Google, which never, ever kills products, just did the equivalent of taking Froogle out back and shooting it in the head. As Steve Rubel noticed yesterday, Froogle was taken down off the Google home page and replaced with Google Video.
Hitwise shows exactly what happens to a site when it’s removed from, or added to, the Google home page. Google Video soars, Froogle plummets.
Google Video is also testing out new YouTube-like features (screen shot here). We sure don’t see this kind of product attention showered on Froogle.
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I’m guessing the predictions of the demise of Froogle are premature. While I do not have unique insight to workings at the ‘plex, it would make sense for them to rotate the homepage links (at least the last one).
Precisely because of the power of the homepage, it provides Google a great opportunity to build critial mass for variosu products through short-term featuring. In addition, Google has in the past run short-term A-B type tests to see how changes perform.
So, last month might be Froogle, this month Google Video, next month Google Coop. They may not even know at the ‘plex. It just doesn’t make sense, though, to make long-term predicitons based on short-term trends.
They also had Google Groups on the front page before and that has been taken off. Although, if you click on “more »” it doesn’t go to a new page now, it opens a little popup that lets you choose Groups, Books or Froogle. So in a sense Google Groups and Froogle are still on the front page.
This really sucks. Froogle has so much potential to be the ultimate product research tool, but Google is so indecisive with it. They already took out the ability to consolidate multiple listings of the same product into one listing which really is what made Froogle awesome.
Dang. I miss Froogle.
It’s probably because Froogle totally sucked. Not that it was a terrible idea, in theory, but I never found anything useful on it, short of checking how good a deal woot had on any given day.
It is good that they removed Froogle from their homepage. Keeping a product for an umlimited beta is insane. Google has been abusing the concept of beta just too much. I feel they are losing confidence in themselves. In this matter I have to say that Microsoft is doikng quite well. They are entering the market with a beta but quickly are getting out of beta and making the service live unlike Froogle which has been under beta for the past 5 years.
5 years feel almost a generation in this fast Internet age
Sorry, you’re wrong Michael. Froogle has been moved to the More tabs on the home page, just as Google Groups has been (are you saying Google Groups is being dumped as well?).
But you are right about Froogle being dumped, and it’s no secret. They have been transitioning to have stores upload their products into Google Base instead of Froogle. Makes sense now with Google Checkout. They want to sell directly from Google Base.
I wonder though, since Firefox comes w/a custom Google start page:
http://www.google.com/firefox?.....S:official
what kind of effect changing that would have.
froggle is so bloody boring …thank god they’ve put something fun on the homepage…..
I don’t even know what Froogle is.
Slow news day?
It’s good to that Google isn’t a company that insists on beating a dead horse. I am glad to see that they are a company of trials and errors… and most importantly a company that recognizes what works and what doesn’t and moves on to bigger and better things. Great post!
My site still gets visitors from Froogle. Don’t forget that if you search for a product in google, you get Froogle results at the top.
Sherwin - do you? I’m not seeing it for searches on ipod or superbowl tickets. my test ended there.
Blog the Internet - are we talking about the same Google? They’ve never killed a product that I am aware of.
That’s a sweet hitwise graph, and clearly video.google.com went up a whole heckuva lot more than froogle.com went down…
So is the conclusion that people are more interested in video than froogle? Or am I missing something? (Interior froogle pages redirect to froogle.google.com, so maybe hitwise isn’t picking those up.)
Part of the impetus for the decision might have been that the Froogle Merchant Center was recently replaced by the Google Base dashboard:
http://base.google.com/support.....topic=8847
Google Video is a simple enough model (with enough popular rivals) that it makes sense to promote while Google continues to hash out exactly how the rest of their user-submitted content strategies play together.
@ Mike: You get froogle results in Google’s results only for certain electronics types. For Example: nikon coolpix 7600
Froogle has gone from Google.com, but we still have it at Google.co.uk
- only US users who want Google Video? - I doubt it
Also - I wonder what adding the red “new” tag to it affects its traffic. Only time will tell I suppose.
- Tim
Just another Google service that doesn’t seem to have panned out so well for them. Truly unbelievable, considering the platform they have to launch consumer facing applications.
@ Razvan Antonescu
That’s not true at all. Try searching “Prada Messenger Bag”. Not just electronics.
It truthfully does not make a difference. I never liked Froogle.
Google is reacting to the YouTube phenomenon …this is probably a well researched perception that VIDEOs have more potential to return an ROI, thus getting a portion of YouTube’s traffic.
This may a case of Biz-Dawinsm. The leading destinations will become more visible and accessible.
If they had changed the link text from “Froogle” to “Shopping” I bet the hit count would spike too. Who the hell wants to click on something named Froogle.
Michael, it is just one link and the “new girlfriend” is actually kind of old.
Sigh…
Again…
You know, TechCrunch is one of my favorite sites. But I would really really love TechCrunch if they would seek professional help for that damn googlephobie…
yeah but I said good things about google video.
Looking at the graph, it appears that the traffic on Froogle follows a weekly pattern, with much more traffic on week-ends. The “plunge” can be observed every Monday on that graph.
So the only thing that proves is that actually things haven’t changed that much for Froogle…
Correct me if Im wrong but a few weeks ago I was able to comment on some Google videos… They have fallen behind Youtube but you just can’t beat “unlimited upload filesize”
Froogle….never really used it.
I think this move is related to the YouTube phenomenon and also the fact that most product searches start at the search engine and not necessarily at a supposed shopping search engine.
Two points to consider:
1)Froogle listings are still showing up at the top of SERPS. Rice Cooker, Riedel O, and half carat diamond ring. (I have expensive tastes.) I don’t know if this matters, but I was logged into Google when I saw these results.
2)If you’re a retailer and you are listed in Froogle, then you will see referrers from Froogle, as long as your price point is a)reasonable and b)reasonably low. In my experience, despite the Froogle listings, I still have seen many, many more referrers from Google’s natural search than Froogle. As any online retailer knows, competing on price point alone is a bitch.
3)Natural search still rules product referrers. Wasn’t Battelle who said that 60% of all e-commerce transactions start at the search engine?
Also, pertaining to Google products in trouble, is it just me or am I just not seeing result for products in Google Base in Google SERPS?
The problem with froogle is the name, a really lame attempt at leveraging the google brand. If it was called “Products” or “Shopping” it would be useful for users who are searching for something to buy. I would say 99% of Google users don’t know what froogle means.
When I used to shop around for a technology stuff, I would use pricewatch or cnet to find the best price on something. The last time I did this was four years ago. Now I just go to Amazon, Newegg, or eBay where I already have accounts and peace of mind that I’m making a secure/reliable purchase. Search engines are great for people who don’t know where to start looking for something, but for people like me who are somewhat experienced on-line shoppers, the hassle of starting a potentially tenuous relationship with an on-line retailer just isn’t worth saving a few bucks.
So yeah, I think Froogle has kind of missed the boat. It probably would’ve blown pricewatch away, but that was so long ago. Google video is much more current, and the deliverable is much more immediate.
> If they had changed the link text from “Froogle” to “Shopping” I bet the hit count would spike too. Who the hell wants to click on something named Froogle.
&
> Looking at the graph, it appears that the traffic on Froogle follows a weekly pattern, with much more traffic on week-ends. The “plunge” can be observed every Monday on that graph. So the only thing that proves is that actually things haven’t changed that much for Froogle…
Exactly. Froogle’s showing the same pattern as before, suggesting no one really clicked on that link from the home page. That’s not a surprise given that many have no idea what Froogle meant and more important, most people don’t even know what those links do for anything. And the Google Video “spike” proves this. What — it lept from being 0.25 percent of visits to about 0.6 percent. Wow, how dramatic. That’s practically no one going to it, despite being featured on the home page.
It would be interesting to see how much less the Google Video “spike” would have been, if the red “new” label hadn’t been next to the link. Without that red text, most people wouldn’t even notice that the links had changed.
I won’t miss Froogle, but I do miss the convenient Groups link. As a developer I use Google to search newsgroups all the time, and find that extra “More” click mighty inconvenient.
This is good news for companies like Shopzilla.com, whose business it is to organize and search product listings through the internet. As they get more traffic, they’ll also be sending more money to google through paid advertisements.
I have to wonder though, is google planning closer integration with product search into their main search engine?
I AM INTERESTED TO MAKE NEW GIRLFRIEND WHICH I FOUND HERE
I wil like to know is Froogle still exist or it is
finished realy
I have necklaces and I will like to know if froogle
can publish my items
I have Murano necklaces
Semi precious necklaces
Swarovski necklaces
Tzcek necklaces
If I can have an email to know about Froogle
Thanks Marcelle