Product feed specification
This guide outlines the requirements for a product feed to be successfully processed by the Site Search 360 ecommerce engine.
Product Search Feature
This is available in the Site Search 360 plans with the ecommerce feature only
Basic data feed fields
Field Name | Description | Example | Required? |
|---|---|---|---|
Unique Identifier | Unique product ID from your ecommerce system database (e.g., article number, SKU, MPN, EAN, order number, or similar) | 79002A33_RD | yes |
Product Name | Product name or title | Canon EOS 4000D DSLR Camera | yes |
Product URL | Absolute canonical URL to the product detail page | http://example.com/products/product?id=2417 | yes |
Image URL | Absolute URL path to the product image | http://example.com/assets/product_images/3234.jpg | yes |
Product Category or Breadcrumb | Category path, product type, or navigational breadcrumbs | Home > Camera&Photo > Digital Camera > Digital SLRs | yes |
Group identifier | ID used for clustering your product variants into one master product from your e-commerce system database. If this doesn't apply to your products, ignore this column. | 79002A33 | no. Recommended if you want to group product variants in one result card instead of showing a result per variant |
Product Description | Long or short text description of the product | The Canon EOS 4000D is a combination of high image quality, incredible performance and superior features that satisfies the needs of the most demanding professional or advanced amateur photographer. | no |
Price | Current available price (currency can be set later) | $359.95 | no |
Manufacturer | Product manufacturer or brand | Canon | no |
Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) | There are different types: • UPC (in North America/GTIN-12): 12-digit number (convert 8-digit UPC-E codes to 12-digit codes) • EAN (in Europe/GTIN-13): 13-digit number • ISBN (for books): 13-digit number (convert ISBN-10 to ISBN-13). If you have both, include only the 13-digit number | 012345678905 | no. If you have it, make sure to map it to the "articleNumber" field when importing your product feed. |
Manufacturer's part number (MPN) | Manufacturer-assigned part or model number | 4000D | no |
Product attributes or features | Additional product attributes or features | E.g., dimensions, material, display size, memory size, etc. | no |
Meta Attributes | Any meta attributes that can be used for ranking purposes. | E.g., sales count, availability, CTR etc. See more examples below. | no |
User Reviews | User reviews including soft, subjective attributes. | Nice design, long battery life. | no |
2. Meta attributes and business metrics to include in the feed
The following are additional parameters that the Site Search 360 engine can process and apply for different ranking strategies:
Stock Availability
Internal margin, e.g., final price minus purchase price / profit margin
Private label indicator (isPrivate flag)
Number of customer ratings
Average customer rating
Sales figures / Sales rank / Sold amount
Discount
Has delivery costs
Max delivery days
Return rate
Cancellation rate
Previous click-through rates per product. Note: if the Site Search 360 tracking script is integrated, this information is already available in Site Search 360
Product list CTR
Release date to push new products
Click-to-cart/add-to-basket rate per product
Product rating numbers from other systems (e.g., Prudsys Bestseller, Amazon rating)
3. Integrating your feed into Site Search 360
There are several ways to transfer your product data to Site Search 360. Start by going to Data Sources > Feeds and select one of the available options:
Site Search 360 downloads a *.csv file at agreed times via HTTP from a specified URL.
Site Search 360 downloads a *.csv file at agreed times via FTP from a specified server. Note: This is a custom importer - please reach out to our support team for help with the setup.
Upload a *.csv file to an FTP server of Site Search 360, Site Search 360 checks the directory for changes and starts with the product update as soon as a new feed is available. Note: This is a custom importer - please reach out to our support team for help with the setup.
Use of the SS360 ecommerce extensions: Magento, Shopware, Oxid, Modified Shop, Shopify* (coming soon).
Connect your ecommerce platform or inventory control system/PIM to the Site Search 360 API. This also allows individual products to be updated quickly.
Incremental updates are also possible. A full update should be run once a night to ensure a consistent dataset.
4. Structure of a perfect Data Feed in CSV format:
A semicolon should be used as the primary separator (";"), the pipe symbol ("|") as the secondary separator.
Note: please make sure that you have one product per line.
Option 1
All product attributes in one column delimited by a secondary separator (default: pipe symbol). Example:
name | attributes |
|---|---|
iPhone 13 case | color = silver | feature = slim | material = plastic |
The secondary separator can also be used for the categoryPath attribute.
Download a sample feed: https://cdn.sitesearch360.com/sample%20CSV%20product%20feed%20option%201.csv
Option 2
An attribute per column. Example:
name | color | feature | material |
|---|---|---|---|
iPhone 13 case | silver | slim | plastic |