No matter what product or service you provide or what industry your business is a part of, providing high-value information on your site or blog is vitally important. For example, if your business provides insurance-related services, it’s a good idea to include the latest information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical findings, insurance advice, etc.

To create and publish this type of information, however, is very time-consuming. You have to filter through, gather, and organize a ton of information, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually make sure that this information is kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this not only involves a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is entirely beyond your control.

Thankfully, there is a much easier way to keep your readers up-to-date with great information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is one of the easiest ways to provide your users with great information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

Some Basic Information About RSS

• RSS, which, according to some definitions is short for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly referred to as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also referred to as a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
• Once users subscribe to a website’s feed, they no longer have to physically visit and check the source website for updated content. Instead, their web browser will constantly monitor the site and automatically keep subscribers updated.
• RSS feeds are also used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog posts, news, audios, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
• Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes full or summarized text along with metadata like date of publishing, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then keep up with any updates posted on these websites through a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate content automatically.
• Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different devices and programs.
• Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine different RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from many other websites.

In this comprehensive guide, we show you how 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.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a powerful way of sharing web content. Feeds provide a simple way for online users to keep up with the latest information published on different websites.

First, let’s take a look at syndication.

Media publications use content syndication to publish stories from content sources around the world.

Syndication allows most content publishers to deliver readers the most recent news headlines and content of general interest from all around the planet without actually having to employ additional news writers in every location in the world …

(Many digital content publishing agencies and highly-visited media publications use content syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies all around the globe.)

Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing newsworthy content. online media publications syndicate their newsworthy content using news feeds …

(Content syndication is used by digital publishing agencies to share content with other news publications)

Most websites actually want you to share their content. Syndicating content not only allows great information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate significant web traffic.

Many news reporting agencies and major online media publications will have an RSS feed section (look for menu links that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “belfast telegraph rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Major sites provide links to a feed section. Source: SMH RSS )

Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a list of different RSS feed sections …

(RSS feeds list. Image Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)

These RSS feeds give you access to information from different areas of the site (e.g. business news, sports news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain further subcategories …

(RSS Feed section. Source: LA Times)

Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. All you need to do to use feeds 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.

Using RSS Feeds – Benefits

Adding someone else’s content to your site has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s website additional exposure online, it also adds value to your site without you having to create that content …

(Syndicating Content Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)

While adding a feed from another site is a great way to add content to your site without having to create it, it’s a great idea to try and get other sites to syndicate YOUR content.

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

(Look for ways to get other websites and blogs to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help to increase your web traffic!)

Overview Of The WordPress Feed

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

Depending on your WordPress site’s theme, there are a number of ways to get your RSS feed:

1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget in a standard or custom menu …

(The feed will display as many recent posts as you have specified in your Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

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

(WP Settings – Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for each article in your RSS feed)

Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …

(Post excerpts affect how feeds will appear)

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

• WordPress Post Excerpts - Step-By-Step Tutorial

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, to view a feed’s content, you have to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content.

Let’s see how this works.

First, find a website or blog and look for a ‘subscribe’ button …

(Search for an RSS feed link. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …

(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image Source: http://feedreader.com/online)

Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into human-readable content.

Adding Feeds To WordPress Sites

Let’s show you how to add content from other websites and blogs to your WordPress site.

Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you could add to your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply importing their RSS feed. You can use feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, Facebook updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.

Let’s add RSS content to the WordPress sidebar …

(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar area)

copy the feed URL from a site that publishes content that you want to add to your sidebar to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(Widgets Screen – RSS Widget)

To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Website

Load your site in your browser. The content can now be seen on the sidebar (or wherever you have added the RSS widget – e.g. footer, custom menu, etc) …

(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 A Feed To Your WordPress Posts

Can you add content from an RSS feed to a post instead of a sidebar? You sure can!

You can do this using WordPress plugins. Just search inside the Plugins screen for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.

(‘Add Plugins’ section – RSS plugins)

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

Here are a number of WordPress plugins that allow you to add RSS feeds to your pages:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)

WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from multiple RSS/Atom feeds.

You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize them according to campaigns and categories.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator WP Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with a number of premium add-ons for additional functionality.

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is an advanced importer that lets you autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into posts or any other custom post type.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer Plugin)

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

RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article content of each feed item as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed)

With POWr RSS, you can combine and display content from various content using RSS feeds.

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

The premium edition of this plugin contains a number of additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes)

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

This plugin provides loads of powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export WordPress posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)

FeedWordPress is a simple and flexible syndication plugin for WordPress.

As stated in the FeedWordPress website …

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.

FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator sites, or display all your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Facebook, Flickr, or other online services, into a Lifestream.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress

Autoblog by WPMUDev

(Autoblog Plugin)

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

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog by WPMUDev WordPress Plugin

RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin)

By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Install the RSS Includes Pages plugin if you want to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types

Using WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips

Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds

WordPress makes available RSS feeds of your post comments in addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your latest posts.

To access these comments, go to the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar menu (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …

(WordPress Comments RSS)

Comments posted on your site by visitors and users will appear in the Comments RSS page …

(RSS comments feed items viewed using a Firefox browser)

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

(Comments feed items seen using Google Chrome)

Again, you can check what the comments RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …

(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the content. Image: 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 has been installed in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Using Specific Post RSS Feeds

Being able to display an RSS feed for an individual post 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 accessing an RSS feed for specific posts is shown below:

(Specific Post Feed)

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

(Single Post RSS Feed)

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

Tip #3 – Using Category RSS Feeds

Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content about specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.

If your website or blog publishes content under many categories, you can easily provide a separate RSS feed for each category.

All you have to do is use the format below:

(WP post categories RSS feed format)

Copy the category link address to your clipboard …

(Copy the selected category URL …)

Append “feed” to the end of it …

(Use this format for WP category RSS feed)

Your RSS feed will now only display content published under that category …

(Category feed page)

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 – Provide Your Own RSS Feeds Page

You can set up an RSS feeds list that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories …

(Set Up A Directory Of Feeds On Your Site)

All you need to do is link an icon like the one shown below to the URL of your category feed and then create a table or a list of all feeds on a new page …

(RSS graphic. Image Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)

To learn more about inserting tables into WordPress posts, go here:

• Creating And Inserting Tables Into Posts And Pages With WordPress

RSS – Notes

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

WordPress allows you to configure several feed types that do not require code editing skills. Here are some examples of custom feed formats you can create …

(WordPress RSS – Custom Feeds)

For your convenience, 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 that contains the latest comments published on your blog
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts
• Description: Feed for a single post
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – RSS feed that displays latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/09/08/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Contains latest posts in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/02/feed/

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

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

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

One last thing …

It’s a good idea to let your site users know that they can subscribe to your RSS feed. Place your subscribe button image somewhere visible …

(Remember to promote your feeds!)

Keep in mind that other website owners will only want to subscribe to your content if your content is useful, educational, or highly engaging. In other words, you must provide high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

(Add great content from other sites and get other users to share your content with RSS feeds!)

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 RSS feed 🙂

RSS Resources:

• Download RSS Feed Images – Visit Feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss icon”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS images and icons.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization with three primary duties: publishing the RSS specification, guiding developers who create RSS applications and helping the public to gain a better understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about RSS feeds.
• WordPress.org/WordPress Feeds – Official WordPress documentation. Go here for more information about WordPress RSS feeds.

Congratulations! Now you know where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display content from other sites on your site using their RSS feed.

Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you expand your business online. To read more about using the WP CMS software please see other posts we have published on this site.

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