Google Shopping Products Base Feed UK - Merchant Center Changes

Google Product Search Feed Important Updates

Simon Hunter - Bite Digital


This information is for existing clients only. If you are not a client and have stumbled upon this page then please contact us for more details.

This is an important document and the actions should be taken as soon as possible by all clients with e-commerce websites using the Google Product Feed.

Background

You may or may not be aware that your e-commerce website automatically feeds a list of all your products to Google to display in their Google Product Search. You can see an example of what is currently shown by replacing YourDomain.com with your actual domain and visiting this URL: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=YourDomain.com&tbm=shop.
Google have recently made changes to how they process product feeds and we have therefore had to make some changes to the system so that our product feeds are still accepted. The changes are outlined by Google at http://base-forum-announcements.blogspot.com/2011/07/weve-made-changes-to-google-product.html and you can view your current product feed status by logging in at http://www.google.com/merchants. If you wish, you can see the full list of requirements for the Google Product Feed at http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?answer=188494&hl=en_GB. These system changes have now been fully implemented and providing you have all the correct details in the Teamshare CMS; your feed should continue to show in the Google Product Search.

One of the most important changes is that all product variants (for different colours, sizes, designs, patterns, etc.) must now be submitted separately. There must now be a unique product title, GTIN (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Trade_Item_Number), image, etc. for each variant of a product. These must all be completely accurate, eg. if submitting the same t-shirt in small, medium, and large; and all 3 sizes come in yellow and red: you must submit this as 6 different products. You will require 2 different images (one in red and one in yellow) as sizes cannot be distinguished in images.
If you believe your products do not have at least 2 of the 3 product identifiers (GTIN, Brand and MPN) then you can file for an exemption from the rules using the form http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/request.py?contact_type=unique_id_exemption.


What You Need To Do (Required)


We would highly recommend you implement the following as soon as possible to ensure that your products are not removed from Google Product Search. You can action everything by logging into your Teamshare CMS and browsing to "products" in the e-commerce section. For exact specifications you can also refer to http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?answer=188494&hl=en_GB.
Important - Complete these before starting on the rest of the list:
- In the CMS: go to E-commerce > Edit Categories > Select a category name > The 3rd field down should now be "Google Category". You must select the Google icon on the right hand side of the field to open a Google Category list popup window. In here you must select the most applicable Google Category for this CMS category. You can do this by clicking on the red target icon on the left hand side of the most appropriate category. You can select subcategories by clicking the arrows on the right hand side or searching in the box at the top. Reset will take you back to the beginning if necessary.
- Google Properties: This is only required for properties that do not affect price. For example - a t-shirt in different sizes is usally the same price whereas a hair product in different sizes usually has a different price. Only variants of products at the same price should have the properties assigned as Google Properties. You must assign a Google Property for all CMS properties that relate to size, colour, material, or pattern. To edit the properties; go to E-commerce > Edit Properties > select the relevant properties that can be assigned to a Google Property (see above) > The 3rd field down should now say Google Base Property - you should select the appropriate Google Base property from the drop down list and then click Save. This field should be left as null if it is not applicable.
- You must now generate a new Google Base feed. To do this, click Content Management > Webmaster Tools in the left hand menu > Google Base Feed > Generate Google Base File. This should launch a popup window where you must click Start. Please note that this button should be used if you make amends to Google Categories and/or Google Properties. You can then view your new product feed by visiting: http://your-domain/google_base_feed.txt. You can visit this to check your product feed at any time. For easier viewing, you can download this page and open it in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.
- Having just 1 or 2 inaccurate products in the feed can result in all products being disallowed. We would highly recommend that you remove all products from the feed and re-add them one by one as you complete all of their details. To do this; click Content Management > Webmaster Tools > Google Base Feed > Remove All.

Only once you have completed the above steps:
You should now visit the E-commerce > Edit Products section of the website and click on each product in turn to edit them.

- Ensure that all product titles are completed with brand name and product names, bearing in mind that the differentials such as colour/size will be automatically appended to the title. eg. [Brand Name] [Product Title] - should be what you type in the product title box. [COLOUR], [SIZE], etc will be automatically appended if there are variants for this product. If there are no variants then these differentials should be included in the title field.
- Ensure the description field does not include any promotional text such as "Free shipping" or BLOCK CAPITALS. It should also be completely unique description for each product and this should not be copied from any packaging or anywhere else on the internet. It should be completely rewritten. This should be at least 300 words in length.
- You must include 2 of the 3 following field for all items (except from exclusions mentioned on http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?answer=188494&hl=en_GB). GTIN, Brand and MPN. The GTIN could be a UPC, EAN, JAN or ISBN and should be available from the manufacturer. This must be 100% accurate if used and bare in mind that it will be different for every variant of a product; eg. a phone in silver will have a different GTIN to the same phone in black. The brand name should used as the manufacturer. This should not be your business name unless you specifically make this product. A MPN (Product Code) is a code that uniquely identifies the product to its manufacturer. It may not be unique amongst all products but it will be unique amongst all products that a specific brand manufactures. You may find http://www.upcdatabase.com/ and http://isbndb.com/ a useful place to find product identifiers or you can contact the manufacturer directly for more information.
- Ensure that quantities in stock are kept up to date in the CMS - if the quantity reaches 0 then you can optionally mark it as available for order if you will be able to send it out soon. You can do this by clicking Edit Product Properties on the edit product page and then changing the stock option to "On order". If the product is coming soon you can leave the stock at 0 and mark it as available for "preorder" in the same place. We would recommend including information as to when the product will be in stock in the product description if it is available for order or preorder.
- For shipping costs, you must enter the shipping price. You can alter this on a per product basis or use the Google Merchant Center to set global settings. If you wish to set a rule based on weight in the Google Merchant Center, then you must specify the shipping weight as well (otherwise this is optional).
- Ensure that you submit an accurate image for each variant of each item and that they do not have logos or promotional material superimposed on them. You should submit the main product image on the main edit product page. To submit product images for variants, you should click the Google Base Feed button at the bottom of the Edit Product page and you can upload a unique GTIN, image and MPN from there.

What You Can Also Do (Optional)
We would highly recommend also completing the following steps as you will be more likely to appear for searches and customers will be more likely to select you if you complete the additional information.
- You may also add additional images for the main product if you have different angles or perspectives.
- For clothes as well as other items, it is highly recommended that you complete the colour, material, pattern, size, gender and age fields as these will help people to find your products.

If you have any questions, please refer to the links included in this document or you can contact us through https://bitedigital360.basecamphq.com/ if you have any other questions. Please note that these changes are for the Google Product feed and will not make direct changes to your actual website. There will also be a training workshop held in the Bite Digital Manchester offices (4 Brewer Street, Manchester, M1 2EU) on Thursday, 6 September 2011 at 10:00, for any clients who wish to learn more about what the Google Product Feed is and how to update their products to meet the new specification.

We understand that to meet Google's new requirements, this does require a lot of time and manual entry. If you are interested in using our service to complete these new details for you then please don't hesitate to get in contact with us.