No matter what your business sells or what industry you are a part of, providing quality information to your site visitors is vitally important. For example, if your business provides accounting services, it’s a good idea to include useful information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax tips, etc.
To create and publish this type of information, however, takes a lot of work and resources. You have to do a lot of data gathering, researching and organizing, fact-checking, writing and editing 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 huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is completely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a much easier way to keep your users up-to-date with the latest information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the easiest way to provide your subscribers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – Basic Definition And Information
- RSS is short for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred, Really Simple Syndication. It can also be referred to as a “feed” or “web feed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save users time from having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
- Feeds are often used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog posts, news, audio lists, etc., which users can then subscribe to.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata like published date, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then browse any updates posted on these sites through a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate web content automatically.
- There are different feed formats and these can be 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 compatibility with different devices, feed readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also let you combine several RSS feeds to receive news and updates from various sources.
This article explains where your RSS feed is located, 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.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful and legitimate way to share web content. Feeds provide a way for web users to keep up with the latest information posted on sites and blogs they are interested in.
First, let’s take a look at syndication.
Global media and online newspapers use syndication to publish content from other news agencies around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies and popular media publications to deliver readers the latest news headlines from around the planet without actually having to hire more news staff all around the world …
(Most online newspapers and highly-visited online media publications use syndication to publish content from other news agencies around the planet.)
Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing newsworthy content. Global media publications syndicate news stories using feeds …
(Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing newsworthy content)
Most websites actually want you to share their content. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also drives 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 online newspapers provide links to 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”, “huffington post rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major content sites will include an RSS feed section. Image: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a list of different RSS feeds of the site …
(RSS directory. Image: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
gives you access to information from different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, entertainment news, science news, etc.)
Feed sections can also include further feed subcategories …
(RSS Feed section. Image: LA Times RSS)
Note: An RSS feed is just a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is to copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s website, it also helps you by freeing you up from having to create the content …
(Syndicating Content - Benefits)
While adding RSS feeds 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 sites syndicate content using your feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get visitors to syndicate your content … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS Feed – About
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on your WP theme, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed as part of your navigation menu, 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 built-in links and/or buttons on certain themes that let your visitors copy your RSS feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can copy the feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy RSS URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)
3) On many sites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Follow Us, Links, or Share toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Subscribe, Links, or Share toolbar)
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 site installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your WordPress RSS …
(Feed items displayed with Firefox)
Note that your feed items will display differently depending on the web browser you use …
(Feed items displayed with Google Chrome)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
You can specify how many entries you would like to show in your RSS Feed page, by going to your Reading Settings section and entering the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(WP Settings – Reading Settings – Number of syndication feed items)
Your feed section will show as many recent posts as you have specified in the Reading Settings section …
(The feed page will display as many recent items 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 each article in a feed as full text, or as a summary …
(WP 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 can affect how your feed content displays)
If you need help Post excerpts, go here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, to view the content of an RSDS feed, you have to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, go to a website whose content you want to subscribe to and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link or button …
(Look for an RSS feed button. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feed reader …
(Paste your URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your subscribers.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your WP Site
Let’s show you how to add content from other websites and blogs to yours.
How To Add RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you can easily add to your site the latest news and updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding content from their RSS feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, social media comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to the WordPress sidebar …
(Let’s add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
copy the feed URL from a website that publishes content that you would like to display on your site to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)
Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(RSS Widget)
To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content will now show on your sidebar …
(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 Add A Feed To Your WordPress Posts
Can you add content from an RSS feed to WordPress posts instead of your sidebar? Yes, you can!
You can do this using WordPress plugins. Search on WordPress.org plugin repository for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for full instructions, or contact us for assistance configuring plugins.
Here are a few WordPress plugins that you can use to curate and add content from RSS feeds to your pages and posts:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and arrange them according to campaigns and categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress with a number of premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension allows you to import RSS feeds directly into your WP posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)
The RSS Post Importer plugin allows you to syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text feeds on your WordPress website or blog.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article content of each item in the feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
With POWr RSS, you can combine and display content from various RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed spacing and size, use custom borders, colors, fonts, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.
The premium plugin edition contains many 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:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes WordPress Plugin)
The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.
This plugin provides loads of powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, export your posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)
FeedWordPress is a simple and flexible Atom/RSS syndication plugin for WordPress site-generated content.
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.
FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator sites, or bring together all your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Twitter, Flickr, or other online services, in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog by WPMUDev WP Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in the URL of your feed, give your feed a name (for admin purposes) and select the blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types)
RSS Includes Pages lets you display pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Using RSS – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of your latest post comments in addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available.
You can view your comments feed by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget …
(Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors display in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed items displayed with Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …
(RSS comments feed entries displayed on a Google Chrome browser)
Again, you can check what the comments RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image 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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Displaying RSS Feeds For Specific Posts
Being able to access an RSS feed for a single post item can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items to RSS directories, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.
The formula for making an RSS feed for individual 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 Feed)
Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of the post, WordPress will return the comments made on that post, not actual post content itself.
Tip #3 – Using Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to syndicate content about certain categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
WordPress allows you to create category feeds.
All you need to do is use the format shown below:
(Format for WP post categories RSS feed)
Copy the selected category URL …
(Copy your category link address …)
Add “feed” to the end of it …
(RSS feed format for post categories)
Your category RSS feed now only contains content published in this particular 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 Directory Of RSS Feeds
You can set up an RSS feeds list that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories, just like large online publishers …
(Provide Your Own List Of Feeds For Visitors)
Link an icon like the one shown below to the URL of your feed and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a separate page …
(RSS icon. Image: public-domain-photos.com)
If you need help with inserting tables into WordPress, go here:
RSS Feeds – Notes
You can customize RSS in a number of ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows different feed configurations without code editing skills. For example, here are some of the kinds of feeds you can display …
(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that displays your latest posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – RSS 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 a post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Includes the latest comments made on a single post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – RSS feed containing the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/12/06/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/02/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Displays the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/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 promote your feed. Place your ’subscribe to RSS’ link somewhere visible …
(Encourage your site users to syndicate your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other website owners will only syndicate your content if you provide your visitors with very high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add someone else’s content and get other 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 🙂
RSS – Additional Resources:
- RSS Feed Icons – Visit sites like Iconspedia or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS icon”, etc.) for sites containing downloadable RSS images.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here to learn more about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about the benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress Codex: Feeds – WordPress software documentation and reference repository. Go here for additional information about WordPress RSS feeds.
Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display someone else’s content on your site using their RSS feed.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To read more about using WordPress please see our related posts section.
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