(Entry was posted by Tony McCreath on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 10/15/2013).

What is the best way to show an RSS feed on a website?

What is the best way to show an RSS feed on a website?

I recently received a phone call where a guy told me my websites RSS feed was broken (true story, he called).

I checked the website and it was fine, but I understood his concern. When he clicked on the link all he got was "broken html". i.e. the raw xml feed.

How can this user experience be improved?

This question begins at 02:22:18 into the clip. Did this video clip play correctly? Watch this question on YouTube commencing at 02:22:18

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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

Ranu Jain: Hey Tony,

Check out his post about how to embed and display RSS feeds:

http://www.masternewmedia.org/how-to-embed-and-display-rss-feeds-on-any-web-page-best-rss-to-html-publishing-tools/

Would suggest to run the feed through http://feedvalidator.org or could you please share your website's URL?
Tony McCreath: hi +Ranu Jain. thats not quite what I'm asking.
To clarify. My website publishes an RSS feed that people can subscribe to. The problem is that clicking on the feed produces what looks like rubbish to the average joe. I'd like to make the subscribing experience nicer.

Feedburner has always offered this but I don't like the idea of them owning my feed and I've never liked their subscription page.

Maybe the solution is to have the RSS icon go to my own page that provides instructions on ways to subscribe?
Shawn Cohen: yeah, some simple instructions would probably be great.
Mike Cooke: i would use feedburner.
W.E. Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 02:22:18 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/what_is_the_best_way_to_show_an_rss_feed_on_a_website