No matter what your business sells or what industry you are in, you need to provide high-quality information on your site or blog. For example, if your business provides health-related services, you may want to publish information from the health department, such as news and updates on medical research, health and fitness tips, etc.
The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it takes an enormous amount of time and expertise. You have to do a lot of data sifting, researching and organizing, checking the accuracy of your facts, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure that this information is kept 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 completely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a simpler way to regularly provide your users with expert, up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The simplest way to provide your readers with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
Basic Information About RSS
- RSS, which, according to some stands for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also referred to as a “feed” or “web feed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save readers time from having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- Feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog post items, news headlines, videos, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document that includes full or summarized text along with other metadata such as published date, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites or blogs that publish feeds and then view updates posted on these websites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate their web content automatically.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF (RDF = Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also let you combine different RSS feeds to display news and updates from many different sources.
This article shows you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site using their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful and legitimate way of sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple and easy way to keep up with the latest information posted on different websites.
First, let’s take a look at how content syndication is used.
Online media publications rely heavily on content syndication to publish news and stories from other news agencies around the world.
Content syndication allows most leading news publishers to deliver readers interesting stories and the most recent news headlines from around the globe without actually having to hire more reporters everywhere in the world …
(Most news reporting agencies rely on syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies all around the planet.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content. online media publications syndicate their news stories using feeds …
(Content syndication is a legitimate way of sharing newsworthy content)
Most sites actually would like you to syndicate their content. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Most news reporting agencies and major content sites contain an RSS feed section (look for links in the navigation menu that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “miami herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many news reporting agencies and major content sites provide links to an RSS feed section. Image Source: SMH )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of different RSS feed sections of the site …
(RSS Feeds. Image: NY Times RSS)
These feeds give you access to information from different sections of the website (e.g. business news, sports news, jobs, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain further subcategory feeds …
(RSS Feed section. Image: LA Times)
Note: A feed is only a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is to copy the URLs and paste these into software that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Using RSS Feeds – Benefits
Syndicating someone else’s content on your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s content additional exposure online, it also helps you by freeing you up from having to create this content …
(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Website And Yours!)
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 you also want other websites to use YOUR content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your feed, this gives you the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get users to syndicate content using your RSS feed … it will help to increase your exposure online!)
Your WordPress RSS Feed
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on your WordPress theme, there are a few ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget on your navigation menu …
(The feed 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
The other setting in your WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display each article as full text, or a summary …
(Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for posts in your RSS feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …
(Post excerpts can affect how your feeds will appear)
To learn more about using excerpts in WordPress Posts, see this tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, all you have to do to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ icon or link using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for a ‘subscribe’ icon. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL 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 a feedreader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.
Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Site
In the example below, we’ll add RSS content from another site to yours.
How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can easily add to your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding their feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, social media comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to your sidebar …
(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, Go to a website that publishes content that you would like to add to your site and copy its RSS feed …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, go to your WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets and paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Area – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your web browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in the sidebar …
(RSS Feed Content Added To WP 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:
Adding Content From RSS Feeds To WordPress Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to a post? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Search inside the ’Add Plugins’ screen for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for configuration instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.
The plugins below are useful if you want 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 WordPress Plugin)
WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from specific RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize feeds according to campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin that offers a number of premium add-ons for additional functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer)
RSS Post Importer lets you curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full-text feeds on your WordPress website or blog.
The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article content of each feed item as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
POWr RSS combines and displays content from various sources using RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed priority, use custom colors, borders, fonts, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.
The premium plugin edition contains many additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress)
The WP Pipes plugin is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to 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 LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook, export your posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication for WordPress site-generated 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 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 – WordPress Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in your feed URL, give the feed a name (for admin purposes) and select a blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types)
RSS Includes Pages modifies the default WordPress RSS feed to include pages and not just posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your posts, WordPress also displays RSS feeds of your post comments.
To view these comments, go to the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar menu (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments Feed)
Comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content seen on a Firefox browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS comments feed entries displayed using a Google Chrome browser)
Again, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the content. Source: Feedreader)
Note: If the Meta section is not displaying on your theme, you can view the Comments RSS section of your site by opening up a browser and typing in the following URL:
- http://www.yourdomain.com/comments/feed
- http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/comments/feed (if your website or blog has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Displaying Individual Post RSS Feeds
Being able to access an RSS feed for specific posts can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific posts to RSS directories, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.
The formula for making an RSS feed for individual post items is shown below:
(Feed For Single Post)
To create the above feed, copy the post URL, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of your post URL, WordPress will return the comments left on that post, not actual post content itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in syndicating content from a particular post category. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
If your website contains content published under many categories, you can provide a separate RSS feed for each different category.
Just use the format below:
(Feed format for category)
Select and copy the category URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the category URL …)
Now, append “feed” to the end of it …
(RSS feed format for category)
The RSS feed now only contains content posted under that category …
(Category-specific feed page)
The WordPress Codex also provides different ways to create feeds not just for post categories, but also feeds for tags, authors, search, etc.
For this example, let’s create a feed for a specific post category using the format shown below:
(Post Category feed format. Source: WordPress Codex)
Here is the feed format WordPress recommends using. In this example, the post category ID is ’42’. We’ll need to replace the post category ID and the domain name …
(WordPress post category feed format)
To find the post category ID, go to Posts > Categories …
(Posts > Categories menu)
Locate the post category you want and hover your mouse over the title to reveal its unique ID …
(Post Category ID)
In our example, the post category ID is ’29’ and the post category feed format we need to use for this specific category with our domain name looks like this …
(Post category feed format with domain name and ID)
Copy and paste the feed into your browser and hit enter …
(Paste the feed into your browser)
This will display the feed for that specific category …
(RSS feed of a specific post category)
Note that in this example, WordPress automatically converted the feed format we pasted into the browser into the category feed we had used in the previous section of this tutorial …
(Post category feed format)
Here is the feed format again …
(Post category feed)
In this case, the simplest way to create additional feeds for specific categories is to simply change the post category slug …
(Change the post category slug to create a new category specific feed)
Paste the edited feed into your web browser and hit enter to display the content for that specific category’s feed …
(Post category feed content)
Now that you have a method for creating feeds for specific post categories (or tags, authors, etc.), you can even create a directory or list of individual feeds for visitors.
Tip #4 – Publish Your Own Page Of Feeds For Subscribers
You can create a list of RSS feeds for your subscribers that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories …
(Set Up Your Own Directory Of Feeds For Visitors)
All you need to do is link an image to a feed and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a new page …
(RSS button image. Image Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
To learn more about adding tables to WordPress posts and pages, go here:
RSS – Notes
Feeds can be customized in several different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows you to configure a number of different feed types without messing with code. Here are some examples of custom feed types you can use …
(Different Feed Formats You Can Create With WordPress RSS)
Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown 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 – Contains the latest comments posted on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that displays an individual post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed for the latest comments made on individual posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Contains latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/04/15/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Feed displaying the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/03/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Feed containing the latest post entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Contains latest items for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to let your users know that they can subscribe to your feeds. Place your subscribe button image in a visible location …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that other sites will only syndicate your content if you provide your visitors with very high-quality content that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add someone else’s content and get other users to subscribe to your content online with 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:
- RSS Feed Images – Visit Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS images”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here to learn more about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress.org/RSS Feeds – WordPress documentation site. Visit this site to learn more about using RSS feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add content from other websites to your site via 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 build a better business online. To learn more about using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now