No matter what product or service you sell or what industry your business is a part of, providing quality information on your site or blog is essential. For example, if your business provides accounting services, it’s not a bad idea to publish information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax deductions, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, is really time-consuming. You have to do a lot of information sorting, researching and organizing, checking the accuracy of your sources, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure that this information is kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this not only involves a huge amount 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 readers with great information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your site readers with great information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS Made Simple
- RSS is short for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred, Really Simple Syndication. It is also often referred to as a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- Once a user subscribes to a website’s feed, they no longer have to manually check the website for updated content. Instead, their browser will continually monitor the feed and automatically keep subscribers updated.
- Feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog post items, news headlines, audio lists, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML (XML = Extensible Markup Language) document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata such as date of publishing, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then view any updates posted on these sites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate information automatically.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom feeds and RDF (RDF = Resource Description Framework) 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 let you combine different RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates from different sources.
This article shows you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to display someone else’s content on your site using RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful and legitimate method used to share content online. Feeds provide web users with a simple and easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on different websites and blogs.
First, let’s take a look at how content syndication is used.
Most digital content publishers rely on syndication to publish content from news sources all around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies and influential online media publications to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news headlines and content of general interest from around the globe without having to hire and post additional news writers all around the world …
(Most content publishing agencies rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources around the planet.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing information. online media publications syndicate stories using feeds …
(Content syndication is a legitimate way of sharing information)
Most websites actually would like you to share their content. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.
Many digital news publishers and major online media publications will contain an RSS feed section (look for menu links that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “nz herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Leading online newspapers contain a feed section. Image: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(RSS feeds directory. Image Source: nytimes.com)
gives readers access to information from different sections of the website (e.g. technology news, arts news, health news, etc.)
Feed sections can also include further subcategories …
(Feed sections can also include subcategory feeds. Image Source: latimes.com feeds)
Note: A feed is just a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Adding content from someone else’s website on your website has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s content, it also adds value to your site without you having to create this content …
(Using RSS Feeds)
While adding feeds from another site is a great way to add content to your site without having to create it, it’s worth keeping in mind that there are benefits in getting other websites to use your content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your RSS feed, you have the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Consider trying to get visitors to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help to increase your web traffic!)
WordPress RSS Feed
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on your WP theme, there are a few ways to access your WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget on the sidebar or footer …
(The feed will show as many recent posts as you have specified in the WordPress Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other setting in your Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display each article in a feed as full text, or as a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how your feeds will display)
To learn more about WordPress Post excerpts, see this tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, all you have to do to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content.
Let’s see how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for a ‘subscribe’ button …
(Look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL)
If you want, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …
(Paste your URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the content. Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Site
In the example below, we’ll add content from other websites and blogs to yours.
Adding A Feed To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate 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 their feed. You can use RSS 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 navigation area …
(Add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation area)
copy the RSS feed URL from a website containing content that you want to add to your sidebar to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Section – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Load your website in your browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in the sidebar …
(RSS Feed Content 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:
Adding Feed Content To Your Posts
What if you want to add content from an RSS feed to a post instead of your sidebar?
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Just search on WordPress.org plugin repository for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us if you need assistance configuring plugins.
Here are a few auto blogging plugins that allow you to create new with RSS feeds and imported content:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from selected RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange them according to campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with additional functionality with premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post extension is a popular, feature-rich importer that allows you to import RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer)
RSS Post Importer lets you import, syndicate, curate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress website or blog.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of each item in your feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)
With the POWr RSS Feed plugin, you can combine and display content from multiple RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom backgrounds, colors, fonts, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.
The premium plugin edition contains a number of additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress)
The WP Pipes plugin 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 functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides versatile syndication 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 bring together all of your online activity in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog by WPMUDev – WordPress 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, 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 Plugin For WordPress)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. You can use a plugin like the RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types plugin to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to giving online users access to feeds of your posts.
To access the comments in your feed, go to the ‘Meta’ widget 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 display in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content displayed using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which web browser you are using …
(RSS comments feed entries displayed using Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the comments feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the content. Image Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
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 subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Displaying RSS Feeds For Individual Posts
Being able to use an RSS feed for a specific 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 accessing an RSS feed for single post items is shown below:
(Single Post RSS Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post URI, 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 URL, WordPress will return the comments for that post, not actual content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only want to subscribe to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If your site contains content published under a number of categories, WordPress allows you to easily provide a separate RSS feed for each category.
Just use the format shown below:
(Feed format for category)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Copy the selected category link address to your clipboard …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WP post categories feed format)
The RSS feed will now only include content posted in that particular category …
(Category RSS 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 – Create Your Own Page Of Feeds
You can create an RSS feeds list that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them …
(Set Up A Directory Of Feeds)
All you need to do is link an RSS icon like the one shown below to the URL of your category 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 written a detailed tutorial on inserting tables into WordPress posts and pages here:
RSS Feeds – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in various different ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows different RSS feed configurations without messing with code. For example, here are some of the kinds of custom feed types you can display …
(Different Feed Formats You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the image above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – Includes your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed that includes the latest comments published on your blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that includes a single post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed that includes the latest comments made on a specific post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/10/18/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/04/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Includes the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays the latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: RSS feed that displays latest post entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One more thing …
Remember to promote your RSS feed. Place your subscribe button image somewhere visible …
(Encourage your site users to subscribe to your feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that online users will only want to syndicate your content if you provide useful information. In other words, you must provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add content from other sites and get others 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 🙂
Resources:
- Download RSS Graphics – Visit online resource sites like FeedIcons or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS buttons”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about RSS.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation site. Visit this site for more information about feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to display someone else’s content on your site using RSS feeds.
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 learn more about the benefits of using the WP web site management software please see our related posts section.
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