent

When I was at Google last this month, I got an update on Google Base for a forthcoming article. One of the things I was told was that Google Base was now the preferred way for merchants to submit content to Froogle. Really? Then why was Google still telling people on the Froogle site still to submit Froogle feeds? That oversight has now been corrected. As Garett Rogers notes, the feed submission mechanism formerly in the Google Merchant Center has now been replaced with Google Base submissions. Garett also highlights specific help pages about the change here. The consolidation is good, as Google Base is meant to be a central submission point of all content for Google, as I've written before (and SEW members, see also this). However, that goal still remains far off. Google Co-op, Google Sitemaps, Google Book Search and Google Scholar all remain independent ways to submit content of various types independently of Google Base, as the links for those services explain. I'll come back to this issue in more depth, in the future.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:28 AM | Permalink

Google Base Absorbs Froogle Feeds; Other Submission Systems Remain Independent

When I was at Google last this month, I got an update on Google Base for a forthcoming article. One of the things I was told was that Google Base was now the preferred way for merchants to submit content to Froogle. Really? Then why was Google still telling people on the Froogle site still to submit Froogle feeds? That oversight has now been corrected. As Garett Rogers notes, the feed submission mechanism formerly in the Google Merchant Center has now been replaced with Google Base submissions. Garett also highlights specific help pages about the change here. The consolidation is good, as Google Base is meant to be a central submission point of all content for Google, as I've written before (and SEW members, see also this). However, that goal still remains far off. Google Co-op, Google Sitemaps, Google Book Search and Google Scholar all remain independent ways to submit content of various types independently of Google Base, as the links for those services explain. I'll come back to this issue in more depth, in the future.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:28 AM | Permalink

Google Base Absorbs Froogle Feeds; Other Submission Systems Remain Independent

When I was at Google last this month, I got an update on Google Base for a forthcoming article. One of the things I was told was that Google Base was now the preferred way for merchants to submit content to Froogle. Really? Then why was Google still telling people on the Froogle site still to submit Froogle feeds? That oversight has now been corrected. As Garett Rogers notes, the feed submission mechanism formerly in the Google Merchant Center has now been replaced with Google Base submissions. Garett also highlights specific help pages about the change here. The consolidation is good, as Google Base is meant to be a central submission point of all content for Google, as I've written before (and SEW members, see also this). However, that goal still remains far off. Google Co-op, Google Sitemaps, Google Book Search and Google Scholar all remain independent ways to submit content of various types independently of Google Base, as the links for those services explain. I'll come back to this issue in more depth, in the future.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:28 AM | Permalink

Google Base Absorbs Froogle Feeds; Other Submission Systems Remain Independent

When I was at Google last this month, I got an update on Google Base for a forthcoming article. One of the things I was told was that Google Base was now the preferred way for merchants to submit content to Froogle. Really? Then why was Google still telling people on the Froogle site still to submit Froogle feeds? That oversight has now been corrected. As Garett Rogers notes, the feed submission mechanism formerly in the Google Merchant Center has now been replaced with Google Base submissions. Garett also highlights specific help pages about the change here. The consolidation is good, as Google Base is meant to be a central submission point of all content for Google, as I've written before (and SEW members, see also this). However, that goal still remains far off. Google Co-op, Google Sitemaps, Google Book Search and Google Scholar all remain independent ways to submit content of various types independently of Google Base, as the links for those services explain. I'll come back to this issue in more depth, in the future.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:28 AM | Permalink

May 24, 2006

Google Base UK & Germany Back To English US Version

Thomas Bindl notified me that Google Base UK and Germany are back to showing the English US based version of Google Base. We reported yesterday that http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and http://www.google.de/base/ had localized versions of Google Base. Google Base Germany even had the localized language front and center. This has been reverted back to the standard English base version for those two URLs.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:13 AM | Permalink

Google Base UK & Germany Back To English US Version

Thomas Bindl notified me that Google Base UK and Germany are back to showing the English US based version of Google Base. We reported yesterday that http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and http://www.google.de/base/ had localized versions of Google Base. Google Base Germany even had the localized language front and center. This has been reverted back to the standard English base version for those two URLs.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:13 AM | Permalink

Google Base UK & Germany Back To English US Version

Thomas Bindl notified me that Google Base UK and Germany are back to showing the English US based version of Google Base. We reported yesterday that http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and http://www.google.de/base/ had localized versions of Google Base. Google Base Germany even had the localized language front and center. This has been reverted back to the standard English base version for those two URLs.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:13 AM | Permalink

Google Base UK & Germany Back To English US Version

Thomas Bindl notified me that Google Base UK and Germany are back to showing the English US based version of Google Base. We reported yesterday that http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and http://www.google.de/base/ had localized versions of Google Base. Google Base Germany even had the localized language front and center. This has been reverted back to the standard English base version for those two URLs.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:13 AM | Permalink

May 23, 2006

Google Base Live in UK & Germany

Philipp notes that Google Base is now live in the UK and Germany. The UK version is at http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and the German version is at http://www.google.de/base/.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:36 AM | Permalink

Google Base Live in UK & Germany

Philipp notes that Google Base is now live in the UK and Germany. The UK version is at http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and the German version is at http://www.google.de/base/.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:36 AM | Permalink

Google Base Live in UK & Germany

Philipp notes that Google Base is now live in the UK and Germany. The UK version is at http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and the German version is at http://www.google.de/base/.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:36 AM | Permalink

Google Base Live in UK & Germany

Philipp notes that Google Base is now live in the UK and Germany. The UK version is at http://www.google.co.uk/base/ and the German version is at http://www.google.de/base/.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:36 AM | Permalink

May 15, 2006

Advertise Google Base Listings in AdWords

Google Base blog announced that you can now advertise your Google Base results "right from the Google Base edit item page." You create the ad creative and Google will use your content and geo information to automatically target the appropriate keywords and geographic users for the items you are selling on Google Base. You can see a screen capture of this in action by clicking here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:23 AM | Permalink

Advertise Google Base Listings in AdWords

Google Base blog announced that you can now advertise your Google Base results "right from the Google Base edit item page." You create the ad creative and Google will use your content and geo information to automatically target the appropriate keywords and geographic users for the items you are selling on Google Base. You can see a screen capture of this in action by clicking here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:23 AM | Permalink

Advertise Google Base Listings in AdWords

Google Base blog announced that you can now advertise your Google Base results "right from the Google Base edit item page." You create the ad creative and Google will use your content and geo information to automatically target the appropriate keywords and geographic users for the items you are selling on Google Base. You can see a screen capture of this in action by clicking here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:23 AM | Permalink

Advertise Google Base Listings in AdWords

Google Base blog announced that you can now advertise your Google Base results "right from the Google Base edit item page." You create the ad creative and Google will use your content and geo information to automatically target the appropriate keywords and geographic users for the items you are selling on Google Base. You can see a screen capture of this in action by clicking here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:23 AM | Permalink

April 5, 2006

Google Real Estate? It's Google Base Again, Google's Vertical Play

New reports of Google Real Estate are simply what we've covered before, Google Base results flowing into regular Google. But it's interesting to see how Google's delivering on the promise of Google Base as the engine that drives a variety of vertical search engines, plus how it's skipping the step of creating standalone sites for each vertical. I think those will still come, but the current moves that underscores what I've been saying to marketers for ages now -- pay attention to vertical search.

In the longer version of this post, I do a closer look at things such as:

  • What exactly vertical search is and why we call it that
  • How vertical search is part of the third generational jump to improve relevancy
  • Why the latest Google Base integration is part of the invisible tabs / vertical creep change marketers must understand
  • How Google Base will remain the master submission site for future verticals on Google, as I wrote before

You can expect to hear about more Google vertical search services that don't exist as standalone sites, as Google Recipes! Google Careers! Google Confusion! The UI Madness Continues previously from me covers more. Now Steve Rubel blogs about Google Autos, and as Nathan Weinberg rightly points out, there's a variety of other verticals you'll likely see pop-up. Meanwhile, there are people going to Google Base directly, and Hitwise has new stats up showing where they head after that (most to shopping sites).

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:46 AM | Permalink

Google Real Estate? It's Google Base Again, Google's Vertical Play

New reports of Google Real Estate are simply what we've covered before, Google Base results flowing into regular Google. But it's interesting to see how Google's delivering on the promise of Google Base as the engine that drives a variety of vertical search engines, plus how it's skipping the step of creating standalone sites for each vertical. I think those will still come, but the current moves that underscores what I've been saying to marketers for ages now -- pay attention to vertical search.

In the longer version of this post, I do a closer look at things such as:

  • What exactly vertical search is and why we call it that
  • How vertical search is part of the third generational jump to improve relevancy
  • Why the latest Google Base integration is part of the invisible tabs / vertical creep change marketers must understand
  • How Google Base will remain the master submission site for future verticals on Google, as I wrote before

You can expect to hear about more Google vertical search services that don't exist as standalone sites, as Google Recipes! Google Careers! Google Confusion! The UI Madness Continues previously from me covers more. Now Steve Rubel blogs about Google Autos, and as Nathan Weinberg rightly points out, there's a variety of other verticals you'll likely see pop-up. Meanwhile, there are people going to Google Base directly, and Hitwise has new stats up showing where they head after that (most to shopping sites).

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:46 AM | Permalink

Google Real Estate? It's Google Base Again, Google's Vertical Play

New reports of Google Real Estate are simply what we've covered before, Google Base results flowing into regular Google. But it's interesting to see how Google's delivering on the promise of Google Base as the engine that drives a variety of vertical search engines, plus how it's skipping the step of creating standalone sites for each vertical. I think those will still come, but the current moves that underscores what I've been saying to marketers for ages now -- pay attention to vertical search.

In the longer version of this post, I do a closer look at things such as:

  • What exactly vertical search is and why we call it that
  • How vertical search is part of the third generational jump to improve relevancy
  • Why the latest Google Base integration is part of the invisible tabs / vertical creep change marketers must understand
  • How Google Base will remain the master submission site for future verticals on Google, as I wrote before

You can expect to hear about more Google vertical search services that don't exist as standalone sites, as Google Recipes! Google Careers! Google Confusion! The UI Madness Continues previously from me covers more. Now Steve Rubel blogs about Google Autos, and as Nathan Weinberg rightly points out, there's a variety of other verticals you'll likely see pop-up. Meanwhile, there are people going to Google Base directly, and Hitwise has new stats up showing where they head after that (most to shopping sites).

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:46 AM | Permalink

Google Real Estate? It's Google Base Again, Google's Vertical Play

New reports of Google Real Estate are simply what we've covered before, Google Base results flowing into regular Google. But it's interesting to see how Google's delivering on the promise of Google Base as the engine that drives a variety of vertical search engines, plus how it's skipping the step of creating standalone sites for each vertical. I think those will still come, but the current moves that underscores what I've been saying to marketers for ages now -- pay attention to vertical search.

In the longer version of this post, I do a closer look at things such as:

  • What exactly vertical search is and why we call it that
  • How vertical search is part of the third generational jump to improve relevancy
  • Why the latest Google Base integration is part of the invisible tabs / vertical creep change marketers must understand
  • How Google Base will remain the master submission site for future verticals on Google, as I wrote before

You can expect to hear about more Google vertical search services that don't exist as standalone sites, as Google Recipes! Google Careers! Google Confusion! The UI Madness Continues previously from me covers more. Now Steve Rubel blogs about Google Autos, and as Nathan Weinberg rightly points out, there's a variety of other verticals you'll likely see pop-up. Meanwhile, there are people going to Google Base directly, and Hitwise has new stats up showing where they head after that (most to shopping sites).

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:46 AM | Permalink

March 21, 2006

Google Base Creeping Into Main Search Results Page

GoodROI shows us an example of a search that brings up a Google Base search box, right at the top of the main search results at Google.com. The search that should show you this Google Base OneBox result is for homes for sale.

You should see a box below the sponsored listings that looks like this;

The "location" box is filled with my hometown automatically. The clickable link, "homes for sale" takes me to this landing page.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 5:30 PM | Permalink

Google Base Creeping Into Main Search Results Page

GoodROI shows us an example of a search that brings up a Google Base search box, right at the top of the main search results at Google.com. The search that should show you this Google Base OneBox result is for homes for sale.

You should see a box below the sponsored listings that looks like this;

The "location" box is filled with my hometown automatically. The clickable link, "homes for sale" takes me to this landing page.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:30 PM | Permalink

Google Base Creeping Into Main Search Results Page

GoodROI shows us an example of a search that brings up a Google Base search box, right at the top of the main search results at Google.com. The search that should show you this Google Base OneBox result is for homes for sale.

You should see a box below the sponsored listings that looks like this;

The "location" box is filled with my hometown automatically. The clickable link, "homes for sale" takes me to this landing page.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:30 PM | Permalink

Google Base Creeping Into Main Search Results Page

GoodROI shows us an example of a search that brings up a Google Base search box, right at the top of the main search results at Google.com. The search that should show you this Google Base OneBox result is for homes for sale.

You should see a box below the sponsored listings that looks like this;

The "location" box is filled with my hometown automatically. The clickable link, "homes for sale" takes me to this landing page.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:30 PM | Permalink

March 15, 2006

No Credit Card Merchant Account? No Problem! How I Can Now Get Paid With Google Payments

Google is now allowing select Google Base users to use Google Payments as a substitute to a merchant account. The best way to describe Google Payments is calling it a PayPal alternative. I have been accepted to allow accept funds at Google Base with Google Payments. The set up was fairly easy, even thought I am not 100% done with the final verification of my bank account. I have wrote two articles on the process, the first is named Accepted by Google Base to Sell Through Google Payments, which describes how I set up my Google Base account to allow Google Payments payment option. The second article is named Buying and Accepting Payments at Google Base, which shows the process of a customer buying an item at Google base with Google Payments and then the back-end Google Base Dashboard processing of the Google Payment.

A couple of weeks ago we did post on A Look at Google Payments in Action that had a link to the TechCrunch screen captures. But this time, I personally was able to access it and I took my own screen captures.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:38 AM | Permalink

No Credit Card Merchant Account? No Problem! How I Can Now Get Paid With Google Payments

Google is now allowing select Google Base users to use Google Payments as a substitute to a merchant account. The best way to describe Google Payments is calling it a PayPal alternative. I have been accepted to allow accept funds at Google Base with Google Payments. The set up was fairly easy, even thought I am not 100% done with the final verification of my bank account. I have wrote two articles on the process, the first is named Accepted by Google Base to Sell Through Google Payments, which describes how I set up my Google Base account to allow Google Payments payment option. The second article is named Buying and Accepting Payments at Google Base, which shows the process of a customer buying an item at Google base with Google Payments and then the back-end Google Base Dashboard processing of the Google Payment.

A couple of weeks ago we did post on A Look at Google Payments in Action that had a link to the TechCrunch screen captures. But this time, I personally was able to access it and I took my own screen captures.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:38 AM | Permalink

No Credit Card Merchant Account? No Problem! How I Can Now Get Paid With Google Payments

Google is now allowing select Google Base users to use Google Payments as a substitute to a merchant account. The best way to describe Google Payments is calling it a PayPal alternative. I have been accepted to allow accept funds at Google Base with Google Payments. The set up was fairly easy, even thought I am not 100% done with the final verification of my bank account. I have wrote two articles on the process, the first is named Accepted by Google Base to Sell Through Google Payments, which describes how I set up my Google Base account to allow Google Payments payment option. The second article is named Buying and Accepting Payments at Google Base, which shows the process of a customer buying an item at Google base with Google Payments and then the back-end Google Base Dashboard processing of the Google Payment.

A couple of weeks ago we did post on A Look at Google Payments in Action that had a link to the TechCrunch screen captures. But this time, I personally was able to access it and I took my own screen captures.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:38 AM | Permalink

No Credit Card Merchant Account? No Problem! How I Can Now Get Paid With Google Payments

Google is now allowing select Google Base users to use Google Payments as a substitute to a merchant account. The best way to describe Google Payments is calling it a PayPal alternative. I have been accepted to allow accept funds at Google Base with Google Payments. The set up was fairly easy, even thought I am not 100% done with the final verification of my bank account. I have wrote two articles on the process, the first is named Accepted by Google Base to Sell Through Google Payments, which describes how I set up my Google Base account to allow Google Payments payment option. The second article is named Buying and Accepting Payments at Google Base, which shows the process of a customer buying an item at Google base with Google Payments and then the back-end Google Base Dashboard processing of the Google Payment.

A couple of weeks ago we did post on A Look at Google Payments in Action that had a link to the TechCrunch screen captures. But this time, I personally was able to access it and I took my own screen captures.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:38 AM | Permalink

February 24, 2006

Google Base Soon To Allow Buying & Selling Through Google's Own Payment System

Google Base is soon to allow merchants to sell through Google's own payment system, as well as allowing buyers to use the Google Accounts system to make purchases. A quick look doesn't show any of this live yet, but I'm sure examples will come soon. There is more information from Google here plus a note on how this fits into their overall payment system plans here. Want to sell on Google Base through its own system? Use this form to sign-up.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 3:13 PM | Permalink

Google Base Soon To Allow Buying & Selling Through Google's Own Payment System

Google Base is soon to allow merchants to sell through Google's own payment system, as well as allowing buyers to use the Google Accounts system to make purchases. A quick look doesn't show any of this live yet, but I'm sure examples will come soon. There is more information from Google here plus a note on how this fits into their overall payment system plans here. Want to sell on Google Base through its own system? Use this form to sign-up.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:13 PM | Permalink

Google Base Soon To Allow Buying & Selling Through Google's Own Payment System

Google Base is soon to allow merchants to sell through Google's own payment system, as well as allowing buyers to use the Google Accounts system to make purchases. A quick look doesn't show any of this live yet, but I'm sure examples will come soon. There is more information from Google here plus a note on how this fits into their overall payment system plans here. Want to sell on Google Base through its own system? Use this form to sign-up.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:13 PM | Permalink

Google Base Soon To Allow Buying & Selling Through Google's Own Payment System

Google Base is soon to allow merchants to sell through Google's own payment system, as well as allowing buyers to use the Google Accounts system to make purchases. A quick look doesn't show any of this live yet, but I'm sure examples will come soon. There is more information from Google here plus a note on how this fits into their overall payment system plans here. Want to sell on Google Base through its own system? Use this form to sign-up.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:13 PM | Permalink

January 18, 2006

Author of The Google Story, David Vise, Chats Google With Readers

Washington Post writer and the author of The Google Story, David Vise, chatted on WashingtonPost.com today about Google's most recent acquisition of radio ad firm DMarc (good background on how the technolgy works) and many other topics from where to send your ideas for new Google services to wheather or not a Google Calendar on it's way. The transcript of Vise's chat is available here.

Posted by Gary Price at 5:38 PM | Permalink

Author of The Google Story, David Vise, Chats Google With Readers

Washington Post writer and the author of The Google Story, David Vise, chatted on WashingtonPost.com today about Google's most recent acquisition of radio ad firm DMarc (good background on how the technolgy works) and many other topics from where to send your ideas for new Google services to wheather or not a Google Calendar on it's way. The transcript of Vise's chat is available here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:38 PM | Permalink

Author of The Google Story, David Vise, Chats Google With Readers

Washington Post writer and the author of The Google Story, David Vise, chatted on WashingtonPost.com today about Google's most recent acquisition of radio ad firm DMarc (good background on how the technolgy works) and many other topics from where to send your ideas for new Google services to wheather or not a Google Calendar on it's way. The transcript of Vise's chat is available here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:38 PM | Permalink

Author of The Google Story, David Vise, Chats Google With Readers

Washington Post writer and the author of The Google Story, David Vise, chatted on WashingtonPost.com today about Google's most recent acquisition of radio ad firm DMarc (good background on how the technolgy works) and many other topics from where to send your ideas for new Google services to wheather or not a Google Calendar on it's way. The transcript of Vise's chat is available here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 5:38 PM | Permalink

January 13, 2006

Google Testing New Refinement/Clustering Links -- Sign Of Google Base In Web Search?

Maybe it's new -- maybe not, but another Google query refinement test is out in the wild, as covered in our SEW Forums thread Google Refinement Keywords. There are links to screenshots showing that after a search, a "Quick results" area appears at the top of the page with links that seem to narrow refine results into clusters/topics. Something similar was seen last month.

The topics and implementation resemble what happens after a search at Google Base , such as with apple, which brings up this at the top of the page:

Refine your search:  products   housing   homes for sale   apartments   wanted ads   services  

It makes me wonder if the refinement is going along with some Google Base material flowing into the main web index as part of a test.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:53 AM | Permalink

Google Testing New Refinement/Clustering Links -- Sign Of Google Base In Web Search?

Maybe it's new -- maybe not, but another Google query refinement test is out in the wild, as covered in our SEW Forums thread Google Refinement Keywords. There are links to screenshots showing that after a search, a "Quick results" area appears at the top of the page with links that seem to narrow refine results into clusters/topics. Something similar was seen last month.

The topics and implementation resemble what happens after a search at Google Base , such as with apple, which brings up this at the top of the page:

Refine your search:  products   housing   homes for sale   apartments   wanted ads   services  

It makes me wonder if the refinement is going along with some Google Base material flowing into the main web index as part of a test.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:53 AM | Permalink

Google Testing New Refinement/Clustering Links -- Sign Of Google Base In Web Search?

Maybe it's new -- maybe not, but another Google query refinement test is out in the wild, as covered in our SEW Forums thread Google Refinement Keywords. There are links to screenshots showing that after a search, a "Quick results" area appears at the top of the page with links that seem to narrow refine results into clusters/topics. Something similar was seen last month.

The topics and implementation resemble what happens after a search at Google Base , such as with apple, which brings up this at the top of the page:

Refine your search:  products   housing   homes for sale   apartments   wanted ads   services  

It makes me wonder if the refinement is going along with some Google Base material flowing into the main web index as part of a test.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:53 AM | Permalink

Google Testing New Refinement/Clustering Links -- Sign Of Google Base In Web Search?

Maybe it's new -- maybe not, but another Google query refinement test is out in the wild, as covered in our SEW Forums thread Google Refinement Keywords. There are links to screenshots showing that after a search, a "Quick results" area appears at the top of the page with links that seem to narrow refine results into clusters/topics. Something similar was seen last month.

The topics and implementation resemble what happens after a search at Google Base , such as with apple, which brings up this at the top of the page:

Refine your search:  products   housing   homes for sale   apartments   wanted ads   services  

It makes me wonder if the refinement is going along with some Google Base material flowing into the main web index as part of a test.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 9:53 AM | Permalink

December 28, 2005

Google Base Switches To Force All Searchers Through Jump Pages

When Google Base first launched, one of my key questions was whether people could click on a entry and go directly to the submitter's web site. Yes, you could. Now, you can't. Instead, you're forced to go through a "jump" or intermediary page before proceeding, an "experiment" I hope goes away.

Jump Pages in Googlebase over at semi-Google Base rival Oodle covers more about the change, which Oodle wasted no time in having their PR firm spread the news out to various commentators. Oodle doesn't do jump pages, so it gives them a positive spin of following "traditional search engine etiquette," as the post says.

And fair enough. If you submitted to Google Base providing your own URL, you probably didn't expect the rules of how things worked to be changed in such a fundamental way despite the service being a beta.

Specifically, here are two examples to illustrate what's happened. These come from a search for cars on Google Base.

See the URL under the first one? In this case, the person submitting the item didn't provide their own URL. In that case, Google itself plays host to the listing, similar to how eBay might if you do an item for sale over there.

In the second one, the URL does NOT lead to Google Base, at least the visible URL. But click on that, and you're taken to this page at Google Base itself. If you want to proceed to the CDconnection web site, to the URL that's actually listed, you have to do a further click from the jump page that interrupts your journey.

That jump page is new. Prior to this, if you'd given Google Base an "item URL," then that is where people were sent directly.

Via InsideGoogle, Experimenting with navigation at the Google Base Blog says the change is part of an experiment and that more such changes might happen.

I hope they switch it back. At the very least, the display URL should change to show exactly where people are going. In other words, if everything is to route into Google Base, then show those jump page URLs. It's misleading, otherwise.

Even better, part of the move seems to be to allow people to see more details about an item, which can be shown on the jump pages. OK, add a "See Details" link similar to the "Report bad item" link that is shown for each item. Make than an option, but let people proceed directly if they don't choose that.

Google does say that Google Base items that flow into Google Web Search, Froogle and Google Local will NOT have jump pages (though anything you click on in Google Local already takes you to an intermediary page, like this).

Two things about that. First, as I've written before, what happens on Google Base itself is almost a non-issue. Google Base to me remains more the place people who are submitting content will be going. Actual searchers will be finding Google Base content through other services, such as the aforementioned Google Web Search, Froogle and Google Local.

It's kind of how Overture used to work to feed paid listing to Yahoo. Sure, some people stumbled into the Overture site. But the vast majority of searchers weren't encountering Overture paid listings there. They were finding them when they went to Yahoo.

So from this point of view, jump pages on Google Base aren't that big of a deal (though I still think they should go).

Second, and more important, what if Google decides it wants to do more experimenting elsewhere? Will direct URLs go away in any of these other services? The experiment at Google Base makes me nervous.

I already felt Google Base was sort of a waste of time for many people, making them resubmit and hand categorize content that Google's web crawler probably already gathered up.

Now it's possibly even worse. What happens when Google starts dealing with deciding which item to list in web search, the Google Base entry or the actual URL? Will they decide to dedupe in the "user interest" and list the Google Base entry?

If so, technically they won't have introduced jump pages in web search. Instead, they'll just have decide that it makes more sense to list Google Base-hosted pages in place of the original pages, if they have the choice.

Overall, it just makes me want to stay far away from Google Base if I've got content that's already being picked up in other ways.

Postscript: Google Revises Free Classifieds from MediaPost covers how Google Base has had a face lift, though the changes to me still do little to make the service that attractive for any particular type of vertical searching in particular. A link on the home page to Podcasts just brings up items of that nature with some slight customization. Compare that to feature-rich Yahoo Podcasts and tell me where you'll be searching.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forum thread, Google Base Uses Jump Pages.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:01 AM | Permalink

Google Base Switches To Force All Searchers Through Jump Pages

When Google Base first launched, one of my key questions was whether people could click on a entry and go directly to the submitter's web site. Yes, you could. Now, you can't. Instead, you're forced to go through a "jump" or intermediary page before proceeding, an "experiment" I hope goes away.

Jump Pages in Googlebase over at semi-Google Base rival Oodle covers more about the change, which Oodle wasted no time in having their PR firm spread the news out to various commentators. Oodle doesn't do jump pages, so it gives them a positive spin of following "traditional search engine etiquette," as the post says.

And fair enough. If you submitted to Google Base providing your own URL, you probably didn't expect the rules of how things worked to be changed in such a fundamental way despite the service being a beta.

Specifically, here are two examples to illustrate what's happened. These come from a search for cars on Google Base.

See the URL under the first one? In this case, the person submitting the item didn't provide their own URL. In that case, Google itself plays host to the listing, similar to how eBay might if you do an item for sale over there.

In the second one, the URL does NOT lead to Google Base, at least the visible URL. But click on that, and you're taken to this page at Google Base itself. If you want to proceed to the CDconnection web site, to the URL that's actually listed, you have to do a further click from the jump page that interrupts your journey.

That jump page is new. Prior to this, if you'd given Google Base an "item URL," then that is where people were sent directly.

Via InsideGoogle, Experimenting with navigation at the Google Base Blog says the change is part of an experiment and that more such changes might happen.

I hope they switch it back. At the very least, the display URL should change to show exactly where people are going. In other words, if everything is to route into Google Base, then show those jump page URLs. It's misleading, otherwise.

Even better, part of the move seems to be to allow people to see more details about an item, which can be shown on the jump pages. OK, add a "See Details" link similar to the "Report bad item" link that is shown for each item. Make than an option, but let people proceed directly if they don't choose that.

Google does say that Google Base items that flow into Google Web Search, Froogle and Google Local will NOT have jump pages (though anything you click on in Google Local already takes you to an intermediary page, like this).

Two things about that. First, as I've written before, what happens on Google Base itself is almost a non-issue. Google Base to me remains more the place people who are submitting content will be going. Actual searchers will be finding Google Base content through other services, such as the aforementioned Google Web Search, Froogle and Google Local.

It's kind of how Overture used to work to feed paid listing to Yahoo. Sure, some people stumbled into the Overture site. But the vast majority of searchers weren't encountering Overture paid listings there. They were finding them when they went to Yahoo.

So from this point of view, jump pages on Google Base aren't that big of a deal (though I still think they should go).

Second, and more important, what if Google decides it wants to do more experimenting elsewhere? Will direct URLs go away in any of these other services? The experiment at Google Base makes me nervous.

I already felt Google Base was sort of a waste of time for many people, making them resubmit and hand categorize content that Google's web crawler probably already gathered up.

Now it's possibly even worse. What happens when Google starts dealing with deciding which item to list in web search, the Google Base entry or the actual URL? Will they decide to dedupe in the "user interest" and list the Google Base entry?

If so, technically they won't have introduced jump pages in web search. Instead, they'll just have decide that it makes more sense to list Google Base-hosted pages in place of the original pages, if they have the choice.

Overall, it just makes me want to stay far away from Google Base if I've got content that's already being picked up in other ways.

Postscript: Google Revises Free Classifieds from MediaPost covers how Google Base has had a face lift, though the changes to me still do little to make the service that attractive for any particular type of vertical searching in particular. A link on the home page to Podcasts just brings up items of that nature with some slight customization. Compare that to feature-rich Yahoo Podcasts and tell me where you'll be searching.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forum thread, Google Base Uses Jump Pages.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:01 AM | Permalink

Google Base Switches To Force All Searchers Through Jump Pages

When Google Base first launched, one of my key questions was whether people could click on a entry and go directly to the submitter's web site. Yes, you could. Now, you can't. Instead, you're forced to go through a "jump" or intermediary page before proceeding, an "experiment" I hope goes away.

Jump Pages in Googlebase over at semi-Google Base rival Oodle covers more about the change, which Oodle wasted no time in having their PR firm spread the news out to various commentators. Oodle doesn't do jump pages, so it gives them a positive spin of following "traditional search engine etiquette," as the post says.

And fair enough. If you submitted to Google Base providing your own URL, you probably didn't expect the rules of how things worked to be changed in such a fundamental way despite the service being a beta.

Specifically, here are two examples to illustrate what's happened. These come from a search for cars on Google Base.

See the URL under the first one? In this case, the person submitting the item didn't provide their own URL. In that case, Google itself plays host to the listing, similar to how eBay might if you do an item for sale over there.

In the second one, the URL does NOT lead to Google Base, at least the visible URL. But click on that, and you're taken to this page at Google Base itself. If you want to proceed to the CDconnection web site, to the URL that's actually listed, you have to do a further click from the jump page that interrupts your journey.

That jump page is new. Prior to this, if you'd given Google Base an "item URL," then that is where people were sent directly.

Via InsideGoogle, Experimenting with navigation at the Google Base Blog says the change is part of an experiment and that more such changes might happen.

I hope they switch it back. At the very least, the display URL should change to show exactly where people are going. In other words, if everything is to route into Google Base, then show those jump page URLs. It's misleading, otherwise.

Even better, part of the move seems to be to allow people to see more details about an item, which can be shown on the jump pages. OK, add a "See Details" link similar to the "Report bad item" link that is shown for each item. Make than an option, but let people proceed directly if they don't choose that.

Google does say that Google Base items that flow into Google Web Search, Froogle and Google Local will NOT have jump pages (though anything you click on in Google Local already takes you to an intermediary page, like this).

Two things about that. First, as I've written before, what happens on Google Base itself is almost a non-issue. Google Base to me remains more the place people who are submitting content will be going. Actual searchers will be finding Google Base content through other services, such as the aforementioned Google Web Search, Froogle and Google Local.

It's kind of how Overture used to work to feed paid listing to Yahoo. Sure, some people stumbled into the Overture site. But the vast majority of searchers weren't encountering Overture paid listings there. They were finding them when they went to Yahoo.

So from this point of view, jump pages on Google Base aren't that big of a deal (though I still think they should go).

Second, and more important, what if Google decides it wants to do more experimenting elsewhere? Will direct URLs go away in any of these other services? The experiment at Google Base makes me nervous.

I already felt Google Base was sort of a waste of time for many people, making them resubmit and hand categorize content that Google's web crawler probably already gathered up.

Now it's possibly even worse. What happens when Google starts dealing with deciding which item to list in web search, the Google Base entry or the actual URL? Will they decide to dedupe in the "user interest" and list the Google Base entry?

If so, technically they won't have introduced jump pages in web search. Instead, they'll just have decide that it makes more sense to list Google Base-hosted pages in place of the original pages, if they have the choice.

Overall, it just makes me want to stay far away from Google Base if I've got content that's already being picked up in other ways.

Postscript: Google Revises Free Classifieds from MediaPost covers how Google Base has had a face lift, though the changes to me still do little to make the service that attractive for any particular type of vertical searching in particular. A link on the home page to Podcasts just brings up items of that nature with some slight customization. Compare that to feature-rich Yahoo Podcasts and tell me where you'll be searching.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forum thread, Google Base Uses Jump Pages.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:01 AM | Permalink

Google Base Switches To Force All Searchers Through Jump Pages

When Google Base first launched, one of my key questions was whether people could click on a entry and go directly to the submitter's web site. Yes, you could. Now, you can't. Instead, you're forced to go through a "jump" or intermediary page before proceeding, an "experiment" I hope goes away.

Jump Pages in Googlebase over at semi-Google Base rival Oodle covers more about the change, which Oodle wasted no time in having their PR firm spread the news out to various commentators. Oodle doesn't do jump pages, so it gives them a positive spin of following "traditional search engine etiquette," as the post says.

And fair enough. If you submitted to Google Base providing your own URL, you probably didn't expect the rules of how things worked to be changed in such a fundamental way despite the service being a beta.

Specifically, here are two examples to illustrate what's happened. These come from a search for cars on Google Base.

See the URL under the first one? In this case, the person submitting the item didn't provide their own URL. In that case, Google itself plays host to the listing, similar to how eBay might if you do an item for sale over there.

In the second one, the URL does NOT lead to Google Base, at least the visible URL. But click on that, and you're taken to this page at Google Base itself. If you want to proceed to the CDconnection web site, to the URL that's actually listed, you have to do a further click from the jump page that interrupts your journey.

That jump page is new. Prior to this, if you'd given Google Base an "item URL," then that is where people were sent directly.

Via InsideGoogle, Experimenting with navigation at the Google Base Blog says the change is part of an experiment and that more such changes might happen.

I hope they switch it back. At the very least, the display URL should change to show exactly where people are going. In other words, if everything is to route into Google Base, then show those jump page URLs. It's misleading, otherwise.

Even better, part of the move seems to be to allow people to see more details about an item, which can be shown on the jump pages. OK, add a "See Details" link similar to the "Report bad item" link that is shown for each item. Make than an option, but let people proceed directly if they don't choose that.

Google does say that Google Base items that flow into Google Web Search, Froogle and Google Local will NOT have jump pages (though anything you click on in Google Local already takes you to an intermediary page, like