Google Shopping changes in the UK

[glasgowmike]

Just updated our google feed and got a message that refers to changes with the feed specification and more importantly the changes to a commercial model for Google feeds. I use the Mole End mash to upload our feed. Anyone have thoughts on what I should do to prepare for these changes? I am confused by what it means (specifications don't seem that different) and not sure where the 'fee' comes into play. Will I need to bid for each product I feed to them? I set the feed up using the Mole End advice but am really not that technical and don't want our product listings to now go silent.

Here is the link:
http://support.google.com/merchants/...wer=2886491#GB

[Foyowa]

Google are changing the feeds so that only those who run Adwords campaigns pointing to their products will be listed. Basically it means if you don't pay then you don't get listed.

I don't know how it will compare to a standard Adwords campaign or how the feeds could be optimised to get a better ROI though.

[Jan]

The new feeds required are available in the mash, I will try to add an article into our knowledgebase to explain them and how to set them up.

Regards,

[Foyowa]

Hi Jan, I have noticed the new attributes in your product mash and have set up two variables. One for the Product Search and one for Product Ads. I have set them both at the moment as text with allow empty value as ticked.

This works if I ad either Product Search or Product Ads in the value. I wonder however if there is an easier way around this as I have 715 products that aren't allowed in Ads some of which are allowed in search.

Do you think a true/false option would work?

[4little1s]

Hi,

Yes I was wondering the same thing. What do I need to do with the Mash software ?

[Jan]

I can only really give general advice on this forum because it is a Sellerdeck forum not a mole end one, so for answers to specific queries you will need to raise a Mole end support ticket here :

http://moleend.helpserve.com/index.php?/default

My understanding is that from March you will need to link your google shopping listings to an adwords campaign, the service will no longer be free. More details here :

http://support.google.com/merchants/...answer=2634840

you use new keywords to do this, they are already available in the mash and I will publish a Mole end knowledgebase article to explain more about them soon.

There are some changes to the feed itself, some additional values will become mandatory, more details here :

http://support.google.com/merchants/...wer=2886491#GB

people selling clothing may need to submit a product for every variant they wish to sell, you can do this using hidden products at the moment if you add the parent product reference as a user defined variable. Google have had this as a recommendation for a while but will be making it mandatory in March. More details here : http://moleend.helpserve.com/Knowled...oogle-shopping

We will release a new version of our product mash that reflects the changes before march when the changes come into force but it is possible to implement the requirements now.

Regards,

[Buzby]

I have no intentions at this stage of paying for Google Shopping, but should I still submit a feed?

Are Google operating a no pay, no show approach to Google Shopping, or just higher placed result for a fee.

So basically should I still submit a feed if I am not paying for adds in the hope that if the paid for results are thin, mine may still show up for free?