Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

Learn about the benefits of using RSS and how to access, format and use WordPress RSS feeds to import and syndicate your content …

WordPress RSS For BeginnersNo matter what your business provides or what industry you are a part of, it’s vitally important to provide high-quality information to your site or blog users. For example, if you provide travel services, it’s a good idea to provide users with useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, advice from consulates, etc.

The problem with creating this kind of information, however, is that it involves a great deal of effort and expertise. You have to do a lot of information sifting, researching and organizing, fact-checking, content writing and editing (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 lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is entirely beyond your control.

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

It’s called RSS

RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your subscribers with the latest information

(RSS is one of the easiest ways to provide your site readers with the latest information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS Made Simple

  • RSS is short for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “web feed”.
  • When a user subscribes to an RSS feed, they no longer have to manually check the source website for content updates. Instead, their browser will constantly monitor the site and automatically keep subscribers updated.
  • Feeds are also used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog entries, news, music playlists, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
  • Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML document that includes full or summarized text along with other metadata like date of publishing, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then browse any updates posted on these websites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate web content.
  • There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feed aggregators. 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 compatibility with different devices and programs.
  • Many sites and software tools also let you combine different RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates sourced from many different sites.

In this comprehensive article, we will explain how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add content from other websites to your site using their RSS feed.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a really powerful method used to share content online. Feeds provide a simple way for online users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites.

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

Media publications rely heavily on content syndication to publish news and stories from news agencies all around the world.

Content syndication allows many online newspapers and leading online media publications to deliver readers stories on all kinds of topics and headlines from around the globe without actually having to send more news reporting and content writing teams everywhere around the world …

Global media publications use content syndication to publish newsworthy stories from news sources around the globe.

(Many news agencies use syndication to publish news and stories from other news agencies all around the planet.)

Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing information with other sites. Online newspapers syndicate their content using news feeds

Content syndication is used by global media publications to share information with other news publications

(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 to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site responsible for creating and publishing the content being syndicated. This creates new ways to drive traffic back to their site.

Most digital news agencies and major content sites contain an RSS 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”, “daily telegraph rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

Most digital agencies and major sites will include an RSS feed section

(Many content publishing agencies and leading online media publications have an RSS feed section. Image Source: Sydney Morning Herald )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a list of different RSS feed sections of the site …

RSS feeds directory

(RSS feeds section. Image Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)

gives you access to content from different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, arts news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain further feed subcategories …

RSS Feed section.

(RSS Feed section. Image Source: Los Angeles Times)

Important

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

RSS Feeds – Benefits

Syndicating content from someone else’s website or blog on your website has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s content and adds value to your site without you having to create this content …

Syndicating Content Benefits Someone Else's Website And Yours!

(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)

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 websites and blogs syndicate your content, you have the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive more web traffic …

Look for ways to get visitors to syndicate your content ... it will help increase your exposure online!

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

Overview Of The WordPress RSS

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

Depending on the WP theme you have installed, there are a few ways to get the WordPress RSS feed:

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on your sidebar or footer menu, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS

You can access your WordPress RSS feed from the Entries RSS menu

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

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 simply copy the site’s RSS feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …

Copy RSS links to your clipboard from "subscribe" buttons

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

3) On many websites and again, depending on which theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Social Share, Links, or Follow fixed, floating, or slide-out toolbar …

Look for an RSS button in a a Follow, Share, or Links toolbar

(Look for an RSS button in a a Subscribe, Link To Us, or Share section)

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

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

Feed entries displayed using Firefox

(RSS content displayed with Firefox)

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

RSS entries as seen with Google Chrome

(RSS entries as seen using Google Chrome)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

You can specify how many posts you would like to display in your Feeds section, by going to your Reading Settings section and typing the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

WordPress Reading Settings - Number of syndication feed items field

(WordPress Reading Settings – Number of syndication feed items setting)

The feed page will show as many recent posts as you have specified in your Reading Settings section …

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

(Your feed page will show as many recent items you have specified in your WP Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

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

WordPress Reading Settings - 'For each article in a feed show' options

(Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)

Tip

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

Post excerpts affect how a feed appears

(Post excerpts can affect how content in your feeds will display)

We have written a detailed tutorial about Post excerpts here:

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, to view a feed’s content, you need to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content.

Let’s show you how this works.

First, find a website whose feed you want to syndicate and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link …

Look for a 'subscribe' button.

(Search for an RSS feed section. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard

(Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard)

If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …

Paste the URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the content.

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

Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into human-readable content.

Adding Feeds To WordPress Sites

Let’s show you how to add content from other websites and blogs to yours.

How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are 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, 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 navigation area

(Add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation area)

copy the RSS feed from a website or blog that publishes content that you would like to display on your site to your clipboard …

Copy the feed URL

(Copy the URL of your feed)

Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …

WordPress RSS Widget

(Widgets Section – RSS Widget)

To learn more about using widgets, go here:

Load your site in your browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen on your sidebar …

RSS Feed Content Added To WP 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

(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 Content From RSS Feeds To Posts

Can content from RSS feeds be added to posts instead of your sidebar? Yes, it can!

You can easily do this using plugins. Search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.

'Add Plugins' section - WordPress RSS plugins

(’Add Plugins’ section)

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

The plugins below are useful if you would like to add feed content to posts, or “auto blog” (An autoblog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):

WPeMatico

WPeMatico Plugin

(WPeMatico WordPress Plugin)

WPeMatico is an easy to use autoblogging 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 into categories.

For more details, go here:

WP RSS Aggregator

WP RSS Aggregator WordPress Plugin

(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin with extended functionality with premium add-ons.

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is a popular, feature-filled importer that lets you autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into your WordPress posts or any other custom post type.

For more details, go here:

RSS Post Importer

RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress

(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)

The RSS Post Importer plugin lets you syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress blog.

The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full content of every item in your feed as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

Powr RSS Feed

Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress

(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)

POWr RSS Feed allows you to combine content from various content using RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom fonts, borders, colors, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any computer, tablet, or phone and supports text in every language.

The premium edition of POWr contains a number of additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.

For more details, go here:

WP Pipes

WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress

(WP Pipes 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 powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export WordPress posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!

For more details, go here:

FeedWordPress

FeedWordPress Plugin

(FeedWordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress is a versatile 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.

FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator site (sites that combine content from multiple sources), or display all your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Facebook, Flickr, or other online services, in one place.

For more details, go here:

Autoblog by WPMUDev

Autoblog by WPMUDev WordPress Plugin

(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 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 and Custom Post Types Plugin For WordPress

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types)

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

For more details, go here:

Important Info

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds

WordPress displays RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to displaying RSS feeds of your latest posts.

You can access your comments feed by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget of your sidebar …

Comments RSS

(Comments RSS)

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

RSS comments feed content displayed using Firefox

(RSS comments feed items as seen using Firefox)

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

Comments feed items as seen on Google Chrome

(RSS comments feed items seen with a Google Chrome browser)

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

Paste the comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the content.

(Paste the comments feed URL into a feed reader to view the content. Image: 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 subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Using RSS Feeds For Individual Items

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

Individual Post Feed

(RSS Feed For Single Post)

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

Single Post Feed

(Single Post Feed)

Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post URI, WordPress will return the comments associated with that post, not actual post content itself.

Tip #3 – Category RSS Feeds

Some your site visitors may only want to subscribe to content about certain topics. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.

If your website contains content published under different categories, WordPress allows you to easily create a separate RSS feed for each of these categories.

Just use the format below:

Format for WP post categories feed

(Format for WordPress category feed)

Copy the selected category link address …

Copy the selected category URL to your clipboard ...

(Copy your category URL …)

Append “feed” to the end of it …

Feed format for category

(WordPress category feed format)

Your category RSS feed now only includes content assigned to that particular category …

Category feed page

(Category-specific RSS 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

(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

(WordPress post category feed format)

To find the post category ID, go to Posts > Categories …

Posts > Categories menu

(Posts > Categories menu)

Locate the post category you want and hover your mouse over the title to reveal its unique ID …

Post Category 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

(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

(Paste the feed into your browser)

This will display the feed for that specific category …

RSS feed of a specific post 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

(Post category feed format)

Here is the feed format again …

Post category feed

(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

(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

(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 A Page Of Feeds

You can publish a feeds directory that allows your readers to subscribe to specific content, just like large online publishers …

Create An RSS Feeds Page

(Create A List Of Feeds)

All you need to do is link an image like the one shown below to the URL of your category feed and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a separate page …

RSS button image

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

If you need help with inserting tables into WordPress pages and posts, go here:

WordPress RSS – Notes

Feeds can be customized in various different ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.

WordPress allows a number of RSS feed configurations that do not require editing code. Here are some examples of feed formats you can create …

Different Feed Types You Can Create With WordPress RSS

(WordPress RSS – Custom Feeds)

Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the diagram above:

  • Feed Type: All Posts
  • Description: Content feed – RSS feed that includes your latest posts
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
  • Feed Type: All Comments
  • Description: Comments feed – Contains the latest comments posted on your website or blog
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
  • Feed Type: Individual Posts
  • Description: RSS feed for a single post entry
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
  • Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
  • Description: RSS Feed that contains the latest comments made on specific posts
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
  • Feed Type: Archives
  • Description: Day – Contains the latest post entries in each archive
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/11/20/feed/
  • Feed Type: Archives
  • Description: Month – Includes latest posts in each archive
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/09/feed/
  • Feed Type: Archives
  • Description: Year – Contains latest posts in each archive
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/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: Displays the latest items 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 let your site users know that they can subscribe to your RSS feeds. Make sure you place your ’subscribe to RSS’ link or button in a visible location …

Promote your RSS feeds!

(Encourage your site users to subscribe to your RSS feeds!)

Also, keep in mind that other website owners will only subscribe to your content if you provide useful content that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, provide high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

Add great content to your site and get others to subscribe to your content online using RSS!

(Add content from other sites and get others to syndicate your content online with RSS feeds!)

Practical Tip

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 – Additional Resources:

  • Download RSS Images – Visit an online resource site like www.iconspedia.com/search/rss or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS graphic elements.
  • RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information about RSS.
  • Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about RSS feeds.
  • WordPress Codex: Feeds – Official WordPress documentation. Go here for more information about WordPress RSS feeds.

WordPress User's Guide To RSS

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

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please see other posts on this site.

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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