Using Google Base to Promote Your Books

Working in web design and search engine optimization, I have had to develop a rather intimate relationship with Google. Call it a love/hate one if you will, for though I appreciate how Google makes some aspects of my Internet experience easier and more efficient, I do get frustrated when certain SEO tactics I employ go unnoticed by the search engine. My boss likes to say that Google rules the world. That might not be true, but at one point or another we are all certainly at its mercy.

That said, I do give Google credit for assisting website owners in getting their content to Web users searching for relevant information. Though the website proclaims this device is still in beta, Google Base may prove to be an invaluable tool for anyone with something to promote. Authors especially can use Google Base as a means to promote their books.

Is Google Base the gateway through which websites are submitted? Well, yes and no. It is basically confirmed by top SEO experts that physical submission of URLs to the Google search engine is not necessary (Google will eventually find you on its periodic web crawls, but you can still give them a heads-up at Google by clicking on All About Google and submitting from there). Google Base, however, serves to accept more than just website content, as it works to be a database for all content which will eventually be made searchable through various Google entities. Merchants who formally used Google's shopping engine Froogle, for example, can now use Google Base to make their products more visible on the Internet. In this respect, Google Base may be valuable to authors.

After you apply for a Google Base account, you will be prompted to submit information for search. Among the possible types of data suitable for input are recipes, blog entries and articles, classified ads and event announcements, and products for sale. Here authors can offer information on their works in different ways:

As a product

The advantage to using Google Base to submit book information is that the entry forms are very user-friendly. Every bit of pertinent information about your book is sectioned into the many attributes Google Base recognizes. ISBN, number of pages, links to purchase, publisher information, and book synopsis are simply entered and made searchable throughout Google Search and other applicable Google brands.

One thing to note, however, as you submit your books as products for purchase: these items are only made available for 90 days, after which the item expires and is removed from Google's banks. Therefore, it is necessary to keep track of when you upload your book information to Google so the listing is always fresh.

Supplementary Information

The good news about Google base is that other bits of information like reviews, articles, and events may be posted indefinitely. Therefore, if you have relevant articles about your books, anecdotes on your writing experiences, reviews to share, and announcements of book signings and conference appearances you can take them to Google Base where they will remain. Simply post the keyword-rich information and link back to your website or the book's point of sale.

Once your book information is live, you can use Google Base statistics to track its progress. Take a look at your Google Base dashboard, and next to each item listed you will see Impressions, Clicks, and Page Views. Impressions refers to how many times your information has appeared in search results, while clicks denote how many times a visitor clicked your item in search. Page views refers to actual views of the Google Base page with your information. The only drawback to these statistics is that Google Base does not track how many hits are directed to your site or point of sale as a result of the Base listings.

However, using these statistics can give you some idea of how often your information shows up in Google search results. If you notice certain articles garner more impressions than others (and therefore higher visibility in Google), turn your focus toward more content of that nature, with links to your books. You just may find as you check your website logs that your Google referrals will rise, and hopefully your book sales right along with them.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Kathryn Lively is the publisher of Phaze, romance novels in eBook and paperback. She offers book promotion advice for authors and writes SEO content for CINIVA Systems, Chesapeake web design.

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