Google Base

March 1st, 2006

From the Google Base Blog, “Google Base provides data structure and distribution for a wide range of content and information, a subset of items are for sale. To help users more easily purchase and sell Google Base items, we’re planning to enable people to buy items on Google Base using their Google Accounts.” Interesting developments which see Google strongly positioning itself in direct competition with ebay (as well as every other company it seems!) A lot of Google’s recent acquisitions, as well as their buying AOL stake have created some negative vibe, some feel going against their “Don’t be evil” motto. However, as long as they provide unique services, or offerings that are simply better than what else is out there, down is a long way down.

The use of meta descriptions in regard to improving serp visibility is something we’ve been reading a lot about. The general consensus is that the description tags have little or no effect, however we have been experimenting and found with Google, pages with unique meta descriptions are being fully indexed, whereas those with copied data are simply being supplied as supplemental results. Design for users - not SEs. As always