Google Base
73Google Base, a new Internet marketplace and much more...
Google Base is in Beta test and HubPage authors should be checking it out! At first glance it seems like an Internet market place that is a cross between Craig's list and EBay. At second glance it's a place to get your material seen in Google searches; I'm thinking product searches, map searches and even web searches! Google will want postings to be successful, so it seems that your posts might get some valuable references.
A few features:
For Sale posts in Google Base expire in 30 days. After expiration, the post becomes inactive, but you can re-activate it for another 30 days. OK for classified or short term items, but might be problematic for longer term items?
Reference or information posts don't expire. Good for me but does that mean that searches will produce a lot of out dated drivel?
"Contact the Poster", produces an Email addressed to a an anonymous address for you at base.google.com to help you screen the thousands of contacts your going to get (grin).
Images for your Base posts can come from your PC (current limit is up to 15 files and a maximum of 20 megabytes for all attachments) or from a URL. I tried linking to my HubPage image when referencing one of my Hubs and it seems to work well.
For Sale items can be cash or check or use Google Checkout. Customers who use Checkout can buy from you quickly and securely, using a single user-name and password - and you can use Checkout to process their orders and charge their credit or debit cards. Until 2008, you can process all your Checkout orders for free.
Checkout out the sample Google Base posts linked below. Checkout Google Base and let me know your thoughts.
Example of a Reference post in Google Base
- Google Base: Software tips, tricks and tweaks...
I described one of my recent Hubs on software tips, tricks and tweaks (have you checked it out yet?) and promoted both my Hub and HubPages.
Google Base Blog, see what's new...
- Announcing Our First Product Search Marketplace Partners: Etsy, eCrater, and eBid
Today, we're excited to launch the Product Search Marketplace Partner program with our initial partner marketplaces eBid, eCrater, and Etsy. These marketplaces will submit product data for their sellers frequently and with all relevant attributes, so online shoppers get the up-to-date information they need to make smart buying decisions. Additionally, these marketplaces are a great solution for merchants who don't have a standalone retail website because they provide online visibility for the merchants' products. You can learn more about the program and our partners here. Posted by Vivek Tata, Product Marketing Manger, Google Product Search
- Google Commerce Search: Google-Quality Search and Speed for Your Online Store
Ever wanted to have Google quality search and ultra fast speed for your online store? Now you can. Today we are launching Google Commerce Search to provide the search on your retail website. Google Commerce Search also leverages the data feed that you submit through Google Merchant Center so you don't need to submit your data again to use Google Commerce Search for your online store. Google Commerce Search (GCS) is a hosted, cloud-based offering that brings the relevancy, speed, and Google ease-of-use to e-commerce sites. GCS also has a bunch of user-friendly features that make shopping on online stores easier, and search results more refined and accurate. Some of those features are: speed – GCS leverages Google's ultra fast platform, because it's hosted, providing sub-second response times to users.Google quality and ranking – GCS analyzes every item in our index using proprietary signals to determine its optimal placement in the result set, for more accurate query results for shoppers.parametric search and sorting – GCS allows users to refine or sort results by category, price, brand, or other attribute; this is fully-functional parametric search for e-stores.product boost and promotions – Retailers can boost the relevance of certain items, or highlight specific products during a sale, and cross-sell related products.spell check, stemming and synonyms – By leveraging the larger Google engine, GCS can include these advanced search and synonym options, so the shopping experience is smoother for customers – even customers who mistype. fast deployment and scale – Since this is a cloud-based offering, GCS can be deployed in days and, because it's hosted on the Google platform, retailers can scale to meet their higher-demand periods like the holidays without worrying about slowdowns or spikes.Birkenstock USA has implemented Google Commerce Search on one of their online properties and found it has already made an impact on their business. "Google Commerce Search is improving user satisfaction -- bounce rates have decreased and we're seeing more return customers,' said Jeff Kilmer, COO, Birkenstock USA. 'The search results are ultra-fast, so customers more easily find the specific products they're looking for. We deployed Google Commerce Search quickly and easily, and we've seen dramatic conversion improvement since implementation. It has also meant a better shopping experience for our customers, which is critical given the holiday season rush." For more information check out google.com/commercesearch. Posted by Matthias Zenger, Max Loubser Google Commerce Search Team
- Preparing for the Holidays with Google Product Search
Over the past few months, Google Product Search released some great new features for shoppers and merchants. Heading into the holiday season, we want to make sure you have all the information you need to maximize the impact of your data feeds. Here's a checklist to make sure you're all set: Submit all recommended and optional attributes, wherever they're relevant: the more information shoppers have, the more they know about the products you offer. For example, make sure you're submitting the UPC, Brand, and Product Type attributes. Use the Google Local Business Center to send us your local store locations: Google Product Search is now showing local store locations in our search results, so make sure to send us this data. Also, if you have local stores, include the "online only" attribute for any items you only stock online. Send us the largest and highest-quality images you have. We're planning on experimenting with displays that use large images; products that have big, high-quality images will stand out. Please send us images that are at least 300 x 300 pixels, without resizing them. As the pace of shopping speeds up for the holidays, it's important to make sure you're submitting often enough to keep your listings fresh and accurate for stock status and pricing. Use Google Analytics or your favorite web analytics program to track your traffic.Thanks for participating in Google Product Search, and we wish you all the best this holiday season. Posted by Vivek Tata, Product Marketing Manager, Google Product Search
- Retiring Google Base's Separate Search Page
Google Base has its own search page for users to search across everything that's been uploaded, but it isn't widely used. Instead, people search on Google Product Search for products, or on Google Maps to find houses for rent or sale. Therefore, we're planning to retire Google Base's separate search page in a few weeks. Since not many people use the page, this change should not have a big impact your traffic. All data remains available through the Google Base API and through any applications that make use of it. As before, you can search for your own product listings in Google Product Search. We expect this change won't be very disruptive. As always, please refer to the Merchant Center help forum if you have questions, and feel free to post a new question if what you need isn't already answered there. Posted by Robin Züger, Product Manager, Google Base
- Introducing the Google Merchant Center
Today, we're excited to announce that we're launching the Google Merchant Center, which will replace Google Base for those of you submitting Product-type items to Google. If you submit products to Google, Google Merchant Center is now the place to upload your feeds, check on the status of your items, and get information on the performance of your listings. Google Base is still available for other types of structured content, but the Merchant Center provides a better, optimized experience specifically for product listings. The Merchant Center is where we'll continue adding features and improving the tools for uploading and managing product listings. In general, the Merchant Center interface is very similar to the Google Base interface, so we hope it's easy to transition. Sign in to the Merchant Center using the same Google Account information you did for Google Base. Your existing data feeds, items, FTP settings, etc. will be there for you. For any non-product items you've submitted to Google Base, those will remain there and you can continue using Google Base to manage those items and settings. If you used the same account to submit both product and non-product items, you'll need to go into Google Base and reset your FTP settings. There's more info in the FAQs about this and other questions you may have. As part of the launch of Google Merchant Center, this blog will be replacing the Google Base Blog. Please update your bookmarks and subscriptions, and visit us often! Posted by Ioannis Kalafatis, Product Manager, Google Merchant Center
Example of a "For Sale" Base posting
- Google Base: Night Dogs
Here is a signed, first edition from my bookshelf, that I might be able to part with... This Google Base post is good for thirty days. I see a lot of booksellers in Google Base.
Example of Google Base to promote a HubPage
- Google Base: Discover Donna Leon, the mystery writer who takes us to Venice
Hmmm, now do I need to cross link all my HubPages and Google Base posts? It never ends!
Example of a Base author's list of postings.
- Items posted in Google Base
A user can see your full list of Base Items posted.
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Comments
Great Hub jstankevicz. I learned quite few things from it. I am sure all of us can benefit from it. Congrats for findingthis new avenue for promoting webpages. And thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this! I've come across it and didn't know for sure to do with it, but I will go back now and immerse myself in google base!
I am not a real estate agent, but I want to sell an oceanfront condo on Hutchinson Island on Google Base. How do I get started?
305-246-1441
Hi Linda, to answer your question, I added a new section to the Hub called "How to offer something for sale on Google Base".
Wow thanks..everything helps!
Thanks Jack!
I admit I had an account for probably a year already, and I was sure it's a kind API to google search LOL. Now I at leat know what I signed up for :)
Thanks I hadnt come accross it - is it pushing some traffic to you - I have added some of my hub so here's hoping!
Interesting. Thanks for outlining this new way to get traffic to our hubs!
Interesting. For some reason I had in my mind that Google base was just a regurgitated version of Froogle.
Very good info. I wasn't aware of Google Base. Learned something! Thanks!
I PUT MY ITEMS FROM GOOGLE BASE ON MY SITE WWW.WWEPPVSHOW.COM SO MORE BUYERS COME MY WAY SO FAR I MADE $800.00
I've been using google base for a long time. I use it to promote my eBay store, and I think it's fantastic! Highly recommended.....
i use it to bring me more buyers on amazon
We are in a similar market as Google Base but our product gives structure (while still not imposing any set of predefined categories) to our index and therefore makes it possible for users to not only perform keyword search but also browse hierarchically with the ability to specify unlimited number of filters to refine their search.Valnurhttp://www.valnur.com
I just to know google have a marketplace name "google base", thank you for your review about that.
Very good article. I wasn't aware of Google Base. Learned something! :D
How to offer something for sale on Google Base
1) Create your Google Base account, here.
2) Post and item, start here. For example, choose Housing.
3) Give your post a descriptive title, and fill in the form. Enter pertinent data for what you are selling. Delete details that don't pertain. You can even create new detail categories. For example, in a housing post, the form includes such details as: price, type of listing, property details - just the type of things you expect to see in a real estate listing.
4) Add a nice text description of your item. Here is where the selling comes in.
5) Got a good picture? Add it to the post.
6) Preview your post. Edit as necessary.
7) Press the Publish button!



















jstankevicz says:
2 years ago
Checkout Google Base and please come back here and let us know what you think.