XML and Google

Can Google search within an XML file?

[websticks]

I am after some extra information regarding XML files and Google!

Would my Google rating be affected if I change my HTML file, removing all the content and inserting it via a link from an XML file.

So, does Google have the ability to search through an XML file that is holding the information for my HTML file?

Any help would be much appreciated,

Cheers. :)

[tantalus]

The last time I looked google sees xml fies as an unrecognised format and I belive treats it as a text file.

"File Format: Unrecognized - View as HTML"

Whether google can index this or not I don't know. (I lean towards 'Not')

But why don't you search on ".xml"

[encyclo]

I believe Google treats XML files served as

text/xml

as plain text, and XML served as

application/xml

is not indexed at all.

You can use XML on the back end to generate the page, but the output to the browser or other user agent should always be be HTML.