After a day of rumors, Google Base is up and seemingly stable. How it actually works is harder to describe; this thing isn't exactly consumer friendly. Basically, you can enter … well, things. Database type things. Anything you want to keep track of, publish, or make available. It's an online, publish-on-demand database that Google reportedly will crawl for inclusion in search results—Web, Local, and Froogle. That makes a lot more sense to me than the direct comparisons to eBay. Charlene Li is thinking beyond eBay also, and mentally hooking Google Base into Blogger. Certainly, Google Base represents another tentacle in Google's growing local-universe machine. But I think they've got to make it a lot friendlier and more pointy-clicky if anybody is going to use it. When most people encoutner "Attributes are name-value pairs that describe your item," they head for the door.
Google Base Now Operating
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Instead of launching half-baked ideas everyday, Google should first focus on resolving the key issues in its core search business:
- fake sites that distort the search rankings for users
- fake click-throughs that make advertisers lose confidence on Google’s advertising
… any other features beyond good solid search are just a “nice to have”
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Juan Lopez-Valcarcel
3. yeah, i agree. apparently everyone wants to be the first one to announce that it is live. reminds me of the 2000 presedential elections.
just let google say it.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by john
4. apparently everyone wants to be the first one to announce that it is live. reminds me of the 2000 presedential elections.
_____________________________
if you didn't want to hear it first, why are you on this site? :oP
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Stephen
5. I am already logged in to the Google using my account, and when i try to go to http://base.google.com it keeps asking me to login,I mean, its a never ending thing,it wants me to enter my password
Thanks
Shy
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Shy
6. I have the same experience here as Shy above -- the Google bouncers keep kicking me out asking for IDs. Apparently we're not mature (or sophisticated) enough to enter the premises :) Oh, well, next time then ... -- Jarkko from H?enlinna, Finland, the EU
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Jarkko Kniivil?
7. I am not impressed by this product. It seems like Google search minus relevance algorithms. Or Ebay/Craigslist minus revenue.
And then, the way they are trying to lump together widely different categories (cars, real estate, etc) - because they can be handled by similar algorithms - betrays the fact that the decisions are made by engineers and not marketers who are customer-focussed.
THey will survive this.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Seun Osewa
1. It is not yet stable. Google is still testing. There has been reports all day saying "it's live, then now it's down", over and over. I recommend people just wait until there is an official word from google.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by daley