Search Illustrated: The Power Of RSS Feeds

RSS feeds offer a unique channel for distributing content that can help expand your audience to people beyond those who visit your web site.

But RSS feeds can also be an important part of a search marketing campaign. Well optimized feeds can also gain prominent placement on search engine result pages, attracting even more traffic. Today’s Search Illustrated shows how this works:

Graphic by Elliance, an eMarketing firm specializing in results-driven search engine marketing, web site design, and outbound eMarketing campaigns. The firm is the creator of the ennect online marketing toolkit. The Search Illustrated column appears Tuesdays at Search Engine Land.

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Infographics | Search Illustrated | SEO: Blogs & Feeds

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http://www.netpaths.net CVOS

How about an explanation for this: “if optimized, RSS feeds can show on a search results page” This is hyper vague and offers no explanation. I have successfully had RSS feeds ranked well, but I’m sure others would appreciate these tips:

* Have a link to the RSS feed on every page, as well as an “autofind” link in the header
* Make sure your desired keywords are in each title and description node
* create good, readable URL’s for each link in your feed
* make sure the feed is standards compliant
http://www.weboptimist.com WebOptimist

Good suggestions. For those who want to see an example, try this. Search for “palm springs seo” and take a look at somewhere around position #5. My blog comes in at the top of the results, but my RSS feed also ranks.

Very powerful. Something to take very seriously in your organic ranking campaign.
http://www.yhurhere.net/twitter Ryan Gerardi

Do you have any insight on how RSS feeds can be utilized for inventory display purposes, particularly for autos? I have experimented with this but am always interested in feedback from others.

The unique aspect to inventory is that unlike traditional RSS feeds with content that always remains, autos come and go all day long. An RSS feed of inventory is beneficial to shoppers in that it theoretically is always up to date and does not require database management.