Google Base is a free Google service that allows you to submit content, including product feeds. If Google finds your content relevant, it may appear on some of their other services such as their Shopping search engine or Google Maps.
Using Google Base to advertise your products is an excellent way to acquire new customers. In fact, there’s little excuse not to use it as the service is free and Google Shopping results often appear high up in the SERPs (search engine results pages).
However, to get the most out of Google Base, it’s important to optimise your feed. Particularly because when the shopping results appear in the SERPs, only the top three for shopping will be shown. The algorithm for product search is not as sophisticated as the SERPs algorithm – it is far more literal – and this must be taken into account when preparing the product feed.
The more relevant factors you can put into your feed the better, starting with the title and description. Your keyphrase target should appear in both the title and the description of the product.
The description should include as much relevant information as you can. The first 10-15 words are the most important, as many product searches will be truncated, so think carefully about the way you write your descriptions. Don’t be tempted to keyword stuff as you can be penalised.
Google allows feeds to contain custom attributes and it makes sense to use them – particularly as Google has said in the past that online shoppers search differently to ordinary surfers. Online shoppers tend to search for product characteristics so it makes sense to use custom attributes to increase the relevancy of a product listing.
The same reasoning can be applied to taxonomies – Google provides a typical taxonomy for various products, but you are also able to supply your own. By using a well-structured taxonomy, you are increasing the relevancy and content related to your product listing and are therefore more likely to rank highly.
Including a relevant image can also increase click-through rates on the ad. Images should be of a high quality and should accurately represent the product – not just a logo or generic image.
Google’s product search utilises seller ratings. As with any online rating system, a high rating is an indicator of trust, therefore it is important to cultivate as many high ratings and reviews as possible.