Creating an xml file for Google Base UK

[RuralWeb]

Post your site url and a product name you are searching for - without this we are in the dark

[RuralWeb]

JLWeb

Are you a designer doing this for a client????

[johnl]

Yes, definitely to http://base.google.co.uk - I checked http://base.google.com and no items are listed.

On the UK site the last upload date and status was 28 December 2007 and listed as 'Success'.

'434 Active Items' all published and searchable in Google Base but not one appears in Google Product Search.

[johnl]

www.greytowersinteriors.co.uk

Sample searches:

Portofino Small Hall Table

Small Georgian Mirror White

Chateau 3' Bordeaux Bed

Chateau Round CD Chest

Valbonne Louis XV Hall Table

GreytowersInteriors is indeed my client.

[RuralWeb]

Email GB and ask them why

[Jan]

link title description price image_link id

you need category and manufacturer in there as well to get a good listing.

Regards,

[Jethro]

Hi, check the url when logged in and veiwing your items/editing.

If it ends in "en_US", this could be your problem, try changing it to "en_UK" (This will probaly then show no products).

Google Base seams to have a problem where it lets you post your items in the US instead.

Hope this helps, although i might be wrong.

Jethro

[RuralWeb]

you need category and manufacturer in there as well to get a good listing

Never bothered with them myself. Your products have very little competition so they should be showing - the only time I have seen this is when the items were published on GBUS

[johnl]

Well, I am beat I'm afraid!

I've talked to Google but still cannot see a way forward.

I have exported (as a text file) all my priced items as a data feed to Google Base. They have been successfully received into Google Base and all 434 items appear and are searchable. Subsequently, a success re: Google Base.

However, I cannot understand why these items are not propagating over to Google Product Search?

If anyone has experienced their products appearing in Google Base but not Google Product Search and have found a solution, I would love to hear from them!

Thanks.




John

[leehack]

Have you confirmed you are on the UK feed and not the US one?

[TraceyHand]

John,
I'm having a similar problem today!

I've been uploading to http:// base.google.co.uk/base/bulkuploads which has been working fine. It showed 817 items published and searchable and for a while has been giving good results (my customers LOVE GB!) but no results in my last few tests (I check at least a couple of times a week...paranoid? moi?)


Hunted the forum and found the email link Google send when you incorrectly upload to .com
the email link is http:// base.google.co.uk/base/bulkuploads?hl=en_GB which, while it also showed 817 items "processed" and "inserted" on the summary page, it showed non actually in the "active" tab

So, even though it showed I have an uploaded feed...something wasn't right..I've just uploaded it there again (I do it directly through the GB control panel, not via FTP) in the hope it'll fix it....again

Weird thing is, I bookmarked the UK feed page to make sure I was uploading to the right "place" to begin with!

So I've

[Darren B]

John

I contacted google about why i have products that never show in the search, even if you search word for word letter for letter, apparently there answer was "the algorithm used to determine the relivance of the search term and the products is what determines the products that are shown"

I replied telling them that there alogorithm obviously does not work if it cant find the products from the title / product description.

Funny my item still does not come up, but my competitor who lists on ebay does, not his shop but his ebay listing. Does make you wonder who google are really trying to help?, i was tempted to change a product to be exactly the same as the ebay listing just to see what happened.

Oh and i come up number 1 & 2 in google for the search term ?
I am convinced that base is just a game for google, they change it as and when they see fit.

D

[johnl]

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Interesting points you make.

When I go into Google Base and pick a search term such as 'Valbonne Sofa Chair', my client's site appears (namely GreyTowersInteriors) as well as competitors.

When I go to www.google.co.uk/products, all the same competitors appear for 'Valbonne Sofa Chair' but not www.greytowersinteriors.co.uk?

Hmmm, this is where I get a bit confused? - if a visitor who has never heard of GreyTowersInteriors goes to www.google.co.uk, the Shopping link goes to Product Search and not Google Base unfortunately. Would a casual visitor find Google Base?

I just don't know how to get the same successful search results from Google Base onto Google Product Search?

I'm definitely only using the UK Google Base site.

Frustrating.




John

[Kultya]

This Google Base is driving me insane. Have tried 8 times now to upload, no probs creating the files in Actinic or in Molend.

Googlebase accepts the file and then 10 minutes later it comes up as failed and gives me the following result.

We did not understand the header (first) row of your file. Please make sure that you are using valid attribute names. - help <?xml version="1.0"?>:
1

As usual, to me that just as well be written in Japanese for all the sense it makes!

Anybody shed any light?

Cheers
Malc

[TraceyHand]

have you tried just uploading it as a .txt file rather than an xml?
I only ever submit a .txt file to GoogleBase (I use the MoleEnd Froogle generator)