Extensible Markup Language
Fast track (Summarised definition)
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a markup language designed to store and transport data in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. In marketing technology, XML is commonly used for sitemaps, RSS feeds, and data exchange between different software systems, facilitating seamless integration and content distribution.
Full lap (Full definition)
XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is a text-based format used to store and transport data. Unlike HTML, which is designed to display data (focusing on how it looks), XML is designed to carry data (focusing on what it is). It uses custom tags to define objects and the data within them, making it both human-readable and machine-readable.
The importance of XML in a marketing context is primarily found in data integration and content syndication. It serves as a universal standard for exchanging information between different systems that might otherwise be incompatible. For example, product inventory data might be sent from an ERP system to an e-commerce website using XML feeds.
Common marketing applications include XML Sitemaps and RSS Feeds. An XML Sitemap lists a website's URLs along with metadata (last updated, importance, etc.) to help search engines crawl the site more intelligently. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds use XML to distribute blog posts and news updates to subscribers and content aggregators automatically.
XML is also fundamental to many advertising technologies. Product feeds for Google Shopping or Facebook Dynamic Ads are often generated in XML format, allowing these platforms to dynamically pull product images, prices, and descriptions to create ads.
While newer formats like JSON are becoming more popular for web APIs due to being lighter weight, XML remains a robust, strict standard essential for complex data structures and document storage in enterprise environments.