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Submitting Feeds

Site owners can submit structured data to Yahoo! Search for inclusion in the Yahoo! Index. This data is then available to SearchMonkey applications.

This section describes how to create a data feed using the DataRSS format and the searchmonkey-profile vocabulary to send to submit to the Yahoo! Index. These feeds can be used as a data source by SearchMonkey applications. DataRSS and the searchmonkey-profile vocabulary are a specification for embedding your structured data into data feeds. For information on RDF, check out the following links: RDF Concepts and the RDFa Primer.

The Process of Creating a Feed

To create and submit a feed to SearchMonkey, you must:

  1. Select the content for your feed.

  2. Understand DataRSS and the searchmonkey-profile vocabulary.

  3. Create the feed from your model using the DataRSS format with the searchmonkey-profile vocabulary.

  4. Make the feed available over HTTP; the URL should start with "http://".

  5. Encode your feed in UTF-8 format.

  6. Make sure that your feed conforms to proper XML specs by using tools like xmllint.

  7. Validate your feed by using the SearchMonkey feed validation tool. This tool can be downloaded by joining the Yahoo! SearchMonkey Siteowners Group (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/searchmonkey-siteowners/).

  8. Register your site at Site Explorer: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com.

  9. Before submitting your feed make sure you have checked the following:

    • Make sure that your feed is well-formed XML by using a tool such as xmllint.

    • Make sure that your feed validates as DataRSS with zero warnings or errors by using the validator files at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/searchmonkey-siteowners/files/.

    • Make sure that you have a robust feed generation system in place to prevent XML well-formedness errors and DataRSS errors from creeping in. Watch out for:

      • unencoded ampersands and angle brackets

      • bad UTF-8 characters

      • DataRSS fields that are missing or blank

  10. Use Site Explorer to submit your feed to Yahoo!.

If accepted, the feed will be requested periodically, and any updated data will replace previous data on the Yahoo! server.