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Search_Engine_Optimization_for_RSS_Feeds
| Search Engine Optimization for RSS Feeds
Tips for Helping Your RSS Feed Perform! In some ways RSS is very
similar to HTML, the language commonly used to create websites.
Just as with HTML, webmasters using traditional search engine
optimization tactics when creating an RSS feed will find that
their RSS feed receives additional exposure and interest.
Simple steps to optimize an RSS feed for search engines:
1.) The title should contain important search terms. To state
the obvious, the title should be relevant and not misleading,
while still emphasizing keywords. Ultimately, the title should
entice the reader to read on, not mislead them.
2.) Display RSS feeds. Most webmasters display their feeds as
content on their website. When displaying a feed be sure to use
PHP, ASP or HTML so that search engines will spider the contents
of the feed displayed. If using a template to display feeds, use
header tags to define the appearance of the Channel Title and
Item Titles. Many search engines weight header tags with more
importance. See Displaying RSS Feeds for additional information
- http://www.small-business-software.net/display-rss.htm
3.) Internal & external Links. Within a feed you should always
use the full path of any links, keeping in mind that other sites
may syndicate the contents of the RSS feed. Links that are not
local to the site should launch a new browser. While this is not
specific to search engines it will help keep visitors on your
site.
4.) Link text should emphasize keywords. It is no longer a deep,
dark secret that the text used for incoming links will help a
site contextually define the keywords that the site appears for
in the search engines. Keeping that in mind, be sure to use
keywords in any link text that points back to your website.
5.) My.Yahoo and My.MSN. This is surprisingly simple to do but
often overlooked by publishers and webmasters. The fastest way
to have an RSS feed spidered by Yahoo or MSN is to include the
feed on a personal my.yahoo or my.msn home page. Simply create
an account on the respective search engines and customize the
home page to include your RSS feed. This is done by adding
content and listing the URL to the RSS feed. Typically, within
24-48 hours the feed's contents will be spidered and indexed by
Yahoo and MSN.
6.) Theme feeds. Feeds should be themed. This will help with
themed links back to a publisher's website from anyone
syndicating the feed's content.
7. ) Link popularity. Increase link popularity by submitting the
RSS feed, blog or podcast to the appropriate directories. The
following directories allow submissions of specific kinds of RSS
feeds. Be sure to follow the guidelines of each site and choose
categories wisely.
Submit Podcasts -
http://www.podcasting-tools.com/submit-podcasts.htm Submit RSS
feeds - http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm
Submit Blogs - http://www.blog-connection.com/submit-blogs.htm
8.) RSS feed descriptions. RSS feed descriptions are generally
summaries or introductions to other content. Often, feed
creators will provide additional information on an HTML site,
enticing the reader to click through for the full information if
it is a topic that is of interest to them. Provide enough teaser
copy that the reader can easily discern if the contents are
something that is important to them.
9.) Subscribe to feeds. This might seem obvious, but a
surprisingly large number of publishers do not subscribe to
their own feed. This is a great way to visualize what your
customers see, and experiment with formatting and integrating
HTML into feeds.
10.) Image ads. Add your corporate logo to your RSS feed. Create
a brand and enforce that brand by including the image in the RSS
feed. The image will enhance your corporate identity and dress
up the look of your feed by adding your corporate logo.
11.) Alphabetical rank. Many feed readers list feeds
alphabetically in the reader. Feed channels that begin with A
will naturally appear in the top of the feed list in most feed
readers. If you wish to appear in the top of list of feeds that
a reader has subscribed to, keep this tip in mind.
12.) Meaningful Links Each item in your feed should contain a
unique URL associated with it. This will direct users to
associated information. Many find using target URLs with the "#"
symbol in the link to identify specific content useful.
Most marketers have a love-hate relationship with search
engines. Search engines have the abilitiy to make even the most
confident webmaster feel powerless . Let's face it - all of us
have felt the wrath of the search engine powers-that-be at one
time or another, and while it may be difficult to know what line
was crossed or how we fell out of favor, following some basic
guidelines will be helpful in optomizing feeds for search
engines.
About the author:
About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for
FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating,
editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a
wireless text messaging software company.
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