Favorite Fabrics

Do you use it?

Do you like it?

Did you know that since May, it has been changing, and that by October only those business who PAY Google will be able to have their products show up in the Shopping search results?

Personally, I have found it to be a very good way to research the prices for fabric etc. But going forward, the businesses who pay the most will show up at the top of the listings. You'll have to sort the search results by price, to find the lower-priced listings from shops who can only afford to pay a little bit ... and those shops who can't afford to pay *at all* will not show up *at all*.

Google says this should create a better shopping experience... but if the low-overhead/low-price businesses get weeded out, how does this help the shopper?

LynnVT

There are so many other search engines to use, I'll just stop using Google. My husband likes Dogpile which you rarely hear about but works quite well without all the entanglements of Google. Maybe compare a search using Yahoo, Bing, Google, Dogpile and compare the results.

Lori S

Well that good info to know ... that sites that pay more will show up first... and other non-paying will not show up at all. Dissapointing that google made this decison ... as it has now evolved into even more bias in its search results. I rarely use google as I can find what I need just using my yahoo search. as for specific fabric searches I have my "go to" shops and can typically get into enough trouble with just those sites.

sandybeach

If I have a specific fabric I am looking for, I go to http://www.quiltshops.com/. And if I want it on sale, I just add the word SALE to the end of the item description.

Favorite Fabrics

Sandy, quiltshops.com only shows you fabrics that are from their member stores. So while it's handy, you are missing the results from ALL the other online sellers who are not part of Quiltshops. You're actually missing a lot!

auntpiggylpn

I learned a long time ago when doing a search for a particular item to go to the higher numbered pages. This will allow me to shop at smaller venues and the prices sometimes are sooo much cheaper than the sites that come up in the first pages. These are the vendors who don't pay to have their sites put on the first pages of a search.

alleyoop1

Save the web site addresses of your favorite shops so you can get to them no matter what. Support the little guys and if enough of us do, they should be able to stay in business.

Quiltbugger

I hope you all know that Google is a business and that it makes money not from us, but from the advertisers that put their info on the search engine. Google is giving nothing away for free. We are free to use it, but someone has to pay for this. Just like TV commercials. We watch shows for nothing and the pain in the butt commercials pay for us to do that.
The best way to learn where to shop for the best deals is right here on the blog and all other quilter's blogs, because word of mouth is the best way to find things we want. When we like a shop, we should bookmark it so we can visit it and pass the word along to other quilters.
I have gained more useful info from you bloggers than from anything Google could send me to! We should keep up the good work.

sewmary

Please note that Favorite Fabrics is talking about the Shopping search on Google and not about the Web search.

Shopping can be found on the left side of the screen along with Images and other stuff.

Favorite Fabrics and others will still come up in the web search.

I myself have never used the Shoppping portion of Google.

sewmary

P.S. to Favorite Fabrics: I love the strip sets you have put together yourself!