Google announced the release of the Shopping API, a new set of Web Application Programming Interfaces that are meant to substitute the existing Google Base APIs. The new Shopping Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have two main components: Content and Search. Those components are part of a unique CRUD infrustructure for product data management.
On one hand, the Content API enables retailers to upload their product data to Google, and to make incremental updates to frequently changing attributes like price and availability.
On the other hand, the Search API provides access to product data. After creating a new project in the APIs console, a developer can issue JSON queries as the following one:
https://www.googleapis.com/shopping/search/v1/public/products?key=key&country=US&q=digital+camera&alt=atom
This query will return a feed pf products sold in the United States which are all matching the keywords digital and camera. With a registered account, the new Google Shopping API feature a default limit: 2,500 queries/day
The API supports both structured and free text search. Results can be ordered according to relevance, novelty, or price. It is possible to increase diversity in the set of products matching a query by using the APIs crowding mechanism to restrict the number of products with an equivalent property.
The Google Base API will be fully deactivated on June 1, 2011. Some non-shopping data types (such as jobs, real estate, events, and activities) won’t be supported anymore.









