No matter what your business sells or what industry you belong to, providing quality information to your site readers is essential. For example, if you provide health-related services, it’s a good idea to publish the latest information from the health department, such as news or updates on medical research, health and fitness advice, etc.

To create and publish this kind of information, however, involves an enormous amount of work and resources. You have to do a ton of data gathering, researching and organizing, fact-checking, content writing and editing (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually up-to-date. As you can imagine, this is not only a huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is well beyond your control.

Thankfully, there is an easier way to keep your site readers up-to-date with great information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is the easiest way to provide your site readers with the latest information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS Made Simple

• RSS, which, according to some definitions is short for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly referred to as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also referred to as a “feed” or “news 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 typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog entries, news headlines, audios, etc., to which users can choose to subscribe.
• Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with metadata such as date of publishing, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then view updates posted on these sites using a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their content.
• Feeds can be made available in different formats and read by different feed aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF (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 applications also allow you to combine different RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from multiple websites.

This in-depth guide explains 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 sites to your site via RSS feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a very powerful way to share web content. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple way to keep up with the latest information published on websites and blogs they are interested in.

First, let’s look at syndication.

Global media and news reporting agencies use content syndication to publish stories from news agencies all around the world.

Content syndication allows many online newspapers and many leading online media publications to deliver readers stories and news items from all over the globe without actually having to post additional news staff and writers everywhere around the world …

(Many online newspapers rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy stories from other news agencies around the planet.)

Syndication is used to share information legitimately with other sites. News reporting agencies syndicate content using feeds …

(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share content with other publications)

Most sites actually want you to share their content. Syndicating content not only allows information to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.

Major content sites include a feed section (look for menu links that say “RSS” 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 news reporting agencies and major content sites include a feed section. Image: SMH )

Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link will bring up a directory of different RSS feeds …

(RSS Feeds. Image: New York Times)

Each of these feeds lets readers access different sections of the site (e.g. technology news, sports news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain subcategories …

(Feed sections can also contain subcategories. Image Source: LA Times)

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

Using RSS Feeds – Benefits

Adding someone else’s content to your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives additional exposure online to someone else’s business, it also helps your site by freeing you up from having to create this content …

(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 worth keeping in mind that there are benefits in getting other websites to use your content.

When other websites and blogs syndicate your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive new web traffic …

(Get users to syndicate your feed … it will help to increase your traffic!)

WordPress RSS Feed – About

By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing other online users to syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.

Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:

1) If your theme displays the Meta widget on your sidebar menu …

(Your feed will show the number of 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 Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display posts as full text, or as a summary …

(WP Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for each article in a feed)

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

(Post excerpts can affect how content in your feeds appear)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on Post excerpts, go here:

• Using Post Excerpts

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, all you have to do to view the content of an RSS feed is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content for humans.

Let’s show you how this works.

First, find a website or blog and look for a ‘subscribe’ link or button …

(Look for an RSS feed icon. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

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

(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image: Feedreader)

Like feedreaders, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.

Adding An RSS Feed To WordPress Sites

In the example below, we’ll add content from other websites to your WordPress site.

Adding RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is in, you can display on your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding content from their RSS feed. You can use RSS 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 RSS content to the WordPress sidebar navigation area …

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

First, find a site that publishes content that you would like to display on your sidebar and copy its 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 Area – RSS Widget)

To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:

• How To Add And Configure Widgets In Your WordPress Blog Sidebar Section

Load your site in your browser. The content should now display in the sidebar (or wherever you have placed the RSS widget) …

(RSS Feed Added To WordPress 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 Set Up Webmaster Accounts

How To Add Feed Content To Your WordPress Posts

What if you want to add content from RSS feeds to WordPress posts instead of your sidebar?

You can do this using plugins. Search inside the ’Add Plugins’ section (Plugins > Add New) for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.

(RSS plugins)

Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for full instructions, or contact us for help configuring plugins.

Here are some plugins you can check out that let you add RSS feeds to your pages and posts:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico)

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

You can manage all the feeds you import and organize feeds into campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress with extended functionality with premium add-ons.

For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into your posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer WP Plugin)

The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to syndicate, curate, import, 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 feed item as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)

POWr RSS combines and displays content from a number of different sources using RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed priority, use custom backgrounds, fonts, colors, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any computer, phone, or tablet and supports text in any language.

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

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed WP Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin)

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

This plugin provides loads of powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)

FeedWordPress provides versatile syndication for WordPress-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 site (sites that combine and display content from multiple sources), or display all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Twitter, YouTube, or other online services, in one place.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress

Autoblog by WPMUDev

(Autoblog – WordPress Plugin)

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:

• Autoblog by WPMUDev – WordPress Plugin

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages Plugin)

Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types if you would like to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types – WordPress Plugin

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

In addition to giving online users access to feeds of your latest posts, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your post comments.

To view the comments in your feed, 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 Feed)

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

(Comments feed entries seen with a Firefox browser)

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

(Comments feed entries as seen on Google Chrome)

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 feed content. Image: 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 WordPress installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Individual Post RSS Feeds

Being able to select an RSS feed for a single post can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items to RSS directories, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.

The formula for displaying an RSS feed for specific posts is shown below:

(Specific Post RSS Feed)

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

(Single Post RSS Feed)

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

Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category RSS Feeds

Some your site users may only want to subscribe to content from a particular post category. 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 below:

(Use this format for WP post categories feed)

Select and copy the category link address …

(Copy the selected category URL …)

Now, add the word “feed” to the end of it …

(WP post categories feed format)

Your RSS feed will now only contain content specific to this particular 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 – Create Your Own Page Of Feeds On Your Site

You can create a list of feeds for visitors that allows your readers to subscribe to content in the categories they are interested in …

(Set Up Your Own Directory Of RSS Feeds)

You can link an image like the one shown below to category feeds and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a new page …

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

We have created a detailed tutorial on creating tables in WordPress here:

• Creating And Adding Tables To WordPress Content

RSS Feeds – Notes

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

WordPress allows you to configure various feed types that do not require code editing skills. Below are examples of some of the kinds of custom feeds you can create …

(WordPress RSS – Feed Formats)

For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:

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

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

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

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Contains the latest comments made on a post
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – RSS feed that includes the latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/12/27/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Feed displaying latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/11/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Feed containing the latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Feed that displays latest post entries for a search query
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Contains the latest posts for a custom type (e.g. book)
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book

One last thing …

Remember to promote your feeds. Place a ’subscribe to RSS’ buttons somewhere visible …

(Remember to promote your RSS feeds!)

Keep in mind that other sites will only want to subscribe to your content if you provide your visitors with very high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

(Add someone else’s content and get others to share your content with RSS feeds!)

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:

• Feed Graphics – Visit a site like Feedicons.com 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 about RSS.
• Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
• WordPress Codex – Official WordPress documentation and reference. Go here for additional information about WordPress and RSS.

Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to display someone else’s content on your site via their RSS feed.

Hopefully, you now have 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 see other great content we have published on this site.

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