Google Widens Test to Froogle Merchants

Google has invited Froogle merchants to beta test its ad automator tool, and rolled out new features for its shopping search site.

In an email to Froogle merchants, the search giant encourages them to try the ad automator, which coverts the merchants’ product feeds into AdWords ads. The technology also determines what keywords would be most appropriate. Google has been testing the technology for some time, but this is the first time it’s opened the beta process so widely.

“You’ll be able to create keyword-less data feed campaigns in your existing AdWords account while investing minimal time and effort,” Google said in its email.

The company has also rolled out changes to Froogle that help it catch up with other shopping search engines. A new “compare prices” feature lets users see multiple listings for a single product and compare prices for all merchants who sell it. Other shopping search sites already offer such a feature.

Froogle listings now also include merchant ratings, which are gathered from third-party sites like BizRate, Shopping.com and PriceGrabber.com. Users can’t actually rate merchants at Froogle, only see how they were rated on other shopping sites.