Google base - anyone using it?

tomsk · #1 (**permalink**) 02-08-10, 02:58 PM

I am in the process of setting up a google base link for a client and it is proving to be a pain to set up.

Anyone had any success using it for business?

sjr4x4 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-08-10, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomsk

I am in the process of setting up a google base link for a client and it is proving to be a pain to set up.

Anyone had any success using it for business?

apparently not!!!

tomsk · #3 (**permalink**) 03-08-10, 04:09 PM

Well some success some of my feed is now showing

For those who have a product based website it should be a must:

wiki - definition

Google Base is an online database provided by Google into which any user can add almost any type of content, such as text, images, and structured information in formats like XML, PDF, Excel, RTF, WordPerfect.

As of 2009, it is available to the public as a beta version and the user interface is available in English and German. If Google finds it relevant it may appear on its shopping search engine, Google Maps or even the web search. The piece of content can then be labeled with attributes like the ingredients for a recipe or the camera model for stock photography. Because information about the service was leaked before public release, it generated much interest in the information technology community prior to release.Google subsequently responded on their blog with an official statement:
"You may have seen stories today reporting on a new product that we're testing, and speculating about our plans. Here's what's really going on. We are testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google, which we hope will complement existing methods such as our web crawl and Google Sitemaps. We think it's an exciting product, and we'll let you know when there's more news."

A major component of Google Base is acting like a online classified ads service, such as Craigslist. However it has also been used for such items as protein structures, current events, real estate, recipes, people profiles, and more.

Files can be uploaded to the Google Base servers by browsing your computer or the web, by various ftp methods, or by API coding. Online tools are provided to view the number of downloads of the user's files, and other performance measures.

sjr4x4 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-08-10, 05:30 PM

May have a play with this and see if I can breathe some life into my local shopping

mrb · #5 (**permalink**) 03-08-10, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjr4x4

apparently not!!!

Indeed - it's been on my forever growing to do list!

tomsk · #6 (**permalink**) 03-08-10, 09:56 PM

Most things that I have read say that it brings business to peoples websites, as long as you can deal with the pain of setting it up.

MagnifyB · #7 (**permalink**) 04-08-10, 04:27 PM

I have used this a couple of times for previous clients for product feeds. One did OK and the other not so well. Many advertisers for the "not do well one"!

I didn't have any trouble setting up but I used text (tab delimited) not XML. Both times of using Google Base were a year or more ago so something might have changed.

I offer product feeds as a service but since starting up MagnifyB, I haven't had a client who needs/wants this service. Hope I do soon

Cloud4 · #8 (**permalink**) 13-08-10, 11:31 AM

I have used base for about 4 years and it has got better, however it is still a pain to setup manual feeds and upload them. We use API now so it's all automatic and has made life easier but it needed developing to integrate it.

thats only half the battle, once you get listed you pretty much better be the cheapest on there for each product or what you'll generate is a really high bounce rate which is counter productive SEO wise as google then thinks your site in not relevant to what the use is searching for and holds back you PR rankings so you need to weigh up the pro's & cons?

Phil

tomsk · #9 (**permalink**) 05-09-10, 09:45 AM

Well I am still working my way through the feed element of googlebase and can tell you it is very unforgiving, if you have things like a "0" in your feed it can get knocked back and other characters are a no no

However looks like I finely cracked it.

sjr4x4 · #10 (**permalink**) 06-09-10, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomsk

However looks like I finely cracked it.

Be interesting to see how you get on, and if it was worth the hassle!

Assume you can track your conversions from it straight into GA?

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