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Real-time Indexing with RSS Feeds or API

AddSearch supports adding frequently updated website content to your search index immediately using either RSS feeds or the Search API.

Using RSS Feeds for Real-time Updates​

The RSS feed feature lets you provide an RSS feed URL from your website that contains the latest content updates. AddSearch polls this feed every 5 minutes and indexes new or updated items automatically.

Requirements for RSS Feeds​

  • The feed must be under 2 MB in size, preferably smaller.
  • Each item in the feed must include a publication date or an updated date to identify new or changed content.
  • Supported formats are Atom 1.0 (recommended) and RSS 2.0.

Setting up an RSS Feed in AddSearch​

  1. Create an RSS feed on your website containing your latest content updates.
  2. Log in to your AddSearch account.
  3. Go to Setup > Domains and crawling.
  4. Under the RSS-feeds section, click Add new feed +.
  5. Enter your feed URL in the input field.
  6. Click Save.

Your feed will now be polled automatically every 5 minutes to update the search index with new or changed content.

AddSearch RSS Feeds Setup

Sample Feed Formats​

Atom 1.0 example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <title>Example Feed</title>
  <link href="https://www.addsearch.com/feed" />
  <updated>2019-05-29T14:09:42Z</updated>
  <entry>
    <title>Product Updates</title>
    <link href="https://www.addsearch.com/product/updates/" />
    <published>2017-05-22T09:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2019-05-29T11:12:39Z</updated>
  </entry>
</feed>

RSS 2.0 example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>A simple RSS feed</title>
    <link>https://www.addsearch.com/feed/</link>
    <description>AddSearch example feed</description>
    <lastBuildDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2019 01:45:45 GMT</lastBuildDate>
    <item>
      <title>Product Updates</title>
      <link>https://www.addsearch.com/product/updates/</link>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 Jun 2019 13:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Additional Recommendations​

To ensure comprehensive indexing of your website, use sitemaps alongside RSS feeds. RSS feeds are particularly useful for websites with frequent content changes like news sites or large e-commerce stores where fresh content should appear in search results promptly.

Real-time Indexing via the Crawl API​

You can also update your search index instantly by using AddSearch's Crawl API endpoint. This API lets you add, remove, or modify indexed URLs; the changes take effect immediately after re-crawling.

Plan Support: The RSS feed feature is available on the Core, Advanced, and Enterprise plans. Please verify your plan's current support for this feature.

For further details and advanced use cases, see the API documentation linked above.