Froogle goes Google

Stephen Withers
Friday, 20 April 2007 05:13

Your IT - Home IT

Goodbye Froogle, hello Google Product Search.

Maybe I'm dumber than I like to think, but I never understood why Google's specialised search for products was called Froogle. The 'oogle' was obvious enough, but where did the 'Fr' come into it?

Now the service has been renamed Google Product Search, the monicker is self-explanatory. I suppose it could be misinterpreted as a search for products offered by Google, but that's unlikely.

You'll find it at www.google.com/products, www.google.com.au/products, www.google.co.uk/products, and so on.

The Google Product Search look and feel has been revised to more closely conform to that used by other Google services. What's lacking is an exposed means of going from a general Google search to a Google Product Search. The link is there, but it's hidden inside the 'more »' pop-up menu. Google removed the Froogle link from its front page last year, apparently because it wasn't getting much use - which reinforces the idea that the name was part of the problem.

Another issue that might hold back Google Product Search is that there is no obvious way to restrict a search to merchants in a particular country. 

In case you're still wondering, a post on the Official Google Blog announcing the changes explains that 'Froogle' was a play on 'frugal'. Obvious, really.