Custom Google Video Feeds

While experimenting with Google Video RSS feeds, I found that you can create and subscribe to your own custom RSS feeds. If you follow the Google Video link above and study the main page, you will see that you can subscribe to the following feeds (listed by name with RSS feed exposed):

• Popular - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=top100new&num=10
• Featured - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=is:forsale&so=1&num=10
• Comedy - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=genre:comedy&so=1&num=10
• Music - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=type:music_video&so=1&num=10
• Movies - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=type:movie_trailer&so=1&num=10
• TV Shows - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=type:tvshow&so=1&num=10
• Sports - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=type:sports%20OR%20genre:sports&so=1&num=10
• Education - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=genre:educational&so=1&num=10

As you study the URLs above, you will see there are many options available to you for switching the values and creating a feed based on your own search criteria. For example, consider the following custom feeds that I created:

• World News - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=world+news&so=1&num=50
• Tech Talks - http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q=tech+talk&so=1&num=50

Notice in the custom feeds above, I simply used the root URL of http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=search&q= and added my search criteria such as tech talks or world news. Finally, I changed the number of items in my initial feed to be a count of 50 (i.e. num=50).

It is a shame that Google makes no attempt to explain this via their help pages.

Notes

• You might be able to use advanced search criteria when composing your URL. For example, when I created the tech news feed, I made sure to replace spaces in the phrase with a plus (+) sign. Example: tech+news.
• You might consider experimenting with using type and genre attributes in your search critieria.
• It seems that there are some hidden categories worth checking out.
• For Feed Demon users: I noticed that when adding custom feeds for the first time they ended up blank. If you refresh/update your feed after adding it then you will see the items populate in your reader.

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