I keep reading about RSS feeds but am afraid I have never really understood them. What are they and are the of any use in obtaining backlings for articles, squidoo lenses or blogs?
not really, RSS feed is nothing but an automated scripts which shows updates from the blogs you subscribed . For example : you have subscribed to my blog , so what ever new posts i make, you get automated updates without visiting the actual blog. generally users read them from Google Reader,Opera and many software are lying around the internet . just try some time.
RSS Feeds are not just for blogs you can use them for anything, from Forum posts, to press releases. If the feeds are syndicated on other sites and you have links in the feed you will get backlinks.
RSS feed is used for new update in your blog or website. They can be used for your site self back link but external link is not possible.
You can create backlinks by submitting your rss feed to free rss feed directories, but , remember that the text which appears there is a duplicate of the title and/or excerpt from your blog post, and so it may be self-defeating since you are creating some duplicate content elsewhere on the web.
To the previous poster. Yes it is duplicate content but maybe the O is interested in getting his message across. Hopefully, the subscriber then bookmarks his site and he gains a new customer.
I think teatime point is that search engines don't count back links on duplicate items. I am also am interested in the rss feed back link and would like to hear from some one who has a back link from a feed. It is possible that a bot could read it as a feed and take as a duplicate with out reading it. This is command in other area's.
RSS feed cannot produce backlinks. It is just good for traffic, thats all. Reference - http://www.acegoogle.com/does-RSS-help-in-Google-Rankings.html
RSS for some stands for Really Simple Spamming, while for the rest of the world its Really Simple Syndication. The only way you can build backlinks is if you are using other peoples RSS on your site, and have a system to generate natural links. Or if you are creative you can building links using RSS (define it how you think will be appropriate)
Many thanks all for answering though I'm afraid I'm still somewhat confused. If I submit the articles I write to a RSS feed, would this gain them backlinks?????
Well I don't think that it would give you any backlink but it is still very important as it will surely give you some rpeat visitors....
From my experience I can tell you that using RSS feeds can get you some good backlinks every once in a while.