Google Expands (Fan) Base

If you're frustrated by the never-ending battle to stay on top of the latest in search-engine optimization, pay-per-click and keyword bidding, or simply can't afford to spend a lot on marketing, Google Base could be the answer.

While eBay continues to make headlines with an announcement of ProStore's upgrade, Google still surprises with stealth offerings such as Google Base, a powerful, free service that can quickly provide your e-commerce business with an edge in the marketplace.

Google Base is defined as "a place where you can submit all types of online and offline content" that the company will make "searchable on Google." By describing items with "attributes," people will find your stuff more easily when doing related searches and may even find them in results on Froogle and the maps section.

What this means to Web store owners is, though it's not designed specifically for online sales, Google Base, if used properly, can put your items at the top of a Google Search, linked to Froogle, in less than 48 hours — for free.

Bypass Millions of Results and Get Listed On Top
One seller used Base to submit an entry for a particular type of gold ring and, within two days, the item showed up at the top of the page, above the organic Google search results. It even had a shopping bag icon next to it. Additionally, clicking on the link called "product search results for gold dollar sign ring" brought you to a listing in Froogle. Not bad for a free service, considering there were approximately 4.6 million results. The down-side is that your item may not stay at the top of the heap, so it takes some nurturing and noodling to maintain your ranking, but new tools will let you do that.

Still in beta (a test-version), Google Base debuted last November and has been quietly deployed. The Google Base data API (application programming interface) was released with little fanfare last Tuesday. (If you're unaware of Base, you'd have to click on Business Solutions/All types of content, rather than, say, just the "more" option on the home page to find it.)

The recent update lets you write your own applications that dynamically interact with Google Base, and according to a company software engineer, "You can upload, edit and delete items, as well as query data to create mash-ups combining Google Base content with other services."

You can submit files up to 20MB in size, either in standard Web form, or if you have more than 10 items, through a "bulk upload" option. If you go the standard route, you can attach up to 15 digital files in any of various formats.

The FAQ explains how to use relevant descriptors to increase the likelihood that your items will appear when searchers enter queries. The Base blog obviously is the best spot for updates and news but also contains testimonials by Web shop owners. These include examples of how they used Base, often in conjunction with AdSense and AdWords, to increase sales.

Meanwhile, it appears that Google may be practicing and polishing the shout-out for Google Base, though it's still officially in the testing phase. Last Friday, a "strategic partner development" employee wrote a lengthy post that could serve as a press release draft, outlining the benefits of Base compared to other search protocols.

"Even if a page was crawled, it was often difficult for a computer-based system to understand the meaning of the content," says the post. "So we created Google Base. Anyone with content to distribute can send their information directly to Google, and do it in an organized and structured format."

Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.

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