Froogle Ranking Algorithm? Or Lack Thereof?

How does Froogle Rank Products, or is it random?

[nerolabs]

All --

I'm highly concerned that the might Google is not paying attention to it's core strength - relevancy - with Froogle.

Doing keywords searches for products in and out of my segment, I see no ryhme or reason - other than the appearance of randomness - that some products appear higher or lower.

This is difficult for all of us, those that are attempting SEO and positioning for relevancy, but more of a concern to Google should be the users that aren't used to Google providing random results.

What, if any, are the ranking factors in Froogle? And if there are none, how has Google explained that they - the self proclaimed kings of relevance - are spurning out random results?

Andrew Edmond

[hannamyluv]

Well, apparently G's affiliate status with you probably plays a role since they are going that route. If they are one of your affiliates, you probably rank higher.

Beyond that, I'm not sure, but I am sure it is not random. Nothing with google ever is random.

[pmac]

>G's affiliate status with you probably plays a role since they are going that route<

Link?

[hannamyluv]

Well, it's being discussed here:
[webmasterworld.com...]

I would imagine that it would be in their best intrest to make sure the people who are making them money are up higher. I haven't heard of them approaching anyone else for money yet, as far as PFI or PPC.

Why would any of the companies agree to let G become their affilate and give up free listings if their wasn't a little somthing-something in it for them?

[pmac]

There is a big difference in saying Froogle may go that route, and saying they are going that route. It's speculation, not fact.

[hannamyluv]

2X post. oops

[edited by: hannamyluv at 4:13 am (utc) on Dec. 16, 2003]

[hannamyluv]

Yes, hence the word PROBABLY

Meaning, I am not sure but evidence heavily indicates it.

[pmac]

I hate to split hairs with you, but you used the word "probably" in regards to how the Froogle ranking algorithm works. You went on to say that Google is going the route of affiliate relationships with merchants.

Fact:

At this time, we have no definitive proof that Google is entering into affiliate agreements with merchants.

Speculation:

Google may enter into affiliate relationships to help capitalize on the Froogle portion of their search results.

Just wanted to clear that up.

[sun818]

> that some products appear higher or lower

If you are tracking the referral URLs for your products, I suggest analyzing the Froogle referral URL to understand the search behavior of your customers. I don't know the algorithm for "Best match" but you can increase your visibility on user driven sorting, "Price: low to high".

The variable you want to look for in your referral URL is "&scoring=". If it is not in the URL, it means the buyer chose the default option of "Best match". &scoring=p is "Price: low to high". &scoring=pd is "Price: high to low".

Since I've submitted my feed to Froogle, the most popular user driven selection is "Price: low to high". Knowing that, you can feed a low price to Froogle while charging a higher shipping and handling to keep the total price the same. This strategy does encourage angry e-mail from some potential buyers, but I think your increased return will more than make up for it.

[stinker]

sun818 that is interesting tracking, I can only trust that it's accurate; if so then froogle really is about price as the name suggests. That somewhat defeats PageRank though. A site with no PR can rank top because it is the cheapest. That does give webmasters a chance against bigger sites like catalog city.

Just doing a search for some obvious book titles its hard to understand the way it is ranked. One thing I just noticed is if you are desperate you could get traffic with common misspellings; a search for 'steven king' didn't say "did you mean stephen king".

[pmac]

>The variable you want to look for in your referral URL is "&scoring=". If it is not in the URL, it means the buyer chose the default option of "Best match". &scoring=p is "Price: low to high". &scoring=pd is "Price: high to low". <

Great observation sun818.