Each year Google updates their Google Merchant Center (GMC) feed specification with modest changes to how merchants should submit their product data. This year is no different and Google has just announced the changes as follows: Changes available now:Two new attributes are now available to submit: product_highlight and product_detail. These attributes let you submit additional product data to Google in a generic fashion. product_highlight allows you to submit bulleted lists of product highlights. product_detail ...

Read more   Google Product Search Google Best Practices Product Listing Ads Google Shopping 

As the new Google Shopping approaches, retailers (at a minimum) will need to create a new Google AdWords component to ensure their products continue listing. The steps below detail this process. Please keep in mind that retailers looking for a more robust solution should consider signing up for VersaFeed's Google Shopping Manager (GSM) product. Note (A): the instructions below assume that your Google Merchant Center account is active and receiving up-to-date product feeds (VersaFeed ...

Read more   Google Product Search PPC Bidding Google AdWords Product Listing Ads Google Shopping 

Google Announced on May 31st, 2012 that over the next several months they will be overhauling Google Product Search into a pay-per-click (PPC) environment, and will rebrand this product as Google Shopping. Google Shopping will rely heavily on the Google AdWords Product Listing Ad format which VersaFeed has supported for over a year (Google PLA's, Google AdWords Product Listing Ads, Product Listing Ads: Google AdWords Done Right). Google's official announcements:http://googlecommerce.blogspot ...

Read more   Google Product Search PPC Google AdWords Product Listing Ads Google Shopping 

While more than one Google Account can verify a website URL, only one account has the right to upload and publish products via Google Merchant Center for a given website. VersaFeed will be creating and uploading your data feeds to this claimed account. Once you have verified your website URL with Google Webmaster Tools you can now claim your website in Google Merchant Center: 1.Sign into your Google Merchant Center account.2.On the ...

Read more   Google Product Search Google Knowledge Base 

In order to claim your website URL in Google Merchant Center you first need to verify your URL with Google Webmaster Tools. This is Google's way to ensure you have ownership of a website in order to use their suite of website tools like Google Merchant Center and Google Analytics. It's relatively painless, but you do need access to your website admin area: 1.Log into Google Webmaster Tools.(Note: Make sure to ...

Read more   Google Product Search Google Knowledge Base 

What Are Product Listing Ads? Product Listing Ads, or PLA's, are a new ad format on the Google AdWords Network. Google has been beta testing these ads for a year, and as of November 11th, 2010, are now allowing all U.S. retailers to utilize the new format. Below are two screenshots demonstrating what these new ads look like (click to enlarge): Notice in both of these examples the ads with images in the ...

Read more   Google Product Search AdWords Product Listing Ads Google Shopping 

Linking your Google Merchant Center (aka, Google Base or Google Product Search) account with your Google Checkout account can provide the following benefits: Product listings in Google Product Search can appear with the Google Checkout badge.It helps establish a Google "seller rating" for your Google Merchant Center account.Product listings can be filtered in Google Product Search via "Show Only Google Checkout" links.To link the accounts: 1.Login to Google Checkout and copy ...

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Looking for some sure-fire methods to maximize your exposure on the shopping engines? These time-proven techniques will help ensure your success on comparison shopping engines: 1.Craft your product titles carefully. Product titles are given extreme importance on the shopping engines when matching against consumer searches. Ensure you include the brand, what the product is, and any distinguishing features. More info on product titles »2.Focus on the three free comparison shopping engines first: Google ...

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Google is experimenting with a variety of AdWords features that can only be enabled by linking your Google Merchant Center Account with your Google AdWords account. This gives AdWords access to your raw inventory data feeds. If you have a professional Google AdWords management team, we recommend that you have them read this article and enable these features as they see fit. Step-By-Step Linking Instructions 1.Log in to your Google AdWords account and write ...

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Before we can address how to increase rankings in Google Product Search, we need to examine exactly what criteria Google Product Search uses to determine product rank. Unfortunately, Google keeps most of this information secret — so much of our information is gleaned from observational experience over the years. Google published facts Include as much info about each product as you can. There are many product attributes that can be specified in the data feed, use ...

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In previous blog entries we've looked at the importance of Google Product Search "seller ratings" and how to use Google Checkout to obtain these ratings. This blog entry will focus on an alternative way of obtaining seller ratings utilizing ResellerRatings.com. ResellerRatings was founded in 1996 and allows consumers to review online merchants. They are generally regarded as fair to both merchants and consumers. We are interested in ResellerRatings because Google periodically extracts merchant ...

Read more   Google Product Search Seller Ratings Google Best Practices 

Last blog we discussed the best methods to have "seller ratings" listed next to your products on Google Product Search. We focused on two methods: using Google Checkout, and using ResellerRatings.com. This article will focus on the first option, Google Checkout. While Google Checkout doesn't seem like a product that has anything to do with customer reviews, it actually does. Part of the Google Checkout system includes automated emails which request reviews from ...

Read more   Google Product Search Seller Ratings Google Best Practices 

(This post has two sequel posts: Part 2 and Part 3) While searching on Google Product Search you'll frequently notice that some merchants have a "reviews" or "seller ratings" listed next to their store (see example). These ratings are incredibly important as consumers are more willing to do business with retailers they consider trustworthy — even if the product price is not the lowest. Google seller ratings consist of a 1 to 5 star visual ...

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