Out of the ashes of Froogle and Google Products is Google’s take on what a price comparison website should be. Google Product Search is still officially in Beta; however any application where Google is involved is bound to attract attention and more importantly traffic and users.

It’s an interesting move by Google and it must have made the likes of Kelkoo, Pricerunner and the like sit up and take notice. These are the current incumbents in the price comparison market; their business model is to take a commission from sales of products they have referred (they also charge to place products higher in the searches). So their search engine ranking in the most popular search engine in the world is very important to them…..

So now they are in direct competition with the very same search engine they need to be ranked on in order for their business model to work. If that was not bad enough, Google has confirmed that there will be no charges to list products and they won’t accept payment in return for rankings. So on the face of it, not good for the price comparison chaps and it does not bode well in the future for other sites offering price comparison for insurance, mortgages, credit cards etc. Surely, it is just a matter of time before Google start to enter these markets too.

The good news for a lot of ecommerce store owners is that there is a new channel for them to showcase their products and services through; a channel which has the backing of the largest search engine in the world. So in terms of opportunity, it’s a big one and almost a no-brainer if you have an ecommerce store. The challenge is to work out the best way to use this channel and how to optimise your products so that they are shown and provide you with quality, targeted traffic.

The following tips and ideas are what we have seen when testing and playing with Google Products Search, some of these views will be open to debate, so it would be interesting to hear from others.

Before you start, the first thing to do is go to the Google Merchant Centre page and create an account.  This will become the home of your product feed and where you upload your product information. You will be asked to verify your account, to ensure that no one else has the ability to upload products.

The next step is to really understand what it is you’re trying to achieve. This article is about promoting your products for Google Product Search, so hopefully that is your objective. The idea is that by increasing your understanding of Google Product Search, the more likely you will be able to work with the product feed to ensure your product has the best chance of ranking highly for the keywords related to your product.

Improving your Google Product Search relevancy
The following tips and ideas are what we have seen when testing and playing with Google Products Search, some of these views will be open to debate, so it would be interesting to hear from others.

1.    Let’s get the obvious bits out of the way. Make your feeds relevant to the product they are promoting. Read and adhere to the terms and conditions and guidelines of Google Product Search.
2.    You can have up to 70 characters for your product title, our advice is to be short and concise as possible for the keywords you are going after. There is little point in going mad and trying to include too many keywords.
3.    The description field provides you with an opportunity to add to your product title with more information about the product, for example the benefits or the performance of the product. Remember this is about relevancy, so make the description relevant to the product and not your ecommerce store.
4.    Product Type is quite self explanatory and signifies the type of product you are selling. It is important to then ensure that the product fits into the correct taxonomy. If you are unsure, then you should look at Google’s Taxonomy Structure help.
5.    The Link page is what the viewer will click through to reach your site, so it is important that this is the relevant page and has all of the correct information on it. Think about general usability here and what  would expect if you were looking for a specific product.
6.    The next field is the all important price field, which is a mandatory field. Please make sure that this is the same price as on your website, so as not to encourage issues.
7.    Product ID, could be your SKU or part number. This is your number and your internal code; we have customers that refer to this as a part number, while others call it a product code.
8.    MPN or UPC identifiers refer to a recognised number (similar to a barcode) that relates to that product. It is a bit like a ISBN number for a book. If you have this information available it is definitely worth using as this could be used to create a search.
9.    The product image is self explanatory and really important not just for Google Product Search but also for your main website. We advise that you use the best image you ahve for your product as you can show more when the user clicks through.
What next?

If you have followed the instructions above, you should have a document ready to upload to Google Products Search.

The next step is decided what format to upload the feed. Fortunately, Google offers different options depending on what works best for you; these include web form, text file, CSV, FTP and XML file, it is also possible to connect directly using an API.

Once you have decided on what method you would like to provide your feed, it is time to log into your account and take care of the general account settings. This includes specifying your target country and the location where you would like your products to be shown. Think carefully about this part of the process because it is not necessarily about showing up in every search result, instead it is about being shown to the audience most likely to buy from you.
Give it go…

If you’re selling online, it is definitely worth having a look at Google Products Search; it will grow in stature as Google iron out the little bugs and quirks. Currently, not all stores are using Google to promote their products, so there is an opportunity to get ahead of your competitors.
If you would like to discuss this further with one of our SEO consultants, please do not hesitate to contact us 01635 550431.

I have decided to create a series dedicated to the best marketing campaigns of the 20th century. Each Friday for 6 weeks a different member of the Generate UK team will discuss one of their favourite campaigns explaining why it stands out against its competition and what makes it so successful. This series will reveal some of the most creative, successful and the just downright weird campaigns to have been launched in the last 10 years.

Name: Ian Fergusson
Position: Marketing Executive
Campaign of choice: McDonalds Billboard (2008)
McDonalds does not have a good reputation in the fast food world as being ‘healthy’! In fact it has been sued a number of times for its advertising targeted at kids and for promoting un-healthy living. During the ‘noughties’ we saw a massive boom in healthy living and keeping fit, in my opinion borderline obsessive with fitness videos and new diets advertised wherever we looked. McDonalds clearly felt that if they didn’t alter their reputation soon, profits could ‘dip’. They left it up to the wonderful Leo Burnett to get across to the public that McDonald’s salads really are fresh!

Leo Burnett created a Billboard that over time grew lettuce, to form the words ‘Fresh Salads’. Creatively I feel this is ingenius. In a sense we see here the first ever living billboard. This wasn’t the fastest campaign ever launched, the sign took 3 weeks to grow, but the message delivered is clear and strong, If McDonalds can get fresh lettuce on a sign, surely that leaf in my double cheese burger is just as fresh and healthy.  Creativity is the driving force behind a message; this innovative idea generated top class media coverage that lasted several months after the campaign had finished.  However, I’m not a big fan of McDonalds as a brand, so I felt the need to criticise at least one aspect of this campaign. I do not like the Green on a grey background. I feel this is a slip up on the art direction and I’m sure many creative’s were confused over that decision.  I hope you found this interesting and please post any opinions you have about this campaign. After all it is you McDonalds are trying to impress, has it worked?

Next week it’s Mike Robinsons’ turn to share his Marketing Highlight of the past decade.

Joe and Mike will be representing Generate UK as they run the Reading Half Marathon in March. We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to raise some money for a deserved charity. The charity of choice was Tommy’s which funds scientific research and provides information on the causes and prevention of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth. For more information on Tommy’s please click here. Please show your support by sponsoring the guys and donating here.

After overindulging during the Christmas period, Joe and Mike have a strict training schedule to stick to in order to get fit for the half marathon. The training has been slightly postponed due to the Arctic weather conditions however they are both very eager to get back into a routine. The half marathon starts in Green Park on March 21st, where Joe and Mike will have to run 13.1 miles before they return to the Madejski stadium to finish in front of the stands.

If you would like your company’s logo to be on the t-shirts please get in contact with us by email at info@generateuk.uk or by phoning us on 01635 550431. If you would like to show your support, please donate what you can here.  All support is appreciated by the Generate UK team. Joe and Mike’s progress will be reported on twitter, so if you want to find out how they are doing just click here to follow us.