No matter what your business provides or what industry you are in, providing high-quality information to your site visitors is important. For example, if your business provides insurance services, it’s not a bad idea to include information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical research, insurance advice, etc.
The problem with providing this kind of information, however, is that it involves a huge amount of effort and expertise. You have to do a lot of data sorting, researching and organizing, checking sources for accuracy, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure that this information is 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 beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a simpler way to regularly provide your site visitors with expert, up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - One of the easiest ways to provide your users with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Does RSS Mean?
- RSS is short for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It can also be referred to as a “feed” or “news feed”.
- RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content so that users can read it without having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- Feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog post items, news, video lists, etc., to which users can then subscribe.
- You can view the content of RSS feeds using software-based tools called feedreaders, or feed aggregators. Aggregators can be used to find new content published on websites and syndicate this content online.
- There are different feed formats and these can be read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF 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 applications also allow you to combine several RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from multiple sites.
In this in-depth guide, you are going to learn where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to display someone else’s content on your site using their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful (and legitimate) way of sharing web content. Feeds provide web users with a way to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on sites and blogs they are interested in.
First, let’s look at syndication.
News reporting agencies and many popular media publications use syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies all around the world.
Syndication allows digital content publishers and popular online media publications to deliver readers stories on all kinds of topics from around the planet without actually having to hire additional news reporting agencies everywhere around the world …
(Most online newspapers and many popular media publications use content syndication to publish stories from news sources around the world.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content with other sites. online media publications syndicate their information using feeds …
(Content publishers syndicate their newsworthy content using feeds)
Most websites actually would like you to share their information. Syndicating content not only allows information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site that published the content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate new web visitors.
Most news reporting agencies and major content sites provide links to an RSS feed section (look for links in the navigation menu that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “nz herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many online newspapers will contain a feed section. Source: SMH RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section brings up a list of different RSS feed sections of the site …
(RSS directory. Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
These RSS feeds allow you to access information from different sections of the website (e.g. technology news, sports news, editorials, etc.)
An RSS feed directory can also include feed subcategories …
(RSS Feed section. Image: latimes.com)
Note: A feed is only a URL. To use feeds, all you need to do is copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Using Feeds – Benefits
Syndicating someone else’s content on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s content and adds value to your site without you 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 that you don’t have to create, it’s worth keeping in mind that there are benefits in getting other sites to use YOUR content.
When other sites syndicate content using your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Look for ways to get users to syndicate content using your feed … it will help to increase your traffic!)
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 site’s theme, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget in a standard or custom menu …
(The feed will display as many recent 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 WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display posts in the feed as full text, or a summary …
(WordPress Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how your feed content will display)
We have created a detailed tutorial on Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all you have to do to view a feed’s content 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 for humans.
Let’s see how this works.
First, go to a website whose content you want to syndicate and search for a ‘subscribe’ button …
(Look for an RSS feed section. Image source: http://www.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 feed reader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into readable content for humans.
How To Add RSS Feeds To WordPress Sites
In the example below, we’ll add RSS content from another website to your site.
Adding A Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you could add to your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by importing their feed. You can easily 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 content from an RSS feed to your sidebar …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, go to a website that publishes content that you want to display on your sidebar and copy the feed URL …
(Copy your feed URL)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(WP RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your browser. The content will now appear in your sidebar …
(RSS Widget)
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 Your WordPress Posts
What if you want to add content from an RSS feed to WordPress posts instead of a sidebar?
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search inside the Plugins admin screen for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for help configuring plugins.
The plugins listed below are useful if you would like to add feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An autoblog 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 RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize them according to campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress with additional functionality with premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post add-on is a feature-rich importer that lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your posts or any other custom post type.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer WordPress Plugin)
RSS Post Importer can be used to syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress blog.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full article content of each item in your feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)
POWr RSS Feed automatically combines and displays content from various RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust sizing and spacing of feeds, use custom backgrounds, fonts, colors, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all tablets, phones, and computers and supports text in all languages.
The premium edition of this plugin contains many additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes – WordPress Plugin)
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 loads of functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to a new level.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)
FeedWordPress provides flexible Atom/RSS syndication options 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 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 very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in your feed URL, give your feed a name (for admin purposes) and select the blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Install the RSS Includes Pages plugin if you would like to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed and not just posts.
For more details, go here:
Using RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available to online users, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your latest post comments.
To inspect this, locate the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar menu (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed entries seen using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on the web browser you use …
(Comments feed items as seen with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feedreader 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 site has been installed in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using RSS Feeds For Individual Posts
Being able to use an RSS feed for single 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:
(Single Post RSS Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post address, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of the post, WordPress will return the comments associated with your post, not actual post content itself.
Tip #3 – Category Feeds
Some your site users may only want to syndicate content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
With WordPress, you can create individual category feeds.
All you have to do is use the format shown below:
(WordPress category RSS feed format)
Copy the category link address …
(Copy your category link address …)
Append the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WordPress RSS feed format for category)
Your RSS feed will now only contain content posted for that category …
(Category-specific RSS 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 An RSS Feeds Directory
You can create a directory of feeds for your subscribers that allows readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them …
(Set Up A List Of RSS Feeds On Your Site)
You can also link an RSS button to each category feed URL and then create a table or a list of your category feeds on a separate page …
(RSS icon. Image: public-domain-photos.com)
If you need help with adding tables to WordPress posts and pages, go here:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in several ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows different feed configurations that do not require editing code. Here are some examples of feeds you can display on your site and how to structure these feeds …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)
For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed 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 – Contains the latest comments posted on your site
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed containing a specific post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Contains the latest comments made on single items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/06/25/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/05/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Displays latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Feed containing latest entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes the latest items for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
It’s a good idea to let your visitors know that they can subscribe to your feeds. Place your subscribe links somewhere visible …
(Promote your feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that other sites will only want to syndicate your content if you provide great information that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add someone else’s content and get other users to share your content with 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 🙂
RSS – Resources:
- Download RSS Graphics – Visit FeedIcons or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS buttons”, etc.) for sites containing downloadable RSS graphic elements.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here to learn more about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress.org/RSS Feeds – WordPress documentation and information. Visit this site for more information about using feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via their RSS feed.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about using the WordPress web content publishing platform please see other posts we have published on this site.
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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