Google's Froogle: A New Online Shopping Approach

Google has launched a test version of a new shopping search tool which it calls "Froogle". Google claims it is the most comprehensive product search engine available on the web.

Froogle is really an extension of the Google search engine that millions of people around the world use on a daily basis to research all kinds of information, including products before they buy. If you are in business, listing a product in Froogle is a free way to extend the reach of your marketing and potentially get to millions of new customers.

Google, as a search engine, is said to have a worldwide user base that performs more than 150 million searches a day. This in itself presents an enormous opportunity to introduce products to customers that might otherwise be missed by the millions of dollars currently spent on advertising.

How does Froogle work?

Froogle is organised more as a directory than a Web page. It has 15 different product categories. These include groupings like Apparel and Accessories, Arts and Entertainment, Cars and Vehicles, Baby, Books, Music and Video, Computers, Electronics, Flowers, Food and Gourmet, Health and Personal Care, Home and Garden, Office, Sports and Outdoors and Toys and Games.

Just like using the normal Google Directory, you can choose to look for products by using a keyword search or by drilling down through a particular category and its relevant sub-categories. It is also possible to limit your search to a specific category.

What kind of Search “Results” do you get using Froogle?

The returned search results are limited to one product per suppliers store. Each result displays a thumbnail image of the product to the left. It also shows the product's name - price and description displayed just to the right of the thumbnail. The store where the product is available is also listed, complete with a link so you can navigate to all results related to your keyword that are available at that particular vendor.

Is Froogle really just a marketing tool like others on the Internet?

No, it seems not, Froogle's main emphasis appears to be on helping Internet users find the products they are searching for, rather than providing product information, reviews, or the usual other associated information found on other shopping search services.

Froogle seems to do particularly well when it comes to some of the more unusual or esoteric searches. This is probably because Google has attempted to build a one of the most extensive product search tools available on the web, going for both breadth and depth of coverage rather than be an extension of a marketing tool.

Search Engines have Suffered from Information Overload and Relevance Underload – is this the same with Froogle?

Google uses an algorithm (formula) to determine the results of a search that is highly similar to Google's Page Rank method used for determining ordinary web search results. It also appears that there is no paid inclusion or other methods that merchants can use to influence the way or position their products are presented in results.

Google states that the "Data in Froogle comes from two sources. Firstly the information is supplied by "Merchant feeds”, and the rest is a crawl of web pages that identifies product offers."

How do suppliers and Merchants get their Products Listed in Froogle?

Merchants provide product information to Froogle via FTP (File Transfer Protocol), which is a specialised method of moving information in the form of data files across the Internet from one Web site to another. Google encourages merchants wishing to sell their wares on the Web to send updates frequently, so as to keep the information as fresh and up-to-date as possible.

Google says that unlike other shopping search services, it does not plan to charge merchants for including their products in the Froogle system. Merchants can sign up to be included in Froogle by visiting the Froogle site http://froogle.google.com/froogle/merchants.html. It is really only necessary to Email Google with details of your site, and they then send back specific instructions for submitting a data feed in the required format.

Is Froogle the same as Google Catalogues Search?

While it is similar to Google Catalogues search, Froogle is a completely different project that merges different technologies. Google says the company has no plans to integrate the two services at this time.

How do I find the Froogle search site on the Web?

The Froogle beta site is available both as a stand-alone site http://froogle.google.com, or it can be accessed from a link the advanced search page on Google’s standard site http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

What Else is New on the Google Front?

As a matter of interest Google has also added two new services to its Google Labs area, they are Google Webquotes and the Google Viewer.

Webquotes

This system offers multiple viewpoints and descriptions of a single web site. These viewpoints however come from third party sources. These descriptions can often be very different from the descriptions that are displayed in ordinary search results. By extracting text or words from a Web page Webquotes then generates the search results. In this way a description is given that's essentially using the page author's own words.

Web Quotes describe what others think of a particular page. Web Quotes are generated from yet other Web pages that “point” or link to a particular page. The text is then extracted from originating or anchor (link) text and the surrounding nearby words.

Google Viewer

The Google Viewer allows you to view results of a search as a slide show. The Google Viewer shows the pages found as a result of any Google search as a continuous scrolling slide show. The search results can then be viewed without using a keyboard or mouse. The speed with which the images move across the screen can be adjusted to each users preference.

As each image of a page's contents rolls by it is accompanied by a small piece describing that page. In reality it’s a quick way to scan all of the underlying pages in a search result without leaving Google.

Arthur Hissey
Computer Research & Technology
www.crt.net.au