No matter what your business sells or what industry you are in, providing high-value information on your site or blog is vitally important. For example, if you provide travel services, it’s a good idea to provide users with the latest information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, advice from embassies, etc.

The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it requires a huge amount of effort and expertise. You have to do a lot of information sifting, researching and organizing, checking sources for accuracy, content writing and editing (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 lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is completely beyond your control.

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

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is the easiest way to provide your subscribers with up-to-date information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS – What Does It Mean?

• RSS is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It can also be referred to as a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
• RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content to save users time from having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
• Feeds are often used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog post items, news headlines, audios, etc., to which any user can choose to subscribe.
• Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML (XML = Extensible Markup Language) document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata such as date of publishing, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then keep up with any updates posted on these sites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their web content.
• 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 devices and programs.
• Many sites and software tools also let you combine several RSS feeds to display news and updates from different sources.

In this comprehensive article, we will show you 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 to your site using their RSS feed.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide web users with a simple and easy way to keep up with the latest information posted on sites and blogs they are interested in.

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

Most online newspapers rely on syndication to publish newsworthy content from news agencies around the world.

Content syndication allows leading news reporting agencies to deliver readers the latest news headlines and newsworthy stories from all around the globe without actually having to send more reporting agencies everywhere around the world …

(Most digital content agencies use content syndication to publish stories from other news agencies all around the planet.)

Syndication is used to share information legitimately with other sites. Global media publications syndicate information using feeds …

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

Most sites actually want you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows information to be shared, but it can also send visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate significant web visitors.

Most leading online media publications will include an RSS feed section (look for links in their navigation section that say “RSS” 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.) …

(Many content agencies and major online media publications contain a feed section. Source: Sydney Morning Herald )

Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content areas of the site …

(RSS directory. Source: New York Times RSS)

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

Feed sections can also contain subcategory feeds …

(Feed sections can also include feed subcategories. Source: latimes.com feeds)

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

Content Syndication – Benefits

Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s content and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create that content …

(Using RSS Feeds Has Many Benefits!)

While adding an RSS 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 sites syndicate your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive more web traffic …

(It’s worth trying to get visitors to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)

WordPress RSS Feed

By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing other online users to syndicate your content on their sites.

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

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

(You can access your WordPress RSS feed in the Entries RSS menu)

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

In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …

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

3) On many websites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Share, Links, or Follow Us section …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Stay In Touch, Share, or Links fixed, floating, or slide-out toolbar)

4) You can also view your 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 site has been installed in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your WordPress RSS feed …

(Feed entries displayed using a Firefox web browser)

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

(Feed entries seen using Google Chrome)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

You can specify how many entries you want displayed 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 …

(WordPress Reading Settings – Syndication feed items setting)

The feed will display as many recent posts as you have specified in the Reading Settings section …

(The feed will show as many recent posts as you have specified in your WordPress Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

Another setting in the Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display posts as full text, or a summary …

(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

(Post excerpts affect how your feed content will display)

To learn more about Post excerpts, go here:

• A Basic Guide To Using Excerpts In WordPress Posts

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, all that’s required to view a feed’s content is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into an application that can translate feeds into readable content.

Let’s show you how this works.

First, go to a website or blog and search for a ‘subscribe’ button using any of the methods described earlier …

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

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)

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

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

Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS feeds.

Adding An RSS Feed To WordPress Sites

Let’s show you how to add content from another website to your WordPress site.

Adding A Feed 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 feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, social media comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.

Let’s add RSS content to your sidebar …

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

copy the feed URL from a site that publishes content that you would like to display on your sidebar …

(Copy your feed URL)

Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …

(RSS Widget)

To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:

• How To Add And Configure WordPress Widgets In Your Website

Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed will now show 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

How To Add Content From RSS Feeds To Posts

Can you add content from RSS feeds to WordPress posts? Yes, you can!

You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search inside your Plugins admin section for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.

(RSS plugins for WordPress)

Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.

Here are a few WordPress plugins that allow you to add RSS feeds to your pages and posts:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)

WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from selected RSS/Atom feeds.

You can manage all the feeds you import and organize them according to campaigns and categories.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico WordPress Plugin

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator WordPress Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with a number of premium add-ons for additional functionality.

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer WP Plugin)

RSS Post Importer lets you import, syndicate, curate, 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 item in the feed as a separate post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)

With POWr RSS Feed, you can automatically combine and display content from a number of different sources using RSS feeds.

This plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust sizing and spacing of feeds, use custom fonts, colors, borders, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any tablet, computer, or phone and supports text in any language.

The premium version contains many additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed WordPress Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin)

WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.

This plugin provides loads of powerful features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Facebook/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:

• WP Pipes Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress)

FeedWordPress is a flexible 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 in one place.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress

Autoblog by WPMUDev

(Autoblog by WPMUDev)

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

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog

RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin For WordPress)

Install RSS Includes Pages to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin For WordPress

Using RSS Feeds – Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

In addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your post comments.

To inspect these comments, go to 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 RSS)

Comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in the Comments RSS page …

(RSS comments feed entries viewed with a Firefox browser)

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

(RSS comments feed content seen using Google Chrome)

Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …

(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the 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 site is located in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Accessing Individual Item RSS Feeds

Being able to select an RSS feed for individual posts can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific posts 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 is shown below:

(Individual Post RSS Feed)

To create the above feed, copy the URL of your post, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.

(Single Post Feed)

Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of the post address, WordPress will return the comments for that post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Using Category RSS Feeds

Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content from a particular post category. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.

If you publish content under many categories, WordPress allows you to provide a separate feed for each different category.

All you need to do is use the format shown below:

(WP category feed format)

Select and copy the category URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the selected category link address to your clipboard …)

And add the word “feed” to the end of it …

(WP category feed format)

Your RSS feed will now only include content posted for 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 – Publish A Directory Of Feeds

You can publish a feeds page that allows readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories, just like large websites …

(Set Up Your Own Feeds Directory)

Link a button like the one shown below to the URL of your feed and then create a table or a list of all your category feeds on a separate page …

(RSS image. Image: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)

To learn more about inserting tables into WordPress posts and pages, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Create And Insert Tables In WordPress

WordPress RSS – Notes

You can customize your feeds in a number of ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.

WordPress allows several RSS feed configurations that do not require code editing skills. Here are some examples of custom feeds you can use and how to format these feeds …

(Different Feed Formats You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)

Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the image above:

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

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – RSS feed that includes the latest comments published on your site
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

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

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

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Contains the latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/03/15/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – RSS feed that contains latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/06/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Contains latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/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: Feed that includes the latest items for a custom type (e.g. book)
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book

One more thing …

Remember to let your users know that they can subscribe to your RSS feeds. Make sure you place your subscribe link or button somewhere visible …

(Promote your RSS feeds!)

Finally, keep in mind that other sites will only syndicate your content if you provide your subscribers with very high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

(Easily add someone else’s content and get others to subscribe to your content using RSS feeds!)

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 🙂

RSS Resources:

• Download RSS Feed Graphics – Visit iconspedia.com/search/rss or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS graphics.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization with three primary duties: publishing the RSS specification, providing guidance to developers who create RSS applications and helping to further the understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about the history and benefits of using RSS.
• WordPress.org – WordPress software documentation site. Go here for additional information about using RSS feeds in WordPress.

Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to display content from other websites on your site via their RSS feed.

Hopefully, this post has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section.

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