Why Doesnt Google Shopping Return Any Results on Vitamins or Supplements in the US?!?

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Michigan....can I ask, why use google shopping...I didn't even know they had that service....but for shopping I generally use Yahoo! search

Most people use it for price comparisons.

It conveniently lists pricing from multiple vendors and can be an exceptional savings tool.

I tried Michigan, and for me it still does not work.

Of course, all other consumer products still work.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is ISP related?

Perhaps results are being filtered on this basis.

Can more of you US guys test this out and please report your State and ISP?

reply to post by loam


Okay, like this for flax meal....nice comparisons
flax meal


BTW
I use WOW for my internet.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


I get those results...



It's a very useful tool. Look at the range of prices for the same product!!! $2.73 versus $22.36.

Comcast, here.

But still get nothing OTC, Vitamin or Supplement related.... food stuffs still seem available to me.

More:

Google complies with FDA demands to secretly disable Adwords accounts of nutritional detox companies

Pretty detailed description of a related circumstance...

Maybe this is an FDA thing where google was pressured to go further...

consumer report always finds random metals and # in those vitamin supplements.

Originally posted by loam
reply to post by AndyMayhew

 

THAT is EXACTLY what we should see here in the United States, but now don't.

And no one seems to know why, or is even asking why????

edit on 16-8-2012 by loam because: (no reason given)

What does it MEAN?

I mean, what does it all MEAN?

Well this is interested, I tested this out using my US VPN.
Using google.com, on my US IP I got no results when I searched "Vitamin C". When I switched the url to google.co.uk, still using US IP, results came up, but in British pounds. I then disabled my VPN, which gave me my Canadian IP back, refreshed both pages and, as expected, I got shopping results.

My VPN is hosted on a server from webnx.com, so I doubt it is only from certain US ISP.

Google.com with US IP:


Google.com with Canada IP:


Google.co.uk with US IP:

reply to post by Kr0nZ


I too am able to access international results. It's just the domestic ones that are blocked for me.

I keep searching the web for any news on this, but so far, it seems most are from a few forum threads. Otherwise, nothing.

UPDATE:

Natural News published today an article that makes nearly every major point in this thread:

Google Shopping blocks all vitamins and natural products - glitch or deliberate censorship?

Right around June 28 of this year, Google Shopping users first began noticing that search queries for many common health products like "vitamin C" and "fish oil" began turning up zero results, whereas before they would generate a copious list of vendors that offered these products, as well as corresponding price information. In the days and weeks that followed, these same users learned that vitamins and natural products in general were no longer showing up in Google Shopping.

When asked about the issue by several concerned shoppers, Google's public relations team reportedly gave vague and incomplete answers about why natural products are no longer showing up in its Shopping section, even though they are still showing up in Google's general web search area. Others with inside information claim that Google has quietly, without any announcement to the public or its venders, added vitamins, supplements, and other nutritional products to its "sensitive category" of products, which means they are completely blocked from Google Shopping searches.

...

Oddly enough, these very same products appear to be showing up normally for Google Shopping users in other countries. Individuals in France, Australia, the U.K., and elsewhere say that they are not having any problems pulling up nutritional and dietary supplement products in Google Shopping -- only American users seem to be having this problem.

...

So what exactly is going on here, and why is Google refusing to plainly answer questions about the matter, or issue a public statement about it? And why is Google now quietly refusing the advertising dollars of a multi-billion dollar industry, which is being completely excluded from its Shopping module?

Why doesn't this thread have a million flags and stars? This is friggen crazy... Yeah quit using google and all that but google does have a monopoly on internet searching. The others are not even close even Yahoo is small time compared to google.

Yet the America people as a whole just sit around and let this crap happen time and again and do nothing...Sigh.

This topic is very interesting.

Google Shopping with location set to NYC.

Search for "Now Foods", a supplement brand, yields these results.



A search for "Now Foods Supplement" comes up empty



Google is clearly filtering results based on specific search terms, like "vitamins" and "supplements", but not on these specific products.

Some brands don't appear in shopping results, but they do show up in paid Ads.



My guess is that while they are converting the free program to a paid one, the supplement categories are being messed with.

On May 31, 2012, we announced a new initiative to improve our shopping experience over time, so that shoppers (your customers) can easily research purchases, compare different products, their features and prices, and then connect directly with merchants to make their purchase.

We believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date. Higher quality data — whether it’s accurate prices, the latest offers, or product availability — should mean better shopping results for users, which in turn should create higher quality traffic for merchants.

Building a better shopping experience on Google

I'd be interested to find out if there are other (what should be) non-sensitive categories undergoing the same scenario.

Follow the $$$


Edit to Add:

This might also explain why it's only impacting the U.S.

Oops. I didn't realize my research was extremely similar to the video link in the article loam posted a couple above mine. Could have save me some time.

It appears Google hates "Shampoo" as well.