Tip #2: Create Unique Product Feeds for Each Comparison Shopping Engine
Most hosting providers allow you to easily syndicate your product feed to a number of comparison shopping sites. Shopping.com, Shopzilla, NexTag and others let you to point to your XML feed and be done with it. I know it’s easy, but DON’T do it. Seriously.
It’s a simple way to get up on multiple comparison shopping sites, but the feed is not optimized for the individual sites. Again, your listings will not be optimized if you use the automated submission option; products will be in the wrong categories, titles and descriptions will be too long or too short, ancillary information – everything from special shipping deals to product details (new, refurbished, etc.) – will be left out. In other words, the details will be missing. It’s these details which make the difference on the comparison shopping sites.
I know it’s a pain in the ass to create separate feeds for NexTag, Yahoo! Product Submit, Shopping.com, PriceGrabber, Shopzilla, and the 8 other sites you might be on, but if you’re looking for an edge on your competition, it’s worth it. Go ahead and take a risk; disengage the automatic submission feature immediately and create unique feeds for each comparison engine.
Many comparison engines also allow you to submit another site’s feed. Again, DON’T do it…for all the reasons stated above. Each comparison engine has a unique set of feed requirements. Using your Shopping.com feed on NexTag is not taking advantage of all the information which NexTag allows you to submit.
There’s one caveat to this tip. Some sites have a delay between the time you disengage one submission option (automated XML feed from hosting provider, for instance) and engage a new submission option (self submission through FTP, for instance). As I don’t want you to miss out on holiday sales, check with the individual comparison engines to see how long this lag will be. In some cases, it might be smarter to make the change right around New Year’s Eve.
See all data feed optimization strategies.
