No matter what your business provides or what industry you are a part of, it’s important to provide high-quality information to your site readers. For example, if you provide travel-related services, you may want to provide users with useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, tips from consulates, etc.

To create and publish this type of information, however, involves a huge amount of effort and resources. You have to sort through, gather, and organize a lot of information, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually 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 completely beyond your control.

Fortunately, there is a simpler way to keep your site visitors up-to-date with the latest information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is the easiest way to provide your site readers with the latest information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

What Does RSS Stand For?

• RSS, which, according to some definitions is short for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly referred to now as Really Simple Syndication. It is also often referred to as a “feed” or “web feed”.
• RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content so that subscribers can read it without having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
• Feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog entries, news headlines, music playlists, etc., which any user can choose to subscribe to.
• You can read an RSS feed with programs called feed readers, or aggregators. Feed readers can be used to access new content published on websites and distribute this content to other sites.
• There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom feeds and RDF (RDF = Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different devices, readers, and programs.
• Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine many RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from multiple sites.

In this in-depth article, we show you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to display content from other sites on your site using RSS.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a really powerful (and legitimate) way of sharing content online. Feeds provide a simple and easy way for web users to keep up with the latest information published on different sites.

First, let’s take a look at how syndication is used.

Online media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies around the world.

Syndication allows digital news publishers to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news items and stories from all over the planet without having to hire and post additional news reporting agencies everywhere in the world …

(News reporting agencies rely on content syndication to publish stories from news sources around the globe.)

Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing information. News reporting agencies syndicate information using feeds …

(Content syndication is used by online newspapers to share content with other publications)

Most websites actually want you to syndicate their content. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the site that originally published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.

Many online newspapers and major sites provide links to 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”, “courier rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Major content sites contain an RSS feed section. Image: smh.com.au )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of different RSS feed sections …

(RSS Feeds. Source: NY Times RSS)

These feed items give you access to different areas of the website (e.g. business news, arts news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)

An RSS feed directory can also include subcategory feeds …

(An RSS feed list can also include subcategory feeds. Image: LA Times)

Note: An RSS feed is just a URL. All you need to do to use the feed 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.

The Benefits Of Syndicating Content

Syndicating someone else’s content on your website has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s content and helps you by freeing you up from having to create the content …

(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Website And Yours!)

While adding a feed from another site is a great way to add content to your site without having to create it, it’s worth keeping in mind that you also want other websites to syndicate YOUR content.

When other websites and blogs syndicate your feed, this gives your business the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive new visitors …

(Get other online users to syndicate your content … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)

Overview Of The WordPress RSS

By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their sites.

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

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed in your navigation menu, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …

(WordPress Meta widget – Entries RSS)

2) You can also find built-in links and/or buttons on certain themes that allow your visitors to copy your RSS feed.

In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …

(Copy RSS links to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)

3) On many sites and again, depending on the theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Links, Share, or Stay In Touch toolbar section …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Social Share, Links, or Subscribe toolbar)

4) You can also view your feed by simply typing your site’s URL into a web 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 subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up your site’s feed page …

(Feed items as seen on Firefox browser)

Note that your feed page will display differently depending on which browser you are using …

(Feed items viewed on Google Chrome browser)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

Specify how many posts you want to show in your Feeds page in the Reading Settings section. Select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

(WP Reading Settings – Syndication feed items field)

Your feed section will display the number of items you have specified section …

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

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

Another setting in your WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display articles as full text, or just as a summary …

(Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)

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

(Post excerpts affect how a feed will appear)

For a detailed tutorial about using excerpts in WordPress Posts, go here:

• WordPress Post Excerpts An Overview

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, to view the content of an RSDS feed, you have to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content for humans.

Let’s take a look at how this works.

First, go to a website or blog and search for an RSS feed icon …

(Search for a ‘subscribe’ 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 feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feed reader …

(Paste the URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the content. Image: http://feedreader.com/online)

Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds.

Adding A Feed To WordPress Sites

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

Adding Feeds To Your Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you could easily display on your site the latest news and updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding content from their RSS feed. You can use feeds to 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 RSS content to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …

(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)

copy the RSS feed from a site containing content that you want to add to your site …

(Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard)

Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(Widgets Screen – RSS Widget)

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

• Adding Widgets To The WordPress Sidebar Navigation Area

Refresh your web browser. The content from the RSS feed will now show on the sidebar (or wherever you have placed the RSS widget) …

(RSS Feed Content Added To WP 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:

• How To Set Up Webmaster Accounts

Adding An RSS Feed To Posts

Can content from RSS feeds be added to WordPress posts instead of the sidebar? Yes, it can!

You can do this using WordPress plugins. Just search inside the ’Add Plugins’ section for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.

(‘Add Plugins’ section – 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 some plugins that let you add RSS feeds to your content:

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 of your imported feeds and organize feeds into campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico Plugin

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with extended functionality with a number of premium add-ons.

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into WP posts or any other custom post type.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer Plugin)

The RSS Post Importer plugin allows you to syndicate, import, curate, merge and display full text feeds on your WordPress website or blog.

RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of each item in your feed as a separate post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)

POWr RSS automatically combines and displays content from various RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed spacing and size, use custom backgrounds, fonts, colors, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.

The premium version of POWr contains many additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes)

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

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication options for WordPress site-generated 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.

FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator site (sites that combine and display content from many different sources), or bring together all your online activity into a Lifestream.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin

Autoblog

(Autoblog Plugin)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in the URL of your feed, give your feed a name (for admin purposes) and select a blog that you want it to post to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog Plugin

RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types)

The RSS Includes Pages plugin lets you display pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin For WordPress

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

WordPress makes available RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available to online users.

To access these, locate the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …

(Comments RSS)

Comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in the Comments RSS page …

(Comments feed entries viewed on Firefox)

Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which web browser you use …

(Comments feed items displayed on Google Chrome web browser)

Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …

(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)

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 website or blog has been installed in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Using RSS Feeds For Individual Posts

Being able to access an RSS feed for individual 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 using an RSS feed for individual posts is shown below:

(RSS Feed For Specific Post Item)

To create the above feed, copy the post URI, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.

(Single Post Feed)

Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of a post, WordPress will return the comments made on that post, not actual content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Displaying Category Feeds

Some your site users may only be interested in syndicating content from a particular category. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

WordPress allows you to create separate category feeds.

All you have to do is use the format shown below:

(Feed format for post categories)

Select and copy the category URL …

(Copy the category URL …)

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

(Feed format for category)

The category RSS feed will now only display content published under that particular category …

(Category-specific 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 A List Of Feeds For Subscribers

You can set up a page of feeds that allows readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them, just like large authoritative sites …

(Provide Your Own RSS Feeds List)

You can also link an image to the URL of your category feed and then create a table or a list of all your 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 and pages, go here:

• How To Add Tables Into Your Content Easily With WordPress

RSS Feeds – Notes

You can customize your feeds in various different ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.

WordPress allows you to configure several feed formats that do not require touching code. Below are examples of some of the kinds of feed formats you can use …

(WordPress RSS – Feed Formats)

For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the image above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – Feed that contains your latest post entries
• 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: Feed that displays individual post entries
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Feed that contains the latest comments made on single items
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Displays the latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/03/01/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Contains the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/05/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Feed displaying latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Contains latest items for a search query
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Displays 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 feed. Place a subscribe link or button in a visible location …

(Encourage your visitors to syndicate your RSS feeds!)

Also, keep in mind that online users will only subscribe to your content if the information that you publish on your site is useful, educational, or highly entertaining. In other words, focus on providing your subscribers with high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

(Easily add great content from other sites and get others to share your content online using 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 feed 🙂

Resources:

• Feed Buttons – Visit sites like Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss icon”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization with three primary duties: publishing RSS specifications, guiding developers who create RSS applications and helping the public to gain a better understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
• WordPress.org/RSS Feeds – WordPress documentation and information. Go here for more information about 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 add someone else’s content to your site via RSS feeds.

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using the WordPress website management software please see other great content on this site.

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