Ok folks, so this is THE interview of interviews and the one I have been wanting to do so badly I could taste it! My main goal when originally starting these CSE interviews was to provide merchant numbers, product numbers, portal goals and other information to help sellers pick and choose which marketplaces to list their products with. In order to accomplish my goal, it is imperative that I get interviews from ALL the CSE’s, including the BIG guys like Google, Yahoo and Live.com shopping engines. The reason I am so happy to get this interview, other than the fact that Google gave me the time of day, is that this QandA with Google completes two of the three big interviews I need (Live seems to always be last in search, but I will continue to try them).

Google Base is a content destination marketplace where users can upload and submit all kinds of their content to be published on several Google services, including Google Product Search and their Onebox results, for products. Google Base users can describe their content through attributes, which help Google to display relevant results when related searches are performed across Google Search and other services.

Google Base is considered to be one of the most popular product classifieds or listing sites in the World and continues to improve their services, tools and documentation in an effort to achieve their vision of making eCommerce, as a whole, faster and more convenient for both buyers and sellers. One of the best things about Base is that it’s FREE and easy for content providers to use. Google also accepts multiple forms of content uploads including Web form, XML, PDF, Microsoft Excel, Text, HTML, Rich Text Format or Word. Currently, Base is only available in English and German interfaces, but is expected to expand in the future.

Official Google Base & Product Search Blog:

• Official blog… http://googlebase.blogspot.com/

The Google Base Blog is where I personally go for the latest updates, news, feature releases and team commentary. It’s a great place to see how Base and Product Search have evolved, including back when Froogle was the official Google product search brand. Data feeds and the world of comparison shopping are always changing, many don’t realize how important it is to stay current on all engine requirements, attribute announcements and other related information that affects how your feeds as a whole or even individual product listings perform. It’s a good idea to subscribe to the blog feed, if you haven’t already.

Google Base & Product Search Help Sections:

• About Base section… http://base.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=59260&hl=en

Another great place to find out more detailed information about Google Base is their official about section. It’s basically a portal style page that organizes all the different sections that contain helpful information for webmasters, merchants and even shoppers interested in learning more about Google Base. The main about Base page contains a brief rundown and links of what Base is, frequently asked questions, screenshots and even some interesting quick facts including cost, reach, how to submit and what makes Base unique.

• About Product Search section… http://www.google.com/products/intl/en_us/about.html

The Google Base about, help and discussion sections all have information related to Google Product Search as well, but there is also an official about section with more Product Search specifics (it is mostly how users are directed to Base from Product Search, but still has good information). The Product Search about page basically covers what it is and gives users more answers to frequently asked questions such as how to include your items and information about the sponsored results.

• Help center… http://base.google.com/support/

For specific information and help with Google Base uploading, technical information and specifications I prefer their thorough and well documented help center. The help center features useful information and links to detail pages of Base topics including help for getting started, managing your account, how to create or post items and even how to troubleshoot common Base issues. There is also some information about Base and Product Search results pages and links directly to the top 5 Base questions.

• Help discussion… http://groups.google.com/group/base-help-discussion

In addition to the Base blog, about pages, help center and FAQ sections, there is one additional place I go for information and help. The Google Base Group has been in existence for quite some time now and the discussion topics cover anything and everything you could possibly want to ask about or discuss with other Base users. Google Base’s Help Group categories include discussions about common roadblocks, the basics, submitting data, search results, user ideas and even Google Base and Checkout usage chat.

Cynthia Kwon Answers 10 Questions About Google Base:

Roughly how many merchants are included within Google Base?

The number of merchants is continuously changing, so it’s hard to say exactly how many are in Google Base.

Roughly how many products are included within Google Base?

This number is changing all of the time, so it’s hard to say exactly how many products are included in Google Base.

Roughly how many individuals currently work on Google Base support and coding teams?

As a matter of policy, Google doesn’t disclose team sizes.

What other places across the Internet, if any, are merchants and products included?

We know most Google users start their searches from the Google.com homepage. We provide merchant and product information directly in those search results. We also provide merchant and product information in Google Product Search (www.google.com/products).

What, in your opinion, are the highlight features Google Base offers it’s users?

Google Base is a service designed for content providers, but it benefits users. Google Base gives content providers a free and easy way to make all kinds of content — from real estate information, to job listings, to recipes — searchable on Google.com. All of this information improves the overall quality and breadth of Google Search results for our users, and it helps them connect with the specific information they are looking for.

What, in your opinion are the highlight features Google Base offers merchants?

Google Base helps merchants expose their products to Google users. It enables content owners to describe and assign attributes to the information they upload, and then Google uses this meta-data to better target search results to what users are looking for.

Are new features being added and updated often? How often would you say?

As with other Google products, we are continuously innovating and adding new features to Google Base.

How does Google Base plan to stay competitive with sites like Amazon and eBay marketplaces?

Google wants to make e-commerce, as a whole, faster and more convenient for buyers and for sellers. This means helping buyers throughout the entire process – from searching for products, to finding the most specific items on the web and submitted through Google Base, and then giving them the option to buy in a secure and trusted way through Google Checkout.

Where do you see Google Base in the next 3-5 years?

Google’s goal is to connect users to the most relevant information, whether it’s online or offline information. While we can’t project what will happen in the future, Google Base has been an important part of that process.

What Online product marketplaces, other than Google Base, do you personally use to shop from?

eBay and Amazon and a select number of other merchants but I always start first with Google.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

To Cynthia: Thanks so much for taking the time to participate in our QandA Cynthia! I am glad to see Google playing such an active role in reaching out and taking time to inform their users about specific products or services like Base and Product Search. Some things I really like about these search products are how simplistic to use they are (for merchants or shoppers) and, of course, that you can list items on either for free. I can’t wait until things evolve a little more with some of the technology and other similar services like Google Checkout, it will be interesting for me to see how Google blends them all together in their efforts to organize eCommerce. Again, thanks for the insights you have provided our readers and myself, please don’t hesitiate to reach out to us again in the future, I would love to continue spreading the word about Google Base and Product Search services.

About Cynthia Kwon: Currently, Cynthia is a part of the Strategic Partner Development team at Google. She heads up the partnership efforts for Google Base and the product search initiative. Her mission is to work with leading retail and technology companies in order to provide the best product search experience for Google users.

Prior to Google, Cynthia was an investment associate at Focus Ventures, an expansion stage venture capital firm. During her tenure, she helped lead the investment efforts for the enterprise software and security sectors. In addition, Cynthia has held posts in both marketing and business development for a number of Silicon Valley start-up companies.

Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Science from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

To Meghan: In a way, completing this interview makes me sad Meg, now that it is all wrapped up I don’t get to bug you anymore! Seriously though, thanks so much for all you did to make this QandA with Cynthia happen for eCommerce Optimization. Really, without you I don’t think I would be writing this right now and I certainly wouldn’t be as close to completing my over 100 CSE interviews as this one makes me. I am sorry for bugging you all those times and I really appreciate you updating me along the way, it makes me happy to see that sometimes Google doesn’t forget about the B-list bloggers. Thanks again Meg. If there’s ever anything I can do for you in return, don’t hesitiate to ask me.

To our readers: I hope you all enjoyed this interview with Cynthia Kwon about Google Base and Product Search. If you feel like thanking her for participating, please leave her a comment and let Base know what you think. There’s also a feedback form, if you would rather do it that way. If this is the first eCommerce Optimization interview you have read, be sure to check out all the others in our interviews section. If you liked this interview and don’t want to miss out on the next one, you should subscribe to our articles feed or email updates, that way we can send the content to you!

Google Base is Featured as one of the product classifieds sites on our Product Listing Guide!
Google Product Search is Featured as one of the comparison engines on our Product Listing Guide!