Atom, RSS Feed or XML Sitemap which is better?

[rpaiva]

Hey Mozers!

I'm reaching out to you today because I'm trying to find out more information about Atom & RSS Feed.  I'm not sure which my Retail company should use for the sitemap.

Atom?

RSS?

XML?.

Why would you choose one more so than the other what are the benifits?

[Linda-Vassily]

Here is a nice article on the subject: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-recommends-using-xml-sitemaps-rssatom-feeds-optimal-crawling/118364/

"Google explains the differences between the formats by saying that XML sitemaps describe a whole set of URLs within a site, while RSS/Atom feeds only describe the most recent changes. As a result of XML sitemaps containing more information, they are typically larger than RSS/Atom feeds. XML sitemaps are also downloaded less frequently.

As a website owner, which format should you use if you want your website to be crawled to the best of Google’s ability. Google recommends using both, explaining how the formats compliment each other."

[rpaiva]

Thank you! Question answered!

[MonicaOConnor]

In my experience XML is really the best practice. You can have more than one site map technically, but you should always have an XML version.