Here are some simple steps that you can take to help optimize an RSS Feed for the search engines:

1. The title must contain keywords relating to the content of your RSS Feed. It is important that the title is relevant to the content and does not mislead the reader.

2. Display an RSS Feed on your website. By displaying a feed on a website and providing fresh content, the search engines will spider the website regularly. The more often your website is updated with fresh content the more regularly the search engines will index your site.

3. Internal links. Within your feed make sure to always use the full path of any links. Other websites may syndicate the contents of your RSS Feed and if the links within the feed are not fully qualified then they will not work! Links should also launch a new browser thus keeping visitors on your website.

4. Emphasize keywords in your link text. The search engines will use the text in the feeds internal links to help identify the keywords to use for your RSS feed.

So be sure to use keywords in any link text that points back to your website or feed.

5. My.MSN and My.Yahoo. The fastest way to get your RSS feed spidered by Yahoo or MSN is to include your feed on a personal my.yahoo or my.msn home page.

Just create an account on the search engines and set up the home page to include your RSS feed. The RSS feed will usually be indexed by Yahoo and MSN within 24 to 48 hours.

6. RSS Feed backlinks. Just like with a website you need to increase you feed's link popularity by submitting it to the appropriate directories. When submitting your feed be sure to choose the correct category.

7. RSS Feed summary. Summaries or introductions are needed to provide additional information on an HTML site that will entice a reader to click through to view the entire item of the feed. By providing enough teaser copy you will allow your visitors to easily decide whether the content is something that is important to them.

8. Subscribe to your own RSS feed. How will you know what your subscribers are seeing unless you see it for yourself? Subscribing will also allow you to experiment with formatting and will show you when you may need to add HTML into your feed.

9. Most feed readers display feeds in the reader alphabetically. This means that if your RSS Feed title begins with A then it will probably appear in the top of the list in most feed readers. So keep this tip in mind if you think it is important for your feed to appear in the top of the list of most feed readers.

10. Every link in your feed is important. Each item tag in your RSS Feed should include a unique URL. This URL should send your visitors to information that is related to your feed.

You must produce quality content! It is your content that will keep your visitors coming back.

RSS Feeds are a simple and inexpensive method of marketing your site. By becoming a content provider now will only mean much greater benefits in the future.

Search engines tend to make even the most successful marketers feel powerless.

Avoid the wrath of the search engines by following these basic tips for optimizing your RSS Feed.

Copyright 2007 Joe Rispoli