XML and SEO

Can a spider for say google or yahoo read xml and add it to the index?

[tblanchard001]

I have read some of the forums on seo and xml and am still a little confused about whether or not I could build an xml page that will be read by spiders for the major search engines as well as find out if these xml pages will show up in their indexes, does anyone know?

[bhartzer]

Usually, when referring to .XML, people are talking about making an html page (with a file extension of .html) and automatically including the content of an .XML file in the html page.

If the .XML file's content changes on a regular basis, then the html page's content is updated, keeping the page "fresh".

Just because a page is "fresh" doesn't mean that it will rank well, though. ;)

[tblanchard001]

Since I'm new at .XML could you point me to a site that would help me learn how to do this? or if it's real simple just tell me?
Thanks

[bhartzer]

Probably your best bet would be to search at your favorite search engine for 'xml tutorial' (that's if you want to generate an XML file).

If you want to include an XML feed on your html pages then you would want to look into RSS or look for an 'rss tutorial'.

There are some great tutorials out there.

[tblanchard001]

Thanks that'll do