Free Website Content
Improved Newsfeeds for Search Engines
RSS feeds are a great communication medium,
and when properly managed, web feeds can bring in significant
Internet traffic. RSS feeds should contain compelling
themed content with episodic titles that are united
in common broad theme. Use RSS feeds as an online marketing
and search engine optimization tool. Just as optimizing
an HTML web page will increase exposure, so too will
an RSS feed that is properly optimized and promoted.
Use these simple tips to improve your web feed exposure.
Channel Title
The channel title in your RSS feed is one of the most
important aspect. The channel title should be keyword
rich and contain information related to the general
theme of the RSS feed. In order to maximize compatibility
with RSS readers, it is best not to include any HTML
in the channel title. The channel title is a website
visitors first glimpse at the RSS feed, so its important
to make an impression and attract the interest of casual
browsers. Additionally, many of the RSS feed directories
and search engines use the information contained in
the RSS feed's channel title and description to index
the feed. In order for the feed to be properly categorized,
it is important that the information contained in these
fields be relevant to the contents contained in the
feed. If included at all, the blog, brand, or company
name should be at the end not the beginning of the RSS
feed channel title.
Channel Description
The channel description field provides an opportunity
to expand on the broad theme of the RSS feed. The channel
description should contain related keywords and phrases,
but it should be written to capture the interest of
readers not search engine spiders. HTML can be used
to decorate and emphasize specific text in the description
field. In summation the channel description should provide
a compelling overview of the RSS feed's contents.
RSS Feed Item Titles
The item titles should be 50-75 characters with spaces.
In order to increase readability and compatibility with
news readers, the RSS feed item titles should not be
encoded with any HTML. Think of an RSS feed item title
in the same way that you would a webpage title. The
RSS feed item title is your opportunity to capture the
interest of your reader. Really an RSS feed item title
is nothing more than a headline. The most effective
item titles are calls to action that grab the readers
attention. Include pertinent keywords or keyword phrases
in the items title and this will help any individuals
doing deep feed searches for specific content.
Optimize RSS
Optimize all aspects of the web feed. While the feed
should be optimized for search engines, using the same
techniques a webmaster uses on a website, the optimization
should not be at the readers expense. The content in
an RSS feed is often what leads readers to click or
not click through. Readers will judge RSS feeds on the
quality of the content. This means that grammar and
punctuation do matter. Consistent grammatical errors
will reduce the writers credibility and the number of
subscribers.
Anchor Text
Using RSS feeds, publishers have the unique opportunity
to determine the anchor text that will be used to link
to internal website pages. RSS feeds are often syndicated,
and even more often compelling feed items will often
be re posted by other publishers. With that in mind,
when including links back to a website in the item description
field, use anchor text that is a relevant keyword or
phrase. Anchor text is one factor that search engines
use in determining a website's ranking for specific
keywords and phrases.
Number of Feed Items
Routinely prune the old items in an RSS feeds and archive
the content contained in the feed to ensure that feeds
load quickly in RSS readers. If you are using a third
party service to host your feeds, keep in mind that
FeedBurner will truncate or not display RSS feeds that
it finds to be too large.
Heading Tags
If you are displaying an RSS feed as an HTML web page
it makes sense to use H1 or H2 tags to display the RSS
feed's item titles. If the RSS feed is optimized, the
website will benefit from the keyword emphasis by using
the header tags.
RSS Feed URLs
As with HTML web pages, the URLs contained in an RSS
feed should contain keywords if possible. Use hyphens
not underscores, to separate the keywords in the RSS
feed's URL.
Add an Image
Consider adding an image to your RSS feed to enhance
its appearance in an RSS reader. The image should be
no large 144x400 and it is recommended that the image
be 88x31. Most RSS readers will display the feed image
above the feed contents, this is a great way to reinforce
brand and establish brand recognition. Additionally
you can add images to the RSS feed's description field.
In all cases, it is important that the full URL to the
image be referenced, because if the feed is syndicated
it will report a broken image if its attempting to retrieve
it locally.
Some of the RSS feed directories use the
feed's website favorite icons to flag the RSS feed.
The RSS feeds containing a favorite icon stand out from
others in the directories so be sure to include a favicon
in the domain's root directory. RSS feeds are a great
marketing tool, but like web pages, they must be optimized
so that you can reap the full marketing benefits. Taking
the time to implement some basic optimization tips will
steadily increase your RSS feeds exposure.
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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copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
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