No matter what your business provides or what industry you are in, it’s vitally important to provide high-value information to your site visitors. For example, if you provide travel services, you may want to provide users with useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news and updates on travel warnings, tips from consulates, etc.

The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it is really time-consuming. You have to sort through, gather, and organize a lot 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 well beyond your control.

Fortunately, there is a simpler way to continually provide your site readers with great information.

It’s called RSS …

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

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS – What Is It?

• RSS, which, according to some is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also referred to as a “feed” or “news feed”.
• RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content so that their users can read it without having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
• RSS feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog entries, news, video lists, etc., which users can choose to subscribe to.
• Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML (Extensible Markup Language) document that includes full or summarized text along with other metadata like published date, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then browse updates posted on these sites using a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate their web content automatically.
• There are different kinds of feeds, read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom feeds and RDF (Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different devices, feed readers, and programs.
• Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine different RSS feeds to receive news and updates from several different sources.

This article explains where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to display someone else’s content on your site via RSS feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a very powerful way of sharing content online. Feeds provide a simple way for online users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites and blogs.

First, let’s take a look at content syndication.

Online media publications use syndication to publish stories from news sources all around the world.

Syndication allows digital news agencies to deliver readers fresh news items and stories of general interest from all around the globe without having to hire more staff everywhere around the world …

(Content publishers rely heavily on content syndication to publish stories from other news agencies all around the world.)

Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately with other sites. News reporting agencies syndicate their content using feeds …

(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share content with other publications)

Most sites actually want you to share their content. Content syndication not only allows high-quality information to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.

Many news reporting agencies and major sites include a 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”, “la times rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Most online newspapers and major sites contain an RSS feed section. Image Source: SMH RSS )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a directory of different RSS feeds …

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

gives readers access to information from different sections of the site (e.g. technology news, arts news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain further subcategory feeds …

(RSS Feed section. Image: Los Angeles Times RSS)

Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. All you need to do to use feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into a program that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

Syndicating Content – Benefits

Adding content from someone else’s website on your site has some obvious benefits. It gives someone else’s business additional exposure online and adds value to your site without you having to create this content …

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

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 you also want other websites to syndicate your content.

When other sites syndicate your content, this gives you the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new web traffic …

(Get visitors to syndicate your content … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)

WordPress RSS

WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their sites.

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

1) If your theme displays the Meta widget on the sidebar or footer …

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

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

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

(WP Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for articles in a RSS feed)

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

(Post excerpts affect how content in your feeds will appear)

We have created a detailed tutorial about using Post excerpts in WordPress here:

• A Beginner’s Guide To Using WordPress Post Excerpts

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, to view the content of a feed, you need to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that translates feeds into readable content.

Let’s take a look at how this works.

First, go to a website whose content you want to syndicate and look for an RSS feed icon using any of the methods described earlier …

(Search for an RSS feed button. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy your feed URL to your clipboard)

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

(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: Feedreader)

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

How To Add An RSS Feed To Your Site

Let’s show you how to add content sourced from another website to yours.

Adding A Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar

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

Let’s add RSS content to your sidebar …

(Add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu)

First, find a website or blog that publishes content that you would like to display on your sidebar and copy its feed URL 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 …

(RSS Widget)

To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:

• How To Add Widgets To Your WordPress Blog Sidebar

Load your website in your browser. The content should display on your sidebar (or wherever you have placed the RSS widget) …

(RSS Feed Added To Sidebar)

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

Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Posts

Can you add content from RSS feeds to a post? You sure can!

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

(WordPress RSS plugins)

Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for full instructions, or contact us if you need help with plugin configuration.

The plugins below are useful if you would like to add feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An autoblog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico)

WPeMatico is an easy to use autoblogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.

You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange feeds into categories and campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)

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

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your WordPress posts or any other custom post type.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)

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

The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full 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 – WordPress Plugin)

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

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

The premium plugin edition contains many additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed WordPress Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress)

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

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

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes WordPress Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)

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.

You can use this plugin to create aggregator sites, or display all your online activity into a Lifestream.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress

Autoblog

(Autoblog)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in the URL of your feed, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the 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)

Use RSS Includes Pages if you want 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

WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

In addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available to online users, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your latest post comments.

To see this feed, locate the ‘Meta’ widget on your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …

(WordPress Comments Feed)

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

(RSS comments feed items seen on a Firefox browser)

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

(RSS comments feed items seen on Google Chrome)

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

(Paste the feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image: Feedreader)

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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Creating Individual Post RSS Feeds

Being able to create an RSS feed for single post items can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific posts to RSS directories, 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:

(RSS Feed For Single Post Item)

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

(Single Post RSS Feed)

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

Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds

Some your site visitors may only be interested in syndicating content about certain categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.

WordPress allows you to create individual category feeds.

All you have to do is use the format shown below:

(WP post categories RSS feed format)

Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …

(Copy your category URL …)

Add “feed” to the end of it …

(WP category RSS feed format)

The feed now only contains content posted in this particular category …

(Category RSS 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 – Publish Your Own RSS Feeds Directory

You can publish a feeds page that allows readers to subscribe to specific content …

(Set Up Your Own Directory Of RSS Feeds)

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 your category feeds on a separate page …

(RSS icon. Image: public-domain-photos.com)

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

• How To Create And Insert Tables In WordPress

RSS – Additional Notes

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

WordPress allows you to configure several feed formats without editing code. Here are some examples of custom feeds you can use on your site and how to create the feeds …

(Different Feed Formats You Can Create With WordPress RSS)

For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – contains your latest posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – Feed that displays the latest comments left on your website or blog
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

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

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

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Displays the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/10/08/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Contains latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/08/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Displays latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Contains the 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 site users know that they can subscribe to your RSS feed. Place your subscribe button in a visible location …

(Encourage visitors to subscribe to your RSS feeds!)

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

(Add content to your site and get online users to syndicate your content using WordPress and 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 Resources:

• Feed Graphics – Visit online resource sites like www.feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS buttons”, etc.) for sites containing downloadable Free RSS graphic elements.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing the RSS specification, guiding developers who create RSS applications and helping the general public gain a better understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS feeds.
• WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation and information. Visit this site to learn more about using WordPress feeds.

Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add content from other sites to your site via their RSS feed.

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress please see other posts we have published on this site.

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