No matter what service or product you provide or what industry your business is in, it’s vitally important to provide high-quality information on your site or blog that better educates, informs, or improves engagement with your visitors. For example, if your business provides medical services, it’s a good idea to provide users with the latest information from the health department, such as news and updates on medical research, health and fitness tips, etc.
To create and publish this type of information, however, involves a great deal of effort and expertise. You have to sift through, research, and organize a ton of data, check your facts, write and edit 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.
Thankfully, there is a much simpler way to regularly provide your site visitors with expert, up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your users with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Does RSS Stand For?
- RSS, which, according to some is short for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “web feed”.
- RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content so that their users can read it without having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
- RSS feeds are often used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog posts, news headlines, audios, etc., which other users can choose to subscribe to.
- RSS feeds can be viewed using software programs called feedreaders, or aggregators. Aggregators can be used to access content on all kinds of topics and syndicate this content (and any updates made to the content) to online properties.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feed readers. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP 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 and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine multiple RSS feeds to receive news and updates from multiple sources.
This guide shows you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add someone else’s content to your site using their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide online users with an easy way to keep up with the latest information posted on websites and blogs they are interested in.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Global media publications use syndication to publish stories from other news agencies around the world.
Content syndication allows many news reporting agencies and many influential online media publications to deliver readers global stories and up-to-the-minute news headlines from all over the planet without having to post more reporters and content writers everywhere in the world …
(Global media publications use content syndication to publish newsworthy stories from other news agencies around the world.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately with other sites. online media publications syndicate news stories using feeds …
(Content publishing agencies syndicate their information using news feeds)
Most websites actually would like you to share their content. Content syndication not only allows information to be shared, but it can also send visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Most leading online media publications provide links to a feed section (look for links in their navigation menu that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “belfast telegraph rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many digital publishing agencies provide links to an RSS feed section. Image: SMH RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(RSS feeds section. Image Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
These feeds give you access to different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, arts news, editorials, etc.)
Feed sections can also include further feed subdirectories …
(Feed sections can also include feed subcategories. Source: LA Times)
Note: A feed is only a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into a program that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Adding content from someone else’s site on your site has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s business and adds value to your site without you having to create that content …
(Content Syndication - Benefits)
While adding RSS 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 there are benefits in getting other websites to syndicate your content.
When other sites syndicate your content, this gives your business the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive new web traffic …
(Look for ways to get users to syndicate content using your RSS feed … it will help to increase your traffic!)
WordPress Feed – About
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a few ways to access your WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget on your sidebar …
(Your feed will display the number of items you have specified in your 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 feeds is whether to display articles in the feed as full text, or just a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how a feed will display)
To learn more about using WordPress Post excerpts, go 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 and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for a ‘subscribe’ button or link …
(Look for an RSS feed button. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of your feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the content. Image: Feedreader)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into content that is readable by humans.
How To Add A Feed To WordPress Sites
In the example below, we’ll add content from other websites to yours.
How To Add An RSS Feed To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is in, you can display on your site the latest news and updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding their RSS feed. You can use feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, social media updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu)
First, Find a website or blog that publishes content that you want to display on your sidebar and copy the RSS feed to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
Next, go to your WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets and paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your browser. The content from the RSS feed will now appear on your sidebar (or wherever the RSS widget has been added – e.g. footer, custom menu, etc) …
(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:
How To Add Feeds To Your Posts
What if you want to add content from an RSS feed to WordPress posts instead of your sidebar?
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search inside your Plugins admin screen (Plugins > Add New) for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us if you need help configuring plugins.
Here are some auto blogging plugins that let you create new using feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)
WPeMatico is an easy to use 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 into campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your WP posts or any other custom post type.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
RSS Post Importer lets you import, syndicate, curate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of every item in the feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed)
With the POWr RSS Feed plugin, you can combine and display content from a number of different RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom fonts, backgrounds, colors, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.
The premium version of this plugin contains many additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.
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 curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.
This plugin provides loads of features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export your posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to a new level.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress)
FeedWordPress provides versatile Atom/RSS syndication for WordPress site content.
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 different sources), or bring together all of 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 Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Just 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:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin)
RSS Includes Pages modifies your default WordPress RSS feed to include pages in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available to online users.
To view the comments in your feed, locate the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments Feed)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors display in the Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries as seen with Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which browser you are using …
(Comments feed entries as seen using a Google Chrome browser)
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 feed content. Image 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 – Single Post Item RSS Feeds
Being able to access an RSS feed for single post items can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items 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 single posts is shown below:
(Feed For Specific Post Item)
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 URI, WordPress will return the comments for that post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Using Post Category Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in syndicating content about specific topics. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
WordPress allows you to create category feeds.
All you need to do is use the format shown below:
(Format for WordPress category feed)
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 …
(Use this format for WP category feed)
Your category RSS feed now only includes content published under this category …
(Category-specific 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 – Create Your Own RSS Feeds List
You can provide a page of feeds that allows readers to subscribe to content in specific categories, just like large authoritative sites …
(Publish Your Own List Of Feeds For Your Site Visitors)
Link an image like the one shown below to category feeds and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a new page …
(RSS icon. Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
If you need help with creating tables in WordPress posts, go here:
RSS Feeds – Notes
You can customize feeds in a number of ways, such as adding videos and images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows various feed configurations that do not require editing code. Here are some examples of custom feed types you can display on your site and how to create your feeds …
(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
Here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the image above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – Includes your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – RSS feed that contains the latest comments left on your site
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that displays a single post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Includes the latest comments made on single items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Feed that displays the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/04/25/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/01/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – RSS feed that includes latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Contains latest post entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes the latest post entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to let visitors know that they can subscribe to your RSS feed. Make sure you place your subscribe button image in a visible location …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Also, keep in mind that other sites will only want to subscribe to your content if the information that you provide on your site is useful, educational, or highly entertaining. In other words, focus on providing your subscribers with high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add content to your site 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 feed 🙂
Additional Resources:
- RSS Feed Icons – Visit a site like Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS graphics.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing RSS specifications, providing guidance to developers who create RSS applications and furthering the understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress Codex – Official WordPress documentation repository. Go here for additional information about WordPress and RSS.
Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to display content from other sites on your site using RSS.
Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit our related posts section.
***
"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