No matter what your business sells or what industry you are in, it’s important to provide high-quality information to your site or blog visitors. For example, if your business provides travel services, it’s a good idea to publish useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news and updates on travel warnings, tips from consulates, etc.
The problem with creating this kind of information, however, is that it is very time-consuming. You have to sort through, research, and organize a ton of information, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually make sure that this information is kept 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.
Thankfully, there is a much simpler way to keep your site readers up-to-date with great information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - One of the simplest ways to provide your users with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – What Is It?
- RSS, which, according to some experts is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- After a user subscribes to a website’s feed, they no longer have to manually visit and check the website for content updates. Instead, their web browser constantly monitors the content and keeps subscribers automatically updated.
- Feeds are often used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog posts, news, audio lists, etc., to which other users can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document that includes full or summarized text along with metadata such as date of publishing, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then browse any updates posted on these websites using a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their content.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feed aggregators. 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 compatibility with different machines and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine many RSS feeds to display news and updates from many different sources.
In this in-depth guide, you are going to learn 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 via RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful and legitimate way to share content online. RSS Feeds provide web users with an easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different sites.
First, let’s look at content syndication.
Media publications use content syndication to publish news and stories from news agencies all around the world.
Syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news and newsworthy stories from all over the globe without actually having to send additional reporters and content writers everywhere in the world …
(News reporting agencies and many leading online media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy items from other news agencies around the world.)
Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing information. Digital publishing agencies syndicate their stories using feeds …
(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share newsworthy content with other publications)
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 site that originally published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.
Many news reporting agencies and major online media publications provide links to an RSS feed section (look for links in their navigation section that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “huffington post rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many online newspapers and major content sites contain an RSS feed section. Image: Sydney Morning Herald RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link will bring up a list of different RSS feeds …
(RSS Feeds. Image Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
Each of these feeds lets you access content from different sections of the site (e.g. business news, travel news, jobs, etc.)
Feed sections can also include further feed subdirectories …
(RSS Feed section. Source: latimes.com)
Note: A feed is just a URL. To use feeds, all you have to do is copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Syndicating Content
Adding content from someone else’s website or blog on your site has some obvious benefits. It gives someone else’s website additional exposure online and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create that content …
(Using RSS Feeds - Benefits)
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 syndicate your content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate content using your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more web traffic …
(Get other website owners to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
Overview Of The WordPress Feed
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed on your sidebar or footer, just scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(Meta section – Entries RSS)
2) You can also find links and/or buttons on certain themes that allow your visitors to copy your feed.
In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can copy the feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy feed links to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)
3) On some sites and again, depending on the WP theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Social Share, Follow, or Links toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Link To Us, Follow Us, or Social Share slide-out, floating, or fixed toolbar)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s RSS feed by simply typing your site’s URL into a browser and adding “/feed” after the URL, e.g.:
- http://www.yourdomain.com/feed
- http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/feed (if your WP installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your WordPress RSS feed …
(RSS items as seen on a Firefox browser)
Note that your feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS feed content seen on Google Chrome browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many posts you want displayed in your RSS page, go to your Reading Settings section and select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(WP Settings – Reading Settings – Syndication items setting)
The feed page will display the number of items you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section …
(Your feed page will display 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 WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display each article as full text, or just a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for posts in your RSS feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed appears …
(Post excerpts affect how your feed content will display)
If you need help using Post excerpts in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all that’s required to view a feed’s content is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for a ‘subscribe’ button or link …
(Search for an RSS feed link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL)
If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feed reader …
(Paste your URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the content. Image: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.
How To Add An RSS Feed To Your WP Site
In the example below, we’ll add content from another website or blog to your WordPress site.
How To Add RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can easily display on your site the latest content from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply importing their feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site such as 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)
copy the RSS feed from a website containing content that you would like to display on your site to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL to the clipboard)
Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(RSS Widget)
To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:
Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed should now display on your sidebar (or wherever you have placed the RSS widget – e.g. custom menu) …
(RSS Widget)
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:
Adding Feed Content To Posts
Can you add content from RSS feeds to WordPress posts? You sure can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin directory for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ screen – RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us for assistance configuring plugins.
Here are some autoblogging tools that allow you to create new using RSS feeds and imported content:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from specific RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize them into 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 autoblogging WordPress plugin that offers extended functionality with a number of premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is a popular, feature-rich importer that lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your WP posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin)
RSS Post Importer allows you to syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress website or blog.
RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full article content of each feed item as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
The POWr RSS Feed plugin allows you to combine content from a number of different content using RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom colors, fonts, backgrounds, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.
The premium version contains many additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes – WordPress 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 other sources.
This plugin provides loads of powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter, export your 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)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication for WordPress.
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.
You can use this plugin to create aggregator sites, or bring together all your online activity into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog – WordPress Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in your feed URL, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select a blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types – WordPress Plugin)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Use RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types if you want to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site in addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your posts.
You can inspect this by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget area …
(WordPress Comments Feed)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in the Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries as seen using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which browser you are using …
(Comments feed entries displayed using Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: 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 WordPress site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using RSS Feeds For Individual Items
Being able to access an RSS feed for specific posts can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific posts to RSS directories, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.
The formula for making an RSS feed for individual posts is shown below:
(RSS Feed For Single Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the post URI, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not actual content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content from one or two categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
With WordPress, you can easily create individual category feeds.
Just use the format shown below:
(WordPress category RSS feed format)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Select and copy your category URL …)
Now, add “feed” to the end of it …
(Format for WordPress post categories feed)
The category feed now only contains content assigned to this particular category …
(Category-specific 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 – Create Your Own Feeds Page
You can provide an RSS feeds directory that allows readers to subscribe to content in the categories that interest them …
(Create A List Of Feeds For Your Visitors)
Link an RSS button to category feeds and then create a table or a list of all category feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button image. Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
If you need help with creating tables in WordPress pages and posts, see this step-by-step tutorial:
RSS Feeds – Additional Notes
You can customize feeds in a number of ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure a number of different feed formats without touching code. Here are some examples of custom feeds you can display …
(WordPress RSS – Custom Feeds)
Here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – displays your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Contains the latest comments published on your site
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed containing a single post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed for the latest comments made on a specific post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/10/06/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/12/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – RSS feed that displays latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Includes latest entries 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 …
Remember to promote your RSS feed. Make sure you place your ’subscribe to RSS’ link or button in a visible location …
(Promote your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only syndicate your content if you provide useful information that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, you must provide high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add great content from other sites and get other sites to syndicate your content online using 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 feed 🙂
RSS Resources:
- Download RSS Buttons – Visit Iconspedia or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logo download”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about using RSS.
- WordPress.org/WordPress Feeds – Official WordPress documentation and information site. Go here for more information about using WordPress RSS.
Congratulations! Now you know where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via RSS feeds.
Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the benefits of using the WP platform please click on links to visit other posts we have published on this site.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum