Google Base has finally debuted, after much speculation about it. A few weeks back, information about this new classifieds service from Google leaked to the international media. The result was sporadic. There was so much speculation here and there, about the form Google Base would take, and the rippling effect on the online classifieds business.
Google quickly withdraw the website from public view, then.
A few minutes ago, while I was going through Google’s “About Us” page, I noticed the link tagged “Google Base”. I knew the name was familiar, but I couldn’t decipher it. I clicked and out of inquisitiveness, and behold, it all came flooding back. I then remember what I had read about Google Base a few weeks back.
I tried using the service immediately.
As usual with Google, the interface looks good and loads very fast on my Opera 8 browser.
I posted an advert in a few minutes and got a notice that my ad would go live in an hour or less. I suspect that ads could be screen by humans, to keep junk ads, out.
Google Base allows bulk /FTP upload as well as a search on the existing entries.
Well, its all good. Another thumbs up for Google! 🙂
We are in a similar market as Google Base but our product gives structure (while still not imposing any set of predefined categories) to our index and therefore makes it possible for users to not only perform keyword search but also browse hierarchically with the ability to specify unlimited number of filters to refine their search.