google shopping data feed updates

[wcw]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

TDF does not map the contents of one custom field to mean something different just for Google. You can use a custom field for your feed, but the wording would have to be what Google accepts.

[papi34]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

My version of TDF (Version: 5.0640) says "items not tracked by inventory will be considered in-stock". Sure enough, when I check my "Data quality" Reports in the Google Merchant Center, the Availability for all my items is listed as "In Stock" even though I don't currently have Availability in the TDF header. So my question is, how do the older versions of the TDF module pass availability info on to Google if inventory is turned off? And will there be any conflict if I add availability to my header and do not use the inventory feature of Miva?
Note: posting here rather than utilizing the support channel for the benefit of others. Hope you don't mind.

[wcw]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

You would not use the token to show the availability. You would simply hard code the words in stock in the product section for the availability column. This would be similar to using new for condition when you only sell new products. Why bother to use resources to look up a value in a custom field when every product gets the same value.

[papi34]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

You would simply hard code the words in stock in the product section for the availability column.

I guess that's one easy approach. I just did not know how stringent Google would be checking reported availability vs. what is actually shown on our product pages. That's why the consideration for a custom product field. Maybe I'm overthinking this since a very high percentage of our products are actually in stock. Thanks for the input!

[wcw]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

You submit a feed today. Google checks it 10 minutes from the time you submit. If you have a busy store, some products are not likely to match anyway. In fact, most stores won't match on the product page word for word. While you report "in stock" in the feed, your actual product page text might be much more descriptive, e.g. "15 widgets are available for immediate delivery". Only a page by page check by a human would be able to verify your availability status is correct.

[Susie]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

William,

You have been living with this for a few months now and I am hoping this will not be an issue for us, however, I would appreciate your input.

Last year we converted from Miva 4 to Miva 5 and in that process all attributes were removed. Each item became it's own item. Some examples, Acana-Grasslands-Cat-15lb, T-Shirt-Animal-Testing-XXL, Buddy-Cat-Disco-Collar-Black, Buddy-Cat-Disco-Collar-Blue, etc. Is this going to be problematic for us given the new rules.

Also, is the new taxonomy from google included in the new feed or would I just need to use a custom field for it.

I know someone in this thread filed for and got an exclusion (or whatever), would you mind sharing the contact information. I have some other questions I would like to ask the google base feed people. Like, we sell shirts and other clothing specific to cat people. So in the taxonomy would I need to put that under apparel or should there be an apparel section specific to cats.

Thanks,
Susie

[wcw]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

If yours are separate products then you will already comply with their separate line item for each variant.

The TDF has a category matching input. If you have the module you can see it in all 5x versions of TDF. That capability has always been there.

You'll need to read back in this thread to find out about exceptions or wait for them to chime respond to your question here.

[Susie]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

Thanks as always for a quick response. I added a primarycat custom field because we have coupon-eligible and coupon-exclude categories that we use for our coupon module. TDF was using the coupon-exclude and coupon-eligible instead of the real sub-cats we needed. That part is working great.

Susie

[papi34]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

The TDF has a category matching input. If you have the module you can see it in all 5x versions of TDF. That capability has always been there.

Not sure we ever got this working correctly.

For the category matching input, I can follow the example provided. But what do we do with the %category:match% token? Do we add it somewhere in the Product Input?

And this will somehow automatically map directly over to google_product_category?

[wcw]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

It goes in the product section of the TDF input for the feed you are working on.

It does if you have put the data in the category matching input in the TDF for the feed you are working on. There is an onscreen example of what goes there.

[papi34]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

It goes in the product section of the TDF input for the feed you are working on.

It does if you have put the data in the category matching input in the TDF for the feed you are working on. There is an onscreen example of what goes there.

Just to be clear...So I would append

%^%%category:match%

to the end of my existing string in the product section of the TDF input, even though there is no corresponding entry in the header section?

Then fill out the category matching input using Google’s product taxonomy?

[wcw]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

There IS a corresponding column in the header: google_product_category Please look at the install/usage doc. There is an example in the FAQ section for the header and product inputs.

[papi34]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

d'oh, that makes sense. I understand now. Thanks for your patience. BTW, this might be one of your top 5 modules IMHO:

Tool Kit
Power Search
Mail Manager
Template Data Feed
Import Related Products

[lesliekirk]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

There IS a corresponding column in the header: google_product_category Please look at the install/usage doc. There is an example in the FAQ section for the header and product inputs.

I looked at the example for the Google Product Category and inserted it into the (test) feed I'm creating. After the feed uploaded/updated it came back saying Google Product Category was missing.

The products don't belong on any of the " seven product categories in feeds that target the US, UK, Germany, and France". For example, the product is a blender. The Taxonomy Search puts it in "Home & Garden > Kitchen & Dining > Kitchen Appliances > Blenders"

How do I get that in the feed? Am I going to have to create a custom field and go through one by one adding these? Using the %category:match% doesn't seem to be making it happy.

Here's the header:

link%^%title%^%description%^%image_link%^%isbn%^%price%^%id%^%expiration_date%^%brand%^%condition%^%product_type%^%google_product_category%^%weight

Here's the product:

http://www.ultimate-weight-products.com/%product:code%.html%^%%product:name%%^%%product:descrip%%^%%product:image%%^%%custom:ISBN%%^%%product:price%%^%%product:code%%^%%year:30%-%month:30%-%day:30%%^%%custom:brand%%^%New%^%%category:name%%^%%category:match%%^%%product:weight%

I noticed in the feed that %category:match% doesn't seem to be producing any output in the feed. What am I doing wrong?

FYI - I would contact Bill via his support, but I'm thinking others can learn from my mistakes ;)

Leslie

[wcw]

Re: google shopping data feed updates

What did you put in the feed setup for the category matching for this particular category in your store? That input maps your category to their category.