No matter what service or product you sell or what industry your business belongs to, it’s vitally important to provide high-quality information on your site or blog. For example, if your business provides health-related services, it’s a good idea to provide users with the latest information from the health department, such as news or updates on medical research, health and fitness tips, etc.
To create and publish this type of information, however, takes a huge amount of effort and expertise. You have to sort through, gather, and organize a ton 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 kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this is not only a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is well beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a simpler way to keep your site visitors up-to-date with your information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - One of the easiest ways to provide your site readers with great information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Is RSS?
- RSS, which, according to some definitions is short for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content so that their site readers can read it without having to keep revisiting sites 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 users can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML document that includes full or summarized text along with metadata like published date, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then browse updates posted on these sites using a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate information automatically.
- Feeds can be made available in different formats and read by different feed readers. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom feeds and RDF (RDF = Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines, feedreaders, and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine different RSS feeds to display news and updates from multiple sources.
In this article, you are going to learn 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 sites on your site via their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful way to share content online. Feeds provide web users with an easy way to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on websites and blogs they are interested in.
First, let’s look at syndication.
Global media and online newspapers rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies all around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers the latest news items and the most recent newsworthy content from all around the planet without actually having to hire additional news reporting and content writing staff everywhere in the world …
(Online newspapers rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies around the globe.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately. Global media publications syndicate their news stories using feeds …
(Content syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content)
Most websites actually would like you to syndicate their information. Syndicating content not only allows valuable information to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Major sites have a feed section (look for links in the navigation menu that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “la times rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Most online newspapers and major content sites will include a feed section. Image Source: Sydney Morning Herald RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a directory of different RSS feed sections of the site …
(RSS feeds list. Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
These RSS feeds give you access to content from different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, sports news, jobs, etc.)
A feed directory can also contain further feed subdirectories …
(RSS Feed section. Image Source: LA Times)
Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. To use the feed, all you have to do is copy the URL and paste it into software that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Content Syndication – Benefits
Adding someone else’s content to your site has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s website and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create this content …
(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Website And Yours!)
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 worth keeping in mind that you also want other sites to syndicate your content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your content, you have the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive new web traffic …
(Look for ways to get visitors to syndicate your feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress Feed
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget in a navigation menu …
(Your feed page will display 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 your Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display each article as full text, or just a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how your feed content appears)
To learn more about WordPress Post excerpts, go here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, to view the content of a feed, you need to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, find a website whose feed you want to syndicate and look for a ‘subscribe’ icon or link …
(Look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL)
If you want, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your visitors.
Adding Feeds To WordPress
In the example below, we are going to add RSS content from another site to your site.
How To Add RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you could display on your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding their 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 your sidebar)
copy the RSS feed URL from a website or blog containing content that you would like to display on your sidebar …
(Copy the feed URL to your clipboard)
Next, go to your Widgets section and paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Section – RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your web browser. The content can now be seen 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:
Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Posts
Can you add content from an RSS feed to posts? Yes, you can!
You can do this using plugins. Search on WordPress.org plugin directory for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ screen – WordPress RSS plugins)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us for help with plugin configuration.
The plugins listed below can be used to feed content to posts, or “auto blog” (An autoblog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange them according to campaigns and categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress with additional functionality with premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is an advanced, feature-rich importer that allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)
RSS Post Importer lets you import, syndicate, curate, merge and display full-text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress website or blog.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full article content of each feed item as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
With POWr RSS, you can automatically combine and display content from multiple sources using RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust sizing and spacing of feeds, use custom colors, fonts, borders, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all computers, tablets, and phones and supports text in all languages.
The premium version contains many 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)
The WP Pipes plugin 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 powerful features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, 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 flexible syndication plugin for WordPress.
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 bring together content from different sources), or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Facebook, Flickr, or other online services, in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog 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, give the feed a name (for admin purposes) and select a blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages WP Plugin)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available to online users, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your latest post comments.
To inspect the comments in your feed, go to the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in your Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content viewed using a Firefox browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which browser you are using …
(Comments feed entries displayed on a Google Chrome web browser)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …
(Paste your comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed 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 site is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Accessing Feeds For Single Post Items
Being able to access an RSS feed for specific posts 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 accessing an RSS feed for single post items is shown below:
(Specific Post RSS Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post URL, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of a post URL, WordPress will return the comments made on your post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only want to syndicate content from one or two categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If your website or blog displays content published under a number of categories, WordPress allows you to easily create a separate RSS feed for each of your categories.
Just use the format shown below:
(Feed format for category)
Copy the category URL …
(Copy your category URL …)
Append “feed” to the end of it …
(RSS feed format for post categories)
The feed will now only include content posted in this particular category …
(Category 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 – Set Up A Feeds Page
You can provide your own feeds directory that allows readers to subscribe to content in specific categories, just like the larger websites do …
(Provide A Feeds Directory)
Link an icon to a category feed URL and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a new page …
(RSS button image. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)
If you need help with creating tables in WordPress pages and posts, refer to this tutorial:
RSS – Additional Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in various different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure a number of different feed types that do not require editing code. For example, here are just some of the kinds of feeds you can display …
(Different Feed Types You Can Create Using WordPress RSS)
Here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that includes your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed displaying the latest comments posted on your blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed containing single post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed for the latest comments made on individual posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Includes the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/02/23/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/07/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Feed that contains latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes the latest items for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to let visitors know that they can subscribe to your RSS feed. Make sure you place a ’subscribe to RSS’ button image somewhere visible …
(Promote your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other website owners will only want to syndicate your content if you provide your visitors with high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add great content to your site and get other users to subscribe to your content 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 🙂
RSS Resources:
- Feed Icons – Visit an online resource site like Iconspedia or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS images”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS graphics.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation site. Go here for additional information about using feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add content from other sites to your site via their RSS feed.
Hopefully, this information has given you 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 using WordPress please click on links to visit other great articles and tutorials we have published on this site.
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