Are You Prepared for Google's Next Big Change?

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Clik here to view.You've managed to keep up with changing names, requirements and growth in traffic volume. From Froogle, to Google Base, then Google Product Search and the synonymous Google Shopping, you've hung in there. However, this will be the first change Google Shopping has made that is going to cost you. The impact of this change is difficult to predict, however the best advice is to start looking into how you can stay ahead of the curve. 

San Diego Media is here to assist with what is surely going to be a huge change. We can advise you on how to best keep up with Google and keep your products selling. We also recommend having us help you set up a SingleFeed account if you’d already have one. Not only will this make feeding your products to Google easier, it opens the doors to many other shopping engines available to you. 

If you already have a SingleFeed account you’ll be happy to know our partner is launching two new product features that will make it easier for you to control which products are delivered to specific engines. This will come in handy since you will likely want to focus on your best performing and best selling products on Google once it is no longer free. 

Filter out products from engines based on specific attribute criteria (product information and/or click performance data). You will be able to easily find all products that meet a certain criteria. You will then be able to suppress those products from being sent to certain engines. This is handy as it will allow you to focus on a certain set of products per engine. For example, if you don't have UPCs or MPNs for some products then create a filter to remove them from the Google feed. You may set up filters like: Manufacturer = "Panasonic", product price less than $9.99, or Clicks > 100 and Conversion rate < 2%. 

Performance-based SKU suppression Feature: 

Based on actual performance, easily find products below or above a certain performance threshold and keep or suppress them. This will be an extremely helpful feature in making sure your Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) budget is spent wisely and you get the most out of your CSE spend.

Google is offering up some incentives to help with this huge transition, so don't forget to take advantage of them!

All merchants who create Product Listing Ads by August 15, 2012 will automatically receive a monthly credit for 10% of their total Product Listing Ad spend through the end of 2012.

Existing Google Product Search merchants can receive $100 AdWords credit toward Product Listing Ads if they fill out a form before August 15, 2012. Sign up for these credits here.

You might also want to check out this detailed article from Search Engine Land to better understand exactly how the new "Pay-To-Play" Google Product Search will work and how you may be affected.