LoveYourFeed.com

Related to my last post about Using Google Product Extension Ads, I’ve already been asked several times what feed goes where and what ads belong to what Google services.  Brian Smith, who writes ComparisonEngines.com wrote a good post explaining The Importance of the Google Merchant Center Data Feed which I recommend you read for further clarification.

Below is a real life example of a Google search results page for the keyword “dog training collar”.

The Google Product Search listings come from your data feed that is submitted to your Google Merchant Center account (formerly called Google Base). There is no fee associated with clicks on these links (or the underlying shopping pages).

The Google Affiliate Network listings come from you guessed it, the Google Affiliate Network (formerly Performics). Merchants cannot control these ads, as Google is the publisher and is earning a fee from the advertiser.

The Google Product Extension ads (as covered in my previous post) are created by connecting your AdWords account with your Google Merchant Center account.

If you’re still confused, comment below and I’ll help answer your question.

Back in late July, Google announced that they would be retiring the “one at a time” listing feature for Google Base listings and require items to be submitted via data feeds or an API. If you don’t know what API stands for then chances are it’s not for you. This is inherently going to cause a few issues for some merchants who have managed their small number of products using the one at a time feature. Their items will eventually expire and they’ll be forced to submit a feed. Don’t freak out because I said data feed. Data feeds don’t have to be scary like Al Pacino’s little friend in Scarface. Data feeds don’t have to be overwhelming either. Infact they can be very valuable to your ecommerce website and we suggest that you make the most of the other shopping engines and don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

If you need more information on building a data feed for just Google and you don’t have many products and zero budget for help then we recommend you look at the Google Base Help section http://base.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=2922. If you have lots of products, want to list on more than just Google Product Search, and get a whole lot more like categorization and performance tracking, then contact SingleFeed at info ‘at’ singlefeed.com to see how we can help.

January and February are typically slow times for retailers (with the possible exception of Valentine’s day), which makes this an ideal time to rethink, re-strategize, and re-optimize your sales and marketing campaigns for the coming year. Make sure to include a review of your comparison shopping engine (CSE) campaign and its performance. Here are some tips:

1) Deep dive into your data feed and look for ways to improve your product listings. Could your product names and descriptions have better keyword placement? Are you missing important identifiers such as UPC or MPN? Are there optional fields such as size, color, or material you should be taking advantage of? A thorough review can take a significant amount of time, but can be well worth it.

2) Review each of your active shopping engine accounts. Are your tax and shipping rules set correctly? Are your bids back where you want them (after the holiday rate increase)? Look at category and product level performance and investigate products or categories that did not perform well. Also look for promotional messaging programs and opportunities with each CSE.

3) Check some of your live listings. Are the product names, descriptions, and prices correct? Are the tax and shipping costs correct? Is your store logo being displayed? Is your promotional message compelling?

4) Ensure your analytics tool (Google Analytics, Omniture, etc) is accurately tracking your shopping engine ads. Make sure product URL’s are tagged correctly. Run a couple test orders to ensure conversions are being reported.

Once you’ve done all this, you should be well-oiled for a smooth-running 2009. For even more advice on how to optimize your CSE campaign, consider using SingleFeed, which helps online retailers submit, manage, and optimize their product listings on top shopping sites through a single data feed.
Happy New Year!