No matter what what industry you belong to, providing high-value information to your site readers is vitally important. For example, if your business provides medical services, you may want to publish the latest information from the health department, such as news and updates on medical research, health and fitness tips, etc.

The problem with providing this type of information, however, is that it involves a lot of effort and resources. You have to do a ton of information sifting, researching and organizing, checking the accuracy of your sources, content writing and editing (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 not only involves a huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is completely beyond your control.

Thankfully, there is a simpler way to provide your site readers with expert, up-to-date information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is the easiest way to provide your site visitors with up-to-date information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS – What You Need To Know

• RSS is short for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred to, Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
• RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content to save readers time from having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
• RSS feeds are often used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog posts, news headlines, videos, etc., to which any user can choose to subscribe.
• RSS feeds can be read with web-based, desktop-based, and even mobile-based programs called RSS readers, or feed aggregators. Aggregators are used to access new content published on websites and syndicate this content to other sites.
• Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feed readers. 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 applications also let you combine many RSS feeds to receive news and updates from multiple sources.

This article shows you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to display content from other sites on your site via RSS.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a really powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide a simple way for online users to keep up with the latest information published on different websites.

First, let’s take a look at how content syndication is used.

Many online newspapers use content syndication to publish news from other news agencies around the world.

Content syndication allows online newspapers to deliver readers up-to-date news items and stories of interest from around the planet without actually having to employ and set up more news reporters and writers everywhere in the world …

(Media publications rely on content syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the globe.)

Syndication is used to share content legitimately with other sites. News reporting agencies syndicate their newsworthy content using news feeds …

(Content syndication is a legitimate method of sharing information)

Most sites actually want you to syndicate their information. 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.

Most online newspapers and leading online media publications have 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”, “star tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Major sites will include an RSS feed section. Source: Sydney Morning Herald )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a directory of different RSS feed sections …

(A site’s directory of feeds. Source: New York Times RSS)

gives readers access to different areas of the website (e.g. business news, arts news, jobs, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain further subcategories …

(RSS Feed section. Image: latimes.com feeds)

Note: A feed is only a URL. To use a feed, all you have to do is copy the URL and paste it into software that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

The Benefits Of Syndicating Content

Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It gives someone else’s content additional exposure online and adds value to your site without you having to create this content …

(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)

While adding feeds from another site is a great way to add content to your site that you don’t have to create, it’s a great idea to try and get other sites to use YOUR content.

When other websites syndicate your feed, you have the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive new visitors …

(Try to get users to syndicate your content … it will help increase your exposure online!)

Overview Of The WordPress RSS

WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their websites.

Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your WordPress RSS feed:

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed in a standard or custom menu, just scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …

(You can access your WordPress RSS feed from the Entries RSS menu)

2) You can also find links or buttons on certain themes that allow your visitors to copy your feed.

For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can copy the feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …

(Copy feed links to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)

3) On some websites and again, depending on your theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Subscribe, Link To Us, or Social Share toolbar …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Share, Link To Us, or Follow Us section)

4) You can also view your WordPress RSS feed by 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 website has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up your WordPress RSS feed page …

(RSS content seen with Firefox)

Note that your feed page will display differently depending on which browser you are using …

(Feed entries seen with Google Chrome)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

Specify how many items you would like to show in your Feeds page in the Reading Settings section. Enter the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

(WordPress Reading Settings – Number of syndication feed items field)

The feed page will show the number of items you have specified in your WordPress Reading Settings section …

(Your feed will show as many recent items you have specified in the Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

The other setting in your WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display posts as full text, or just a summary …

(Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for each article in your RSS feed)

Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed appears …

(Post excerpts affect how your feeds appear)

We have created a detailed tutorial about Post excerpts here:

• How To Use Excerpts In WordPress Posts

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, to view a feed’s content, you need to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content.

Let’s take a look at how this works.

First, go to a website whose feed you want to subscribe to and look for their RSS feed button …

(Look for an RSS feed icon. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the feed URL)

If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …

(Paste the URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)

Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds.

Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Site

Let’s show you how to add content from other site’s RSS feeds to your site.

Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are 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 their RSS feed. You can use 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 RSS content to your sidebar …

(Add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu)

copy the RSS feed from a site that publishes content that you want to add to your sidebar to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard)

Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(Widgets Panel – RSS Widget)

To learn more about using widgets, go here:

• Using WordPress Widgets

Load your website in your browser. The content should now display in the sidebar …

(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:

• How To Set Up Webmaster Accounts

How To Add Feeds To Posts

What if you want to add content from RSS feeds to WordPress posts instead of the sidebar?

You can easily do this using plugins. Search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.

(RSS plugins)

Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for full instructions, or contact us for help with plugin configuration.

Here are a few WordPress plugins that allow you to add RSS feeds to your posts and pages:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)

WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from multiple RSS/Atom feeds.

You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize them into categories and campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress)

WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin that offers a number of premium add-ons for extended functionality.

For example, the Feed to Post extension lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your WordPress posts or any other custom post type.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)

RSS Post Importer can be used to curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds on your WordPress website or blog.

RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of each feed item as a separate post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)

The POWr RSS Feed plugin lets you automatically combine and display content from multiple sources using RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom colors, backgrounds, fonts, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in any language.

The premium version of this plugin contains many additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, accept or reject posts, and more.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed WordPress Plugin

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/Facebook/Twitter, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)

FeedWordPress is a simple and flexible Atom/RSS syndication plugin 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 site (sites that display content from 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:

• FeedWordPress

Autoblog

(Autoblog WP Plugin)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in the URL of your feed, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select a blog that you want it to post to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog – WordPress Plugin

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages Plugin)

By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Use the RSS Includes Pages plugin if you want to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed and not just posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types – WordPress Plugin

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds

In addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available, WordPress also displays RSS feeds of your latest post comments.

To see these, go to the ‘Meta’ widget on your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …

(Comments Feed)

All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in your Comments RSS page …

(RSS comments feed items displayed on Firefox)

Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you are using …

(RSS comments feed entries viewed using a Google Chrome browser)

Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …

(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the content. 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 website is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Creating RSS Feeds For Specific Posts

Being able to access an RSS feed for a specific post item can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items to RSS aggregator sites, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.

The formula for making an RSS feed for individual post items is shown below:

(RSS Feed For Individual Post)

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 append “/feed” to the end of the post, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not the post content itself.

Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds

Some your site visitors may only be interested in syndicating content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

With WordPress, you can easily create category feeds.

All you have to do is use the format shown below:

(WordPress RSS feed format for category)

Copy the selected category URL to your clipboard …

(Select and copy your category link address …)

Add “feed” to the end of it …

(Use this format for WP post categories RSS feed)

The category feed will now only include content posted under this category …

(Category-specific 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 – Set Up Your Own Feeds List

You can provide your own directory of feeds that allows readers to subscribe to content in the categories that interest them …

(Set Up A List Of Feeds)

Link an image to your category (or single post) feeds and then create a table or a list of all your individual feeds on a new 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, go here:

• Creating And Adding Tables To WordPress Posts And Pages

RSS Feeds – Additional Notes

You can customize RSS in several different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.

WordPress allows you to configure various feed formats without messing with code. Here are some examples of feeds you can display …

(Different Feed Types You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)

Below are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the table above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – Includes your latest entries
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – RSS feed that includes the latest comments posted on your website or blog
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts
• Description: RSS feed for a specific post
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Includes the latest comments made on an individual post
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – RSS feed containing the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/02/20/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Includes the latest entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/12/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Displays latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Contains the latest items for a search query
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: RSS feed containing the 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 RSS feeds. Place your subscribe button or link in a visible location …

(Remember to promote your RSS feeds!)

Also, keep in mind that other website owners will only want to syndicate your content if your content is useful, informative, or highly entertaining. In other words, provide high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their users.

(Easily add someone else’s content and get other users to syndicate 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 RSS feed 🙂

RSS – Additional Resources:

• RSS Images – Visit feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS icon”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS graphic elements.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing RSS specifications, guiding developers who create RSS applications and furthering the understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS.
• WordPress.org/RSS Feeds – WordPress documentation site. Visit this site to learn more about WordPress feeds.

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 using RSS.

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To read more about using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit other great content on this site.

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