SingleFeed Blog

While Easter Eggs are typically thought of as those cute, decorated eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny, SingleFeed also has a couple Easter Eggs in its data feed.

If you’re looking to test an optimization strategy for Google Base and Google Product Search, consider using the GOOGLE BASE PRODUCT NAME REPLACEMENT and GOOGLE BASE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION REPLACEMENT fields. Filling out these fields will allow you to easily enter alternative product names and product descriptions for your Google Base feed. SingleFeed will check these fields before we send your feed to Google Base, and if populated, we will replace the content in the PRODUCT NAME and PRODUCT DESCRIPTION fields with the content in these Google Base replacement fields.

All you have to do to get started with these fields is include them in your next upload. Make sure to use the exact heading names (yes, we know we have to be more flexible):

GOOGLE BASE PRODUCT NAME REPLACEMENT

GOOGLE BASE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION REPLACEMENT

We do not allow merchants to use black-hat tactics like keyword stuffing, and Google Base will penalize you for this activity, but think about using these replacement fields strategically to test more targeted product titles and descriptions.

Instead of using the title ‘columbia sportswear jacket’, try ‘[insert gender, size, color] columbia sportswear jacket’ on some percentage of your listings. Monitor your results (track!) and see what happens. If there’s any adverse impact on your feed, just remove the content from the replacement fields. One nice thing about feeds is that you can make changes and see the results within 24hrs (although I’d recommend a longer test period before jumping to conclusions).