Trying out Google Base

Google Base is a new Google service currently on beta that helps you publish any product or any kind of information. Your products might then appear on Google Product Search and in the Google search results. It is a very nice tool to promote your products and put them out there fast and easy. The interface is very user friendly I uploaded about 6 items in about 15 min, you can also upload your items via data feed which might help you upload items in bulk.

They also have a Performance Tab to keep track of the products you’ve submitted, with key metrics such as clicks and impressions. Here’s a pic of the interface:

You can also connect your Google Base items to your Adwords campaigns and the Google Base Store which enables eBay, Yahoo!, and osCommerce store owners to connect their store information to Google Base.

Google Base is only available for the American, Canadian and UK markets but hopefully it will be available in many other markets soon. Additional information about Google Base.

Canonicalization issues?

Once again “Canonicalization” has become a hot topic within the SEO community given the recent addition and standardization of the “canonical tag” by all of the search engines. Recently I have been working on projects focused on the hispanic community and I have stumbled into a lot of websites with “Canonicalization Issues” that’s why I have written a much longer post regarding this on my “Spanish” section.

In the Anglo community these problems seem to be a bit more difficult to come cross, given that much more information is out there. For that reason below I have gathered some really nice articles regarding “Canonicalization”, the “Canonical Tag” issues and “other Canonical conflicts”.

What is “Canonicalization”?
Jane and Robot
Bruce Clay
Sugar Rae

What is the “Canonical Tag”?
Seo Gadget
Search Engine Land

Other issues regarding the use of the “Canonical Tag”
Google Webmaster
Matt Cutts
Helen Moverland

Hope these links can help you clear your doubts regarding the use of canonical tags and canonicalization. I’ll be adding more, if I stumble into more.

Google Searchology Conference 2009

As a search engine enthusiast it was great to see the new Google Features displayed on this years Searcheology Conference.

I was playing around a bit with them before going to sleep, I really liked the Wonder Wheel wheel feature which lets you visualize related search phrases through wheel like graphs bringing more interactivity to the SERP’s.

I also found very useful the additional Forums and Reviews features great for Reputation Monitoring and for additional information if you are doing some research, the time line option can also be helpful for searching relevant information if dates are of your priority.

Google also pointed out that they will be using “Rich Snippets”, if you are not familiar with the concept, I found a great post regarding this, with all you need to know about Google’s Semantic Web (Thanks for sharing this CJ).

Ohh, I forgot to mention that all of these new features are not yet available in Spanish speaking countries or in German, although I hope to see them soon out there. You can also find some more detailed information about the new features here.