Google Base (Product Search) Question About Product Options

[JamieM]

Does anyone have experience of uploading products to Google Base that have different options, e.g. colour, size etc?

I think Google say that you have to have a separate landing page for each unique product but obviously this does not work in practise.

Does anyone know how you can list Product1 in blue and green, having a separate listing for each but both with the same landing page?

I am using text format feeds.

 

[webgeek]

I've always preached to make separate pages, use unique descriptions for each, and make a blue widget and green widget so different that they've always gotten approved.

By using this approach, you get longtail seo benefits and it eliminates the brain calories required for noting product id xyz123 could be blue/green/yellow, etc.

That said, yes I've had to wrangle this before. First off I'll give you the answer, then I'll give you the how-to on finding it yourself next time

Most of this is for API users, but also applies for feeds via ftp or browser as well. Just check after the name= for your possible attributes.

<gm:attribute name='brand' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='colour' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='condition' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='ean' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='expiration date' type='dateTime'/>
<gm:attribute name='height' type='numberUnit'/>
<gm:attribute name='isbn' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='length' type='numberUnit'/>
<gm:attribute name='location' type='location'/>
<gm:attribute name='model number' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='mpn' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='payment' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='payment notes' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='price' type='floatUnit'/>
<gm:attribute name='price type' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='product type' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='quantity' type='int'/>
<gm:attribute name='size' type='text'/>
<gm:attribute name='weight' type='numberUnit'/>
<gm:attribute name='width' type='numberUnit'/>
<gm:attribute name='year' type='number'/>

If you visit the following URL, then view source (depending on your browser), you'll get each of the items types broken down into their accepted attributes:

You'd replace the locale with en_US if for America...

[URL]http://www.google.com/base/feeds/itemtypes/en_GB[/URL]

 

[JamieM]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm a bit confused as you seem to have understood the question but I can't see how what you posted is the solution. Apologies if I am missing something but that just looks like a list of attributes but doesn't address the colour option issue.

Are you just suggesting the solution is to have separate pages for each colour? I know that will work but it means presenting our website in a way that isn't so user friendly. i.e having 18 products in a department when we could have 10. The products are all very similar so it may make buying decisions look even more confusing.

This is actually pretty minor (but significant) for our site but imagine a clothes retailer with a t-shirt in 5 colours and 5 sizes. To list all of these separately to accomodate Google would be madness. I have enquired with Google so will post up their response whenever they reply.

 

[webcreationuk]

Hasn't Google Base transformed into Google Merchant Center or they are both still available?

 

[zigojacko]

Hasn't Google Base transformed into Google Merchant Center or they are both still available?

Same platform, Merchant Center just derived from Base

 

[zigojacko]

Does anyone have experience of uploading products to Google Base that have different options, e.g. colour, size etc?

I think Google say that you have to have a separate landing page for each unique product but obviously this does not work in practise.

Does anyone know how you can list Product1 in blue and green, having a separate listing for each but both with the same landing page?

I am using text format feeds.

You have to create an additional product in your feed to facilitate each individual product option for that product. How is your feed generated?

What webgeek has mentioned will allow you to create additional attributes, the more custom attributes you apply to your products, the higher chance you have of ranking well in Google Product Search.

 

[webgeek]

Sorry JamieM, I didn't answer things fully.

You should not have multiple URL's pointing to the same product. Either a) have separate URL's for each or b) single URL for a product.

I have a few carts with 20K+ items, and since all of the feed creation and product import is via Excel build csv, there's very little difference between 200 and 200K products. The only difference is the length of the file.

When you are fighting to be one of the 3 most relevant results returned, so that you show up in organic search results (at the top), long tail product names and specific product pages are a big advantage.

It's my understanding that if you're going to use a single page with all the wiggle of size and colour happening on that page, you should switch to the XML version (maybe I'm wrong on this):

Example

<item>
  <title>Mineral Makeup Lipstick</title>
  <g:color>Coral</g:color>
  <g:color>Red</g:color>
  <g:color>Apricot</g:color>
  ...
</item>

In this manner you can have a single item with multiple choices for colour, size, and so on.

For me, the switch from tab delim to xml simply meant insertion of a header/footer for the file and swapping tab/crlf's with some xml tagging. If you want to see an example of my php file for creating an xml feed just let me know. It's not beautiful, but it works.

-webcreationuk-

Base and Merchant Centre both exist currently. One carries product only item feeds while the other carries jobs, housing, events, and all that other fun stuff.

 

[JamieM]

You have to create an additional product in your feed to facilitate each individual product option for that product. How is your feed generated?

That is the problem. Creating a separate product leading to the same landing page results in a disapproved feed. Feed is generated and uploaded manually in a text file.

Webgeek, many thanks for the follow up. I will have a closer look at the xml format.