Google Rebrands Froogle, Adds Personalization Features

Froogle has been losing traffic steadily for the last four months, so the company is rebranding it with the straightforward name Google Product Search.

Google's shopping search service Froogle proved more bemusing than amusing. In an effort to bewitch rather than bewilder, Google rechristened its product search service with the decidedly straightforward name Google Product Search.

Google recently also rolled out two new features to further personalize search for those with Google accounts who have enabled their Search History.

The first is a recommendation button on the Google Toolbar, which many users have installed in their Web browser. When clicked on, the button, which shows a pair of dice, takes the user to a site calculated to be of interest based on past searches. Google says it will generate up to 50 such sites per day.

This feature is similar to a service called StumbleUpon, that eBay is rumored to be acquiring. StumbleUpon's recommendations are based on user profiles and voting, in contrast to Google's automated, algorithmic approach.

The second new Google personalization feature is the ability to add a recommendations tab to a Google Personalized Homepage. These recommendations are similar to the Google Toolbar recommendations.

Way to go GOOGLE!!!