No matter what your business provides or what industry you are in, providing high-quality information to your blog users is essential. For example, if you provide travel-related services, it’s not a bad idea to include useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, tips from embassies, etc.
The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it involves a great deal of effort and expertise. You have to do a lot of information sorting, researching and organizing, checking the accuracy of your facts, writing and editing 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 beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is an easier way to continually provide your users with up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your users with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS Made Simple
- RSS, which, according to some stands for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It is also often called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- Once a user subscribes to a website’s feed, they no longer have to manually check the source website for content updates. Instead, their browser will continually monitor the content and automatically keep subscribers up-to-date.
- Feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog posts, news, audios, etc., which other users can then subscribe to.
- RSS feeds can be read using software programs called RSS readers, or feed aggregators. Feed readers can be used to access content on all different kinds of topics and distribute this content online.
- There are different feed formats and these can be read by different feed aggregators. 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 compatibility with different devices and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine different RSS feeds to display news and updates from various sources.
In this guide, we show you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful way to share content online. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple and easy way to receive the latest information published on sites they are interested in.
First, let’s look at content syndication.
Global media publications rely on syndication to publish content from content sources around the world.
Content syndication allows leading online newspapers to deliver readers stories from all over the planet without actually having to set up additional reporting agencies everywhere around the world …
(Many online newspapers rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources around the globe.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content. Global media publications syndicate their stories using feeds …
(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share newsworthy content with other publications)
Most sites actually want you to syndicate their content. Content syndication not only allows information to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This provides websites with new opportunities to generate significant web visitors.
Many news reporting agencies and major sites contain a feed section (look for navigation links that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “international herald tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major content sites provide links to an RSS feed section. Image: Sydney Morning Herald )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of different RSS feed sections …
(RSS feeds directory. Image: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
gives readers access to information from different sections of the website (e.g. business news, entertainment news, jobs, etc.)
A feed directory can also contain further subcategory feeds …
(RSS Feed section. Image Source: latimes.com feeds)
Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. All you need to do to use feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Using Feeds – Benefits
Adding someone else’s content to your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s business additional exposure online, it also helps your site by freeing you up from having to create that content …
(Syndicating Content Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)
While adding an RSS feed 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 sites to syndicate your content.
When other websites syndicate your content, this gives you the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive more visitors …
(It’s worth trying to get users to syndicate your feed … it will help to increase your exposure online!)
WordPress Feed
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a few ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget on your sidebar menu …
(The feed page will show the number of items you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other setting in the Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display articles in the feed as full text, or a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for articles in a RSS feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts affect how your feed content displays)
We have created a detailed tutorial about Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all you have to do to view a feed’s content is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, find a website whose feed you want to syndicate and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ icon or link using any of the methods described earlier …
(Search for an RSS feed section. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of your feed into a feed reader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feedreader to view the content. Image Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into human-readable content.
Adding An RSS Feed To WordPress
In the example below, we are going to add RSS content from another site to your WordPress site.
How To Add An RSS Feed To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can 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 content from their RSS feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, Facebook updates, 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 your sidebar)
copy the feed URL from a website or blog that publishes content that you want to add to your sidebar …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Screen – RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in the sidebar …
(RSS Feed Content 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:
How To Add Feeds To WordPress Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to WordPress posts instead of your sidebar? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Search inside your ’Add Plugins’ section for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ screen – RSS plugins)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for help with plugin configuration.
Here are a number of auto blogging plugins that let you create posts with RSS feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico)
WPeMatico is an easy to use autoblogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange feeds into categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress with premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension lets you import RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Post Importer plugin lets you syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text RSS feeds on your WordPress blog.
The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of each feed item as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)
POWr RSS allows you to automatically combine content from a number of different RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed spacing and size, use custom fonts, colors, borders, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all phones, tablets, and computers and supports text in all languages.
The premium version of POWr 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)
The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress 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 Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter, export your posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)
FeedWordPress is a simple and flexible syndication plugin for WordPress site-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.
FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator sites, or display all your online activity into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog by WPMUDev WP Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in your feed URL, give your feed a name (for admin purposes) and select a blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin)
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types lets you display pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Using RSS – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to displaying feeds of your latest posts.
To view this feed, locate the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar menu (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed items as seen with a Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …
(Comments feed entries as seen using Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image 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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Single Item RSS Feeds
Being able to access an RSS feed for specific 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 using an RSS feed for an individual post is shown below:
(Single Post Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the URL of your post, 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 for that post, not actual post content itself.
Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only want to syndicate content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
With WordPress, you can easily create separate category feeds.
All you need to do is use the format shown below:
(Format for WP post categories RSS feed)
Select and copy the category URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your category URL …)
Append the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WordPress RSS feed format for post categories)
The feed will now only contain content posted under 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 – Set Up Your Own RSS Feeds Directory
You can provide your own list of RSS feeds on your site that allows readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them …
(Create Your Own Feeds Directory)
Link an image to the URL of your feed and then create a table or a list of all your individual feeds on a new page …
(RSS button. Image Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
To learn more about adding tables to WordPress posts and pages, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
RSS Feeds – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in several different ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows you to configure different feed types that do not require editing code. Below are examples of some of the kinds of feeds you can display …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)
Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – contains 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: RSS feed containing a specific post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Displays the latest comments made on a post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Contains latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/01/20/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/05/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Displays the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Contains latest 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 RSS feeds. Make sure you place your ’subscribe to RSS’ button or link somewhere visible …
(Promote your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other website owners will only subscribe to your content if you provide your subscribers with very high-quality content that will add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add great content from other sites and get others to syndicate your content 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 RSS feed 🙂
RSS – Additional Resources:
- RSS Graphics – Visit an online resource site like FeedIcons or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logo download”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable 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 gain a better understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex: Feeds – Official WordPress documentation and information repository. Visit this site to learn more about WordPress and 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 content from other websites and blogs on your site via RSS.
Hopefully, now you 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 web site please see our related posts section.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum