No matter what your business sells or what industry you are a part of, providing quality information to your site readers is important. For example, if your business provides insurance-related services, it’s a good idea to provide users with information from government departments, such as news and updates on statistical research, insurance advice, etc.

The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it is really time-consuming. You have to do a lot of information gathering, researching and organizing, fact-checking, content writing and editing (or hire someone to do this for you), and then make sure that this information is continually 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 much simpler way to regularly provide your site readers with expert, up-to-date information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS - One of the simplest ways to provide your subscribers with up-to-date information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

What Does RSS Mean?

• RSS, which, according to some definitions stands for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
• After users subscribe to a website’s feed, they no longer have to physically visit and check the source website for updated content. Instead, their web browser will constantly monitor the feed and automatically keep subscribers updated.
• RSS feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog post items, news, videos, etc., which any user can then subscribe to.
• Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML (XML = Extensible Markup Language) document that includes full or summarized text along with metadata like date of publishing, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then browse updates posted on these sites using a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their information.
• Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feed aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different machines and programs.
• Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine many RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates sourced from different websites.

In this in-depth article, we will show you how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via RSS feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a really powerful way of sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide web users with an easy way to keep up with the latest information published on websites and blogs they are interested in.

First, let’s take a look at syndication.

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

Content syndication allows leading news reporting agencies to deliver readers interesting stories and up-to-the-minute news from all over the planet without having to hire and set up more news reporting and content writing staff in every location around the world …

(Global media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy items from other news agencies around the planet.)

Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately. Global media publications syndicate newsworthy content using feeds …

(Online newspapers syndicate their news stories using news feeds)

Most websites actually want 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 published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.

Many content agencies and major content sites have an RSS feed section (look for menu links that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “huffington post rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Many news reporting agencies and major sites have a feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of RSS feeds for different content sections of the site …

(A list of different feeds. Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)

These feed items let readers source different areas of the website (e.g. technology news, entertainment news, health news, etc.)

An RSS list can also include subcategories …

(RSS Feed section. Source: LA Times)

Note: A feed is only a URL. To use RSS feeds, all you have to do is to copy the URLs and paste these into software that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

Using Feeds – Benefits

Syndicating content from someone else’s website or blog on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives someone else’s content additional exposure online and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create that content …

(Syndicating Content - 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 sites to use YOUR content.

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

(Try to get users to syndicate your content … it will help to increase your exposure online!)

WordPress RSS Feed – About

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

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

1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget in a standard or custom menu …

(The feed page will display the number of posts as you have specified in the Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

Another setting in the Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display your posts as full text, or as a summary …

(Settings – Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for posts in your feed)

Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …

(Post excerpts affect how a feed will appear)

To learn more about Post excerpts, see this tutorial:

• Post Excerpts An Overview

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, all you need to do to view the content of an RSS feed is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content for humans.

Let’s take a look at how this works.

First, find a website whose feed you want to syndicate and search for a ’subscribe to feed’ link …

(Search for an RSS feed button. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

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

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

Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into readable content for humans.

Adding A Feed To Your WordPress Site

Let’s show you how to add content from other websites to your WordPress site.

Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you can easily display on your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by importing their feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, social media comments, 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)

First, Find a site containing content that you would like to add to your site and copy the RSS feed …

(Copy the feed URL to the clipboard)

Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(RSS Widget)

To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:

• How To Add WordPress Widgets To The Sidebar

Load your website in your browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen 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 Set Up Webmaster Accounts

How To Add Content From RSS Feeds To Posts

Can you add content from RSS feeds to WordPress posts? Yes, you can!

You can do this using WordPress plugins. Search on the WordPress plugin directory for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.

(‘Add Plugins’ screen – RSS plugins for WordPress)

Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us if you need assistance configuring plugins.

Here are a number of plugins you can check out that allow you to add RSS feeds to your posts:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico)

WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from selected RSS/Atom feeds.

You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange feeds according to 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 auto blogging plugin for WordPress with a number of premium add-ons for extended functionality.

For example, the Feed to Post add-on allows you to import RSS feeds directly into your posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)

RSS Post Importer can be used to curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds on your WordPress site.

The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full article content of each item in the feed as a separate post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)

POWr RSS Feed lets you automatically combine and display content from a number of different RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed priority, use custom fonts, colors, borders, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in any language.

The premium plugin version contains a number of additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes Plugin)

WP Pipes 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/Twitter/LinkedIn, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes WP Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress provides flexible syndication for WordPress.

As stated in the FeedWordPress site …

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.

You can use this FeedWordPress to create aggregator sites, or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, YouTube, or other online services, in one place.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress

Autoblog

(Autoblog by WPMUDev – WordPress Plugin)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, 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 a blog that you want it to post to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog Plugin

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages WordPress Plugin)

RSS Includes Pages modifies your RSS feeds to include pages and not just posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages WP Plugin

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

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

You can inspect these comments by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ section (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) …

(WordPress Comments RSS)

All the comments posted on your site by visitors will appear in the Comments RSS page …

(RSS comments feed content as seen with Firefox)

Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which browser you are using …

(Comments feed items displayed on a Google Chrome web browser)

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

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

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 installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Creating RSS Feeds For Specific Items

Being able to create 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 creating an RSS feed for individual posts is shown below:

(Feed For Specific Post Item)

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 append “/feed” to the end of a post URI, WordPress will return the comments associated with that post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Displaying 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.

If your website or blog contains content published under various categories, you can easily provide a separate RSS feed for each different category.

All you need to do is use the format below:

(Feed format for post categories)

Select and copy the category link address …

(Copy the category URL …)

Add the word “feed” to the end of it …

(Use this format for WP category feed)

The RSS feed will now only include content posted for that 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 – Publish Your Own Feeds Directory

You can create an RSS feeds page that allows your readers to subscribe to content in the categories that interest them, just like the larger websites do …

(Provide A Page Of RSS Feeds)

You can link an RSS graphic to the URL of your feed and then create a table or a list of your category feeds on a separate page …

(RSS button graphic. Image: public-domain-photos.com)

To learn more about creating tables in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:

• Adding Tables In WordPress Pages And Posts

RSS – Additional Notes

RSS feeds can be customized in a number of ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.

WordPress allows different RSS feed configurations that do not require touching code. For example, here are just some of the kinds of feeds you can use and how to structure these feeds …

(Different Feed Types You Can Create With WordPress RSS)

Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – contains 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 website or blog
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

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

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

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Feed displaying the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/07/14/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Displays the latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/03/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – RSS feed containing the latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Contains the latest entries 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 promote your feeds. Place your ’subscribe to RSS’ link or button in a visible location …

(Remember to make your feeds visible your RSS feeds!)

Keep in mind that other sites will only want to subscribe to your content if your information is useful, educational, or highly engaging. In other words, provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their users.

(Add content from other sites and get others to subscribe to your content 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 – Resources:

• Feed Graphics – Visit Feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites containing downloadable Free RSS icons.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing RSS specifications, providing guidance to developers who create RSS applications and furthering the understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about using RSS.
• WordPress.org – WordPress software documentation. Visit this site to learn more 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 add someone else’s content to your site using RSS.

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you expand your business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit other great content on this site.

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