No matter what your business sells or what industry you belong to, providing high-quality information to your blog visitors is vitally important. For example, if your business provides taxation services, it’s not a bad idea to provide users with information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax deductions, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, is really time-consuming. You have to do a ton of data sorting, researching and organizing, fact-checking, content writing and editing (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually make sure that this information is kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this not only involves a huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is completely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a simpler way to keep your users up-to-date with your information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your site visitors with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Is RSS?
- RSS is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It is often referred to as a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save readers time from having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- Feeds are also used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog entries, news, audio lists, etc., to which users can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata like date of publishing, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then browse updates posted on these sites using a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate information automatically.
- 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 devices, feedreaders, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine multiple RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from different sites.
In this in-depth guide, we will explain how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to add content from other websites to your site via their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful and legitimate method used for sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide a simple and easy way for web users to receive the latest information published on different sites.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Most digital news publishers and many influential online publications rely on content syndication to publish news from content sources around the world.
Syndication allows most online newspapers to deliver readers interesting stories and the most recent newsworthy items from all over the globe without actually having to post more reporters everywhere around the world …
(Digital content publishers rely heavily on content syndication to publish stories from news sources all around the planet.)
Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing newsworthy content. online media publications syndicate their newsworthy content using feeds …
(News reporting agencies syndicate content using news feeds)
Most websites actually want you to syndicate their information. Syndicating content not only allows information to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site responsible for creating and publishing the content being syndicated. This creates new ways to drive traffic back to their site.
Many news publishing agencies and major sites will contain a feed section (look for links in the navigation menu that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “daily telegraph rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many news reporting agencies and major sites include an RSS feed section. Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a directory of different RSS feed sections of the site …
(RSS feeds directory. Image: nytimes.com)
Each of these RSS feed items allows readers to access information about different areas of the site (e.g. business news, sports news, jobs, etc.)
An RSS feed directory can also contain further feed subcategories …
(Feed sections can also include subcategory feeds. Source: latimes.com feeds)
Note: An RSS feed is just a URL. To use RSS feeds, all you have to do is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Syndicating Content
Adding content from someone else’s website on 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 that content …
(Syndicating Content - Benefits)
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 a great idea to try and get other sites to syndicate your content.
When other websites syndicate your feed, you have the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get users to syndicate your content … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS – About
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a few ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on your sidebar or footer menu, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(You can access your WordPress RSS feed from the Entries RSS menu)
2) You can also find links and buttons on certain themes that let your visitors copy your feed.
In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the site’s RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy feed URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)
3) On some websites and again, depending on your WordPress theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Link To Us, Social Share, or Follow Us toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Share, Links, or Follow slide-out, fixed, or floating 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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your RSS …
(Feed items seen on Firefox browser)
Note that your feed content will display differently depending on the web browser you use …
(RSS feed content seen on a Google Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many items you would like to display in your Feeds page, go to your Reading Settings section and enter the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(WP Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)
Your feed page will show as many recent items you have specified section …
(The feed page will show as many recent posts as you have specified in your Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other setting in the Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display your posts as full text, or just a summary …
(WordPress Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for articles in your feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how a feed appears)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on Post excerpts, go here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, to view the content of a feed, you need to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s see how this works.
First, find a website whose content you want to subscribe to and search for their RSS feed section …
(Look for an RSS feed button. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL to your clipboard)
If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader)
Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into readable content for humans.
How To Add A Feed To Your WP Site
Let’s show you how to add content sourced from another website to your WordPress site.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can display on your site the latest news and updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding their feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, Facebook comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content sourced from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …
(Add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar)
copy the RSS feed URL from a website that publishes content that you want to display on your site …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Area – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:
Load your site in your browser. The content should now display 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 A Feed To Your Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to WordPress posts? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Search inside the Plugins admin section (Plugins > Add New) for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ screen)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for configuration instructions, or contact us for help configuring plugins.
Here are a few autoblogging plugins that let you create new with feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico WordPress Plugin)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you specify.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize feeds into campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator WP Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin that offers extended functionality with a number of premium add-ons.
For example, the Feed to Post extension is an advanced, feature-filled importer that lets you autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into your WP posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer)
The RSS Post Importer plugin allows you to curate, syndicate, import, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress blog.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article content of every item in the 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 multiple sources using RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust sizing and spacing of feeds, use custom fonts, colors, borders, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.
The premium version of this plugin contains many additional features.
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 other sources.
This plugin provides loads of functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, export posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides simple and 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 site (sites that bring together content from many different sources), or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Twitter, Flickr, or other online services, in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog 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 the URL of your feed, give the feed 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 and Custom Post Types Plugin)
Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types if you would like to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available.
To view this, locate the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors will appear in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries seen with Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(Comments feed entries displayed on Google Chrome web browser)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feed reader 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 site has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Creating Individual Item RSS Feeds
Being able to access an RSS feed for specific 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 a single post is shown below:
(Feed For Specific Post)
To create the above feed, copy the post URL, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of a post, WordPress will return the comments made on that post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Displaying Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only be interested in subscribing to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
WordPress allows you to create category feeds.
Just use the format below:
(Format for WP category feed)
Copy the selected category link address …
(Select and copy your category link address …)
Append the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Feed format for post categories)
Your feed will now only include content posted for that particular 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 – Set Up A Feeds List
You can provide your own feeds list that allows readers to subscribe to specific content, just like large online publishers …
(Provide Your Own RSS Feeds Page)
All you need to do is link an icon like the one shown below to category feed URLs and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a new page …
(RSS graphic. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)
We have written a detailed tutorial on inserting tables into WordPress posts and pages here:
RSS Feeds – Notes
You can customize RSS in various different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure several feed types without code editing skills. For example, the table below contains some of the kinds of feed formats you can use on your site and how to structure your feeds …
(Different Feed Types You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that includes your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – RSS feed containing the latest comments posted on your site
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed for an individual post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed that displays the latest comments made on an individual post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/03/31/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/06/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Includes latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Contains the latest entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Contains 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 users know that they can subscribe to your feed. Place your ’subscribe to RSS’ buttons somewhere visible …
(Encourage your visitors to syndicate your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only subscribe to your content if you provide useful information. In other words, provide high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add great content from other sites and get online 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 🙂
Resources:
- RSS Feed Buttons – Visit Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS images”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress.org/Feeds – Official WordPress documentation and reference. Visit this site for additional information about RSS feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where 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 using their RSS feed.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To read more about using WordPress please see other great articles and tutorials on this site.
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