No matter what what industry you are a part of, it’s important to provide high-quality information to your site users. For example, if your business provides health-related services, it’s not a bad 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 type of information, however, is very time-consuming. You have to do a lot of information sorting, 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.

Fortunately, there is a much easier way to provide your site readers with up-to-date information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS - The easiest way to provide your blog subscribers with great information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS – What Is It?

• RSS, which, according to some experts stands for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It is often referred to as a “feed” or “web feed”.
• Once users subscribe to a website’s feed, they no longer have to physically check the website for content updates. Instead, their browser will continually monitor the feed and automatically keep subscribers up-to-date.
• RSS feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog post items, news headlines, audio playlists, etc., to which users can then subscribe.
• Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with metadata such as published date, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites or blogs that publish feeds and then browse any updates posted on these websites through a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate information.
• There are different feed formats and these can be read by different feed readers. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines, readers, and programs.
• Many sites and software applications also let you combine multiple RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates sourced from various websites.

In this article, we explain how to find your WordPress RSS feed, 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 very powerful way of sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple and easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on different sites.

First, let’s take a look at content syndication.

Global media and news reporting agencies rely heavily on syndication to publish content from content sources all around the world.

Content syndication allows news agencies to deliver readers stories on all kinds of topics from around the planet without actually having to post additional news reporting and content writing teams to every place around the world …

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

Syndication is used to share content legitimately. online media publications syndicate news stories using news feeds …

(Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content)

Most websites actually would like you to syndicate their content. Content syndication not only allows information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the site that originally created theoriginally created and published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.

Major sites will have an RSS feed section (look for navigation links that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “courier rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Most digital agencies and major content sites will include an RSS feed section. Source: smh.com.au )

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

(RSS Feeds. Image: nytimes.com RSS feeds)

gives you access to information from different areas of the site (e.g. business news, travel news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain feed subcategories …

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

Note: A feed is only a URL. All you need to do to use a feed is to copy the URL and paste it into a program that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

Content Syndication – Benefits

Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s site, it also helps your site by freeing you up from having to create this content …

(Syndicating Content - Benefits)

While adding a 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 sites to use YOUR content.

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

(It’s a good idea to get other sites to syndicate your content … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)

WordPress RSS – Overview

WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing other online users to syndicate your content on their sites.

Depending on the WordPress 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 in your navigation menu, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …

(WordPress Meta section)

2) You can also find built-in links and buttons on certain WordPress themes that allow your visitors to copy your feed.

For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can simply copy the site’s RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …

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

3) On some websites and again, depending on the theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Keep In Touch, Social Share, or Links toolbar …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Subscribe, Social Share, or Link To Us floating, slide-out, or fixed toolbar)

4) You can also view your feed by 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 is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up your site’s feed page …

(Feed items viewed with Firefox)

Note that your feed items will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …

(RSS feed entries seen on Google Chrome)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

You can specify how many posts you want displayed in your RSS Feed page, by going to your Reading Settings section and typing the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

(Reading Settings – Number of syndication feed items setting)

Your feed page will show as many recent items you have specified in the Reading Settings section …

(The feed will show the number of items you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

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

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

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

(Post excerpts affect how feeds appear)

If you need help WordPress Post excerpts, see this tutorial:

• WordPress Post Excerpts - Step-By-Step Tutorial

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, to view the content of an RSDS feed, you need to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.

Let’s show you how this works.

First, go to a website or blog and search for a ’subscribe to feed’ button …

(Look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link. 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 URL of your feed into a feedreader …

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

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

How To Add A Feed To Your WordPress Site

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

Adding Feeds To Your Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can display on your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding content from their RSS feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, Facebook comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.

Let’s add content sourced from an RSS feed to your sidebar …

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

copy the RSS feed URL from a site containing content that you would like to add to your site to your clipboard …

(Copy the feed URL to your clipboard)

Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(Widgets Section – RSS Widget)

To learn more about using widgets, go here:

• Adding WordPress Widgets To The Sidebar Navigation Area

Load your website in your web browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen on your sidebar (or wherever you have inserted the RSS widget – e.g. footer) …

(RSS Feed 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 Set Up Webmaster Accounts

Adding Feeds To Your Posts

Can you add content from an RSS feed to posts instead of your sidebar? You sure can!

You can do this using plugins. Search inside your ’Add Plugins’ screen for RSS Aggregator, RSS feed to post, etc.

(‘Add Plugins’ search results – RSS plugins)

Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.

Here are a number of autoblogging plugins for WordPress that allow you to create new with feeds:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)

WPeMatico is an easy to use autoblogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you select.

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

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress)

WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with extended functionality with a number of premium add-ons.

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your WordPress posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer Plugin)

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

RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full content of every item in your feed as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer WordPress Plugin

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)

With the POWr RSS Feed plugin, you can combine and display content from various RSS feeds.

This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom colors, backgrounds, fonts, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.

The premium version of POWr contains a number of additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin)

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

This plugin provides functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter, export your posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes WP Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)

FeedWordPress provides flexible Atom/RSS syndication for WordPress.

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 display posts from different sources), or bring together all your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, Flickr, or other online services, into a Lifestream.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress

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:

• Autoblog by WPMUDev – WordPress Plugin

RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types

(RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin)

RSS Includes Pages modifies your RSS feeds to include pages in addition to posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin

Using WordPress RSS – Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

In addition to displaying RSS feeds of your posts, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site.

To access this, 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 RSS)

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

(Comments feed entries as seen using Firefox)

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

(RSS comments feed content as seen on Google Chrome)

Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …

(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image 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 subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Using Single Post RSS Feeds

Being able to access an RSS feed for a single post item 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 using an RSS feed for individual post items is shown below:

(Specific Post Feed)

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 URI, WordPress will return the comments left on that post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Category RSS Feeds

Some your site visitors may only want to syndicate content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

With WordPress, you can create separate category feeds.

All you have to do is use the format below:

(Format for WP category feed)

Copy the category link address …

(Copy your category URL …)

And add the word “feed” to the end of it …

(WordPress post categories RSS feed format)

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

(Category 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 – Set Up Your Own List Of Feeds

You can publish your own directory of feeds for your subscribers that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories, just like large online publishers …

(Publish An RSS Feeds Directory)

Link an RSS image like the one shown below to a feed URL and then create a table or a list of all feeds on a separate page …

(RSS button. 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, go here:

• How To Add Tables In WordPress Posts And Pages Easily Without Touching Code

RSS Feeds – Notes

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

WordPress allows different feed configurations that do not require messing with code. For example, the table below shows some of the kinds of feed formats you can create …

(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)

Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the diagram 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 – Includes the latest comments published on your site
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts
• Description: RSS feed containing individual posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: RSS Feed for the latest comments made on specific posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Feed displaying the latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/05/28/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – RSS feed containing the latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/08/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Displays the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: RSS feed containing 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. Make sure you place a subscribe button somewhere visible …

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

Also, keep in mind that online users will only 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 great content from other sites and get other sites to syndicate your content online with WordPress and 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 🙂

RSS – Additional Resources:

• RSS Graphics – Visit Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logo download”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS graphic elements.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to gain a better understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about the history and benefits of using RSS feeds.
• WordPress Codex – Official WordPress documentation. Visit this site to learn more about using feeds in WordPress.

Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add content from other websites to your site via their RSS feed.

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website please see other great articles and tutorials on this site.

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