No matter what your business sells or what industry you are a part of, you need to provide high-quality information on your site or blog that educates, informs, or improves engagement with your visitors. For example, if your business provides travel services, you may want to publish information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, tips from consulates, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, involves a lot of work and resources. You have to sift through, gather, and organize a lot of information, check your facts, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually make sure that this information is 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 entirely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is an easier way to keep your readers up-to-date with your information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the simplest way to provide your blog subscribers with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Is RSS?
- RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred to, Really Simple Syndication. It can also be referred to as a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content so that their users can read it without having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- RSS feeds are often used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog entries, news, video lists, etc., to which users can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is an 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 websites and then browse updates posted on these websites using a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their web content.
- There are different feed formats and these can be read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF 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 let you combine multiple RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from a number of sites.
In this in-depth article, we will show you where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add someone else’s content to your site using RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful (and legitimate) way to share content online. Feeds provide web users with a way to receive the latest information published on different websites and blogs.
First, let’s look at the concept of content syndication.
Digital content publishing agencies rely heavily on content syndication to publish news from other news agencies all around the world.
Syndication allows leading online newspapers to deliver readers interesting stories and up-to-the-minute headlines from all around the planet without having to post additional reporters everywhere around the world …
(Most online newspapers rely heavily on content syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the world.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing information. News reporting agencies syndicate content 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 information. Syndicating content not only allows great information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate significant web visitors.
Most online newspapers and major sites provide links to 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”, “courier mail rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Leading online newspapers include a feed section. Source: Sydney Morning Herald )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(RSS feeds directory. Image: NY Times RSS)
gives readers access to information from different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, sports news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
An RSS list can also include further subcategories …
(An RSS directory can also contain subcategories. Image Source: latimes.com feeds)
Note: An RSS feed is only a URL. All you have to do to use a feed is to copy the URL and paste it into a program that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Syndicating Content
Syndicating content from someone else’s website on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s business, it also adds value to your site without you having to create this content …
(Content Syndication - Benefits)
While adding an RSS feed from another site is a great way to add content to your site without having to create it, it’s a great idea to try and get other websites to use YOUR content.
When other sites syndicate your content, this gives you the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more web traffic …
(Get users to syndicate content using your feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
Overview Of The WordPress Feed
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on the WP theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget in a standard or custom menu …
(The feed page will display the number of items you have specified in your 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 RSS feed is whether to display posts in the feed as full text, or just as a summary …
(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how your feed content will display)
For a detailed tutorial about WordPress Post excerpts, go here:
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 translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s see how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for an RSS feed icon using any of the methods described earlier …
(Search for a ’subscribe to feed’ link or icon. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of your feed into an online feed reader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.
How To Add Feeds To WordPress Sites
Let’s show you how to add content from another website to yours.
Adding A Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you could display on your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding their RSS feed. You can easily 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 …
(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, Find a website that publishes content that you want to display on your site and copy its feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(WordPress RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Load your website in your browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in the 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 Feeds To WordPress Posts
Can content from RSS feeds be added to a post? It sure can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Search on WordPress.org plugin directory for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ search results – RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for configuration instructions, or contact us if you need help with plugin configuration.
The plugins below can be used to 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 auto blogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from specific RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange feeds into 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 auto blogging WordPress plugin that offers premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension allows you to import RSS feeds directly into your WP 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 site.
The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article 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 multiple RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust sizing and spacing of feeds, use custom colors, fonts, borders, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all computers, phones, and tablets and supports text in all languages.
The premium plugin version contains a number of additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts, 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 lets you curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and other sources.
This plugin provides functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export your posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible 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.
You can use this FeedWordPress to create aggregator sites, or display all of your online activity in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog by WPMUDev Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, with no coding required and no 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 and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages WP Plugin)
RSS Includes Pages modifies RSS feeds to include pages in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Using WordPress RSS – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to displaying feeds of your posts, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site.
You can inspect this by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ section of your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users will appear in the Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries seen on Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS comments feed entries displayed with a Google Chrome browser)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …
(Paste your comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the content. Source: 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 WP installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Displaying RSS Feeds For Individual Items
Being able to create an RSS feed for a specific post 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 using an RSS feed for a specific post is shown below:
(Specific Post Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the URI of your post, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of a post address, WordPress will return the comments left on that post, not actual post content itself.
Tip #3 – Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to subscribe to content from a particular post category. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
If you publish content under many categories, WordPress allows you to easily offer readers a separate RSS feed for each different category.
All you have to do is use the format shown below:
(RSS feed format for category)
Copy the selected category URL …
(Copy your category link address …)
Add “feed” to the end of it …
(Format for WordPress post categories RSS feed)
The RSS feed will now only contain content published under that category …
(Category-specific 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 – Publish Your Own Feeds List
You can provide an RSS feeds list that allows your readers to subscribe to content in the categories they are interested in, just like large online publishers …
(Set Up A Directory Of Feeds)
You can also link an RSS graphic to your category (or single post) feeds and then create a table or a list of all your category feeds on a new page …
(RSS icon. Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
We have written a detailed tutorial about creating tables in WordPress content here:
RSS – Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in a number of ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows you to configure several feed types without messing with code. Below are examples of some of the kinds of custom feeds you can display …
(WordPress RSS – Custom Feeds)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – Feed that displays your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed that includes the latest comments posted on your blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed for a post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed for the latest comments made on specific items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/05/09/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/11/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Includes the latest post entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Feed containing latest posts for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One more thing …
Remember to promote your feed. Place a ’subscribe to RSS’ link in a visible location …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Also, keep in mind that other website owners will only want to subscribe to your content if you provide useful information that informs, engages, and entertains. In other words, provide high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add great content from other sites and get others to subscribe to 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 Resources:
- Feed Buttons – Visit sites like Iconspedia or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS icon”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS graphic elements.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and links to resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex: WordPress Feeds – WordPress documentation and reference repository. Go here for additional information about WordPress and RSS.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add content from other websites to your site using RSS.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress please see our related posts section.
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