No matter what your business provides or what industry you are in, providing high-quality information on your site or blog is important. For example, if you provide insurance services, it’s a good idea to provide users with useful information from government departments, such as news and updates on statistical research, insurance tips, etc.

The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it is very time-consuming. You have to sift through, gather, and organize a lot of data, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then make sure 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 completely beyond your control.

Fortunately, there is a simpler way to continually provide your site visitors with expert, up-to-date information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your subscribers with great information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

Some Basic Information About RSS

• RSS, which, according to some experts is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly referred to now as Really Simple Syndication. It is often referred to as a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
• When users subscribe to an RSS feed, they no longer have to physically check the website for content updates. Instead, their web browser will continually monitor the content and automatically keep subscribers up-to-date.
• RSS feeds are often used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog post items, news headlines, video lists, etc., which other users can then subscribe to.
• Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with metadata such as published date, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then keep up with any updates posted on these websites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate information automatically.
• There are different feed formats and these can be read by different aggregators. 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, feedreaders, 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 comprehensive article explains where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add content from other websites to your site using their RSS feed.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a powerful and legitimate method used for sharing web content. Feeds provide online users with a simple way to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on websites and blogs they are interested in.

First, let’s look at syndication.

Most online newspapers rely heavily on syndication to publish stories from news agencies all around the world.

Content syndication allows most news reporting agencies and leading media publications to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news headlines and all kinds of stories from all over the planet without having to send more news reporting departments to every location in the world …

(Most news reporting agencies rely on syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies around the world.)

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

(Content syndication is used by news reporting agencies to share information with other news publications)

Most sites actually want 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 that created and published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.

Leading news reporting agencies 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”, “chicago tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Most news reporting agencies will contain a feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of different RSS feeds …

(RSS feeds section. Image: nytimes.com)

These feeds allow you to access information from different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, sports news, jobs, etc.)

A feed list can also include further feed subdirectories …

(Feed sections can also contain subcategories. Source: latimes.com)

Note: A feed is just a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into a program that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

Using Feeds – Benefits

Syndicating content from someone else’s site on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives someone else’s business additional exposure online and adds value to your site without you having to create the content …

(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)

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 websites to use YOUR content.

When other sites syndicate content using your feed, you have the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive more visitors …

(Get other sites to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help to increase traffic!)

WordPress RSS Feed – About

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

Depending on your theme, there are a few ways to access your RSS feed:

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on your sidebar or footer, 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.

In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the 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 websites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Links, Social Share, or Follow Us section …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Share, Links, or Follow Us section)

4) You can also view your WordPress site’s 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 or blog is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up your RSS page …

(RSS feed entries seen using a Firefox web browser)

Note that your feed page will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …

(RSS entries seen using a Chrome web browser)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

Specify how many entries you would like to show in your Feeds section in the Reading Settings section. Select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

(Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)

Your feed will display the number of posts as you have specified in your Reading Settings section …

(Your 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 the Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display articles as full text, or as a summary …

(WordPress Settings – 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 content in feeds will display)

We have created a detailed tutorial on Post excerpts here:

• WordPress Post Excerpts A Practical Guide For Beginners

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, all that’s required to view the content of a 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 see how this works.

First, find a website or blog and search for a ‘subscribe’ button …

(Look for an RSS feed icon. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the feed URL to your clipboard)

If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …

(Paste your feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image Source: http://feedreader.com/online)

Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS feeds.

Adding A Feed To WordPress Sites

Let’s show you how to add content from other sites to your WordPress site.

How To Add RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is a part of, you could display on your site the latest news 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, Facebook comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.

Let’s add content sourced from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …

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

copy the RSS feed from a site containing content that you want to display on your site to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(WP RSS Widget)

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

• Configuring Widgets On Your WordPress Sidebar

Load your website in your web browser. The content from the RSS feed will now show on the sidebar …

(RSS Feed Content Added To WP 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 Set Up Webmaster Accounts

How To Add RSS Feeds To WordPress Posts

What if you want to add content from RSS feeds to a post instead of your sidebar?

You can easily do this using plugins. Search on the WordPress plugin directory for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.

(‘Add Plugins’ section – WordPress RSS plugins)

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

The plugins below can be used to feed content to posts, or “auto blog” (An auto blog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico)

WPeMatico is an autoblogging 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 feeds into campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico Plugin

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress)

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

For example, the Feed to Post extension is a popular, feature-filled importer that allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into WordPress posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)

The RSS Post Importer plugin lets you syndicate, import, curate, merge and display full-text feeds on your WordPress blog.

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

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer WordPress Plugin

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)

With POWr RSS Feed, you can combine and display content from multiple content using RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom fonts, backgrounds, colors, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any computer, tablet, or phone and supports text in any language.

The premium plugin version contains a number of additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin)

The WP Pipes plugin is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you 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, auto blogging, auto post to Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter, export posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress is a simple and flexible syndication plugin for WordPress-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.

You can use this plugin to create aggregator sites, or bring together all your online activity in one place.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin

Autoblog

(Autoblog)

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

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog Plugin For WordPress

RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin)

By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Install RSS Includes Pages to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types WordPress Plugin

Using WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

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

To see these, locate the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …

(WordPress Comments Feed)

Comments posted on your site by visitors display in your Comments RSS page …

(Comments feed items displayed on Firefox)

Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you use …

(RSS comments feed content seen using Google Chrome)

Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feed reader …

(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed 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 website or blog has been installed in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Accessing RSS Feeds For Specific Items

Being able to access an RSS feed for specific post items 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 using an RSS feed for an individual post item is shown below:

(RSS Feed For Single Post)

To create the above feed, copy the post URI, 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 URI, WordPress will return the comments associated with that post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Using Post Category Feeds

Some your site visitors may only be interested in subscribing to content about specific topics. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

If your site publishes content under various categories, you can easily offer subscribers a separate RSS feed for each category.

All you have to do is use the format below:

(Use this format for WordPress post categories RSS feed)

Copy the category link address …

(Copy the selected category URL to your clipboard …)

Now, append the word “feed” to the end of it …

(Feed format for post categories)

Your category RSS feed now only contains content assigned to this 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 – Provide A List Of RSS Feeds

You can set up your own feeds directory that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories …

(Create A Directory Of Feeds For Your Visitors)

All you need to do is link an image 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 button image. Image: public-domain-photos.com)

We have created a detailed tutorial on adding tables to WordPress pages and posts here:

• How To Create And Add Tables In WordPress

RSS – Additional Notes

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

WordPress allows you to configure a number of different feed formats without messing with code. Below are examples of some of the kinds of feeds you can use on your site and how to format these feeds …

(Different Feed Types You Can Create With WordPress RSS)

For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – Feed that includes your latest entries
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – Feed displaying the latest comments left on your website
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Displays the latest comments made on individual items
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – RSS feed that displays latest posts in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/06/03/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Displays the latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/12/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Displays latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Includes latest post entries 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 …

It’s a good idea to let your visitors know that they can subscribe to your feeds. Make sure you place a subscribe links somewhere visible …

(Encourage your visitors to subscribe to your feeds!)

Finally, keep in mind that other website owners will only syndicate your content if you provide great information. In other words, you need to provide high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

(Easily add great content to your site and get other users to share your content 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 RSS feed 🙂

Resources:

• Feed Graphics – Visit www.iconspedia.com/search/rss or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss buttons”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable Free RSS graphics.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here to learn more about RSS.
• Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about RSS.
• WordPress.org/Feeds – WordPress documentation and information. Go here to learn more about using WordPress RSS feeds.

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 add content from other websites and blogs to your site using their RSS feed.

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you expand your business online. To learn more about using WordPress please see our related posts section.

***