No matter what your business sells or what industry you are a part of, providing high-quality information to your site users is essential. For example, if you provide insurance services, you may want to publish the latest information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical findings, insurance tips, etc.
The problem with providing this kind of information, however, is that it involves a huge amount of work and resources. You have to do a ton of data gathering, researching and organizing, checking your sources for accuracy, content writing and editing (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually 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 beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a simpler way to continually provide your site visitors with up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The easiest way to provide your subscribers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
Some Basic Information About RSS
- RSS, which, according to some experts is short for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly referred to as Really Simple Syndication. It is also often called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- After a user subscribes to a website’s feed, they no longer have to manually check the website for updated content. Instead, their browser constantly monitors the site and keeps subscribers updated.
- Feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog entries, news, video lists, etc., which any user can choose to subscribe to.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with metadata like date of publishing, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then keep up with any updates posted on these websites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their content.
- Feeds can be made available in different formats and read by different feed readers. 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 that feeds are compatible with different machines and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine multiple RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from many different sites.
In this detailed guide, we explain how 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 their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful and legitimate way of sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide a simple way for web users to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on websites they are interested in.
First, let’s look at how syndication is used.
Media publications use syndication to publish newsworthy content from content sources all around the world.
Syndication allows most content publishers and influential online media publications to deliver readers up-to-date news items and content of interest from all over the planet without having to send more writers everywhere in the world …
(Global media publications use content syndication to publish stories from news sources all around the planet.)
Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing content. News publishers syndicate information using news feeds …
(Digital publishing agencies syndicate their stories using news feeds)
Most websites actually would like you to share their content. Syndicating content not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the site that originally created theoriginally created and published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.
Major sites provide links to a feed section (look for navigation links that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “star tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Most online newspapers and leading online media publications provide links to a feed section. Source: Sydney Morning Herald RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section brings up a list of RSS feeds for different content areas of the site …
(RSS directory. Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
These feeds allow you to access content from different sections of the site (e.g. business news, travel news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain feed subdirectories …
(Feed sections can also contain feed subdirectories. Source: Los Angeles Times)
Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. To use 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.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Adding content from someone else’s site 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 …
(Using Feeds Has Many Benefits!)
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 you also want other websites to use your content.
When other sites syndicate your feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get visitors to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
About Your WordPress Feed
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display as part of your navigation menu, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(WordPress Meta section – Accessing your RSS feed)
2) You can also find links or buttons on certain themes that allow your visitors to copy your RSS feed.
In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the site’s RSS feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy feed links to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)
3) On some websites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Link To Us, Follow Us, or Social Share section …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Link To Us, Social Share, or Keep In Touch toolbar)
4) You can also view your feed by typing your site’s URL into a web browser and adding “/feed” after the URL, e.g.:
- http://www.yourdomain.com/feed
- http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/feed (if your site has been installed in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your RSS page …
(RSS items seen with a Firefox browser)
Note that your feed items will display differently depending on the browser you are using …
(RSS items displayed using Google Chrome)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
You can specify how many entries you want displayed in your RSS Feed section, by going to your Reading Settings section and entering the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(WordPress Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)
Your feed will display the number of items you have specified section …
(The feed page will show as many recent posts as you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other setting in the Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display posts as full text, or just a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for articles in your RSS feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how your feed content displays)
We have created a detailed tutorial on Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, to view a feed’s content, you need to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into an application that can translate feeds into readable content.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website whose feed you want to syndicate and search for a ’subscribe to feed’ link …
(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 feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste your URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.
Adding RSS Feeds To WordPress
In the example below, we are going to add content from other site’s RSS feeds to your WordPress site.
How To Add RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you can add to your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by importing their RSS feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as 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 your sidebar)
copy the RSS feed URL from a site containing content that you would like 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 a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Screen – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:
Load your site in your browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in the 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:
Adding Content From RSS Feeds To Your Posts
Can you add content from an RSS feed to posts? Yes, you can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ screen)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for setup instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.
Here are a few autoblogging tools that allow you to create posts using RSS feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico WP Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use 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 categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress that offers premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension is a feature-filled importer that allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into WP posts or any other custom post type.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Post Importer plugin allows you to syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress blog.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full content of each item in the feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed WP Plugin)
With POWr RSS, you can automatically combine and display content from multiple RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed spacing and size, use custom colors, fonts, borders, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.
The premium version contains a number of additional features.
For more details, go here:
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 many other sources.
This plugin provides functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook, export posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication options 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 FeedWordPress to create aggregator site (sites that combine and display content from multiple sources), or display all your online activity in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog by WPMUDev)
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 your feed URL, give the feed a name of your choosing (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 – WordPress Plugin)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Use a plugin like RSS Includes Pages to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Using RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to displaying feeds of your latest posts, WordPress also displays RSS feeds of your post comments.
You can access these by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget …
(Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries viewed on Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on the browser you are using …
(Comments feed entries as seen with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the 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 WordPress installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Specific Post Feeds
Being able to use 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 making an RSS feed for specific post items is shown below:
(Feed For Single Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the post URI, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of your post, WordPress will return the comments left on that post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site visitors may only be interested in subscribing to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
With WordPress, you can easily create individual category feeds.
Just use the format shown below:
(Format for WordPress category feed)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Copy your category link address …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WordPress category feed format)
The category feed now only displays content assigned to this category …
(Category-specific 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 – Set Up Your Own RSS Feeds Directory
You can set up a directory of RSS feeds for subscribers that allows readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them, just like the larger authoritative sites do …
(Publish An RSS Feeds Page)
Link an icon like the one shown below to your category (or specific post) feeds and then create a table or a list of all category feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button image. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about inserting tables into WordPress content, go here:
RSS – Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in a number of ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure various feed types without touching code. Here are some examples of custom feeds you can use …
(Different Feed Types You Can Create With WordPress RSS)
For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the diagram above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that includes your latest posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Contains the latest comments published on your website
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed that contains an individual post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed containing the latest comments made on specific posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/10/10/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/10/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/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 items 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 users know that they can subscribe to your RSS feeds. Place a subscribe link in a visible location …
(Encourage your site users to subscribe to your feeds!)
Keep in mind that online users will only subscribe to your content if you provide great information. In other words, focus on providing your visitors with high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add someone else’s content and get others to syndicate your content online with WordPress and RSS!)
If you need great 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:
- Download RSS Feed Icons – Visit an online resource site like Iconspedia or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing RSS specifications, guiding developers who create RSS applications and furthering the understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation and information repository. Visit this site for more information about WordPress RSS feeds.
Congratulations! Now you know 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 using RSS.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the benefits of using the WP website publishing platform please see other posts we have published on this site.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)