No matter what service or product you sell, providing high-quality information to your site users is vitally important. For example, if you provide taxation services, it’s a good idea to publish useful information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax tips, etc.
The problem with providing this type of information, however, is that it is really time-consuming. You have to sort through, research, and organize a ton of information, check your facts, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this not only involves a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is entirely beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is an easier way to regularly provide your site visitors with expert, up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the easiest way to provide your site readers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Is RSS?
- RSS, which, according to some experts is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly referred to as Really Simple Syndication. It is also often called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content to save users time from having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
- RSS feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog post items, news headlines, audio playlists, etc., to which other users can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes full or summarized text along with other metadata like date of publishing, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then view 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 formats and read by different feed aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom feeds and RDF (Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different devices, feed readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine different RSS feeds to display news and updates from several different sources.
In this comprehensive article, we will show you how to find your WordPress RSS feed, 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 feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful way of sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide web users with a simple and easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on different websites.
First, let’s take a look at syndication.
Digital publishing agencies use content syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the world.
Syndication allows leading online newspapers to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news headlines and content of general interest from all around the planet without actually having to hire and send additional reporting agencies everywhere around the world …
(Digital news agencies use content syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies all around the world.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately with other sites. online media publications syndicate their stories using news feeds …
(Digital news publishing agencies syndicate stories using news feeds)
Most sites actually want you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site that published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Most content agencies and leading online media publications will include a feed section (look for links in their navigation section that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “belfast telegraph rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major content sites include a feed section. Image: SMH )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a directory of different RSS feed sections …
(RSS feeds list. Image Source: nytimes.com)
These feeds let readers access different areas of the site (e.g. business news, travel news, jobs, etc.)
Feed sections can also include subcategories …
(RSS Feed section. Image Source: latimes.com)
Note: A feed is just a URL. To use RSS feeds, all you have to do is copy the URLs and paste these into a program that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
RSS Feeds – Benefits
Adding someone else’s content to your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s site additional exposure online, it also adds value to your site without you having to create this content …
(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)
While adding a 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 and blogs syndicate your RSS feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new web traffic …
(Look for ways to get other websites to syndicate your content … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS Feed – Overview
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites.
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 …
(Meta section – Entries RSS)
2) You can also find links or buttons on certain WordPress themes that allow your visitors to copy your feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can copy the feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy RSS URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)
3) On many sites and again, depending on which theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Link To Us, Follow, or Social Share toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Follow Us, Links, or Share toolbar section)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s 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 website has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your RSS page …
(RSS content seen using a Firefox browser)
Note that your feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS content viewed on Google Chrome)
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, by going to your Reading Settings section and typing the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(WP Settings – Reading Settings – Number of syndication feed items setting)
The feed will show the number of posts as you have specified in your Reading Settings section …
(The feed will show as many recent items you have specified in your WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in the Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display articles in your feed as full text, or a summary …
(Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …
(Post excerpts affect how a feed will display)
We have created a detailed tutorial on WordPress Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all you have to do to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and search for an RSS feed link …
(Look for an RSS feed button. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL to your clipboard)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the content. Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your subscribers.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Site
Let’s show you how to add content sourced from another site to your site.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can easily add to your site the latest content from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply importing content from their RSS feed. You can use feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, social media updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to the WordPress sidebar navigation area …
(Let’s add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar)
copy the RSS feed from a website or blog containing content that you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, go to your Widgets screen and paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Panel – 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 on your sidebar …
(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 Your Posts
What if you want to add content from an RSS feed to a post instead of your sidebar?
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS Aggregator, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ section)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us for assistance configuring plugins.
Here are a few autoblogging tools that allow you to create posts using RSS feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)
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.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator WP Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress that offers 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 posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to curate, syndicate, import, merge and display full text RSS feeds on your WordPress blog.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article content of each item in the feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
POWr RSS Feed allows you to combine content from a number of different content using RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom backgrounds, fonts, colors, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in all languages.
The premium plugin edition contains a number of additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes – WordPress Plugin)
WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.
This plugin provides loads of functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides versatile syndication options for WordPress.
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 site (sites that bring together posts from many different sources), or display all your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Twitter, YouTube, or other online services, in one place.
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 your feed URL, give the feed a name of your choosing (for admin purposes) and select a blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types WordPress Plugin)
RSS Includes Pages modifies your RSS feeds to include pages in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to displaying RSS feeds of your latest posts, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your latest post comments.
You can inspect this feed by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget area of your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in your Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content viewed with a Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on the browser you are using …
(RSS comments feed content viewed on Google Chrome web browser)
Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the content. Image Source: 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 WordPress site installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using RSS Feeds For Specific Items
Being able to access an RSS feed for single post items 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 single posts is shown below:
(Specific Post Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post URL, 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 URI of your post, WordPress will return the comments for that post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Using Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in syndicating content about certain topics. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If you publish content under multiple categories, you can provide a separate RSS feed for each different category.
All you have to do is use the format shown below:
(Format for WP post categories feed)
Select and copy the category URL …
(Copy the selected category URL to your clipboard …)
Now, add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WP post categories RSS feed format)
Your feed now only displays content posted under that category …
(Category-specific 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 – Provide Your Own List Of RSS Feeds
You can provide your own RSS feeds directory that allows readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them, just like large websites …
(Set Up A List Of Feeds)
Link a button graphic to a category feed and then create a table or a list of your category feeds on a new page …
(RSS button image. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)
To learn more about adding tables to WordPress posts and pages, see this step-by-step tutorial:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in several 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 a number of different feed types that do not require touching code. Here are some examples of feed types you can use and how to structure your feeds …
(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create With WordPress RSS)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the diagram above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that includes your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed containing the latest comments posted on your blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed containing a single post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed containing the latest comments made on a post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Includes latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/04/19/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – RSS feed containing latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/01/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Displays the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays the latest entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Displays latest post entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One more thing …
It’s a good idea to promote your RSS feeds. Make sure you place your subscribe button somewhere visible …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only subscribe to your content if you provide your visitors with high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Add great content from other sites and get other sites to share 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 🙂
RSS Resources:
- RSS Feed Buttons – Visit online resource sites like feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS logo”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS graphic elements.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing the RSS specification, guiding developers who create RSS applications and helping the general public to gain a better understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress documentation. Visit this site to learn more about feeds in WordPress.
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 content from other websites to your site using RSS.
Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit our related posts section.
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