Google Mini KeyMatch and Related Query Imports

The Web is ever changing, and this article is relatively ancient having been published 10 years ago. It is likely out of date or even blatantly incorrect in relation to modern better practices, so proceed at your own risk.

Filed under “you mean the documentation doesn’t exist somewhere?”, was my issue trying to import KeyMatches and Related Queries to a Google Mini we have set up for a client. Google’s documentation on them is very straight forward: select the file, press import— but it lacked instructions about how to set up the import file. Since I took the time to sort it all out, here’s a quick rundown.

Import File Specifics

Your import file should be .csv format. With UTF-8 encoding. And, most importantly (especially for those of us using OSX), UNIX line endings.

Your favorite text editor may be able to change those settings if they are not the default when you save a file. I used Coda to do so.

Related Queries

Your related queries import should have two fields (don’t give your columns headings, though):
[search term],[suggested/related query]

Set up your file per the above import file specifics, and import.

KeyMatches

Your KeyMatch import will have four fields:
[search term],[KeywordMatch|PhraseMatch|ExactMatch],[URI],[Result Title]

Word of warning: there is a maximum of five keymatch results per URI, but default settings will only show three.

Simple, yet previously undocumented (as far as my Google-fu skills could determine). Hope it helps.