How to post an item to Google Product Search?

Google Base is an online database provided by Google into which any user can add almost any type of content, such as text, images, and structured information in formats like XML, PDF, Excel, RTF, Word Perfect. It is a free Google service that helps users publish virtually any kind of information. Google Base also gives sellers the ability to easily create items and post them directly to Google Product Search.

Google currently provides four options to submit product information to the:

Single item
Data feed
Store connector
API

Let’s go through the process one by one

Single item: If you want to submit less than 10 items, you can upload them individually using a web form. Go to Google base homepage and click on one at a time. Depending on the item type which you want to upload, you can choose from one of Google’s existing item types like recipes, travel packages, etc., or create your own item type. In the next page that appears fill all the details of the product/service and click publish. After you've entered and reviewed your item's formatting, click Publish. Within a few hours, your item will be visible to the world.

Data feed: When submitting more than 10 items, you can create a data feed which contains all of your content in a single tab-delimited text or XML file. It can be done in four simple steps.

Select an item: select the item type which you want to upload or you can also create your own item type.

Create Data feed: This step begins with choosing the format of your feed – tab-delimited or XML. In tab-delimited format, you'll use one line per item to include item details (attribute values) separated by tabs. XML uses tags to define blocks of content. Information about your items is enclosed within these tags.

Register Data feed: To register your feed, you need to create a Google Base account, and select the Data feeds tab. After you click on this link, you may be directed to the About me page. Fill out as many of the fields in this page as possible. There are several fields on the Specify a data feed page:

File name: Enter the name of the file you'll be submitting. Remember, this name should exactly match the name of the file you created and include a valid extension according to the format of your feed

Target Country: Specify the location where you'd like your items displayed in the search results. Data feeds must meet the requirements for the target country's version of Google Base.

Item type: Select the appropriate item type from the drop-down menu. If you can't find an item type that describes the information you're submitting, you can define your own custom item type.

When you're done specifying your feed settings, click on the Register data feed and continue to formatting instructions button. After viewing the formatting information, you'll see your feed listed in your account. Now that it's registered, you can submit your file to Google Base.

SS submit data feed: For files less than 20MB one can upload directly through Google base. For files greater than 20MB, you can upload using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). If your file is larger than what is allowed, split your file into multiple, smaller files before uploading. You can also automatically upload using scheduling function. It allows you to create a schedule and define a URL pointing to a data feed located on your website.

St store connector: The Google Base Store Connector is a free download that enables online store owners like eBay, Yahoo!, and osCommerce to connect their store information to Google Base. A connection is created between a specific online store and Google Base, which eliminates the need for store owners to manually submit their items' data. The Google Base Store Connector automatically formats a store's items to align with the Google Base requirements.

A API: The Google Base data API is an extension of the GData API protocol, which you can use to create programs that interact with the Google Base servers. The API allows you to query for items and insert, update, and delete items in Google Base. It is designed to help anyone interested in finding items in Google Base or adding items to it. You are free to leverage the data in the API to create interesting applications and mashups and to publish new items for others to find and use.