Going over merchant data feeds every day begins to give one a sixth sense on how to concoct the ideal product name (some CSE’s refer to it as “title”). The product name is one of the most important attributes in your feed. The best ones are concise, but at the same time keyword-rich. Here’s a formula that will help you stick to our recommended style:

“Manufacturer Adjective Adjective Noun”

So one example would be, “Annie’s Homegrown Organic Mac & Cheese”. If the product has a recognizeable manufacturer part number (as in a searchable keyword), include that as well: “Sony MDR-110LP Open-Air Stereo Headphones”. You can have more adjectives if necessary. And if the product in question offers various size, color, or other options, you may list that out after the noun. So the first example above may be better listed as “Annie’s Homegrown Organic Mac & Cheese 6 oz.” The last piece of advice we can give is that you should make your product name as readable and intelligible as possible:

-Strip out ALL CAPS.
-Take out unneccessary punctuation (!,?, etc).
-And refrain from promotional text (Free Shipping for xample).

The key to remember here is that you want to first make sure your product name is truly descriptive of the product in question. The reader most be able to realize in an instant what the product is. Second, you want to include relevant keywords so your product is picked up by the CSE search algorithm when users search for those terms. And remember this is just a general guideline. Not all the CSE’s are the same and therefore one product name at Google Base might not do as good at Shopping.com. You need to test, test, test. Speaking of Shopping.com and data feed optimization tips, see our previous post outlining their recommendations as well.

Disclaimer: All optimization strategies are suggestions and do not guarantee success.