Google Base Attributes How-To (Cheat)

Google Base/Product Search confuses the hell out of many people. There are entirely too many attributes to give your products, the relevancy ranking makes no sense whatsoever and setting up a feed is like reassembling some antique watch - one false move and shit starts going haywire. One thing that is clear is Google's insistence on loads of quality attributes:

Using well defined attributes that contain complete, relevant information is the best way to help users find your content. The more you use attributes to structure your content, the better we'll be able to match search queries to your items.
- Google Base Help

What's a well intended online marketer to do? How do you figure out what attributes are going to work for your products without fastidiously testing yourself into oblivion?

Pay attention to what's working for your competition.

Check out this Google Base competitive analysis tool. I couldn't believe it when I found the thing - this little slice of magic works just like the normal Google Product Search but provides you with more detailed information about what retailers include in their Google Base product feeds - attributes, destination URLs, product titles - oh my! This gives a competitive research nerd like me the total giggles.



So what do you do? Search on the products that you're submitting to Google Base. Are you anywhere in the top 200 results? Didn't think so - but who is? What attributes are they using in their feeds? What do their product descriptions look like? Are they using custom attributes?

Now dig around until you find some of your products (or have IT shoot you 1,000 lines of your feed.) Where is there opportunity to increase both the number and relevancy of attributes included with your product feeds?

• Is the manufacturer the same as the brand? Duplicate that entry.
• Do you have a brick and mortar? Add the "pickup:true" attribute.
• You've got stock on hand, right? Then include the quantities in your feed.
• Toss in all the payment types you accept.
• Rinse, wash, repeat.
  

These may seem somewhat trivial, but I've seen 40-50% increases in Google Product traffic from just including the attributes my competition had, but I didn't.

Sometimes you'll even find that one of your competitors is using a feed management service because they list themselves as the feed provider in with the FEED_PROVIDER custom attribute. This is a great way to cherry pick the best attribute mix for your products because these feed providers are paid to manage data feeds effectively. Also, hit the feed provider website to see where else they pump their feeds - now you've got any number of potential traffic sources.

Happy hunting!

A Call For The Application Of (gasp!) Target Markets

I had a quick conversation the other day via Twitter (I said it was quick) regarding the idea of target markets. There seems to be some kind of a movement against the concept of being labeled a consumer - or god forbid being lumped into a target market. While I think there is validity to the "we're whos not whats" mantra, this sentiment is a little off target.

Ya see, in business there is what I call the front and back of the house. The front of the house deals with current products, current customers, and current problems. The back of the house deals with things that don't yet exist - new ideas, new products, new services, etc.

The Facebook group is correct in asserting that in the front of the house there is no such thing as target market, demographic, or consumer. There can only be one-to-one relationships - Joe in sales helping Sue the customer with her specific needs. Blanket policies and strict customer service guidelines undermine the front of a house's ability to deal with customers as people. Companies are learning that people demand to be treated as, uh, individuals. Zappos is a great example of a company that has shifted a TON of leverage to their customer service folks. Those front of the house decisions directly affect real customers - and those people are the ones you need to over-deliver to time and time again.

With the back of of the house this idea that people are not target markets gets a little muddy, and here's why: you cannot build something for everyone. Butchers have much different needs than, say, taxi drivers. Butchers need (!generalizaton warning!) sharp knives, a knowledge of how to cut meat, and safety. Taxi drivers need fuel efficient vehicles, a knowledge of their local area, and, well they need safety too...

So while bringing a product to market without grouping people and solving for specific mass requirements sounds like the perfect way to silence the drum pounding masses, when product development is holding its head plenty high at its new "Ginsu Knife 2.0" - Joe in sales is going to have a hell of a time explaining to Sue the taxi driver how to deliver a businessman to mid-town Manhatten while riding on the razor sharp edge of a boning knife.