Celebird Feed File Validation Check App (new release)

A new release of the Celebird Feed File Validation Check Application has been installed in our cloud.

If problems are noticed please report them as a post here in the blog.

The updated validation reflects the most recent changes to the feed specifications including:
mobile_link, size_system, size_type, availability_date, is_bundle, and availability.
2014 update to Google Shopping Products Feed Specification

We would also like to thank the many thousands of merchants who have used the feed check validation.

For those who have yet to try the feed check, we have a summary of the benefits.

Our feed validation checks format and validates the XML -- but goes far beyond file validation; We also take into account Google's policies, guidelines, and specifications for Google Shopping Search. We believe the reported messages are far more strict and nit-picky than even Google's feed check or debugger.

Our feed validation can check both .txt (tab-delimited) and .xml (XML-formatted) feed files that attempt to adhere to the many Google Merchant Center rules, guidelines, and specifications.

If you have ever tried to see a full set of errors for every item, for every attribute, in the feed -- rather than examples -- our feed validation check is designed to never stop until the final item is checked and validated. The exceptions are usually related to extreme formatting or encoding issues -- especially within an XML file, where stopping early is sometimes the only choice.

With the Celebird Feed File Validation Check Application there is a way to check for feed errors and to help identify potential problems for all items and all attributes within a feed, before posting live to Google Shopping as a preventative measure; The errors are warnings are mailed directly to you so you can manipulate, search, and inspect potential issues one by one.

The first two summary-reports are within the body of the returned validation email.

The detailed-report should be returned with the summary-reports as an email attachment.

The Detailed-Report has information in eight major sections and details per-item, per-line, per-entry, or per-attribute with validation messages in one or more of the three problem levels.

Our feed validation application inspects for five quality areas:

1. error -- may cause the feed to fail;
2. disapproval -- may cause the item or the website to be disapproved;
3. warning -- may cause the item to be ranked lower or not indexed;
4. recommended -- may cause the item to be ranked higher;
5. calculated or informational messages.

Generally, items flagged with an error may not get listed or may not rank within Google Shopping (formerly Google Product Search); Items flagged with a warning may decrease relevancy, ranking, or may cause items to be more susceptible to a disapproval or suspension, at any time.

Our validation system is able to analyze submitted data for such issues such as:

• Missing Unique Product Identifiers.
• Missing recommended attributes.
• Missing product attributes.
• Unrecognized attributes.
• Potential encoding issues in attribute values.
• Characters with possibly invalid, mixed, or unsupported encoding.
• Invalid GTIN (UPC, ISBN, EAN, JAN) values.
• Missing tabs (for a tab-delimited feed).
• Too many tabs (for a tab-delimited feed).
• Too Few tabs (for a tab-delimited feed).

However, our exact analysis and errors are rather different from Google's.

Since the exact methods Google uses to flag items are unknown, the flagging of errors, warnings, and issues may not exactly match Google's feed processing; rather, these are areas to verify or consider.

For now at least, the feed check remains free to use. Our hosting services do place limits on bandwidth, disk space, and such, which does cost us money and does interrupt service if those limits are exceeded; So be gentle, and contact us if there are service interruptions.

To try our feed file validation check application, use the following link:

• http://www.celebird.com/apps/celebird-feedcheck/

Please do not use Google's help forums for any comments related to our validation software -- Google has no association with our feed check and Google's help-forum resources should not be used to discuss any aspect of our application.

Please use the comment section here in the blog for any feedback -- which we welcome.

See also

cb4goptima

Celebird's Seven Laws of Quality Attributes

Information within a Google Merchant Center feed
is meant to describe each physical product item.

Describing an item within a data-feed (file) should be done
using valid, accurate, factual, clear, appropriate, and most
importantly, relevant, information without promotion.

Information about a product is described using attributes.

An attribute is a specific characteristic of an object --
in our case, the object is the product item for sale --
the item in your physical in stock inventory.

The attributes you select should be appropriate and proper
and should describe the characteristics of the physical item.

One technique is to imagine your customer has never seen your product --
you must describe your product over-the-phone to your potential customer,
without an image of the product.

Then, when your product is shipped and your customer opens the package,
there should be no surprises -- the item should look, feel, sound, smell,
or taste, exactly as you've described over the phone (or in your feed).

A feed's quality might be improved by applying
Celebird's Seven Laws of Attribute Quality to
your product being sold.

There are negative (-) attributes and negative values
that if used, may dilute a specific item's relevance --
in this context, negative means lower quality.

There are also positive (+) attributes and positive values
that if used, may enhance a specific item's relevance --
in this context, positive means higher quality.

Removing negative attributes or values,
and adding positive attributes and values
are key aspects of Celebird's Laws of Quality.

In the following example illustrating the Seven Laws --
first, try to intuit what your product is, based only
on the negative (low-quality) attributes and values;
then, try to intuit what your product is, based only
on the positive (high-quality) attributes and values.

Celebird's Seven Laws of Attribute Quality are:

1. attributes must be relevant.
        - <g:pattern>solid</g:pattern>
        + <g:size>10 x 3.5 x 0.5 inches</g:size>

2. attributes must be valid.
        - <g:shipping_weight>0pounds 7oz</g:shipping_weight>
        + <g:shipping_weight>7 oz</g:shipping_weight>

3. attributes must be accurate.
        - <g:shipping_weight>7 oz</g:shipping_weight>
        + <g:shipping_weight>7.25 oz</g:shipping_weight>

4. attributes must be factual.
        - <g:description>the best known nail pounder</g:description>
        + <g:description>Our claw hammer is made with a single-piece of forged, heat-treated, steel head and an aged cherry-wood handle. Weighing 7.5 ounces, the wooden handle is smooth to the touch and is just the right size for small nail or light pounding jobs around the house or yard.</g:description>

5. attributes must be clear.
        - <title>thing to hit nails<title>
        + <title>Claw hammer with aged cherry wood handle.<title>

6. attributes must be appropriate.
        - <g:color>please go to our website for details</g:color>
        + <g:color>brown/stainless steel</g:color>

7. attributes cannot promote.
        - <title>***BEAUTIFUL*** **HITS THINGS** Limited Stock!!! We are a great company in business for a long time and this is a great product. FREE SHIPPING!!!!!!</title>
        + <title>Claw hammer with cherry wood handle.</title>

In this example, your product is a hammer.