No matter what your business sells or what industry you belong to, it’s vitally important to provide high-value information to your site users. For example, if your business provides accounting services, it’s not a bad idea to include information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax tips, etc.
The problem with providing this kind of information, however, is that it requires a great deal of effort and resources. You have to do a lot of information gathering, researching and organizing, checking sources for accuracy, content writing and editing (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 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 simpler way to continually provide your site visitors with up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The simplest way to provide your blog subscribers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – Basic Information
- RSS is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- Once users subscribe to a website’s feed, they no longer have to physically check the website for content updates. Instead, their browser will constantly monitor the feed and automatically keep subscribers updated.
- Feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog posts, news headlines, video lists, etc., to which any user can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata such as date of publishing, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then view any updates posted on these websites 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 feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different devices and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also let you combine several RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates from several different sources.
In this detailed guide, we will show you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add content from other websites and blogs to your site via RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful method used to share content online. Feeds provide an easy way for online users to keep up with the latest information posted on different websites and blogs.
First, let’s take a look at syndication.
Global media and news reporting agencies use content syndication to publish stories from other news agencies all around the world.
Content syndication allows online newspapers and influential online media publications to deliver readers stories and news items from all around the globe without actually having to hire and post additional news reporting agencies all around the world …
(Most digital news publishers rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy items from news sources all around the globe.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately with other sites. Global media publications syndicate newsworthy content using news feeds …
(Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content)
Most sites actually want you to syndicate their information. Syndicating content not only allows great information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This provides websites with new opportunities to generate significant web traffic.
Many news reporting agencies provide links to a feed section (look for links in the navigation menu that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “courier mail rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major content sites contain an RSS feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(A list of different feeds. Image Source: New York Times)
These feeds let readers access information from different sections of the website (e.g. technology news, arts news, editorials, etc.)
An RSS list can also include further feed subcategories …
(RSS Feed section. Source: LA Times)
Note: A feed is simply a URL. All you have to do to use a feed is copy the URL and paste it into an application that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
RSS Feeds – Benefits
Adding content from someone else’s site on your website has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s website and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create the 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 worth keeping in mind that there are benefits in getting other websites to syndicate your content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your RSS feed, you have the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Get users to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
About Your WordPress RSS Feed
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on your theme, there are a number of ways to access your WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display in your navigation menu, scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(Meta section)
2) You can also find built-in links and/or buttons on certain WordPress themes that let your visitors copy your 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 your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Link To Us, Social Share, or Stay In Touch section …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Follow, Link To Us, or Share 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 WordPress installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your WordPress RSS feed page …
(RSS entries as seen using a Firefox web browser)
Note that your feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you are using …
(Feed entries seen on Google Chrome)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
You can specify how many items you want to display in your RSS Feed section in the Reading Settings section. Select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Syndication feed items field)
The feed section will display the number of items you have specified section …
(Your feed will show the number of posts as you have specified in your WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in the WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display each article as full text, or just 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 feeds will appear)
We have created a detailed tutorial about WordPress Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, to view a feed’s content, you have to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for their RSS feed section …
(Search for a ’subscribe to feed’ button. Image source: http://www.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 your feed into an online feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feedreaders, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your visitors.
How To Add An RSS Feed To Your WordPress Site
In the example below, we are going to add content from other sites 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 by simply importing content from their RSS feed. You can use RSS feeds to 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 content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …
(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, go to a site containing content that you want to add to your site and copy its RSS feed URL …
(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Screen – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:
Load your website in your browser. The content can now be seen on the sidebar (or wherever you have inserted the RSS widget) …
(RSS Feed Content Added To Sidebar Menu)
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 Feeds To Your WordPress Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to posts? Yes, it can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Search inside your Plugins section for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.
(WordPress RSS plugins)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us if you need assistance with plugin configuration.
Here are a number of autoblogging plugins that allow you to create posts using feeds:
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 arrange them according to categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator)
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 add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)
The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to import, curate, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full article content of every item in the feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
The POWr RSS Feed plugin allows you to combine content from various sources using RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom fonts, borders, colors, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all phones, tablets, and computers and supports text in every language.
The premium version contains many 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 Plugin For WordPress)
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 functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook, export posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to a new level.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress)
FeedWordPress is a versatile Atom/RSS syndication plugin 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 content from many different sources), or bring together all of your online activity in one place.
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 WordPress Plugin)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Use the RSS Includes Pages plugin if you would like to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts.
For more details, go here:
WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your posts, WordPress also displays RSS feeds of your latest post comments.
You can access these by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget of your sidebar …
(Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors display in your Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed items displayed using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(Comments feed items displayed on Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feedreader 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 website or blog has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using Feeds For Specific Posts
Being able to display an RSS feed for a specific post can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific posts 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 a single post item is shown below:
(Feed For Single Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the web address of your post, 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 web address of your post, WordPress will return the comments left on that post, not actual content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only be interested in subscribing to content about certain categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
WordPress allows you to create category feeds.
All you need to do is use the format shown below:
(WP category RSS feed format)
Select and copy the category link address …
(Copy the category link address …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Format for WP post categories RSS feed)
Your feed now only displays content specific 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 Your Own RSS Feeds Directory
You can set up your own list of RSS feeds that allows readers to subscribe to content in the categories that interest them, just like the larger websites do …
(Provide Your Own Directory Of Feeds)
All you need to do is link an image to category (or specific post) feed URLs and then create a table or a list of all individual feeds on a separate page …
(RSS image. Image Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on adding tables to WordPress content, go here:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
You can customize your feeds in a number of ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows several RSS feed configurations without messing with code. Here are some examples of feeds you can display …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)
Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – displays your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Includes the latest comments published on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed containing an individual post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed for the latest comments made on specific post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Feed containing latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/12/15/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/03/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays latest posts for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Contains latest post 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. Make sure you place a ’subscribe to RSS’ link somewhere visible …
(Encourage your site users to syndicate your feeds!)
Keep in mind that online users will only subscribe to your content if you provide your visitors with high-quality content that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add great content from other sites and get online users to syndicate your content with RSS feeds!)
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 RSS feed 🙂
Additional Resources:
- Feed Images – Visit sites like Feedicons or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS images”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing the RSS specification, guiding developers who create RSS applications and furthering the understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about the history and benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress.org – Official WordPress documentation and information site. Visit this site for more information about feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via RSS.
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 read more about the benefits of using the WP content management software please click on links to visit other great articles and tutorials we have published on this site.
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now