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Optimizing Your Data Feed

Overview

Because Google's search algorithms are secret, there is no guaranteed way to improve your visibility and ranking in the search results. Furthermore, as the algorithms change over time, your visibility and ranking will also change over time. The following are only general techniques to improve your search engine ranking in Google Product Search.

Keyword Optimization

The closer your product descriptions and titles match the keywords that people are typing into the search box, the higher the resulting listing. Word order and spelling are important. Matches in titles rank higher than matches in descriptions. These guidelines are not absolute.

Supplying Required Attributes

In February, 2007, Google added three additional fields to their minimum requirements. By default, our system submits blank values in these fields. It is highly recommended that you supply a value for these fields via the Modify Feed Settings page in your account.

Supplying Additional Attributes

You have two choices for populating these fields. One is to supply a default value that applies to all items, and the other is to supply a field name from your Yahoo Store Catalog.

If you do not have appropriate fields in your Catalog, then we suggest you provide default values as follows:

Ideally, you can add a field to your Yahoo Store catalog (via Catalog Manager), and enter item-specific values for each of your products. If you have such fields, then simply supply the field name.

Notes

Supplying Custom Attributes

If you have more fields in your Yahoo Store catalog, you can output them to your data feed by using the custom field settings. First enter the name of the source field, e.g. stock-status, manufacturer, or age_range. Then, enter the name of the field in the output file, which can be almost anything--see the Google Base Help for suggested field names.

Notes

Review Editorial Guidelines

Be sure to read through the Google Base Editorial Guidelines.

Google Checkout Acceptance

Google Product Search has begun to more prominently feature merchants who accept Google Checkout. This is one avenue you may wish to investigate further. We currently do not offer any services in this regard.