No matter what product or service you provide or what industry your business is a part of, providing high-value information on your site or blog is important. For example, if your business provides accounting or financial planning services, you may want to include useful information from the taxation office, such as news or updates on tax rulings, small business tax deductions, etc.
To create and publish this type of information, however, is very time-consuming. You have to sift through, research, 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 make sure that this information is continually 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 beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a much easier way to regularly provide your site visitors with great information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The simplest way to provide your subscribers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
Basic Information About RSS
- RSS, which, according to some definitions is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It can also be called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- 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 browser will constantly monitor the feed and automatically keep subscribers updated.
- Feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog post items, news headlines, videos, etc., which other users can then subscribe to.
- You can view the content of RSS feeds using a software-based program called a feedreader, or feed aggregator. Aggregators can be used to access new content published on websites and distribute this content online.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF (Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different devices, readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine multiple RSS feeds to display news and updates from various sources.
In this detailed article, we will show you where your RSS feed is located, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display content from other websites and blogs on your site via RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing content online. Feeds provide an easy way for web users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on sites they are interested in.
First, let’s look at content syndication.
Most news reporting agencies use syndication to publish newsworthy content from news agencies around the world.
Content syndication allows digital content publishers to deliver readers interesting stories and up-to-the-minute headlines from all around the planet without having to post more news writers everywhere in the world …
(Global media publications use syndication to publish newsworthy items from other news agencies around the globe.)
Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing content. Global media publications syndicate information using feeds …
(Digital publishing agencies syndicate their information using news feeds)
Most sites actually would like you to syndicate 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 published the content being syndicated. This creates new ways to drive traffic back to their site.
Many online newspapers provide links to an RSS 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 news agencies and major content sites contain an RSS feed section. Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(A site’s directory of different RSS feeds. Image: New York Times RSS)
These feeds give readers access to information about different sections of the website (e.g. business news, entertainment news, editorials, etc.)
An RSS list can also contain subcategories …
(RSS Feed section. Image: latimes.com)
Note: A feed is only a URL. To use the feed, all that’s required is to copy the URL and paste it into a program that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Content Syndication
Adding someone else’s content to your website has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s content, it also helps your site by freeing you up from having to create the content …
(Content Syndication Has Many 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 there are benefits in getting other websites to syndicate your content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your RSS feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Get visitors to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS Feed – Overview
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access the WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on your 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 or buttons on certain WordPress themes that allow your visitors to copy your RSS feed.
In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can copy the 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 which theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Share, Links, or Follow fixed, slide-out, or floating toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Social Share, Follow, or Links toolbar)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s RSS 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 has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your RSS feed page …
(Feed items viewed with a Firefox web browser)
Note that your feed page will display differently depending on the web browser you use …
(Feed entries displayed using a Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many items you want to display in your RSS Feed section, go to your Reading Settings section and enter the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Syndication items)
The feed section will show the number of posts as you have specified section …
(The feed will show the number of items you have specified in the Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in your Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display articles as full text, or just 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 can affect how your feed content will appear)
If you need help WordPress Post excerpts, see this step-by-step tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, all you need to do to view a feed’s content is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content.
Let’s see how this works.
First, find a website whose feed you want to subscribe to and look for their RSS feed icon …
(Search for an RSS feed link. 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 feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feedreaders, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into readable content for humans.
Adding Feeds To Your WP Site
Let’s show you how to add content from other site’s RSS feeds to your site.
Adding Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is a part of, you could easily display on your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by importing 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 your sidebar …
(Add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar area)
First, go to a website or blog containing content that you want to display on your sidebar and copy its feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
Next, go to your Widgets area and paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Screen – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Load your website in your browser. The content will now appear on the sidebar (or wherever the RSS widget has been inserted – e.g. footer, custom menu, etc) …
(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 RSS Feeds To Your Posts
Can content from RSS feeds be added to posts instead of a sidebar? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Search inside your ’Add Plugins’ section for RSS Aggregator, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ search results – RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for full instructions, or contact us for assistance 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 plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize them according to campaigns and categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator WP Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin that offers premium add-ons for additional functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension lets you import 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 allows you to import, syndicate, 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 full article content of every item in your feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed WP Plugin)
The POWr RSS Feed plugin lets you combine and display content from multiple RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed spacing and size, use custom fonts, colors, borders, and more. It is also mobile responsive 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 Plugin)
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 functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)
FeedWordPress is a simple and flexible Atom/RSS syndication plugin for WordPress-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 display all your online activity into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog Plugin For WordPress)
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 the blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Use a plugin like the RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types plugin if you would like to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site in addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your latest posts.
You can see your comments feed by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget area …
(Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors display in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed entries viewed on Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which browser you use …
(RSS comments feed items viewed with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the content. Image: 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 WordPress site installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Single Item Feeds
Being able to use an RSS feed for specific post items 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 creating an RSS feed for single post items is shown below:
(RSS Feed For Specific Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the URI of your post, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post URL, WordPress will return the comments made on that post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Using Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only want to syndicate content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
WordPress allows you to create category feeds.
Just use the format shown below:
(Format for WP post categories RSS feed)
Copy the category URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the category link address …)
And add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WP category feed format)
Your category RSS feed now only contains content posted for that 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 – Create A Page Of RSS Feeds For Your Site Visitors
You can provide your own RSS feeds page that allows your readers to subscribe only to specific categories, just like the larger websites do …
(Create Your Own Feeds Page)
Link an image like the one shown below to category (or single post) feed URLs and then create a table or a list of all category feeds on a new page …
(RSS button graphic. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)
To learn more about creating tables in WordPress content, go here:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in several ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows several feed configurations that do not require messing with code. Below are examples of some of the kinds of feed types you can display …
(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that displays your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Includes the latest comments left on your website
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed containing specific posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed that includes the latest comments made on an individual post
- 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/2012/08/19/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/12/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Includes the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Feed that displays latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Displays the 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 let your visitors know that they can subscribe to your feed. Place your ’subscribe to RSS’ link or button in a visible location …
(Remember to promote your feeds!)
Also, keep in mind that other sites will only want to subscribe to your content if you publish useful content that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, you need to provide high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add content from other sites and get others to share your content online with 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 🙂
Resources:
- RSS Graphics – Visit FeedIcons or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to learn more about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about RSS.
- WordPress.org/Feeds – WordPress software documentation site. Visit this site for more information about using WordPress RSS.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, 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 their RSS feed.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit other posts we have published on this site.
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