The Basics page introduced you to subscribed links, showed you how they work, and gave you an idea of what you need to specify to create them. This page gets you ready to create a more powerful subscribed link with large numbers of results and queries.
As described in the previous page, a dynamic subscribed link allows you to specify more complex search queries and create a large body of results. You can create content for your dynamic subscribed link using one of the following three formats:
Text files with tab-separated values (TSV)
As the name implies, a TSV file is a plain text file that includes lines of fields (strings of characters) that are separated from each other by a single tab stop. You can use a simple text or spreadsheet editor to create and edit TSV files. Just save the text file with the file extension: .tsv.
RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 feeds
A web feed is a data format for distributing web content, such as news and blogs, to subscribers. RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 are the dominant web-feed formats for content syndication.
XML files that use the Subscribed Links format
XML is a general-purpose markup language for sharing data. It is text with tags that you can read. For example, the Subscribed Links XML format includes the following tags: <Results></Results> and <Query></Query>.
Steps for Creating a Dynamic Subscribed Link
Essentially, the process of creating and publishing your dynamic subscribed link involves the following steps:
Add a Subscribed Links button to your website so that people can add your expertise to their Google search result page.
Choosing the Right File Format for Your Subscribed Link
Before you start creating your subscribed link, determine which file format best suits your needs. You don't want to select a format that is more powerful and complex than what you need, nor do you want to use a format that you will quickly outgrow. If your subscribed link increases in complexity, you can consider using multiple files, even files of different formats. For example, you can house the main components in XML files, and store the data in data object TSV files. (This scenario is discussed in one of the more advanced pages.) All formats have the same file size limitations, and you can learn more about that in the Publishing Your Subscribed Link page.
After you have created the file, you need to publish your file and tell Google where to find it so that we can serve your custom results. You can either specify the URL of your files or upload them. Google combines the information in all these files to form your subscribed link. For more information about publishing your subscribed link, see the Publishing Your Subscribed Link page.
Use the following table to pick the appropriate format:
If you want to...
Use this format or tool...
Because...
But be aware of the limitations of the format...
For more information, see...
Create a small set of queries and results that have simple text output
You can quickly create query-result pairs by filling out text boxes instead of creating a file with a text editor, uploading the file, and integrating the results with Google.
You have to go through the wizard each time you create a simple query and its associated result. It is mostly useful for familiarizing yourself with Subscribed Links and creating a very small set of custom results. So if you want to create something richer, do not use the wizard. Creating and managing multiple subscribed links results can become tedious. Also, you cannot customize the look and feel of your subscribed link results.
Create a simple but large set of queries and results that have simple text output
Text file with tab separated values (TSV)
You can create and manage simple query-result pairs in a single file. Each line of text in your TSV file can specify a query, a hyperlinked title, and a snippet of text.
You can specify only simple queries and results. While you do not need to use the wizard for each simple query-result pair, you still have to manually create the contents of your custom results. Also, you cannot customize the look and feel of your search results.
Create queries that trigger results that display excerpts of an existing Atom or RSS feed
RSS or Atom feed format
You do not need to recreate a large amount of content for your custom results. You just augment your existing Atom or RSS feeds with Subscribed Links tags and specify queries that trigger custom results with excerpts.
You can specify only simple queries, and you cannot customize the look and feel of your search results.
Create a large number of complex queries and results that have more features
XML
You can specify complex patterns of queries and even tweak the formatting and appearance of your search results. In addition, you can use other advanced features like calculator integration and regular expressions.
Even if you are not interested in using the advanced features, this format is the best way to create a subscribed link with larger sets of custom results.
The XML format is the most powerful and useful format. It is appropriate for developers who want to create an advanced subscribed link with bells and whistles and customize the look and feel of their search results.
Creating a subscribed link is relatively easy, but don't start constructing a storm of queries and results. Start with a small file with only a handful of queries and results so that you can easily test and troubleshoot your file. Increase complexity—such as regular expression patterns, variables, and templates—after you have verified that the simple form of your subscribed link work. When things work as expected, incrementally add more queries and results, and then test them again. Reiterate the process until you have created the entire set of queries and results. If you create a large set of queries and results in one go, you might end up pulling your hair out trying to isolate the causes behind parsing errors or unexpected results.
A good subscribed link provides useful content in response to relevant queries. If your results are neither useful nor relevant, your users will remove your subscribed link. The following sections are guidelines for creating a good subscribed link.
Guidelines for Queries
Help your users find your custom results. They might have subscribed to multiple subscribed links or subscribed to your subscribed link a while back, so they don't remember how to trigger your custom results. Create an intuitive set of introductory queries that trigger your subscribed link. The most obvious candidates for your introductory queries are your brand name and a couple of terms that are most closely associated with your service. For example, if you have a subscribed link called Google Cycling, create introductory queries that include: "Google Cycling", "Cycling", and "Biking". The results for these introductory queries should include basic instructions for triggering your subscribed link.
Don't create a custom result with a multitude of triggering queries that are only tangentially related to the results. Let's say you have a subscribed link for racquet sports, and you are creating queries for custom results about badminton. You might create queries that include "badminton," "battledore," and "shuttlecock." Each time your users type one of the queries you defined, they would see your subscribed link result about badminton appear in their Google search results page. Now, if you start adding "gloucestershire" and "feathers" to your list of triggering queries for your result on badminton, your users–who are probably looking for information about a county in Great Britain or bird plumage, not badminton–would be baffled by your seemingly random custom results about badminton.
If your users find that your subscribed link keeps on triggering results that are not relevant to their searches, they might conclude that your subscribed link is just cluttering their Google search results page and eventually remove your subscribed link.
But what if you have the opposite problem; that is, the list of queries that you defined does not seem to be triggering your custom results as often as they should? You can incrementally expand the triggering queries for the subscribed link results. You can create variants of your query by rearranging keywords and including or omitting prepositions, articles, and other common words.
In general, start with a conservative number of custom results and their associated queries, then expand the number of results and queries slowly. You might want to provide your users the means to give you feedback. You can do this by adding feedback links to your subscribed link description page or your own website. To learn more about the subscribed link description page, see the Publishing Your Subscribed Link page.
Guidelines for Results
When you create custom results for your subscribed link, you should provide information that is immediately useful and relevant to your users' queries. Don't create boilerplate text about you or the sort of services you provide. Really, it's unnecessary. Your subscribed link is shown only to users who already know about you, and they have, in fact, actively chosen to to subscribe to your content. They do not want generic advertisements for your services but specific information that helps them get answers to their queries more quickly. Eventually, when you create a reputation for providing useful information in your subscribed link, you build your brand and increase traffic to your website.
Your custom result can have one of two formats: the standard format and a gadgets format. The standard format is composed mostly of plain text and hyperlinks, although you could also include icons and images. Subscribed links using the standard format are loaded on the search results quickly. The gadgets format lets you embed gadgets within your custom result and lets you have a more interactive custom result, but it increases the loading time of the page. For most subscribed links, the best option is the standard format.
Using the Standard Format
Subscribed links using the standard format have two main components: the title and the text body. You can follow these guidelines to create useful results:
Custom Result Component
Best Practice
Title
Make the title of each of your custom results descriptive, since Google might truncate the text in the body of you custom results. For example, a subscribed link that shows restaurant reviews could have the title for the custom result for a restaurant called Cafe Seven read like, "Cafe Seven is a local favorite for tapas" instead of just "Cafe Seven". When you specify the hyperlink for the title, use the URL address that leads your users to the most relevant page instead of your home page.
Body of custom results
Content
Include the best content in your subscribed link. Popular subscribed links can encourage users to visit your website.
If you already have a popular website or syndicated content, think about the most important pieces of information associated with you and include them in your custom results. For example, if you are a food reviewer known for rating restaurants by the number of garlic icons, include your garlic ratings with general information about the restaurant.
Hyperlinks
Don't just provide a series of links in your subscribed link results, expecting your users to just click their way to the answer that they are searching for. If you're just going to rely on hyperlinks, you defeat the whole point of subscribed links, which is to give specialized and customized answers instantly. If Google search can give them their answers faster, your users might remove your subscribed link. So provide the most important information or core content in the custom results itself. Use hyperlinks only to provide additional information, not as your main content.
Formatting
Although you can have up to three lines of text in the body of your custom results, you don't have to use up all three lines, especially if you can answer questions in one or two lines. And avoid excessively using capital letters and non-alphanumeric ASCII characters.
Using the Gadgets Format
If you need to interact with your users, fetch and display results from another site, or use JavaScript, use the gadgets format. Since subscribed links with this format take longer to load, do not use it if the standard format serves the needs of your users. If it often takes a long time for your subscribed link to load or it fails to load properly, your users will be dissatisfied and are likely to remove your subscribed link.
If the purpose of the gadget within the subscribed link is not obvious, use a descriptive title that could provide hints about usage and context. For example, if your gadget translates English words to Chinese words, the title, "English-Chinese Dictionary", would be preferable to a brand or product name like "Xin Zhong Services". Your users might have subscribed to multiple subscribed links or subscribed to your subscribed link a long time ago and do not remember what your gadget does.
Guidelines for Publication
When you are ready to publish your subscribed links, complete your subscribed link description form, including a URL to your website and a description. In your description, include information about the service you provide and an email address so that your users can contact you or give you feedback. Don't neglect to fill out the Show these queries text box. It lists query terms that users can use to trigger your subscribed link. Sometimes, users select subscribed links, yet have no idea how to trigger them. The query terms you provide are displayed in your public description page, so it gives you a chance to showcase the range of queries you can answer.
After you have decided on the appropriate file format, you can start creating your dynamic subscribed link. Go to the following pages for the format you want to use:
