No matter what what industry you are a part of, you need to provide high-quality information to your site or blog users. For example, if you provide travel-related services, it’s a good idea to publish information from government and foreign travel departments, such as news or updates on travel warnings, advice from consular offices, etc.

To create and publish this type of information, however, takes an enormous amount of effort and expertise. You have to do a lot of information gathering, researching and organizing, fact-checking, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually make sure that this information is 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 completely beyond your control.

Thankfully, there is a simpler way to continually provide your site readers with up-to-date information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is the easiest way to provide your site readers with great information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

What Does RSS Stand For?

• RSS is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred to, Really Simple Syndication. It can also be called a “feed” or “news feed”.
• After users subscribe to an RSS feed, they no longer have to manually check the source website for updated content. Instead, their web browser will constantly monitor the content and automatically keep subscribers updated.
• RSS feeds are also used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog post items, news headlines, audio lists, etc., to which users can then subscribe.
• You can view RSS feeds with a software program called an RSS feed reader, or feed aggregator. Aggregators can be used to find new content published on websites and distribute this content to other online properties.
• Feeds can be made available in different formats and 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 machines and programs.
• Many sites and software tools also let you combine different RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from different websites.

In this detailed guide, you are going to learn where your RSS feed is located, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display someone else’s content on your site via RSS.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing web content. Feeds provide an easy way for online users to receive the latest information posted on sites and blogs they are interested in.

First, let’s look at content syndication.

Global media publications use syndication to publish content from news sources all around the world.

Syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers interesting stories and the most recent news headlines from around the planet without having to set up additional staff in every place around the world …

(News publishing agencies and many popular online media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the planet.)

Syndication is used to share information legitimately with other sites. Online newspapers syndicate their information using news feeds …

(News reporting agencies syndicate their content using feeds)

Most sites actually would like you to syndicate their information. Syndicating content not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site responsible for creating and publishing the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.

Many online newspapers and major sites contain a feed section (look for links in the navigation menu that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “express tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Major content sites contain an RSS feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )

Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link brings up a directory of different RSS feeds of the site …

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

These feeds give you access to content about different areas of the site (e.g. business news, travel news, jobs, etc.)

Feed sections can also include further feed subdirectories …

(RSS Feed section. Image Source: LA Times RSS)

Note: A feed is only a URL. To use RSS feeds, all you need to do is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

Using RSS Feeds

Syndicating someone else’s content on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s business and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create the content …

(The Benefits Of Syndicating Content)

While adding a feed 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 websites to use your content.

When other sites syndicate your content, this gives your business the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive new visitors …

(Get visitors to syndicate your feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)

WordPress Feed – About

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

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

1) If your theme displays the Meta widget in a standard or custom menu …

(Your feed page will show the number of 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 RSS feed is whether to display posts as full text, or just as a summary …

(Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)

Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed appears …

(Post excerpts affect how your feed content will display)

For a detailed tutorial on WordPress Post excerpts, go here:

• Using Post Excerpts

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, all that’s required to view the content of an RSS feed is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content for humans.

Let’s see how this works.

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

(Search for a ’subscribe to feed’ link. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …

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

Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into content that is readable by humans.

How To Add An RSS Feed To WordPress Sites

Let’s show you how to add content from other sites to yours.

How To Add Feeds To Your Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can display on 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 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 content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar area …

(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar)

copy the RSS feed URL from a website containing content that you would like to display on your site …

(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)

Next, go to your WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets and paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(RSS Widget)

To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:

• How To Add And Configure WordPress Widgets In The Sidebar Navigation Menu

Refresh your browser. The content will now appear on the sidebar (or wherever you have inserted the RSS widget) …

(RSS Feed Content Added To Sidebar Menu)

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

How To Add A Feed To Your Posts

Can content from RSS feeds be added to WordPress posts instead of your sidebar? It sure can!

You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search inside your Plugins screen for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.

(RSS plugins)

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

Here are a number of plugins you can check out that allow you to curate and add content from RSS feeds to your pages:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)

WPeMatico is an easy to use auto blogging 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 them into campaigns and categories.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress that offers additional functionality with a number of premium add-ons.

For example, the Feed to Post add-on lets you import 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 curate, syndicate, import, merge and display full-text feeds on your WordPress site.

The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of each item in the feed as a separate post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)

The POWr RSS Feed plugin allows you to automatically combine content from various RSS feeds.

This plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed priority, use custom fonts, colors, backgrounds, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all tablets, phones, and computers 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 WordPress Plugin)

WP Pipes 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 functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook, export your posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress provides flexible syndication for WordPress site content.

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.

FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator site (sites that combine posts from multiple sources), or display all your online activity in one place.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress

Autoblog by WPMUDev

(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 the URL of your feed, give the feed a name (for admin purposes) and select the blog that you want it to post to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog by WPMUDev – WordPress Plugin

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages WP Plugin)

RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types lets you display pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin For WordPress

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds

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

To inspect the comments in your feed, go to the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar menu (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 and users can be seen in the Comments RSS page …

(RSS comments feed content displayed on Firefox browser)

Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …

(Comments feed items as seen using a Google Chrome browser)

Again, you can check what the comments RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …

(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed 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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Individual Post Item RSS Feeds

Being able to use an RSS feed for a single post item can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items to RSS aggregator sites, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.

The formula for accessing an RSS feed for an individual post is shown below:

(Specific Post RSS Feed)

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

(Single Post RSS Feed)

Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of your post address, WordPress will return the comments left on that post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Category RSS Feeds

Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content about specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.

WordPress allows you to create category feeds.

Just use the format shown below:

(WordPress category feed format)

Select and copy the category URL …

(Copy the selected category URL …)

Append the word “feed” to the end of it …

(Use this format for WordPress category RSS feed)

Your feed will now only contain content posted in that 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 – Set Up A Page Of RSS Feeds For Your Site Visitors

You can set up your own directory of RSS feeds that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them, just like the larger online publishers do …

(Provide Your Own Directory Of RSS Feeds On Your Site)

You can also link an RSS graphic like the one shown below to category (or specific post) feed URLs and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a separate page …

(RSS graphic. Image Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)

To learn more about inserting tables into WordPress content, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Create And Insert Tables Into Your Content Easily In WordPress

WordPress RSS – Additional Notes

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

WordPress allows you to configure several feed types without messing with code. Here are some examples of feeds you can use and how to format your feeds …

(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create Using 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 displays your latest posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – RSS feed that contains the latest comments published on your website
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts
• Description: Feed containing specific post entries
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Includes latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/08/29/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Feed containing the latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/01/feed/

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

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

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Contains the latest post entries 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 to RSS’ link in a visible location …

(Promote your RSS feeds!)

Keep in mind that other website owners will only want to subscribe to your content if you provide your visitors with high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

(Easily add content from other sites and get other sites to subscribe to your content using 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:

• RSS Images – Visit Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images and icons.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to gain a better understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS feeds.
• WordPress.org – WordPress documentation and reference site. Visit this site for more information about using feeds in WordPress.

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 display someone else’s content on your site via RSS feeds.

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about using the WP web site publishing platform please click on links to visit our related posts section.

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