I got a Google Alert of a site that used my name the other day, and was a bit surprised at the source—a self-described “black hat” firm that helps people use aggressive (some might say shady) techniques for search optimization. Happily, they didn’t quote me as supporting unethical techniques, but they sell a package that helps you get your pages indexed and they quote me to show that some things they sell really are ethical. I haven’t used their software, but the idea of using Web feeds to improve page indexing is a good one.
It’s always great to be quoted on a Web site where they feel the need to point out that “it isn’t even a blackhat activity.” But that’s OK. The lovely moniker All Day Sucker has been applied to a software package that can turn any Web page into a Web feed.
The major search engines all accept Web feeds (such as RSS and Atom) as a way to quickly index changing content, such as blogs. But there’s no reason you can’t use this technique with any Web content. It might help your page changes get indexed faster. Last week, I mentioned the possibility that your speedy use of a feed might help search engines recognize that your content is the original version of the page—so feeds might avoid duplicate content penalties.
Again, I have no experience with this software or this company—perhaps there are better choices out there, or at least choices with more mainstream marketing. But I think it’s important for search marketers to think about using Web feeds to improve the indexing of their content.
