What is an RSS feed?

Feed RSS

Select your language:

An RSS feed is a file with the different versions of the contents that are published on a website.

Feeds are generated automatically, and create a flow of content that is displayed in blocks (not to be confused with Google in-feed).

An RSS feed is structured in XML format (eXtensible Markup Language), a standard that allows you to organize content in the form of data including all its elements.

The XML format also serves to exchange information between different applications and platforms (database, text editors, and content distribution in the form of data in general between systems).

What are RSS feeds for?

Focused from the simplest concept of the term, an RSS feed is intended to distribute information from the real estate agency.

Depending on different variables, such as the type of data contained in the file and the application used to open it, the real estate feeds will serve a specific purpose.

Although you always have to keep in mind that a real estate feed, whether it be RSS or Atom, basically serves so that the published contents are distributed completely or partially on another site.

The usefulness of feeds is very diverse, and we can find different ways to use them.

Difference between an RSS feed and a web source.

A few years ago the only web source format was RSS (Really Simple Syndication), and the terms were used interchangeably.

However, currently not all web sources use the RSS format, and there begins confusion about what is an RSS feed and a web source.

For example, Atom feeds have the same basic functions as an RSS, but use different standards.

• The Atom format for content broadcasting is xml.

• The Atom publishing protocol is based on the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) protocol.

In any case, RSS feeds allow to disseminate the updated information of the contents published on the real estate sites.

Advantages of RSS feeds.

• Automatic content advertising.

The real estate publications can be disseminated through different media and platforms.

• Content syndicators.

• Intranet CMS.

• Social media platforms.

• Satellite Blogs.

• Article directories.

• Real estate portals.

• Digital newspapers.

• Emails.

• Web browsers.

• Real estate CRM.

It is an automatic system for disseminating very effective content, which enhances brand development and, at the same time, makes it easier to achieve a better positioning for real estate on the internet.

• User experience.

Users can easily subscribe, and receive in their email notifications of new content published by the real estate (new properties for sale, home price updates, special offers and promotions, etc).

The subscription to the RSS feed can be canceled at any time in a very simple way, and with total transparency for users.

Users can subscribe to the sources generated by the feeds of each type of content and language, and the subscription to the RSS feed can be canceled at any time and with complete transparency.

This significantly improves the visitor’s experience at the real estate sites, because the user can access the summary information of the contents, and also save what is published in their bookmarks for later reference.

• Indexing of contents.

RSS feeds are a complement to sitemaps , and serve to improve the indexing system of search engine content, improving the chances of getting a good position in the SERP’s . 

While they do not replace sitemaps, because feeds are a different resource, they can also be indexed with multiping .

• Segmentation by languages.

You can generate as many RSS feeds as languages ​​in which it is published on the real estate site, that is, each publication language can have its own automatic content feed.

The real estate agents can also perform a higher level segmentation linked to each language by various assigned variables (type of property, format, areas, attributions, etc.).

• Backlinks and social signals.

Feeds significantly increase the number of backlinks to improve the positioning on the internet of the real estate (directories, social networks, real estate portals , third-party platforms, etc).

At the same time, and depending on the configuration of the feeds, they can become an excellent resource to improve social signals .

• Real estate team.

Used internally, a feed facilitates real-time communication with members of the real estate team (status updates, new properties for sale or rent, prospects for fundraising, list of organizational activities and events, etc).

Real estate agents, using an RSS feed reading system in their web browsers, can be informed of the latest trends in the sector, selecting and filtering the sources of information by making their own content curation.

Used internally through a real estate intranet , an organizational-level feed is a very effective resource for company members to receive instant notifications.

• Customer support.

Internet forums use the feed system to notify their registered users about new topics for discussion, as well as to inform them if there are new responses to a specific topic.

The real estate website can generate a feed for your inquiries section in the customer service area , and thus automatically offer a better after-sales service .

If the real estate agency has a section of frequently asked questions on its website, as a complement to its clients, they will receive notification of their answers automatically.

• Real estate blog.

Virtually all traditional newspapers today have their online version, and they often use a feed for each of their sections.

The real estate blog can be structured into categories by languages, which will have a constantly updated feed automatically with each new content published.

The real estate website can also be segmented by types of properties for sale with a specific feed for each one (apartments, chalets, bungalows, farms, etc.), and each linked to a particular language.

Types of RSS feeds.

There are several types of RSS feed that can be used for different purposes, and can be generated from different variables (file type, format, languages, etc.).

Multimedia type feeds, used for images and / or videos, do not usually contain text, although they may include titles, descriptions and metadata for better content syndication.

• Feed versions.

A real estate website usually has at least two versions of the site, one for desktop computers and one for mobile devices (phones, tablets, etc.).

RSS feeds can also be configured to be generated automatically according to the different versions of a site, using the same content structure and including the type of original source format, and adapting to the device used by users.

• Image feed.

The image feed is often used by real estate agents, because they precisely base their content structure on the photographs of homes for sale.

This type of feed can also be used to publish Ads on Google in-feed Ads, Bing and on social networks.

When configuring an image feed, the pixel size of the photographs must be taken into account, and the image and content optimization systems used on the web to share the publications.

• Facebook Open Graph.

• Pinterest Rich Pins.

• Twitter Cards.

• Google AMP.

• Facebook Spectrum.

If the real estate website uses the content optimization systems for sharing mentioned above, there will be no conflict with the image feeds that may eventually be generated.

• Video feed.

Real estate videos have become a widespread resource for the dissemination of properties for sale, even displacing the classic image galleries of homes.

You can also create RSS feeds of videos on YouTube to disseminate content on any platform, even to publish them automatically on any part of the real estate website.

• Real estate channel on YouTube.

• Source code of the page.

• Copiar el data channel external id.

• Add it to the end of url address.

• From the real estate channel you can access the source code and simply add the Data Channel External ID at the end of the url addresses.

Real estate agents can use this type of feed to get a better diffusion of their product, because automatically every video published on the page of a property is added to the structure of dissemination of content.

• Audio feed.

If the real estate publishes podcasts, for example in your real estate blog or as part of your online marketing strategy, you can also generate a specific feed for such content.

Podcasts, like videos, are also a fairly widespread resource, and allow users to listen to content on any device.

• Editorial feed.

There are several editorial plugins to manage a real estate blog, which can be linked to the editorial feed of the real estate site, even from the same WordPress plugin.

RSS editorial feeds facilitate the organized distribution of content, and can be used for automatic publication of articles on social networks, because they are structured based on the editorial calendar of the blog .

• Language feed.

Companies in the real estate sector usually manage multilingual sites , something basic in any real estate advertising strategy, and that is why it is necessary to segment the feeds in the different publication languages.

To get the language feeds to work correctly, the metadata and texts included in the content must have their corresponding translation and Hreflang tags .

Conclusions.

• It is an automatic system, which at the organizational level should not invest resources of any kind by the real estate.

• Implementing an RSS feed is free, and the real estate agency should not make any economic investment to take advantage of this resource.

• It is a very effective system to add to the online marketing strategy, which promotes real estate brand development and, at the same time, facilitates reaching a larger audience of potential buyer customers.

• The real estate agency has absolute control over each feed generated and how it distributes it; attending from your specific needs at the organizational and business level.

There are many ways to use RSS feeds , and in any case it will depend on the particular needs of each real estate and its content marketing strategy how to use them.

However, as a resource for disseminating content and publications, an RSS feed is an element to be taken into account to implement in the real estate sites, due to its effectiveness and its excellent cost-benefit ratio.