No matter what what industry you are in, it’s important to provide quality information to your site or blog users. For example, if you provide travel services, it’s a good idea to include useful information from government and foreign travel-related departments, such as news and updates on travel warnings, advice from embassies, etc.

The problem with creating this kind of information, however, is that it requires an enormous amount of time and expertise. You have to sort through, gather, and organize a lot of data, check your facts, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure 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 well beyond your control.

Thankfully, there is a simpler way to keep your site visitors up-to-date with the latest information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is the simplest way to provide your blog subscribers with great information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS – What You Need To Know

• RSS, which, according to some definitions stands for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It can also be called a “feed” or “web feed”.
• When users subscribe to an RSS feed, they no longer have to physically visit and check the website for updated content. Instead, their browser will continually monitor the content and keep subscribers up-to-date.
• RSS feeds are often used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog entries, news, audio 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 other metadata such as date of publishing, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then view any updates posted on these sites through an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their content.
• Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feedreaders. 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 many RSS feeds to display news and updates from many different sources.

In this detailed guide, we show you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add content from other websites to your site via RSS feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a really powerful way to share content online. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple way to keep up with the latest information published on sites they are interested in.

First, let’s take a look at how syndication is used.

Online newspapers rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources around the world.

Content syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers the latest news items and newsworthy content from all over the planet without actually having to employ and post additional writers all around the world …

(Most online newspapers rely on syndication to publish content from news sources all around the planet.)

Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content with other sites. News reporting agencies syndicate their newsworthy content using news feeds …

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

Most sites actually would like you to share their information. Content syndication 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 digital news publishing agencies and major content sites will contain a feed section (look for menu links that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “courier mail rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Major sites have an RSS feed section. Image Source: SMH RSS )

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

(RSS directory. Image: nytimes.com)

These RSS feeds give readers access to content from different areas of the site (e.g. business news, entertainment news, science news, etc.)

A feed list can also contain feed subcategories …

(RSS Feed section. Image: latimes.com feeds)

Note: A feed is simply a URL. All that’s required to use a feed is copy the URL and paste it into software that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

Content Syndication – Benefits

Syndicating content from someone else’s site on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s site additional exposure online, it also helps you by freeing you up from having to create that content …

(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business 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 worth keeping in mind that you also want other sites to use your content.

When other websites syndicate your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive new web traffic …

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

About Your WordPress RSS

By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.

Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access the WordPress RSS feed:

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display as part of your navigation menu, just scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …

(Meta widget)

2) You can also find links and/or buttons on certain themes that let your visitors copy your feed.

For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can simply copy the feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …

(Copy RSS URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)

3) On many websites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Share, Keep In Touch, or Links toolbar …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Share, Follow Us, or Link To Us toolbar)

4) You can also view your WordPress 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 WP installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up your site’s feed page …

(Feed entries seen with a Firefox web browser)

Note that your feed items will display differently depending on which browser you use …

(Feed entries seen using a Google Chrome web browser)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

You can specify how many items you want displayed in your Feeds section, by going to your Reading Settings section and selecting the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

(Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)

The feed section will display the number of items you have specified in your Reading Settings section …

(The feed page will display as many recent 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 WP Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display each article as full text, or just as a summary …

(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 can affect how content in your feeds appear)

To learn more about using Post excerpts in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Post Excerpts A Guide For WordPress Beginners

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, to view the content of an RSDS feed, you have to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content for humans.

Let’s see how this works.

First, find a website or blog and search for their RSS feed icon using any of the methods described earlier …

(Look for an RSS feed link. Image source: 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 your feed into an online feedreader …

(Paste your URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)

Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your visitors.

Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Site

Let’s show you how to add RSS content from another website to yours.

How To Add An RSS Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you could easily display on your site the latest content from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by importing content from their feed. You can easily 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 the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …

(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu)

First, go to a site that publishes content that you want to add to your sidebar and copy the RSS feed …

(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)

Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(RSS Widget)

To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:

• How To Add And Configure WordPress Widgets In The Website

Load your site in your web browser. The content will now display in your sidebar …

(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:

• How To Set Up Webmaster Accounts

Adding Feeds To Posts

Can content from RSS feeds be added to a post instead of the sidebar? Yes, it 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)

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

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

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico)

WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you specify.

You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds according to categories and campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico WP Plugin

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)

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

For example, the Feed to Post add-on allows you to import RSS feeds directly into posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer)

RSS Post Importer can be used to import, curate, syndicate, merge and display full text RSS feeds on your WordPress site.

RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of each feed item as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer Plugin

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom backgrounds, colors, fonts, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all tablets, phones, and computers and supports text in all languages.

The premium version contains many additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress)

The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.

This plugin provides functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, export your posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress)

FeedWordPress is a flexible 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.

FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator sites, or display all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, YouTube, or other online services, into a Lifestream.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress Plugin

Autoblog by WPMUDev

(Autoblog Plugin For WordPress)

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 your feed URL, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the blog to post content to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog Plugin

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types WP Plugin)

The RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types plugin modifies RSS feeds to include pages and not just posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types – WordPress Plugin

Using WordPress RSS – Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

WordPress makes available RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available to online users.

To see these, locate the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …

(WordPress Comments RSS)

All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in the Comments RSS page …

(RSS comments feed entries displayed with a Firefox browser)

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

(Comments feed items displayed with a Google Chrome web browser)

Again, you can check what the comments RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feed reader …

(Paste the comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. 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 WordPress installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Single Post Item RSS Feeds

Being able to create an RSS feed for an individual post item 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 a specific post item is shown below:

(Feed For Specific Post Item)

To create the above feed, copy the post address, 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 URI of your post, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Using Post Category RSS Feeds

Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content from one or two post categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

WordPress allows you to create category feeds.

All you have to do is use the format below:

(WP category feed format)

Select and copy the category link address …

(Copy the selected category URL …)

Append “feed” to the end of it …

(WordPress category RSS feed format)

Your category RSS feed now only includes content published in that particular 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 – Publish A Directory Of RSS Feeds

You can create your own directory of RSS feeds that allows your readers to subscribe only to specific content …

(Publish Your Own Feeds Directory)

You can link an icon like the one shown below to each feed and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a separate page …

(RSS button image. Source: public-domain-photos.com)

If you need help with adding tables to WordPress, see this tutorial:

• Creating And Adding Tables To WordPress Posts And Pages

WordPress RSS – Additional Notes

RSS feeds can be customized in a number of ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.

WordPress allows you to configure a number of feed types that do not require messing with code. Here are some examples of feed types you can display …

(Different Feed Types You Can Create With WordPress RSS)

Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the image above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – contains your latest posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – Feed containing the latest comments posted on your blog
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts
• Description: RSS feed that contains individual posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Feed containing the latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/04/31/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Contains latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/05/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – RSS feed displaying the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Includes latest items 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 promote your RSS feeds. Make sure you place a ’subscribe to RSS’ links in a visible location …

(Promote your feeds!)

Finally, keep in mind that other sites will only want to syndicate your content if you publish useful content. In other words, focus on providing your subscribers with high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their users.

(Easily add great content from other sites and get other users to share 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 🙂

RSS – Additional Resources:

• Feed Icons – Visit online resource sites like Feedicons or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS buttons”, etc.) for sites containing downloadable RSS graphics.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing the RSS specification, providing guidance to developers who create RSS applications and helping to further the understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS.
• WordPress Codex – WordPress documentation and reference site. Go here for more information about WordPress RSS.

Congratulations! Now you know how 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.

Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please see our related posts section.

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