Your RSS Feed Might Look Like Spam

Navigation: Main page » Blogging RSS

 Print this page Submit articleComment article

Author: Chris Wood

Article source: http://www.rss-specifications.com/. Used with author's permission.

RSS feeds seem to be the breakout technology for the year. With more users turning to them for driving traffic to their site, it's no wonder that a trail of RSS feed spam is following in the wake. A careful editing of your RSS feed could make the difference between being classified as genuine content or RSS spam.

RSS search engines are just beginning to pick up steam. As more RSS feeds become searchable, the number of visitors will increase and spam is sure to follow. It is an unfortunate side effect of free communication. While RSS users can typically unsubscribe to feeds they deem as spam, browsing with keywords in an RSS search engine is where the problem arises.

RSS spam largely consists of three main types most often found in the RSS search engines. The first type is keyword stuffing.

Keyword stuffing involves filling each RSS feed article with high-value keywords for a specific topic. The articles are not intended for human visitors, but instead for search engine robots to direct traffic to a target web site. This RSS spam technique is nothing more than an adaptation of the typical keyword-stuffed web page, often banned by major search engines.

The second type involves RSS feed link farms. These RSS articles often contain very little content, if any, other than a simple keyword. Their main attraction is the feed title. Clicking the feed title takes the user to a blog containing tens or hundreds of other blogs and RSS feeds, each directing to more links within the farm. The goal of this type of RSS spam is to trick the user into clicking advertisements or directing them to a product web site.

The third type is the creation of fake RSS feeds. These appear as legitimate, but often duplicated, article content. Whether they provide value or not is certainly debatable. These feeds are usually created in mass, using automated scripts, and appear similar in nature to the link farms. By attracting the users to seemingly valuable content, they hope to gain advertisement clicks or product web site traffic.

Your RSS feed might happen to fall into one of these three categories. While you may currently be experiencing increased traffic from the RSS search engines, these directories are working on filtering out the RSS spam techniques. However, you can still take advantage of RSS feeds and their power by following an RSS-friendly guideline.

Refrain from using automated scripts to create online content used by your RSS feeds. Instead, write your own original thoughts, product descriptions, and reviews. It takes a little more time, but the search engines will value this content much more highly, your visitors will appreciate the unique content, and the subscription count to your RSS feed will grow. It is also important to keep your feed updated with changing content as opposed to using a static feed, which remains the same. Search engines value dynamic feeds and will likely rank you higher as a result.

There are tools and services available, which aid in keeping an RSS feed updated with your changing content. Such services include FeedFire for converting your web site content to a periodically updated RSS feed or software such as FeedForAll for creating and editing RSS feeds.

A successful RSS feed is very much the same as a successful web page. It may take a little more time to digitize your thoughts, but the end result is well worth the effort. By avoiding the tricks in RSS feed spam, you can help make the difference in quality of feeds and enjoyment in your readers.

Fat Loss for Women – Is It Really Harder for Women to Lose Weight?
As a trainer, I come in contact with several female clients who are discouraged about certain part of their body. Often times, these clients are resigned to th...

When Human Beings Take It To The Limit
I believe I have been witness to a certain level of human achievement that was simply mind-blowing. These people have obviously trained and practiced so much th...

Surprise — Public School Class Size Doesnt Matter Very Much
It turns out that smaller class size does not guarantee that children get a better education in public school. Rather, teacher quality and instruction methods a...

Restructure Your Debt Before Buying a Home
The temptation of getting into the runaway housing market is understandable. However, if you are in debt, it's important to make sure you restructure it and con...

Weight Loss Methods
On the market at any given time, there are hundreds of weight loss methods. You will no doubt see hundreds of commercials in your time for a weight loss drug, ...

10 Tips for Responsible Medication Use
Many people today take multiple medications, vitamins and supplements. Do you know how to use them safely?

NFL Week 7 Notebook
Random Thoughts)

Minimum Credit Card Payments to Rise
Several major credit card companies are preparing to raise the minimum payment amounts. Borrowers should be aware of these changes.

Electronic Commerce Taxation and Pakistan
Electronic Commerce is not a new phenomenon in developed world but the countries like Pakistan who has yet not proper infrastructure available to create atmosph...

Create Some Action and Reduce the Fear That is Holding Back Your Success
Fear prevents us from doing many things in life. You have probably heard the acronym for FEAR - False Evidence Appearing Real. Often the things that we fear are...

Never Give Up!
At the age of twelve I was molested by a man my mother brought into our home. She left me and my family and ran off with this child molester...

7 PROVEN Ways to Get More Orders!
Tuning your website into the right direction will take you into making more orders, this 7 proven ways is a must know "how-to" tactics to make more orders from ...

Do You Know What The 7 Home Insurance Plans Are?
Most people don't realize that there are 7 different homeowners insurance plans that insurance companies can offer. Each plan is different from the other 6 bas...

Lyndon Johnson - The Day After Dallas
J. Edgar Hoover and LBJ used to enjoy watching Hoover's agent filmed blackmail evidence for all Washington movers and shakers and we are now a lot more aware of...

Healthy Eating
Recently I found the book : "Eating and health according to the teaching work of The Master Peter Deunov" . I've never red something so simple and so sensefu...

Child Separation Anxiety: Does Your Child Have It?
If you are a parent, more than likely your child may be having problems with child separation anxiety. Now you can learn more about child separation anxiety an...

3 Easy Steps to Low Stress Communication
Life is all about choices. And so is the way you communicate. You can fill your days with frustrating high stress communication or you can have days of low stre...

Three Phases to Email Sensitivity
Writing emails requires sensitivity to the reader. This article discusses how to sensitize yourself, whether you are a reader or an email writer, to both sides....

Spring Break on South Padre Island Texas
When planning your spring break trip to South Padre Island take a moment and consider what you might want to do when the thought of laying on the beach isn't as...

Scrolling LED signs
Scrolling LED signs is type of LED signs that displays Scrolling text and can be used as outdoor and/or indoor outlet. Wide variety of businesses uses this equ...

46 Clues Your Partner is Having an Affair
Some serious and other not-so-serious clues that your partner might be having an affair.

When You Need Extra Cash Ebay Fits the Bill
We all have items in our closets and stuffed in drawers that we no longer have a use for. Some of us use our free time to manufacture craft items that we give ...

Getting Your Credit Report and Understanding Whats On It
How do you get your hands on a copy of your credit report? And once you have it, what does it mean?

Dont Get Hysterical About The Historical
The tension was palpable in the room as I began the first marital counseling session ever for the couple who had passed their 50th anniversary several years bef...