Search Google One Time, See the Results Forever

I love RSS feeds.

And I love using Google Reader to monitor my feeds, though I do sometimes use other tools to access its riches.

So when I saw this interesting question flow through my Twitter stream the other day, I was intrigued: “Anyone out there a Google Reader expert? Drop me a line…”

I responded to Twitter user Ben Shaiken (claiming that while I wasn’t sure exactly what constituted a Google Reader expert, I was willing to lend a hand) and got the full details on his question.

Ben wanted to know whether it was possible to create an RSS feed to aggregate searches of specific websites for discrete keywords. The example that he provided to me was searching courant.com for occurrences of the word “housing.”

Yes, it is. But it’s easier for Microsoft Bing than for Google. More on that in a bit.

Google

In order to create an RSS feed for a search query in Google, you must first create a Google Alert.

Using Ben’s request as an example, you would specify “housing site:courant.com” as the search term, and configure the results to be directed to an RSS feed rather than delivered by e-mail.

Google Alerts

After you click Create Alert, just click on the link to view the feed directly in Google Reader.

Google Alerts RSS Feed

Bing

Microsoft’s Bing makes this process easier by generating the RSS feed directly and making it available within the same browser window. No second step is required.

Bing Search

After submitting the search query (above), the RSS icon in the browser address bar will light up and expose the RSS feed. Simply grab the feed and put it into Google Reader.

Bing RSS Feed

With this knowledge, anything that you can research in Google or Bing can be converted into an RSS feed and monitored regularly through Google Reader.

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About the Author

David Swinney helps businesses implement social media strategies and plans in order to identify customers and their influencers, engage them in conversation, and leverage those connections to improve the bottom line. As a technologist with a background in social media, corporate communications, technical and customer support, vendor relationship and project management, he is able to comfortably discuss various social media topics with managers, individual contributors, and just plain folks. Contact David if you're looking for someone to create, build, and enhance your customer relationships using social media tools and technologies.