3 replies to this topic

[compar]

I have seen references made to Trusted Feed in a couple of threads but nobody has ever elaborated or explained when and how to use it.

Can someone explain it to me please?

Edited by compar, 23 September 2003 - 04:11 AM.

[compar]

I have seen references made to Trusted Feed in a couple of threads but nobody has ever elaborated or explained when and how to use it.

Can someone explain it to me please?

I got off my backside and looked it up in Google. Here is one possible answer. Are there more?

Edited by compar, 23 September 2003 - 04:12 AM.

[MakeMeTop]

Simply put, a Trusted Feed is an approved method of telling search engines about URLs which they may be unable to index or spider through their standard methods.

Usually relating to information from dynamic databases, feed data consists of putting together in a textual, spreadsheet or XML format the following information:

i) A title to appear in the SE listings
ii) A description to appear in the SE listings
iii) The URL to appear in the SE listings
iv) A tracking URL by which the user is routed to the destination URL
v) The actual destination URL and/or URL to be spidered (if possible).
vi) 5 keywords/phrases appropriate for the page being referenced.
vii) 200 words of descriptive content reflecting the destination page content.

An example of where a feed may be appropriate could be for a car hire site where a booking form needs to be produced with the country, location and car type already filled in for the surfer. If someone searches for "skoda car hire prague", feed data could provide a listing stating:

Skoda Car Hire Prague, Czech Republic.

Find details of car hire services including Skoda car rental in Prague, Czech Republic.

www.somecarhire.com

This would then be routed to a dynamically generated page for the subject.

Payment is by a fixed rate CPC determined according to the search engine and subject.

[projectphp]

...In other words, you know how bad cloaking is suppossed to be? Well trusted feed is Search Engine accepted Cloaking. It is particularly good for sites with frequently changing content, such as Job sites, and for really, really bad sites that can't be fixed any other way.

Trusted feeds are used mostly to drive traffic from longer keywords, such as "accounting job north shore sydney australia"

It's a great way to get traffic you can't get any other way, but it is also fraught with danger. ROI on such campaigns needs to be monitored carefully, to ensure that you don't overspend.