No matter what service or product you provide or what industry your business is in, providing quality information to your blog readers is important. For example, if your business provides health-related services, it’s a good idea to include useful information from the health department, such as news and updates on medical research, health and fitness advice, etc.

The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it is very time-consuming. You have to sort through, gather, and organize a lot of data, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this is not only a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is completely beyond your control.

Fortunately, there is a much easier way to regularly provide your site visitors with up-to-date information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS - One of the simplest ways to provide your users with the latest information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS Made Simple

• RSS, which, according to some experts is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly referred to as Really Simple Syndication. It is often referred to as a “feed” or “news feed”.
• RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content so that their site readers can read it without having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
• RSS feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog post items, news, audio lists, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
• You can read RSS feeds with a program called a feedreader, or aggregator. Aggregators are used to access new content published on websites and distribute this content (and any updates made to this content) to other online properties.
• Feeds can be made available in different formats and read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different devices and programs.
• Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine many RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from many websites.

In this comprehensive article, we will show you where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via RSS feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a powerful way to share content online. RSS Feeds provide a simple and easy way for web users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on sites and blogs they are interested in.

First, let’s take a look at syndication.

Digital content publishers and many influential online media publications use syndication to publish content from news sources all around the world.

Content syndication allows most leading online newspapers to deliver readers fresh news headlines and content of general interest from all around the globe without actually having to set up additional news reporting and content writing staff all around the world …

(Most digital content agencies rely heavily on content syndication to publish news and stories from news sources all around the world.)

Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content with other sites. Global media publications syndicate stories using feeds …

(News reporting agencies syndicate newsworthy content using feeds)

Most websites actually want you to share their content. Content syndication not only allows valuable information to be shared, but it can also send visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.

Most news publishing agencies and major online media publications include a feed section (look for links that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “international herald tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Most digital content publishers and major sites include a feed section. Image Source: Sydney Morning Herald RSS )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …

(RSS Feeds. Image: New York Times)

These RSS feed items allow you to source information about different sections of the site (e.g. technology news, arts news, editorials, etc.)

A feed list can also include subcategory feeds …

(RSS Feed section. Image: LA Times RSS)

Note: A feed is simply a URL. To use RSS feeds, all you have to do is to copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

The Benefits Of Content Syndication

Adding someone else’s content to your site has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s site, it also helps your site by freeing you up from having to create this content …

(Using Feeds - Benefits)

While adding an RSS feed from another site is a great way to add content to your site that you don’t have to create, it’s worth keeping in mind that there are benefits in getting other sites to use your content.

When other websites and blogs syndicate your RSS feed, you have the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive more web traffic …

(Get visitors to syndicate your feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)

Overview Of The WordPress RSS Feed

WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.

Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed on the sidebar, scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …

(You can access your WordPress RSS feed from the Entries RSS menu)

2) You can also find links and buttons on certain WordPress themes that let your visitors copy your feed.

In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can copy the site’s RSS feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …

(Copy RSS links to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)

3) On many websites and again, depending on the theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Links, Follow Us, or Social Share section …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Share, Links, or Follow toolbar section)

4) You can also view your feed by typing your site’s URL into a browser and adding “/feed” after the URL, e.g.:

• http://www.yourdomain.com/feed
• http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/feed (if your WordPress installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your RSS feed …

(Feed items viewed on Firefox web browser)

Note that your feed page will display differently depending on which browser you are using …

(Feed items as seen with a Chrome web browser)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

To specify how many posts you want to show in your RSS page, go to your Reading Settings section and select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

(Settings – Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)

Your feed page will show the number of items you have specified section …

(Your feed page will display the number of items you have specified in your Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

The other setting in your WP Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display articles in your feed as full text, or just a summary …

(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …

(Post excerpts affect how content in your feeds appear)

To learn more about WordPress Post excerpts, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Use Excerpts In WordPress Posts

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, all you need to do to view a feed’s content is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content.

Let’s take a look at how this works.

First, find a website whose feed you want to subscribe to and search for their RSS feed button using any of the methods described earlier …

(Look for a ‘subscribe’ button. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

If you want, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the URL of your feed into a feed reader …

(Paste your URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image: Feedreader)

Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into readable content for humans.

How To Add An RSS Feed To Your WordPress Site

Let’s show you how to add content from other sites to your WordPress site.

Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you could add to your site the latest content from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding content from their feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, Facebook comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.

Let’s add RSS content to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …

(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)

copy the feed URL from a website or blog containing content that you would like to add to your sidebar …

(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)

Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …

(WP RSS Widget)

To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:

• Configuring Widgets On The Sidebar

Refresh your web browser. The content will now appear on your sidebar …

(RSS Widget)

Add Your WordPress RSS Feed To Search Consoles

You can add your WordPress RSS feed to Google and Bing’s search consoles. This will help them index your content faster.

(WordPress RSS feed added to Google Search Console)

Adding your site’s RSS feed to search consoles is simple, fast, easy, and requires no technical skills. For a step-by-step tutorial, go here:

• How To Set Up Webmaster Accounts

How To Add RSS Feeds To WordPress Posts

What if you want to add content from RSS feeds to posts instead of the sidebar?

You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Just search inside your ’Add Plugins’ screen (Plugins > Add New) for RSS Aggregator, RSS feed to post, etc.

(RSS plugins for WordPress)

Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us for help configuring plugins.

The plugins listed below can be used to feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An autoblog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico Plugin)

WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from selected RSS/Atom feeds.

You can manage all the feeds you import and organize feeds according to campaigns and categories.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress with premium add-ons for extended functionality.

For example, the Feed to Post extension lets you import RSS feeds directly into posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)

RSS Post Importer lets you syndicate, import, curate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress blog.

The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full article content of each item in your feed as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed)

POWr RSS lets you automatically combine and display content from various content using RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom colors, fonts, backgrounds, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.

The premium edition of this plugin contains many additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress)

WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to create curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and other sources.

This plugin provides features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress WP Plugin)

FeedWordPress provides versatile Atom/RSS syndication for WordPress.

As stated in the FeedWordPress site …

FeedWordPress is an open-source Atom/RSS aggregator for the WordPress blog publishing platform. You set up feeds that you choose, and FeedWordPress syndicates posts from those sources into your WordPress posts table, where they can be displayed by your WordPress templates like any other post — but with additional meta-data, so that your templates can properly attribute the post to the source it came from.

You can use this plugin to create aggregator sites, or bring together all of your online activity in one place.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress WordPress Plugin

Autoblog by WPMUDev

(Autoblog by WPMUDev Plugin)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in your feed URL, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the blog to post content to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog by WPMUDev

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types WordPress Plugin)

Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds

WordPress makes available RSS feeds of your post comments in addition to displaying RSS feeds of your latest posts.

You can access these comments by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget area of your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) …

(Comments RSS)

All the comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in the Comments RSS page …

(Comments feed items as seen using Firefox)

Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which browser you use …

(RSS comments feed content viewed with Google Chrome)

Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …

(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Source: Feedreader.com)

Note: If the Meta section is not displaying on your theme, you can view the Comments RSS section of your site by opening up a browser and typing in the following URL:

• http://www.yourdomain.com/comments/feed
• http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/comments/feed (if your website or blog is located in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Accessing Individual Item RSS Feeds

Being able to use an RSS feed for specific posts can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items to RSS aggregator sites, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.

The formula for displaying an RSS feed for single post items is shown below:

(Single Post RSS Feed)

To create the above feed, copy the URL of your post, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.

(Single Post RSS Feed)

Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of the web address of your post, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds

Some your site visitors may only be interested in subscribing to content about certain topics. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

With WordPress, you can easily create category feeds.

All you need to do is use the format below:

(RSS feed format for category)

Select and copy the category URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the selected category URL …)

Append “feed” to the end of it …

(WP post categories feed format)

Your RSS feed will now only contain content specific to this particular category …

(Category feed)

The WordPress Codex also provides different ways to create feeds not just for post categories, but also feeds for tags, authors, search, etc.

For this example, let’s create a feed for a specific post category using the format shown below:

(Post Category feed format. Source: WordPress Codex)

Here is the feed format WordPress recommends using. In this example, the post category ID is ’42’. We’ll need to replace the post category ID and the domain name …

(WordPress post category feed format)

To find the post category ID, go to Posts > Categories …

(Posts > Categories menu)

Locate the post category you want and hover your mouse over the title to reveal its unique ID …

(Post Category ID)

In our example, the post category ID is ’29’ and the post category feed format we need to use for this specific category with our domain name looks like this …

(Post category feed format with domain name and ID)

Copy and paste the feed into your browser and hit enter …

(Paste the feed into your browser)

This will display the feed for that specific category …

(RSS feed of a specific post category)

Note that in this example, WordPress automatically converted the feed format we pasted into the browser into the category feed we had used in the previous section of this tutorial …

(Post category feed format)

Here is the feed format again …

(Post category feed)

In this case, the simplest way to create additional feeds for specific categories is to simply change the post category slug …

(Change the post category slug to create a new category specific feed)

Paste the edited feed into your web browser and hit enter to display the content for that specific category’s feed …

(Post category feed content)

Now that you have a method for creating feeds for specific post categories (or tags, authors, etc.), you can even create a directory or list of individual feeds for visitors.

Tip #4 – Create A List Of RSS Feeds On Your Site

You can publish an RSS feeds list that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories …

(Publish A List Of Feeds)

All you need to do is link a button to the URL of your feed and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a separate page …

(RSS button graphic. Source: public-domain-photos.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial about inserting tables into WordPress posts and pages here:

• How To Create And Add Tables To WordPress With No Coding Skills Required

RSS Feeds – Additional Notes

You can customize feeds in several different ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.

WordPress allows you to configure several feed formats without code editing skills. For example, here are some of the kinds of feed formats you can use on your site and how to structure these feeds …

(Different Feed Types You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)

Here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – Feed that includes your latest entries
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – Feed displaying the latest comments left on your site
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts
• Description: RSS feed containing individual posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Feed containing the latest comments made on a specific post entry
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Includes latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/05/20/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Contains latest posts in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/03/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Displays latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Contains the latest items for a search query
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Contains latest entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book

One last thing …

Remember to let your users know that they can subscribe to your feeds. Place your ’subscribe to RSS’ button somewhere visible …

(Remember to make your RSS feeds visible your feeds!)

Also, keep in mind that online users will only syndicate your content if you provide your subscribers with high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their users.

(Add great content to your site and get online users to share your content with RSS!)

If you need help coming up with content ideas subscribe to our FREE content creation course using the form below:

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our feed 🙂

Additional RSS Resources:

• Feed Buttons – Visit an online resource site like FeedIcons.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss icon”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS graphics.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to learn more about RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about RSS.
• WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation and reference site. Go here to learn more about RSS feeds in WordPress.

Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add content from other websites to your site via their RSS feed.

Hopefully, this post has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit other posts on this site.

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