Google unveils search tool for retail sites

Google introduced a new Commerce Search tool for retailers on Wednesday to try to make the online shopping experience easier for consumers as the holidays approach.

According to Google, Web users spend an "average of just eight seconds" on a retail site before deciding whether to stay. With that in mind, Commerce Search aims to improve search on retailers' individual sites.

With Commerce Search, shoppers can sort data by "category, price, brand, or any other attribute," Google said. Retailers can also offer special attention for specific products to draw consumer attention. The tool includes built-in spell-check and synonyms to help ensure people find the items they're looking for, regardless of how they spell or identify products.

Commerce Search will be hosted in the cloud. The cost to retailers is based on the number of products and the searches conducted annually.

[Super2online]

Gotta love the benefits Googlers are enjoying from the enhanced user experience that Bing's decision engine is bringing to the table. Google is beginning to understand that accurate blue link results aren't the only thing that matters in a great search experience.

How are you logically adding categorized additional information on the side. How are you enhancing these results with data that allows you to make quicker decisions. Are you offering added benefits like purchase incentives and time frames when flights are cheaper. Can you get a preview of the video you seek inline by hovering the curser. Can I get a visual search without scroll bars and have the results refined dynamically without page refreshes.

These are important improvements that allow you to find what you're looking for in a more obvious way, and maybe things you hadn't thought of quicker and easier. It's just a better search experience all around. Google has been great, I have used it for many years. But the new kid in town is teaching the old salt some new tricks.

Yahoo is also stating they are working very hard to create the same kind of experience for their users as soon as they can. You may not be using Bing, but we are all certainly beginning to benefit from it being here.

[gary85739]

Competition breeds progress...

[theusernameiuse]

Great stuff, but it's VERY unfortunate that Google has decided to go with an "entry level" price of $50,000 / year for this product.

[noesnoesnoes]

This is somewhat pointless. Searching by category isn't exactly an advanced task. You could pay a very average programmer to do this for you. In fact, I could do it. Someone pay me!!

[garypenner]

What Google really needs to work on is pulling-up the retail sites that offer the goods - then allow the user to search further. For example, type in 'lawn chair' and you a billion hits - everything from what they are to who last sat in one. I'd like to go to Google Retail, type in 'lawn chair' and be shown the companies in my geographic area that sell lawn chairs online. Show me those ten companies and allow me to narrow my search on those companies by 1) quality; 2) price; 3) availability; etc. then you'd have something.

[theusernameiuse]

@garypenner They've had it for years. It's called Google Products. It used to be called Google Froogle. Find it at http://products.google.com or you can find your lawn chairs at http://www.google.com/products?q=lawn+chair

[MetroplexInteractive]

So not exactly sure where Google Products was getting their info from - but definitely support having Google scour product pages. Many retailers though are ill-prepared for this - particularly with site structure - since most product page URL's are constructed based on the product number and not product name or description (just one of many examples of how most retailers don't think in terms of SEO.) http://www.metroplexinteractive.com