No matter what your business sells or what industry you are a part of, you need to provide quality information on your site or blog that educates, informs, or improves engagement with your readers. For example, if you provide insurance services, you may want to publish useful information from government departments, such as news and updates on statistical research, insurance tips, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, is really time-consuming. You have to sift through, gather, and organize a lot of data, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (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 is not only a huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a much simpler way to keep your site readers up-to-date with your information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The simplest way to provide your readers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – Basic Definition
- RSS, which, according to some is short for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly referred to now as Really Simple Syndication. It is also often called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- After users subscribe to a website’s feed, they no longer have to manually visit and check the website for updated content. Instead, their web browser will constantly monitor the feed and keep feed subscribers updated.
- RSS feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog posts, news, videos, etc., to which any user can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document that includes either full or summarized text along with metadata such as date of publishing, feed 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 syndicate their web content automatically.
- Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF (RDF = Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different machines, readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine multiple RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from many sites.
This guide shows you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to display content from other sites on your site using RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple and easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites.
First, let’s look at how syndication is used.
Global media and online newspapers use syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources all around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies and many highly-visited online media publications to deliver readers stories on all kinds of topics as well as newsworthy content from around the planet without having to hire and send more news staff and news writers to every place around the world …
(News reporting agencies rely on content syndication to publish stories from other news agencies all around the globe.)
Syndication is used to share information legitimately with other sites. Global media publications syndicate stories using feeds …
(News reporting agencies syndicate stories using news feeds)
Most websites actually would like you to share their content. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.
Many news reporting agencies and major sites include an RSS feed section (look for navigation links that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “express tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major content sites have a feed section. Image Source: SMH RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link brings up a list of RSS feeds for different content areas of the site …
(A directory of different feeds. Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
gives readers access to content from different sections of the site (e.g. technology news, sports news, jobs, etc.)
Feed sections can also include subcategory feeds …
(An RSS directory can also contain subcategories. Image: latimes.com feeds)
Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Content Syndication
Syndicating content from someone else’s site on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only gives additional exposure online to someone else’s site, it also adds value to your site without you having to create that content …
(The Benefits Of Syndicating Content)
While adding feeds 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 use YOUR content.
When other sites syndicate content using your RSS feed, you have the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get other websites and blogs to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
About Your WordPress RSS
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on the WP theme you have installed, there are a few ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed on the sidebar 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 buttons on certain WordPress themes that let your visitors copy your RSS feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can copy the RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy feed links to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)
3) On many websites and again, depending on which theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Link To Us, Subscribe, or Share section …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Link To Us, Social Share, or Follow section)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s RSS feed by simply 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 site’s feed page …
(Feed entries as seen on a Firefox web browser)
Note that your feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you are using …
(Feed items seen using a Google Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
You can specify how many entries you want to show in your RSS Feed page in the Reading Settings section. Select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Settings – Reading Settings – Syndication items field)
Your feed will display as many recent items you have specified section …
(The feed page will show the number of 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 your Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display articles in the feed as full text, or just a summary …
(WordPress Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …
(Post excerpts affect how content in feeds display)
To learn more about using WordPress Post excerpts, refer to this tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, all that’s required to view the content of an RSS feed is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into an application that can translate 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 to feed’ icon or link …
(Search for an RSS feed link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL to the clipboard)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the content. Source: Feedreader)
Like feedreaders, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into content that is readable by humans.
How To Add Feeds To Your Site
Let’s show you how to add content from other sites to yours.
How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you can display on your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding their RSS feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, social media updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to the WordPress sidebar area …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation area)
First, go to a website or blog that publishes content that you would like to display on your sidebar and copy the feed URL …
(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in your sidebar (or wherever the RSS widget has been placed) …
(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 Content From RSS Feeds To Posts
Can you add content from an RSS feed to a post? Yes, you can!
You can do this using plugins. Search inside your ’Add Plugins’ screen for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ search results – RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us if you need help configuring plugins.
The plugins listed below are useful if you want to add feed content to posts, or “auto blog” (An auto blog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico)
WPeMatico is an easy to use auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from selected RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize feeds according to categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with extended functionality with premium add-ons.
For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into WP posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin)
The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to curate, syndicate, import, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of every item in your feed as a standalone 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 various sources using RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom colors, fonts, borders, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.
The premium edition of this plugin contains a number of additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes)
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 powerful features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, export your posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress WP Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication for WordPress-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.
You can use this plugin to create aggregator sites, or display all of your online activity in one place.
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, 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 and Custom Post Types WP Plugin)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Install RSS Includes Pages if you would like to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of your post comments in addition to giving online users access to feeds of your posts.
To see the comments in your feed, locate the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments Feed)
Comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed items viewed on Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS comments feed entries seen on Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the 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 site has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Specific Item RSS Feeds
Being able to select an RSS feed for individual 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 accessing an RSS feed for a single post is shown below:
(Specific Post Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post URL, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post URL, WordPress will return the comments left on your post, not actual content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Using Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in subscribing to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If you publish content under a number of categories, WordPress allows you to easily offer visitors a separate RSS feed for each category.
Just use the format shown below:
(WordPress post categories RSS feed format)
Select and copy the category URL …
(Copy the category link address …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(RSS feed format for category)
The RSS feed now only contains content posted in this particular category …
(Category 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 – Set Up A Feeds Directory
You can set up your own page of feeds for your visitors that allows readers to subscribe to content in specific categories …
(Set Up Your Own RSS Feeds Page)
All you need to do is link an RSS button graphic like the one shown below to your category (or specific post) feed URLs and then create a table or a list of all feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button. Image: public-domain-photos.com)
We have written a detailed tutorial on adding tables to WordPress posts here:
RSS Feeds – Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in various different ways, such as adding videos and images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows a number of RSS feed configurations without touching code. For example, here are just some of the kinds of feeds you can create …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)
Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that displays your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed containing the latest comments posted on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that contains individual items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Displays the latest comments made on a single post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – RSS feed displaying the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/10/20/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/09/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Includes latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Includes latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Displays latest 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 RSS feed. Make sure you place a ’subscribe to RSS’ button somewhere visible …
(Remember to promote your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only subscribe to your content if you provide your subscribers with high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add someone else’s content 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 🙂
RSS – Additional Resources:
- Download RSS Feed Icons – Visit sites like iconspedia.com/search/rss or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress.org/Feeds – WordPress documentation repository. Visit this site to learn more about using RSS feeds in WordPress.
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 someone else’s content on your site via RSS.
Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about using WordPress please see our related posts section.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)