April 19, 2007

Google Adds Link Tools, Renames Froogle

Google made separate announcements today upgrading its recently released anchor text reporting tools, and renaming Froogle to Google Product Search.

The new anchor text tools feature the return of the report on most common individual words in anchor text, an expansion of the number of phrases to 200 and of common words in anchor text to 100. It's also made the feature available to more webmasters.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:19 PM | Permalink

October 30, 2006

Google Base 2.0 Revealed?

Garett Rogers found in Google's robots.txt file, "Disallow: /base/s2" and then gave the URL a try and found a potential Google Base version 2.0. When I tried example searches at the /s2 directory, they were being redirected to the main Google Base, such as ice cream maker search, which now redirects to the main Google base. Both Garett and Philipp Lenssen have screen captures of what it looks like.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:32 AM | Permalink

September 25, 2006

Goodbye Froogle; Hello Google Product Results In Web Search

Froogle, Google's shopping search engine that launched with big hopes back in 2002, is to be deemphasized in place of product listings integrated into regular Google search results.

The news has come out through Google's participation at the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance Summit last week in San Francisco. IDG has coverage of it here, saying:

A Google official shared the news with attendees at the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) Summit in San Francisco this week, according to people at the conference.

When people search for products on Google.com, the system will present them with another search box so that they can refine their query, wrote Bear Stearns analysts in a note published on Friday.

After people refine their query, Google takes them to a second page populated with product results from the Google Base listings service, wrote the analysts, who attended the Google official's presentation.

The association with the eBay sellers group and product results "powered" by Google Base is causing some confusion, in my view, about eBay "killer" Google Base "replacing" Froogle. Let's back up.

Froogle used to have its own feed mechanism to allow merchants to submit products. This system predated the system for sending material into Google Base.
In June, the Froogle submission system went away, replaced by submission to Google Base (and see also here). If Froogle was being "replaced" by Google Base, this is the time it happened.
Google Base has never been designed as a standalone service for searchers. The user interface there hasn't been that appealing, nor have searchers been seriously directed to it. In fact, the search box on the Google Base home page was just dropped, not something you do for a service designed for searchers. It is something you do, however, to help Google Base's mission of being a centralized submission tool for Google.
Google has been testing ways to flow customized results from Google Base into regular Google, to help deal with the invisible tabs issue I've long written about. My Google Real Estate? It's Google Base Again, Google's Vertical Play from earlier this year explains this integration in more depth.
Putting product results into regular Google results makes sense, just as it does for any type of vertical or custom results that Google does. This has mainly been through OneBox results, but the new Google Base-style placements allow for the search box on results pages to contain more options, ones helpful to narrowing for product or other type of vertical searching.

Froogle as a brand and destination set for demotion was pretty clear when it was dropped from the Google home page last month, a position it held since 2004. That placement never helped Froogle much, in part because many people simply ignore the little links above the search box entirely. In addition, in my view, Froogle is a cutesy name that never explain what Froogle was -- a shopping search engine. If it had been called Google Shopping, take-up might have been better.

Given this, "deemphasizing" Froogle as a destination isn't hard given that few seem to think of it as a destination anyway. Back in July, Hitwise found it ranked ninth among Google top 29 properties -- and sharewise, not that far behind Google Video (0.45 percent of all visitors to the top 20 Google sites went to Froogle versus 0.47 percent going to Google Video).

Google Video's move on to the home page helped that service and hurt Froogle, as Hitwise later notes. But again, sharewise, it was hardly noticeable. Froogle dropped to the 0.02 percent range, while Google Video rose to the 0.06 percent range. In other words, practically no one was going to either service compared to things like Google web search overall.

That's why better integration of all vertical search results into listings will be coming at Google, as well as other search engines. But I hope we will see a renamed Google Shopping service still survive, with a custom home page and URL. Shopping search is important enough that it deserves a standalone brand.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:00 AM | Permalink

August 10, 2006

Google Video Replaces Froogle & Expandable More Link Added To Google Home Page

Philipp Lenssen spotted that on Google.com, they have removed Froogle, added Video and added a "more" link that opens up some more options, including "books," "froogle," "groups," and "even more." We have seen the expandable more link tested in the past, looks like it has made it to the front page.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:05 AM | Permalink

June 1, 2006

Google Base Absorbs Froogle Feeds; Other Submission Systems Remain Independent

When I was at Google last this month, I got an update on Google Base for a forthcoming article. One of the things I was told was that Google Base was now the preferred way for merchants to submit content to Froogle. Really? Then why was Google still telling people on the Froogle site still to submit Froogle feeds? That oversight has now been corrected. As Garett Rogers notes, the feed submission mechanism formerly in the Google Merchant Center has now been replaced with Google Base submissions. Garett also highlights specific help pages about the change here. The consolidation is good, as Google Base is meant to be a central submission point of all content for Google, as I've written before (and SEW members, see also this). However, that goal still remains far off. Google Co-op, Google Sitemaps, Google Book Search and Google Scholar all remain independent ways to submit content of various types independently of Google Base, as the links for those services explain. I'll come back to this issue in more depth, in the future.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:28 AM | Permalink

April 12, 2006

Google Buys Dulance; To Open Russian Research Center

Sergei Burkov, Founder & CEO of Dulance will run Google's development center in Russia. This was first reported by TechWorld yesterday and brought to my attention by Googlist this morning.

I asked Sergei if Dulance was acquired by Google, and he forwarded me to Google's PR department which just confirmed the acquisition.

To provide some context to the acquisition, Google's shopping comparison engine, Froogle, originally started out as a crawler but switched to taking data feeds fairly early on. Because the service is completely free, Froogle probably has around 50,000 data feeds (no confirmation), although the quality of those feeds isn't always that great.

For comparison, many of the leading shopping comparison engines (by traffic) only have 5,000 - 10,000 data feeds, so I've argued for a while that these comparison engines are not truly comprehensive and therefore don't always provide a valuable user experience. In fact, some of the leading shopping comparison engines rely on Google AdSense ads to supplement search results.

Dulance was the first of a new breed of shopping search engine which was based on crawling technology. Today there are a number of these engines inclduding Pronto, FatLens, and ShopWiki.

When I've had time to digest the news and do more research, I'll update you with how Google might use Dulance. In the meantime, here's the official Google press release:

Monday April 10th 2006 ? Moscow: Google announced today that it is to open a research and development centre in Russia later this year as part of its ongoing investment in Europe.

The centre will be based in Moscow and run by Sergei Burkov Ph.D. Dr. Burkov is a former research physicist who has worked at both Cornell and the University of Wisconsin. In addition he co-founded three companies, Bilbo Innovations (computer pedals, distributed through Fry's Electronics), Invincible Data Systems (acquired by VASCO Data Security) and Dulance.

Google plans to use Russia?s phenomenal engineering talent to help develop great new products both for the Russian market and globally. According to the Russian Software Developers Association (RUSSOFT) Russia has the third highest number of scientists and engineers per head of any country in the world. Google also hopes to establish long-term partnerships leading with Russian institutes and universities.

Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President Engineering and Research at Google said: "It?s great to have Sergei on board. Technology is at the heart of everything we do at Google - we?re looking forward to working with our new Moscow team to develop great products for Russian users?.

Google's Russian R&D centre is the latest addition to a growing number of global engineering offices, which include the UK, Israel, Norway, Tokyo, Japan, Zurich, Switzerland, India and America (New York, Santa Monica, California, Kirkland, Washington and Mountain View).

Posted by Brian Smith at 12:27 PM | Permalink

November 22, 2005

Froogle Offers Local Shopping Feature

Google's Froogle shopping search engine added a new feature to let people find products and services for sale in bricks-and-mortar stores near locations they designate.

For example, if you wanted to find all the stores selling cameras near Newport Beach, California, a search for cameras newport beach or cameras 92663 brings back matching results, both in a list and plotted on a map. You can also search just for cameras, then enter a ZIP code, city or state into a second search box that will appear.

How is this different from just doing a search on Google Local? Well, you can compare. Here's cameras 92663 on Google Local. You'll see that camera stores are listed in Google Local, while Froogle lists individual cameras for sale in various locations.

Another example is a search for ipod video 92663. In that case, Froogle shows you that several CompUSA stores have it in stock. A quick drive, and it would be in your hands if you needed it fast. In contrast, the same search on Google Local does poorly, bringing back two Apple Stores that probably have the item in stock but mostly a lot of places that won't, such as The Friends Of The Newport Beach Library.

Google's Shopping Service to List User's Local Stores from the New York Times and Google unveils tool to map shopping trips from the Associated Press say the data comes from a third-party inventory database that Google won't name. Google has long accepted feeds from merchants and others for Froogle, so it's likely making use of multiple sources to compile the data. Both stories cover that Google hopes the new Google Base service will also help add this type of data into Froogle in the future.

Comparison Engines notes that the feature CNET already offers a Local Stores search as part of its CNET Shopper service. Sadly, a search for ipod video 92663 brought up no matches, nor did I have much luck coming up with any product that would show me a Local Stores tab in addition to the Online Stores tab as you see in this example.

Postscript from Gary: Two other online shopping databases also allow you to search by location/Zip Code. First, Cairo.com, the shopping search engine allows the user to enter a location/Zip and a product type of category and find where products are available locally. For example, this search for Cameras 20901 found a number of hits for stores near my home (you can narrow by a radius). The results appear to come from primarily large retailers (Target, Rite Aid, Circuit City, etc.). One-click provides a map and directions to the store. Another useful feature from Cairo is their "Sales Alert" feature that will notify you by email if/when the price of a specific product is reduced. Cairo also offers a "price match tracker" to learn if another store is selling the item for a lower price. Btw, the Cairo datatbase is also completely browsable.

Second, ShopLocal.com offers much the same with mostly items from prirmarily large national stores but I also spotted a few regional and local merchants. ShopLocal also provides price alerts and does offer some online shopping options. For example, you can quickly determine the online price versus going to the store and purchase price.

Postscript 2 From Gary: It's also worth noting that Amazon.com offers an option to order selected books online and then and then pick the book up at a nearby brick and mortar bookstore. For example, a search for John's "The Search" illustrates this option.

The same is true for electronics. For example, I can order this Apple 30GB Color iPod from Circuit City online and then go pick it up today at a nearby Circuit City location.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 7:56 AM | Permalink

September 12, 2005

Let's Talk Froogle: Q&A With Marketing Manager Brian Smith, editor of ComparisonEngines.com, has just posted a brief Q&A interview with Debbie Jaffe, Sr. Product Marketing Manager at Google, about Froogle. You'll learn about the history of the service, what Jaffee believes are the services strengths, and the user experience. Jaffe also tells Brian that Google hires, "hire athletes, not shortstops."

Posted by Gary Price at 11:06 AM | Permalink

August 17, 2005

Google Enhances Mobile Version of Froogle, Launches Service in the UK

Google engineer, Josh Redstone, posts to the Google Blog that they've made some improvements to the mobile web version of Froogle including the ability to sort results by price. Additionally, a mobile web version of Froogle is now available for the UK. If you don't have a mobile browser that can access the new service, Froogle is also available via SMS in the US and UK.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:15 PM | Permalink

March 23, 2005

Link to Froogle Now Visible on Google UK Home Page

Those of you who track each and every Google move might be interested to know that the Google UK home page now sports a link to Froogle. The folks at Netimperative speculate that it could mean that Froogle is getting closer to an official launch. Heck, if placement on the homepage was a signal to an official launch coming soon, Google News would have been out of beta long ago. More in the article: Froogle edges towards official launch.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:46 PM | Permalink

December 16, 2004

Froogle Adds Third-Party Product Reviews

According to this News.com article, Froogle has added product reviews.

In a move to make its site a one-stop online shopping service, Google has started taking snippets of editorial and consumer reviews from sites like Bizrate.com, CircuitCity and CNET, and pairing them with select electronics such as Apple Computer's iPod and Canon's Powershot.

Posted by Gary Price at 3:13 PM | Permalink

December 1, 2004

Shopping Search Tips For Advertisers & Merchants

Chris has blogged earlier about articles appearing this week as part of SearchDay's Shopping Search Week 2004. In addition, he's also drafted up a special sidebar article for our Search Engine Watch members. Shopping Search Services for Advertisers and Merchants provides links and more information about various programs offered by shopping search engines that give you more control over what's indexed or better visibility in product listing pages.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:53 AM | Permalink

November 30, 2004

Froogle Germany Launches

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, say hello to Froogle Germany.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:11 PM | Permalink

What's New at Shopzilla, Froogle, and MSN Shopping

It's been a busy year for the major shopping search services. BizRate re-engineered its search engine and changed its name to Shopzilla, among other things. And Google added several new features to Froogle and launched a UK version.

Today's SearchDay article, Shopping Search Update 2004, Part 1, describes all of these new enhancements, and more. It's the second installment of Shopping Search Week 2004!, our annual roundup of what's new and improved at the major shopping search engines.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 5:36 AM | Permalink

November 29, 2004

Mentioning Google For Good PR

Gary blogged earlier about ridiculous press releases that make mention of being top ranked in Google or getting a Google PageRank increase as a way to attract press attention. The LA Times has a nice, short write-up consolidating both of those absurd incidents along with another: Google Ranks High in Press Release Mentions.

At the end of the write-up is a story about Synergy Brands having its shares sore 42 percent after announcing it would be a Froogle "select merchant." Even the company's own chair describe the rise "irrational exuberance," though it rings a bit false since his own company put out the press release obviously hoping for some type of gain.

Deconstructing that press release is interesting. It says the company has been "selected" by Google to be one of "the select merchants" in Google's "soon-to-be-introduced shopping engine" Froogle. Reality check?

Google doesn't really "select" anyone for Froogle. Material is gathered from across the web if it appears ecommerce related. And if Google doesn't find you, then anyone can submit a feed. It's hardly exclusive. Or to quote from the site about getting in: "How much do I have to pay to be included in Froogle? Zip. Zero. Nada. Inclusion in Froogle is completely free. Our goal is to enable users to search over the broadest possible range of products for sale online. To do that, we include all merchants at no charge."
There is no such thing as "select merchants." Perhaps Synergy feels it is "select" by being on Froogle, but Froogle itself conveyed no such distinction to Synergy.
Froogle isn't a "soon-to-be-introduced" service. The shopping search engine was launched nearly two years ago. It remains in beta. Perhaps Synergy knows something about it being released from that status? Nope, Google tells me:

"We have not made any announcements of Froogle coming out of beta, nor is there a 'select' merchant program associated with Froogle. Synergy Brands is just another merchant submitting feeds to Froogle," said Google spokesperson Eileen Rodriguez.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:39 PM | Permalink

November 3, 2004

Two New Ways to Search Froogle Via SMS

When Google launched their SMS-based search tool about a month ago you were only able to search the Froogle database by using a specific product name (Treo) or general product category (PDA).

Today, the company added two new search options for SMS-based Froogle searching.

+ Search for books by using its ISBN (International Standard Book Number).

+ Search for a specific product by using its UPC (Universal Product Code).

Smarter.Com's is another recent entry into SMS search world. It offers pricing info for more than 100,000 computer and consumer electronic products

Posted by Gary Price at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 29, 2004

Froogle Automates Merchant Ads, Gains Merchant Ratings

Froogle has opened up its ad automator tool to Froogle merchants. It converts the merchants product feeds into AdWords ads. Froogle also now offers an option to compare prices for the same product across merchants. The service also now shows merchant ratings gathered from third-party sites like BizRate, Shopping.com and PriceGrabber.com. For more, see Google Widens Test to Froogle Merchants from ClickZ.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 30, 2004

Froogle UK Quietly Launched

Froogle finally moves outside the US and opens a UK edition: Froogle UK. Being based in the UK, I plan to put Froogle UK to the test over the coming weeks against my longtime favorite UK shopping search engines DealTime UK, Kelkoo and Yahoo Shopping UK. FYI, Yahoo now owns Kelkoo but is still using different technology on its own site. Want to discuss? Visit our forum thread: Froogle coming to the UK.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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