No matter what product or service you provide or what industry your business is a part of, it’s vitally important to provide quality information to your site or blog visitors. For example, if you provide insurance services, you may want to provide users with useful information from government departments, such as news and updates on statistical research, insurance advice, etc.
The problem with providing this kind of information, however, is that it is really time-consuming. You have to do a ton of data gathering, researching and organizing, checking the accuracy of your facts, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure that this information is kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this is not only a huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is entirely beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a simpler way to keep your site visitors up-to-date with great information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the simplest way to provide your readers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
Some Basic Information About RSS
- RSS, which, according to some is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly referred to now as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also referred to as a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- Once a user subscribes to a website’s feed, they no longer have to physically visit and check the source website for content updates. Instead, their browser will constantly monitor the content and automatically keep subscribers updated.
- Feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog entries, news, videos, etc., to which users can then subscribe.
- You can view RSS feeds with software programs called feedreaders, or aggregators. Feedreaders are used to find new content published on websites and distribute this content to various online properties.
- Feeds can be made available in different types 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 many RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from multiple websites.
In this guide, we will explain where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to add content from other sites to your site using RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful and legitimate way to share web content. RSS Feeds provide web users with a simple way to keep up with the latest information posted on different sites.
First, let’s look at content syndication.
Most news reporting agencies use syndication to publish stories from content sources all around the world.
Syndication allows most leading digital publishing agencies to deliver readers stories on all kinds of topics from all over the planet without actually having to send additional news staff and news writers all around the world …
(Media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the planet.)
Syndication is used to share information legitimately. online media publications syndicate their information using news feeds …
(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share newsworthy content with other publications)
Most websites actually want you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows valuable information to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate significant web traffic.
Major sites include a 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”, “international herald tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Most news reporting agencies and major sites have an RSS feed section. Image: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a directory of different RSS feed sections of the site …
(A directory of feeds. Image Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
gives readers access to content from different areas of the site (e.g. business news, sports news, health news, etc.)
An RSS feed directory can also contain feed subdirectories …
(An RSS directory can also contain subcategories. Source: latimes.com feeds)
Note: A feed is just a URL. All you need to do to use feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into a program that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Syndicating content from someone else’s website on your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives additional exposure online to someone else’s website, it also helps you by freeing you up from having to create this 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 without having to create it, it’s a great idea to try and get other sites to syndicate YOUR content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Consider trying to get users to syndicate your content … it will help to increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS Feed – About
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a few ways to access your WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget on the sidebar or footer menu …
(The feed page will show the number of items you have specified in the Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other setting in the WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display posts as full text, or a summary …
(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts affect how feeds will display)
For a detailed tutorial on WordPress Post excerpts, go here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, 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 a feedreader, i.e. an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and search for a ‘subscribe’ link …
(Look for an RSS feed section. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL to the clipboard)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into a feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds.
How To Add An RSS Feed To WordPress
In the example below, we are going to add content from other websites to your site.
How To Add An RSS Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you could easily 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 RSS feed. You can use RSS feeds to 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 content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar area)
First, find a site containing content that you want to add to your site and copy the RSS feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard)
Next, go to your Widgets section and paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(WP RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content should appear on the sidebar …
(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 Add Feed Content To Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to a post instead of your sidebar? Yes, it can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Just search inside the ’Add Plugins’ section for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ search results – RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for configuration instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.
The plugins below can be used to feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An auto blog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from multiple RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and arrange them according to campaigns and categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with a number of premium add-ons for additional functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on allows you to import RSS feeds directly into WordPress posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)
The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress blog.
The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full content of each feed item as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
With POWr RSS, you can automatically combine and display content from various RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom colors, fonts, borders, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in every language.
The premium edition of POWr contains many additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes WP Plugin)
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 loads of features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter, export posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to a new level.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress is a flexible Atom/RSS syndication plugin for WordPress.
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 site (sites that combine posts from multiple sources), or display 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 by WPMUDev – WordPress Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in the URL of your feed, give your feed a name (for admin purposes) and select the blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin)
The RSS Includes Pages plugin modifies your RSS feeds to include pages in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Using WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to displaying RSS feeds of your posts, WordPress also displays RSS feeds of your post comments.
You can view the comments in your feed by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors display in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries viewed on a Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS comments feed items displayed with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …
(Paste the comments feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image: Feedreader.com)
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 site installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Single Post RSS Feeds
Being able to create an RSS feed for an individual post 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 single post items is shown below:
(Individual Post RSS Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post address, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post URL, WordPress will return the comments made on your post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Using Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content about certain categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
With WordPress, you can create individual category feeds.
Just use the format below:
(Use this format for WP category feed)
Copy the selected category URL …
(Copy the category URL …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Feed format for post categories)
The category RSS feed will now only contain content posted for that particular category …
(Category-specific 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 – Publish Your Own Directory Of RSS Feeds On Your Site
You can create an RSS feeds list that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories, just like the larger websites do …
(Provide A Feeds Page)
All you need to do is link an RSS icon to category feed URLs and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button image. 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 about adding tables to WordPress content here:
RSS Feeds – Notes
Feeds can be customized in several different ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows you to configure a number of feed formats that do not require touching code. Below are examples of some of the kinds of custom feed formats you can use …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the table 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 posted on your website
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed for an individual post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed for the latest comments made on single items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Feed displaying the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/04/29/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Feed that includes the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/04/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: RSS feed displaying latest posts for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes the latest post entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One more thing …
It’s a good idea to promote your feeds. Make sure you place your subscribe button image somewhere visible …
(Promote your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only want to syndicate your content if the information that you publish on your site is useful, educational, or highly engaging. In other words, you must provide high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add content to your site and get other sites to syndicate your content online using 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 🙂
Additional RSS Resources:
- Feed Icons – Visit Feedicons or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS buttons”, etc.) for sites containing downloadable Free RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and links to resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex: WordPress Feeds – WordPress software documentation repository. Visit this site for more information about RSS 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 using RSS feeds.
Hopefully, this post 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 please see our related posts section.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum