No matter what product or service your business sells, it’s vitally important to provide quality information on your site or blog. For example, if your business provides insurance-related services, it’s a good idea to provide users with useful information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical findings, insurance advice, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, involves an enormous amount of work and resources. You have to filter through, gather, and organize a lot of information, check your facts, 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 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 much easier way to keep your site readers up-to-date with your information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The easiest way to provide your readers with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Does RSS Mean?
- 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 “news feed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save users time from having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- Feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog entries, news, audios, etc., to which users can choose to subscribe.
- You can view the content of an RSS feed using software-based programs called feed readers, or aggregators. Feed readers can be used to find content on all different kinds of topics and distribute this content online.
- Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF (Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines, readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also let you combine many RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from multiple websites.
In this detailed guide, we show you where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add someone else’s content to your site using RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing web content. Feeds provide an easy way for online users to keep up with the latest information posted on websites and blogs they are interested in.
First, let’s look at content syndication.
Global media publications rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies around the world.
Syndication allows news publishers to deliver readers the latest news headlines and content of interest from all around the planet without having to employ and send more reporting agencies everywhere in the world …
(Digital news agencies rely heavily on syndication to publish content from other news agencies all around the globe.)
Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing content with other sites. Digital news agencies syndicate information using news feeds …
(Content syndication is a legitimate method of sharing information)
Most websites actually would like you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This provides websites with new opportunities to generate additional web traffic.
Many digital agencies and major online media publications will have 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”, “miami herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many online newspapers and major sites contain an RSS feed section. Source: SMH RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(RSS Feeds. Image Source: nytimes.com)
These feed items give readers access to information from different sections of the site (e.g. business news, arts news, science news, etc.)
An RSS feed directory can also contain feed subdirectories …
(An RSS list can also contain subcategory feeds. Source: latimes.com feeds)
Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. To use a feed, all that’s required is to copy the URL and paste it into software that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Content Syndication – Benefits
Adding someone else’s content to your website has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s website, it also helps you by freeing you up from having to create the content …
(Syndicating Content Benefits Someone Else’s Website And Yours!)
While adding feeds from another site is a great way to add content to your site that you don’t have to create, it’s a great idea to try and get other websites to use your content.
When other sites syndicate content using your feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive new web traffic …
(Look for ways to get other websites and blogs to syndicate your feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS – Overview
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on the WordPress theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed as part of your navigation menu, scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(WordPress Meta widget – Entries RSS)
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 copy the site’s RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy RSS URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)
3) On some sites and again, depending on your WordPress site’s theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Link To Us, Follow, or Share fixed, floating, or slide-out toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Link To Us, Keep In Touch, or Social Share section)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s 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 subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your WordPress RSS …
(Feed items viewed with Firefox)
Note that your feed page will display differently depending on the browser you are using …
(Feed items seen on Google Chrome)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
Specify how many posts you want displayed in your RSS Feed section in the Reading Settings section. Type the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Number of syndication feed items field)
Your feed page will display as many recent posts as you have specified in your WordPress Reading Settings section …
(Your feed page will display the number of posts as you have specified in your Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in the WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display articles as full text, or a summary …
(WP Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed appears …
(Post excerpts affect how your feed content will display)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using excerpts in WordPress Posts 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 and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. 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 an RSS feed section …
(Search for a ‘subscribe’ icon. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of your feed into a feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your visitors.
How To Add An RSS Feed To WordPress
In the example below, we are going to add content from other sites to yours.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is a part of, 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 RSS feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, social media comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar …
(Add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar)
First, Find a website that publishes content that you would like to add to your sidebar and copy its RSS feed …
(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)
Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Panel – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed will now show on the sidebar …
(RSS Feed Added To WP 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 Add Feeds To Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to posts? It sure can!
You can do this using WordPress plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin directory for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ section – WordPress RSS plugins)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us if you need assistance with plugin configuration.
Here are some plugins that let you add RSS feeds to your pages:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico WP Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds into campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress with a number of premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is an advanced, feature-filled importer that allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into WP posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Post Importer plugin lets you curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full content of each item in your feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed)
With the POWr RSS Feed plugin, you can automatically combine and display content from various RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom colors, fonts, borders, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in every language.
The premium version of this plugin contains many additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts, and more.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes – WordPress Plugin)
The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress 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 Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export your posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)
FeedWordPress is a versatile Atom/RSS syndication plugin for WordPress 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 sites, or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Facebook, YouTube, or other online services, in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog – 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, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin)
Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types if you want to include pages in your 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 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of comments posted on your site.
To see these, go to the ‘Meta’ widget on your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors display in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content viewed on a Firefox browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on the browser you use …
(RSS comments feed content as seen with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the comments 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 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 subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Creating Single Post Feeds
Being able to use an RSS feed for a single post 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 creating an RSS feed for specific posts is shown below:
(RSS Feed For Individual Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the URI of your post, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the URI of your post, WordPress will return the comments made on that post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Category Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content from a particular category. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If your website or blog publishes content under different categories, you can provide a separate RSS feed for each post category.
Just use the format below:
(WordPress post categories feed format)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Select and copy your category link address …)
Now, add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WordPress category feed format)
The feed now only displays content posted for that category …
(Category 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 Page Of Feeds For Subscribers
You can provide your own RSS feeds page that allows readers to subscribe to content in the categories they are interested in …
(Publish An RSS Feeds List)
All you need to do is link an RSS button graphic to your category feeds and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a new page …
(RSS image. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)
We have written a detailed tutorial about adding tables to WordPress content here:
WordPress RSS – Notes
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 a number of feed configurations that do not require messing with code. Below are examples of some of the kinds of feeds you can create …
(Different Feed Types You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – displays your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Contains the latest comments left on your website
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed that includes a post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Displays the latest comments made on specific items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Contains latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/08/05/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/05/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – RSS feed that displays the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Includes the latest posts for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Contains the latest posts for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One more thing …
Remember to let your site visitors know that they can subscribe to your RSS feeds. Make sure you place a subscribe button in a visible location …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that online users will only syndicate your content if the information that you publish on your site is useful, educational, or highly entertaining. In other words, provide high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add great content to your site and get others to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds!)
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 
Additional Resources:
- RSS Feed Graphics – Visit a site like feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS logo”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable Free RSS graphic elements.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress documentation and reference site. Visit this site for additional information about feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to display content from other websites and blogs on your site via their RSS feed.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress please see other great articles and tutorials we have published on this site.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now