I asked all the shopping comparison engines to submit the ONE data feed optimization tip they’d give merchants right now for the holiday shopping season and then explain why it matters. Here’s what Tracy Lou of NexTag had to say…

Happy Holidays!

A shopping comparison engine’s catalog of products can seem like a mysterious black hole, so here are a couple tips to help you get the best traffic possible for the holiday season:
1. Do not put a variety of products in a Gift category instead of their more precise product categories.

For example, let’s say you are a jewelry merchant and you decide to put a selection of popular products in the Gifts category for the holidays. Now all of a sudden the buyers cannot search for your products by jewelry type, gemstone type, carat size, etc… because the Gifts category does not support such filters.

2. Add keywords that describe your product in your descriptions.

Go to the categories your products are listed in and look at what filters are available for each category. These are the keywords you will want in your description. Again, with the jewelry example, you will want to mention the gemstones, carat sizes, etc… in your description. This will help get your product listed in the matching category-specific filters. If we don’t know that the pendant is mostly rubies, we won’t list it under the ruby filter.

Disclaimer: All optimization strategies are suggestions and do not guarantee success. These are data feed optimization tactics I have used or others have suggested which I think everyone should at least think about, if not test.