RSS Feeds

[IGotRealEstate]

Are RSS Feeds spiderable?

[SanDiego]

better yet, will they count as "duplicate content" if they are?

[SanDiego]

anyone home?

[webmaster]

do you have and example of how the RSS feed is going to be displayed?

[SanDiego]

Sure, I am looking to put some script in to turn rss/XML feeds into HTML.. so it gets put right into the page.

Here's a neat example of 2 sites in the top ten for the same lame artical (rss maybe or maybe they copied it illegally)

Check ths out:
Artical 1 - Legit - position 8 in G for San Diego REALTOR
inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=41798


Artical 2 - (seems copied or Rss'd in from Inman news.) position 6 in G for San Diego REALTOR
homeboundmortgage.com/Mortgage_Info/EconomyRealEstate-6-25-4/MortgageNews3.htm

So my assumption is Inman got paid $299 for the newsfeed module (same thing they tried to sell me) and this guy placed his "own custom script" on the server to have it self hosted and projected into HTML from RSS/XML..

And yes, I am yet to get a script, but my main Q was about this - Isn't that DOUBLE CONTENT in the same top 10 at G?

[Stelis]

On a related topic, yes they are spiderable, but there other spiders out there that look specifically for RSS feeds.

Yahoo seems to be making a drive towards solidifying itself as the number 1 news source, amidst advances by Google and the other syndicated newsfeed sites. My feeling is that Yahoo's spider will spot links to RSS feeds, and automatically add them to its "My Yahoo" service.

As for RSS feeds causing duplicate content issues, my suggestion is to not put much content in your feeds, and just use it as a way to syndicate headlines and descriptions.

[SanDiego]

but the last thing i want it to work so hard on my site to get them to go elsewhere because I didnt have the actual content.... plus, I dont want the rss spidered giving Inman (rss feeder) the credit for it, I would like the spider to give my site credit for content.... notice how some random mortgage company in my previous post had the WHOLE story there on the page and it got spidered and pull up even ABOVE the orginal story from the rss provider in the serps because of it..
They simply added an advertisement to the page and put it on their domain...LOL

[myrealtyfeed]

Long and short answer to the question of whether RSS feeds are spiderable by search engines:

Yes, they are.

And maybe, depending on where they came from and how the RSS item link is set up.

If you have an RSS feed created or run through a web service (like feedburner), your feeds will be spiderable if the link redirect is set properly (HTTP 301, I believe). If not, then the link might not be spiderable.

I only mention this second option because it's an important consideration of how you set up your RSS feeds to get maximum benefit from them. (BTW, (myrealtyfeed.com does it the proper way, so the links are properly spidered.)

Thanks.