Google Product Search has been around in various forms including Froogle to the GPS that’s currently in place. The newest changes, including the required inclusion of UPC’s, deserves a rant.
UPC’s in GPS – Bad Idea
Let’s start with the UPC requirement since that appears to be the biggest issue at the moment (UPC’s are required after May 3rd 2011). Requiring UPC’s to be included in Google Product Search is an awful idea. For one, there are a lot of small manufacturer’s out there that don’t have UPC codes on their products for whatever reason. Sure they allow you to request an exemption but with the lack of internet expertise among most small retailers and/or manufacturers, it will still lead to the exclusion of quite a few good products.
Requiring UPC’s shows Google’s lack of experience in retail. While I’m sure their reasoning for the requirements is related to them more easily matching retailers on one product, it probably won’t help them at all (ask Amazon Marketplace…but that’s a rant for another day). And why would they want to match all retailers on one product? It’s only going to cause a rash of cheating in how prices are displayed which they can barely control now…let alone when they turn it into a price war.
Quite a few major retailers use their own UPC’s so now smaller retailers will be forced to try to match their products to major retailers UPC codes to be included near the top of search results. Not only that, but Google doesn’t seem to do a very good job of matching to UPC’s as it is. Do a simple search on GPS and it won’t take long to see products with the same UPC from different retailers not being paired.
Google says a retailer can send a parent/child feed to take into account variations with the same UPC but that’s not always true and in some cases, will get the feed or a large part of the feed rejected.
GPS and AdWords = Fail
Now that UPC’s are out of the way, let’s examine some of the major flaws in Google Product Search starting with Google Merchant Center’s integration with AdWords. It’s bad…really bad. Maybe it’s a problem with AdWords more than Google Merchant Center but is it possible the products being shown in Adwords can be so far off the requested search? They’re average on “brand + keyword” searches with some products showing correctly. They’re borderline bad on some general searches bringing up all kinds of products that advertisers probably don’t want showing.
Nearby Store Results Aren’t That Nearby
One of the newest features, “nearby results”, seems to be a list of major retailers within 30 miles of your perceived location. They don’t offer an easy way for small and mid-size retailers to show up in those results. Price and availability can’t be included either and “call for price and availability” seems like something a data feed affiliate site would show. If local is going to be a big focus of their results, it would seem allowing actual local retailers to show they have a product in-stock at $X is a must-have feature. Most major retailers don’t have half the product in-store that they include in their Google Product Search feed so why allow their locations to show when it’s probably not there? I know there’s no way to police the local inventory but if you can’t have a legitimate near-by search, why have it?
Guess who doesn’t have this product in-stock nearby? Good Guess…
How Is That Related?
The related items section is another area that needs work. On most products, it appears Google returns a bunch of products with similar keywords in the title and not a legitimate “related item.” Is a “portable air conditioner” really related to a “window air conditioner?” In some regards but most people (and by most I mean everyone because I’m a mind reader) in the market for a portable air conditioner aren’t looking for the window version or they would have done a “window” related search.
If Google is going to push Google Product Search on those doing product research or price comparison, they need to make major changes so it’s the “most relevant” result. Otherwise, they need to do an algo change to show niche comparison shopping engines and sites dedicated to various product lines that happen to know the product and what people want and need.
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