No matter what what industry you are in, providing high-value information to your blog readers is vitally important. For example, if you provide travel services, it’s not a bad idea to publish useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news and updates on travel warnings, tips from embassies, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, is very time-consuming. You have to sort through, research, and organize a ton 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 not only involves a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is entirely beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a much simpler way to provide your site readers with expert, up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your subscribers with great information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – What Is It?
- RSS, which, according to some definitions stands for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It can also be 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 sites to check for updates.
- Feeds are often used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog posts, news headlines, audio lists, etc., which any user can then subscribe to.
- You can read RSS feeds using a web-based, desktop-based, and even mobile-based software called a feedreader, or feed aggregator. Feedreaders are used to access content on all different kinds of topics and syndicate this content to other sites.
- Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feed readers. 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 devices, feedreaders, and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine several RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from multiple sites.
This detailed guide shows you how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add content from other websites and blogs to your site using RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful method used to share web content. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple way to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites and blogs.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Media publications rely heavily on content syndication to publish stories from other news agencies all around the world.
Content syndication allows online newspapers to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news headlines and newsworthy stories from around the planet without actually having to hire and post additional news staff and news writers all around the world …
(Digital content publishers rely on syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the world.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content with other sites. online media publications syndicate their news stories using news feeds …
(Content syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content)
Most sites actually want you to share their information. Syndicating content not only allows information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This creates new ways to drive traffic back to their site.
Leading content publishers contain a feed section (look for 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.) …
(Most leading online media publications will include an RSS feed section. Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a list of different RSS feed sections …
(RSS directory. Source: nytimes.com)
gives you access to content about different sections of the website (e.g. technology news, travel news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
Feed sections can also include further subcategories …
(RSS Feed section. Image: latimes.com)
Note: A feed is only a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is to copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Syndicating content from someone else’s website on your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s website additional exposure online, it also helps your site by freeing you up from having to create that content …
(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)
While adding RSS feeds 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 websites to use YOUR content.
When other sites syndicate your feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more web traffic …
(Get visitors to syndicate your feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress RSS Feed
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on the WordPress theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on the sidebar, scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(Meta widget – Entries RSS)
2) You can also find links and/or buttons on certain themes that let your visitors copy your RSS feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can copy the site’s RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy RSS URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)
3) On some sites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Link To Us, Share, or Stay In Touch section …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Follow, Link To Us, or Social Share section)
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 site is located in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your WordPress RSS feed page …
(RSS feed content as seen with Firefox)
Note that your feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(Feed entries displayed using a Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
Specify how many entries you would like displayed in your RSS section in the Reading Settings section. Type the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)
The feed page will display as many recent items you have specified section …
(The feed will display as many recent posts as you have specified in your WordPress Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in your Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display each article in a feed as full text, or as a summary …
(Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts affect how content in your feeds will display)
To learn more about Post excerpts, see this tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, to view the content of a feed, you have to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, find a website or blog and search for a ‘subscribe’ link or icon using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for a ‘subscribe’ icon or link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into readable content.
Adding A Feed To Your WP Site
In the example below, we’ll add content from other website’s RSS feeds to yours.
How To Add An RSS Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you could easily add to 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 such as news, Facebook 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 an RSS feed to your sidebar)
copy the feed URL from a site that publishes content that you want to display on your site …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(WordPress RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed should now display in the sidebar …
(RSS Feed Added To 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:
Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Posts
Can content from RSS feeds be added to WordPress posts instead of a sidebar? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin directory for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us if you need help configuring plugins.
Here are a few plugins you can check out that let you add RSS feeds to your posts:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from specific RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and arrange 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 auto blogging WordPress plugin that offers a number of premium add-ons for additional functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is a popular, feature-rich importer that lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into WordPress posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to syndicate, import, curate, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress website or blog.
RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of each item in your feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed WordPress Plugin)
With POWr RSS, you can automatically combine and display content from a number of different RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom backgrounds, fonts, colors, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in every language.
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 lets you create 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, auto blogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, export WordPress posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication for WordPress content.
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 display all your online activity into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(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 your feed URL, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select a blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages Plugin For WordPress)
RSS Includes Pages modifies RSS feeds to include pages and not just posts.
For more details, go here:
WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to displaying RSS feeds of your latest posts, WordPress also displays RSS feeds of your post comments.
You can access the comments in your feed by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ section (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) …
(Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in your Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed items viewed with a Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS comments feed content displayed on Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste the comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the 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 site is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using Feeds For Individual Posts
Being able to use an RSS feed for a single post 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 accessing an RSS feed for individual posts is shown below:
(Feed For Single 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 the URI of your post, WordPress will return the comments made on your post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only want to subscribe to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
With WordPress, you can easily create individual category feeds.
Just use the format shown below:
(Format for WordPress post categories feed)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Select and copy your category URL …)
Append “feed” to the end of it …
(RSS feed format for category)
The RSS feed now only includes content assigned to this 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 – Create A Feeds Page
You can provide a feeds page that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories …
(Create Your Own Page Of Feeds For Your Subscribers)
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 individual feeds on a separate page …
(RSS image. Source: public-domain-photos.com)
We have created a detailed tutorial on adding tables to WordPress here:
RSS Feeds – Additional Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in several different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows you to configure several feed types without code editing skills. Below are examples of some of the kinds of feed types you can use and how to format the feeds …
(WordPress RSS – Custom Feeds)
Below are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the diagram above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that includes your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – RSS feed that contains the latest comments published on your website
- 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: Includes the latest comments made on individual items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – RSS feed displaying the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/10/08/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – RSS feed that displays the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/12/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Contains the latest items 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 …
Remember to promote your RSS feeds. Place your ’subscribe to RSS’ button somewhere visible …
(Encourage your visitors to syndicate your RSS feeds!)
Also, keep in mind that other sites will only want to syndicate your content if you publish useful content. In other words, provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add great content from other sites and get others to syndicate your content using 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 feed 🙂
Additional Resources:
- Download RSS Feed Icons – Visit sites like FeedIcons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss icon”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable Free RSS icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about using RSS.
- WordPress Codex: Feeds – WordPress software documentation and information. Go here for additional information about using WordPress RSS feeds.
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 display content from other websites on your site using their RSS feed.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please see our related posts section.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)