There's no denying it, the Internet has changed. The change was so \rsubtle most people missed it. It was no great momentous event, just \ra slight sideways flex in how information is exchanged on the web. \rHowever, this slight shift has significant ramifications for anyone \rtrying to achieve top rankings in the different search engines. \rSo keep reading to find out how you can use this new SEO wildcard to \r'hotwire' your site to the major search engines such as Google, Msn \rand Yahoo.

Of course, the wildcard we're talking about is RSS!

RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication.' Basically, RSS allows you to \rdirectly deliver your content to all interested parties... don't come \rto us; we will deliver the information to you or your website. It \rsyndicates your content. In a nutshell; it's simply a more efficient way to \rget your content 'out there'.

It was first used by News sites to send updated headlines and\rbrief summaries to all interested parties. Many people associate\rRSS with Blogs or Blogging because Blogs are usually written in\rXML or RSS format (code like HTML) so that these headlines and \rpostings can be easily read and accessed.

Although the change may have been slight, the ramifications of RSS \rmay be long lasting and far reaching. As the major search engines\rincorporate RSS into their SERPs and Algorithms, RSS may even play \ra larger role than many people realized at first glance. However, \rRSS emergence as a dominant SEO factor is not really a big surprise; \rRSS presents 'raw-timely-content' for the search engines to serve up \rto their patrons -- its just what the 'info pushers' ordered.

Therefore, you must optimize or position your site to take full \radvantage of the RSS wildcard. RSS Positioning! Simple RSS strategies \rthat you can use to position your site with the major search engines \rincluding Google.

Actually, Google has just introduced a new XML powered Sitemaps. You are \rbasically setting up a direct 'hotwire' -- linking your site to Google. \rAny or all changes on your site can now be instantly updated and indexed \rby Google.

How It Works

There are several ways to set-up a XML Sitemap, perhaps \rthe easiest way is to use the open-source Generator which \ryou can download from Google. This is a Python file that \ryou can upload to your webserver and this generator \rwill create a sitemap from your 'URL lists, webserver \rdirectories, or your access logs'.

Once done, you have to then submit your newly generated XML sitemap \rto Google -- the search engine will use this XML sitemap to \rupdate and index your site whenever you make changes on your site. \rYou will need to have a Google account.

You may also submit text files containing URLs from your web site \rto be included in Google Sitemaps but these text files will have \ror will be given low priority for the time being.

To get started on your own Google Sitemaps Account you can click here:\rhttps://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login

But Google's new Sitemaps is just the latest way to use RSS positioning,\rits not the only way! You can further optimize your site by \rusing the following RSS strategies:

Build RSS Feeds and Blogs for Your Keywords.

One of the best ways to use RSS is to set up a Blog and RSS feed for \reach of your major keywords. Any major topic or subject on your site \rmust or should have a Blog and RSS feed to compliment your site's content.

To optimize fully, it is best to have a separate IP address for each of \rthese Blogs, different from your site's IP address. You can even use Free Blog\rsites like Bloglines (owned by Ask Jeeves) or eBlogger (owned by Google). \rTo take full advantage, it's best to use 'unique content' in these blogs\rand make sure you link only to high PR quality sites.

Ping Your Blogs Regularly

Pinging your blog posts regularly will alert the search engines new\rcontent has been added to your site or blog. Most of you have probably \rnoticed by now that using sites like 'MyYahoo' to ping your blogs \rand RSS feeds is a great way of getting your sites spidered and \rindexed quickly in the major search engines.

Pinging is simply sending out a signal to all the weblog tracking\rsites that your site/blog has been updated.

Here's a site http://pingomatic.com that will 'ping' you blogs\rautomatically.

Add RSS Feeds to Your Site

Another way to attract the search engines is to place high quality RSS \rfeeds on your site related to your subject area. Use these feeds to provide \rvaluable content to your visitors.

And it's quite simple to do; just add "&format=rss" at the end of the\rURL in your Msn search engine query. For example, to get an RSS Feed for\r'tsunami relief' you would use this url:

http://beta.search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=tsunami+relief&format=rss

In Yahoo the URL would be slightly different:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=tsunami+relief&ei=UTF-8&fl=0&x=wrt

Of course, you can change 'tsunami+relief' with the keyword or phrase of\ryour choice to suit your website's content.

Conclusion

Trying these RSS positioning strategies will give your site added \rvisibility on the web and a greater presence in the major search \rengines. It will create dynamic links to and from your site and this will \rresult in faster spidering/indexing of your sites. You should be using \rRSS to basically 'hotwire' your site or sites to the major search engines \rsuch as Google, Msn and Yahoo -- in fact, it should be your number one priority.

RSS is still relatively new; despite the popularity of blogging, \rpodcasting, MyYahoo and the RSS featured Firefox Browser, it hasn't totally gone\rmainstream. Many webmasters have not yet optimized their sites for RSS,\rso you can give your site a slight competitive edge if you act quickly. \rBy taking full advantage of this new technology you will see a marked \rimprovement in your site's traffic, not to mention a noticeable increase \rin your site's rankings.

So don't delay, 'hotwire' your site by utilizing the RSS factor and you \rmight be pleasantly surprised where it takes you!

To add RSS to your Site within minutes, download this simple \rRSS and Blogging Guide.\rCopyright ? 2005 Titus Hoskins. Visit http://www.bizwaremagic.com/blog\rfor more informativie RSS/Blog content. This article may be \rfreely distributed if this resource box stays attached.