No matter what product or service your business provides, providing quality information to your site visitors is vitally important. For example, if you provide travel services, it’s not a bad idea to include useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, tips from embassies, etc.
The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it is very time-consuming. You have to filter through, research, and organize a ton of data, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually 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 completely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is an easier way to keep your readers up-to-date with your information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - One of the easiest ways to provide your site visitors with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – What Does It Mean?
- RSS is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred, Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save users time from having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- Feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog post items, news headlines, videos, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
- RSS feeds can be read with programs called feedreaders, or aggregators. Aggregators can be used to access new content published on websites and distribute this content (and updates made to the content) to other online properties.
- Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine several RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from a number of websites.
This article explains where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to add content from other websites and blogs to your site via their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing content online. Feeds provide online users with a simple way to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Media publications use content syndication to publish news and stories from content sources around the world.
Syndication allows news agencies to deliver readers stories and newsworthy content from all over the globe without actually having to hire more reporting agencies in every place around the world …
(Digital agencies rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy items from news sources all around the globe.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing content. online media publications syndicate newsworthy content using feeds …
(Online newspapers syndicate their newsworthy content using news feeds)
Most sites actually want you to syndicate their content. Syndicating content not only allows great information to be shared, but it can also send visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Major sites provide links to an RSS feed section (look for 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.) …
(Most leading online media publications include an RSS feed section. Source: Sydney Morning Herald )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link will bring up a directory of different RSS feed sections …
(RSS feeds section. Source: NY Times RSS)
These feeds give readers access to different sections of the site (e.g. business news, sports news, jobs, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain further feed subdirectories …
(An RSS feed list can also contain subcategory feeds. Image: Los Angeles Times)
Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. To use an RSS feed, all you need to do is copy the URL and paste it into an application that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Syndicating Content
Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s business and adds value to your site without you having to create that content …
(Syndicating Content Has Many Benefits!)
While adding a 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 sites to syndicate YOUR content.
When other sites syndicate your feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get users to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
About Your WordPress RSS
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing other online users to syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a few ways to get the WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed in a standard or custom menu, scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(WordPress Meta widget)
2) You can also find built-in links or buttons on certain WordPress themes that allow your visitors to copy your RSS feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can 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 to RSS” buttons)
3) On some sites and again, depending on the WordPress theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Links, Social Share, or Subscribe fixed, floating, or slide-out toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Social Share, Links, or Subscribe toolbar section)
4) You can also view your RSS 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 website is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your RSS feed …
(Feed items viewed using a Firefox browser)
Note that your feed content will display differently depending on which browser you use …
(Feed items viewed on a Google Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many entries you want to display in your Feeds section, go to your Reading Settings section and select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(WP Reading Settings – Syndication feed items field)
The feed section will show as many recent items you have specified section …
(The feed will show as many recent posts as you have specified in your 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 feeds is whether to display each article in a feed as full text, or just as a summary …
(Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for articles in a RSS feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts affect how your feeds appear)
We have written a detailed tutorial on WordPress Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all you have to do to view the content of an RSS feed is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website whose content you want to syndicate and look for a ‘subscribe’ link or button …
(Look for an RSS feed button. Image source: http://www.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 feed contains by pasting the URL of your feed into a feedreader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds.
Adding An RSS Feed To WordPress
In the example below, we are going to add content sourced from another website or blog to your site.
How To Add A Feed To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you can display on your site the latest news 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 like news, Facebook updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to your sidebar …
(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, Go to a site containing content that you would like to add to your site and copy its RSS feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL)
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 adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content should now appear on the sidebar (or wherever the RSS widget has been inserted – e.g. custom menu, footer, etc) …
(RSS Feed Added To WordPress 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 Feeds To Posts
Can you add content from RSS feeds to posts instead of a sidebar? You sure can!
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ section)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for assistance configuring plugins.
Here are a few plugins that allow you to add RSS feeds to your posts:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin)
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 categories and campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin with additional functionality with premium add-ons.
For example, the Feed to Post extension is an advanced importer that allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into your WP posts or any other custom post type.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer)
The RSS Post Importer plugin lets you curate, syndicate, import, merge and display full-text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress website or blog.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article content of every item in your feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed WP Plugin)
POWr RSS allows you to combine content from a number of different content using RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed priority, use custom fonts, colors, backgrounds, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all phones, computers, and tablets and supports text in any language.
The premium version of this plugin contains many additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, accept or reject posts, and more.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes WP Plugin)
The WP Pipes plugin 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 loads of powerful features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export your posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress is a versatile 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 of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, Flickr, or other online services, into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog – WordPress Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in the URL of your feed, give it 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)
Install RSS Includes Pages 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:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available.
You can see this by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget area of your sidebar …
(WordPress Comments Feed)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in your Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed entries displayed with a Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on the browser you are using …
(RSS comments feed items seen on a Google Chrome browser)
Again, you can check what the 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. 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 – Accessing Specific Post RSS Feeds
Being able to create 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 displaying an RSS feed for single post items is shown below:
(RSS Feed For Single Post)
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 URL, WordPress will return the comments associated with your post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to syndicate content about certain topics. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If you publish content under a number of categories, you can easily create a separate feed for each different category.
All you need to do is use the format shown below:
(WordPress category feed format)
Copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Select and copy your category URL …)
Append “feed” to the end of it …
(WordPress category feed format)
Your feed now only displays content posted for that 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 – Provide Your Own List Of Feeds
You can publish a list of RSS feeds that allows your readers to subscribe to specific content, just like large websites …
(Provide Your Own List Of RSS Feeds On Your Site)
All you need to do is link an RSS button graphic to a feed and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a new page …
(RSS button image. Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
We have created a detailed tutorial on inserting tables into WordPress content here:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
You can customize your feeds in various different ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows several feed configurations without touching code. For example, here are just some of the kinds of custom feeds you can create …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Formats)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – Feed that contains your latest posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed that includes the latest comments published on your website
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed that contains a single post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Contains the latest comments made on specific post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – RSS feed displaying latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/08/05/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Feed displaying latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/06/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Includes the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Contains the latest entries 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 promote your RSS feeds. Place your subscribe link in a visible location …
(Remember to make your feeds visible your RSS feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that online users will only syndicate your content if you provide your subscribers with very high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Add content from other sites and get other sites to subscribe to 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 RSS feed 🙂
Additional RSS Resources:
- RSS Feed Buttons – Visit Feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS logo”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS graphics.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing RSS specifications, guiding developers who create RSS applications and helping the general public to gain a better understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about using RSS feeds.
- WordPress.org – WordPress documentation and information repository. Go here to learn more about WordPress 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 via RSS.
Hopefully, this article 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 read more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please see our related posts section.
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