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Google Product Search Setup Guide

Step 1: How to create a Google Merchant Center account

1. Go to google.com/merchants and create a Google Merchant Center account.
2. If you have multiple stores, request a multi-client account so you can manage them all from a single Google account.
3. From the Settings > General tab, enter the Website URL of your store.
4. You will need to verify and claim the Website Url. Please see our Website Url Verification Tutorial for instructions.
5. From the Data Feeds tab, click the New Data Feed button. Use the following settings:
   • Target country: USA
   • Data feed type: googlebase
   • Data feed filename: Make up a file name ending in .txt, e.g. googlebase.txt
6. From the FTP Settings tab, create your own FTP username and password. It may take 15 minutes before Google's FTP server recognizes a new FTP username/password.
7. Do not set up a schedule for the data feed (or leave it paused).

Step 2: How to Enable Yahoo Store Export

1. Log in to your Yahoo Store Manager, and click the Search Engines link.
2. Scroll down to the Enable Store Contents Export section, and select "Enabled" (or "Enable, but do not syndicate") for both export formats. Note the URLs labeled "Download:". These end in catalog.xml and objinfo.xml (not .dtd).
3. If your exports were disabled, then republish your store.

Step 3: Add a Data Feed for Google Product Search

1. Click the Register link above to create an account on Aten Software.
2. From My Account, click the Add Feed button.
3. Enter a store name, and create a new ‘Basic’ feed using the ‘Google Product Search’ template.
4. After the feed is created, continue on to the Modify Settings page.
5. On this page, enter the objinfo.xml (and optional catalog.xml) URL, file name, and FTP settings you configured in the previous steps.
6. (Optional) After saving those settings, go to "Manage > Define Fields". Review the Data Feed Optimization for Google Base page for setup tips.

Step 4: Test your Google Feed Settings

1. Log into Aten Software and click Manage for your Google feed.
2. Use the Test Feed Settings link to test your URLs and FTP settings. NOTE: It may take several hours before Google's FTP server recognizes a new FTP username/password.
3. Under Submit a Processing Request, choose a Retrieval task, which is free.
4. Go to the Product List, and review some product details to ensure that everything imported correctly.

Step 5: Submit your Google Feed

1. Under Submit a Task, choose the Submission task.
2. Log into Google Base and check the status of the data feed. NOTE: It may take several hours before your Google Base account shows a recent upload.
3. There is substantial lag, up to several days, between when Google first receives your file, when they process it, and when your products become searchable in Google Product Search. There is additional lag time before image thumbnails appear.
4. First-time submissions require approval from Google prior to the products being listed. You will receive an email from Google when the data feed is approved, usually within a few business days.

Step 6: Schedule your Google Feed

1. Go to the Modify Feed page for your Google feed, and select a desired update frequency. We also recommend to disable Auto-Skip, because Google demotes listings that are not updated frequently.
2. You can optionally configure an alert from the Manage Alerts page.
3. Add funds to your account from the Purchase Credit page to ensure continuous service.

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