No matter what service or product you provide or what industry your business is in, providing high-quality information to your blog users is important. For example, if you provide travel-related services, it’s a good idea to publish the latest information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, tips from consulates, etc.
The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it involves a lot of time and expertise. You have to sift through, gather, and organize a lot 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 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 continually provide your readers with up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The simplest way to provide your users with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – What Is It?
- RSS, which, according to some is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It is also often referred to as a “feed” or “web feed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content so that their site readers can read it without having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
- Feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog posts, news, audio playlists, etc., to which users can then subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML (XML = Extensible Markup Language) document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata like published date, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then keep up with any updates posted on these sites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate content automatically.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feed aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and 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 several RSS feeds to receive news and updates from various sources.
In this comprehensive guide, we will explain where your RSS feed is located, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display content from other websites and blogs on your site via RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful and legitimate method used for sharing web content. Feeds provide web users with a way to keep up with the latest information posted on websites they are interested in.
First, let’s look at content syndication.
Global media publications rely heavily on content syndication to publish news and stories from news agencies all around the world.
Content syndication allows most leading news reporting agencies to deliver readers the latest news headlines and interesting content from all over the planet without having to send more reporting agencies all around the world …
(Digital content publishers use syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources all around the planet.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately. Online newspapers syndicate their information using feeds …
(Online newspapers syndicate their stories using news feeds)
Most websites actually would like you to share their information. Syndicating content not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site that published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.
Leading news reporting agencies provide links to a 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”, “calgary herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Leading news reporting agencies will contain a feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link brings up a list of RSS feeds for different content areas of the site …
(RSS feeds directory. Image: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
These feed items give you access to content from different sections of the site (e.g. business news, sports news, editorials, etc.)
Feed sections can also include feed subdirectories …
(Feed sections can also contain feed subdirectories. Source: latimes.com feeds)
Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. To use an RSS feed, all you have to do is copy the URL and paste it into an application that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s website and adds value to your site without you having to create the content …
(RSS Feeds - Benefits)
While adding RSS feeds 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 syndicate your content.
When other sites syndicate your RSS feed, you have the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more web traffic …
(Get other website owners to syndicate your content … it will help to increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS – Overview
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing other online users to syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on your WordPress site’s theme, there are a number of ways to get your WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed in a navigation menu, scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(WordPress Meta widget – Accessing your RSS feed)
2) You can also find links and/or buttons on certain WordPress themes that allow your visitors to copy your RSS feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can copy the site’s RSS feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy feed URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)
3) On some websites and again, depending on which theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Keep In Touch, Links, or Social Share floating, fixed, or slide-out toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Links, Social Share, or Follow Us section)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s 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 RSS page …
(Feed items viewed with Firefox)
Note that your feed page will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …
(Feed items seen on a Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many items you want to show in your Feeds section, go to your Reading Settings section and select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Syndication items)
Your feed section will display the number of items you have specified section …
(The feed page 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 your Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display posts as full text, or 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 can affect how your feeds will appear)
To learn more about Post excerpts, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all that’s required to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s see how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for their RSS feed link using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for a ‘subscribe’ button. 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 what the feed contains by pasting the URL of your feed into a feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.
How To Add RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Site
In the example below, we are going to add content from other site’s RSS feeds to yours.
Adding Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you could 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 easily 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 RSS content to your sidebar …
(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
copy the RSS feed URL from a site containing content that you would like to add to your sidebar …
(Copy your feed URL)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(WordPress RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content should now appear in the 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 RSS Feed Content To WordPress Posts
What if you want to add content from RSS feeds to posts instead of your sidebar?
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search on WordPress.org plugin repository for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for full instructions, or contact us if you need help with plugin configuration.
Here are a few autoblogging tools that allow you to create posts using RSS feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging 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 categories and campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress that offers a number of premium add-ons for additional functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
RSS Post Importer allows you to curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of each feed item as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)
POWr RSS allows you to automatically combine content from multiple content using RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom fonts, backgrounds, colors, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in any language.
The premium version of this plugin contains many additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes)
The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to create 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/LinkedIn/Twitter, export WordPress posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides versatile syndication options for WordPress 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 content from various different sources), or bring together all your online activity into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog by WPMUDev – WordPress Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in the URL of your feed, give it a name of your choosing (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 Plugin For WordPress)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Use RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types if you would like to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available to online users.
To inspect these comments, locate the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content displayed on a Firefox browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which browser you are using …
(RSS comments feed entries displayed using Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into a feed reader …
(Paste your comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed 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 WP site installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using Specific Item Feeds
Being able to access an RSS feed for specific posts 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 creating an RSS feed for single posts is shown below:
(Single Post RSS Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post URL, 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 URL, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not actual post content itself.
Tip #3 – Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to subscribe to content from one or two post categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
WordPress allows you to create category feeds.
All you need to do is use the format below:
(Format for WP category feed)
Select and copy the category URL …
(Copy your category URL …)
And append the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Use this format for WordPress post categories feed)
The feed now only displays content posted for that particular 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 – Provide Your Own Feeds List
You can provide a feeds list that allows readers to subscribe to content in specific categories, just like the larger authoritative sites do …
(Provide A List Of Feeds On Your Site)
Link an icon like the one shown below to each feed and then create a table or a list of all your category feeds on a separate page …
(RSS icon. Image Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
If you need help with inserting tables into WordPress posts, see this tutorial:
RSS – Notes
You can customize feeds in several ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure different feed formats without code editing skills. For example, here are just some of the kinds of custom feed types you can create …
(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the image above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that displays your latest posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Contains the latest comments published on your website
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed that contains a single post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Displays the latest comments made on single post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/10/27/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Displays latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/07/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/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: RSS feed displaying latest posts for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to let your visitors know that they can subscribe to your feeds. Place your subscribe link somewhere visible …
(Encourage visitors to subscribe to your RSS feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that other sites will only want to subscribe to your content if you provide your subscribers with high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add someone else’s content and get others to subscribe to your content with WordPress and 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 RSS feed 🙂
RSS – Additional Resources:
- Feed Icons – Visit Feedicons or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss buttons”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable Free RSS graphics.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization with three primary duties: publishing RSS specifications, providing guidance to developers who create RSS applications and helping the general public gain a better understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – Official WordPress documentation and information. Visit this site for additional information about using WordPress and RSS.
Congratulations! Now you know where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display content from other sites on your site via RSS.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please see our related posts section.
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