No matter what what industry you belong to, providing high-value information on your site or blog is important. For example, if your business provides accounting or financial planning services, it’s a good idea to publish useful information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax deductions, etc.
To create and publish this type of information, however, takes an enormous amount of work and expertise. You have to sift through, gather, 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 make sure that this information is continually 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 entirely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a much simpler way to provide your site readers with great information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The easiest way to provide your blog subscribers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – What Is It?
- RSS is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred to, Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- Once users subscribe to a website’s feed, they no longer have to physically visit and check the source website for content updates. Instead, their web browser will continually monitor the feed and automatically keep subscribers updated.
- RSS feeds are often used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog entries, news headlines, audio lists, etc., which users can then subscribe to.
- You can view the content of RSS feeds using a software program called a feed reader, or feed aggregator. Aggregators are used to access new content published on websites and distribute this content to online properties.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feed readers. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) 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 devices, readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine several RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from multiple sites.
This guide shows you where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display content from other websites on your site using RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful method used to share web content. Feeds provide an easy way for web users to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on different websites and blogs.
First, let’s look at syndication.
Online media publications rely on syndication to publish content from content sources all around the world.
Content syndication allows leading online newspapers to deliver readers the latest stories and news items from all around the planet without having to post additional writers to every location in the world …
(Digital news agencies rely on content syndication to publish newsworthy items from other news agencies all around the globe.)
Syndication is used to share information legitimately with other sites. Content agencies syndicate newsworthy content using feeds …
(Content syndication is used by news reporting agencies to share content with other publications)
Most sites actually would like you to share their content. Syndicating content not only allows valuable information to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Most news agencies and major content sites will contain a feed section (look for links that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “calgary herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Leading digital publishing agencies have a feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(RSS Feeds. Source: nytimes.com)
Each of these RSS feeds allows readers to access different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, travel news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
A feed directory can also contain feed subcategories …
(An RSS feed directory can also include feed subcategories. Image Source: LA Times)
Note: A feed is just a URL. To use feeds, all you have to do is to copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Using Feeds
Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s website additional exposure online, it also helps you by freeing you up from having to create that content …
(Using Feeds)
While adding a feed from another site is a great way to add content to your site that you don’t have to create, it’s worth keeping in mind that there are benefits in getting other sites to syndicate YOUR content.
When other websites syndicate your feed, this gives your business the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get other sites to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help to increase your web traffic!)
Your WordPress RSS Feed
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on your WordPress theme, there are a few ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget in a navigation menu …
(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 WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display your posts as full text, or a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts affect how content in feeds appear)
If you need help WordPress Post excerpts, go here:
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 to your clipboard and paste it into an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website whose content you want to subscribe to and search for their RSS feed icon using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for a ’subscribe to feed’ icon or link. Image source: 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 RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feedreaders, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds.
How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Site
Let’s show you how to add content from other websites to yours.
Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you can add to your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply importing content from their RSS feed. You can use feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, Facebook updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …
(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, Go to a site that publishes content that you want to display on your site and copy the RSS feed to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Section – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed will now appear in your sidebar …
(RSS Feed Content Added To Sidebar)
Add Your WordPress RSS Feed To Search Consoles
You can add your WordPress RSS feed to Google and Bing’s search consoles. This will help them index your content faster.
(WordPress RSS feed added to Google Search Console)
Adding your site’s RSS feed to search consoles is simple, fast, easy, and requires no technical skills. For a step-by-step tutorial, go here:
How To Add An RSS Feed To WordPress Posts
Can content from RSS feeds be added to posts instead of a sidebar? It sure can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Search inside the ’Add Plugins’ section (Plugins > Add New) for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ section – RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us if you need help configuring plugins.
The plugins below can be used to feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An auto blog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from multiple RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and arrange feeds according to categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress that offers premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into WordPress posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)
RSS Post Importer allows you to syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress blog.
RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of each item in the feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)
POWr RSS allows you to combine content from various RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom fonts, colors, backgrounds, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.
The premium plugin edition contains a number of 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 many other sources.
This plugin provides loads of powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook, export posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
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.
You can use this plugin to create aggregator site (sites that combine and display posts from different sources), or bring together all of your online activity into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in your feed URL, 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 Plugin)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to displaying RSS feeds of your posts, WordPress also displays RSS feeds of comments posted on your site.
You can see these comments by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget of your sidebar menu …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users will appear in the Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed items displayed on a Firefox browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …
(Comments feed entries seen on Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content 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: 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 website or blog is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using Feeds For Individual Post Items
Being able to select an RSS feed for single 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 making an RSS feed for a specific post item is shown below:
(Feed For Individual Post)
To create the above feed, copy the web address of your post, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of a post address, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to subscribe to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
If your website publishes content under a number of categories, you can provide a separate RSS feed for each of these categories.
All you have to do is use the format shown below:
(WP category RSS feed format)
Select and copy the category link address …
(Copy the category URL …)
Append “feed” to the end of it …
(WP category RSS feed format)
The RSS feed will now only include content posted under 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 – Set Up Your Own RSS Feeds List
You can set up a list of feeds for your site visitors that allows readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories …
(Create Your Own List Of Feeds)
You can also link a button to your category (or specific post) feeds and then create a table or a list of all feeds on a new page …
(RSS button graphic. Image: public-domain-photos.com)
To learn more about creating tables in WordPress posts and pages, refer to this tutorial:
RSS – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in a number of ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows various RSS feed configurations without code editing skills. For example, the table below contains some of the kinds of custom feed formats you can use …
(Different Feed Formats You Can Create With WordPress RSS)
Below are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – Includes your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Includes the latest comments published on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed that displays single posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed that includes the latest comments made on a single post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Includes latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/09/12/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – RSS feed that includes latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/08/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Feed containing latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays the latest posts for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes latest 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 feeds. Make sure you place your ’subscribe to RSS’ button somewhere visible …
(Encourage your visitors to subscribe to your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other website owners will only syndicate your content if you provide great content that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, you need to provide high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add someone else’s content and get online users to share your content using RSS!)
If you need great content ideas subscribe to our FREE content creation course using the form below:
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed 🙂
Additional Resources:
- RSS Feed Buttons – Visit Iconspedia or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss buttons”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS images.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and links to resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress.org – WordPress software documentation site. Visit this site for more information about feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know 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 using RSS.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of issues 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 please click on links to visit our related posts section.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum