Google Base

Google Base was a database provided by Google which allowed users to add content such as text, images, and structured information in formats such as XML, PDF, Excel, RTF, or WordPerfect. Google Base was launched in 2005 and downgraded to Google Merchant Center in September 2010. If Google found user-added content relevant, submitted content appeared on its shopping search engine, Google Maps or even the web search. The piece of content could then be labeled with attributes like the ingredients for a recipe or the camera model for stock photography. Because information about the service was leaked before public release, it generated much interest in the information technology community prior to release. Google subsequently responded on their blog with an official statement: "You may have seen stories today reporting on a new product that we're testing, and speculating about our plans. Here's what's really going on. We are testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google, which we hope will complement existing methods such as our web crawl and Google Sitemaps.