Froogle is a searchable and browsable shopping index aimed at finding products for sale online. Click on the Froogle link above Google's search box or visit froogle.google.com.

Search results include price, brand, description, and, if available, a photograph. Note that unlike other online shopping services, Froogle doesn't actually sell things.

Froogle obtains listings for products from vendors and from scouring the web. When Google runs across a page that appears to sell something, it feeds the information it collects to Froogle. Vendors don't pay to have their products included in Froogle's search results. However, they can purchase sponsored links, which appear along the right side of Froogle's results pages.

You can browse products by clicking on a category or you can search by entering your query in Froogle's search box. As an example, let's investigate buying buying a watch for a child? We'll start by searching on Froogle for [ watches children ].

That didn't work very well. The results included the verb "watch" and pages selling children's jewelry. It helps to study results to get ideas for more effective search terms. Let's consider searching for specific brands: [ watches children timex ].

That worked much better. We could also search for specific types of watches: [ watches children teacher ]

or [ analog watches children ]

When Froogle finds more than one product from a site, it includes the link "See all results from vendor." Limiting the number of results from a given site to just one ensures products from a single vendor won't dominate your search results and that Froogle provides pages from a variety of sites.

If you want to limit the products Froogle finds to a specified range, enter a price range in the boxes to the left of the results or fill in a field in Froogle's advanced search form. Access the advanced search form by clicking on the Advanced Froogle Search link next to the search box on a Froogle page or visiting froogle.google.com/froogle_advanced_search.

For more information on Froogle visit froogle.google.com/froogle/about.html.

Exercises

These problems give you practice with shopping on Froogle. For hints and answers to selected problems, see the Solutions page in the Appendix.

1. Find 100% cotton comforter covers on Froogle.

2. Find unbreakable 8 oz. drinking glasses in the price range $10 - $30.

3. Tired of putting on sun screen? Find sun-protective clothing with Froogle.

4. Find heated toilet seats with Froogle.