No matter what service or product your business sells, providing high-quality information on your site or blog is essential. For example, if your business provides insurance services, it’s not a bad idea to publish the latest information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical research, insurance advice, etc.
The problem with creating this kind of information, however, is that it is very time-consuming. You have to sift through, research, and organize a lot of data, check your facts, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure that this information is 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 well beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a much easier way to continually provide your readers with expert, up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the simplest way to provide your users with great information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS Made Simple
- RSS, which, according to some stands for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It can also be called a “feed” or “web feed”.
- 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 typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog posts, news, videos, etc., which any user can choose to subscribe to.
- You can view RSS feeds with web-based, desktop-based, and even mobile-based software-based programs called feedreaders, or aggregators. Aggregators are used to find content on all kinds of topics and syndicate this content (and any updates made to 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 (RDF = Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine several RSS feeds to receive news and updates from different sources.
In this in-depth guide, we show you where your RSS feed is located, 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 their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) way of sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide an easy way for online users to keep up with the latest information published on different websites and blogs.
First, let’s take a look at how syndication is used.
Online media publications use content syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the world.
Content syndication allows most online newspapers and many influential online publications to deliver readers stories on all kinds of topics and up-to-the-minute headlines from all around the planet without having to post additional news reporting departments all around the world …
(Global media publications rely heavily on content syndication to publish stories from news sources around the world.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing information with other sites. Global media publications syndicate their newsworthy content using news feeds …
(Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing information)
Most websites actually would like you to syndicate their content. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it can also send visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Many online newspapers and major sites contain a feed section (look for links that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “chicago tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many online newspapers and leading online media publications contain an RSS feed section. Source: SMH )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a list of RSS feeds for different areas of the site …
(A website’s directory of feeds. Image Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
These feed items allow readers to access information about different sections of the website (e.g. business news, sports news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
Feed sections can also include further subcategory feeds …
(RSS Feed section. Image: LA Times)
Note: A feed is only a URL. To use feeds, all you need to do is to copy the URLs and paste these into software that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Content Syndication
Syndicating someone else’s content on your website has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s site, it also adds value to your site without you having to create that content …
(The Benefits Of Using RSS Feeds)
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 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 …
(Get other website owners to syndicate your content … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress Feed – About
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display in a standard or custom menu, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(You can access your WordPress RSS feed in the Meta section)
2) You can also find built-in links or buttons on certain WordPress themes that allow your visitors to copy your RSS feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can simply copy the site’s RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy feed URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)
3) On many sites and again, depending on the theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Share, Follow, or Links toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Social Share, Links, or Follow Us toolbar)
4) You can also view your WordPress RSS feed by simply 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 site is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your RSS feed page …
(RSS entries as seen on Firefox)
Note that your feed items will display differently depending on which browser you are using …
(RSS feed entries displayed with a Google Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many items you want to show in your RSS Feed section, go to your Reading Settings section and select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Syndication items field)
Your feed will show the number of posts as you have specified section …
(The feed will display as many recent posts as you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in the WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display posts in the feed as full text, or just a summary …
(Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for articles in your feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …
(Post excerpts can affect how content in feeds will appear)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using Post excerpts in WordPress, 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 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, find a website or blog and look for a ‘subscribe’ link …
(Look for an RSS feed icon. 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 what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.
Adding Feeds To WordPress
Let’s show you how to add RSS content from another website to your WordPress site.
How To Add RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you can add to your site the latest news and updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by importing content from their RSS feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, Facebook comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, Find a website or blog containing content that you would like to display on your site and copy its RSS feed to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(RSS Widget)
To learn more about using sidebar widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in the sidebar (or wherever you have added the RSS widget – e.g. footer, custom menu, etc) …
(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:
Adding An RSS Feed To WordPress Posts
Can content from RSS feeds be added to posts instead of a sidebar? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Search inside the Plugins admin section for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ screen)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us if you need help with plugin configuration.
Here are a few auto blogging tools that let you create new using feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize feeds into campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator WP Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin that offers extended functionality with a number of premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post extension lets you import RSS feeds directly into your posts or any other custom post type.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer WordPress Plugin)
RSS Post Importer allows you to import, curate, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds on your WordPress blog.
The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full content of each feed item as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
POWr RSS combines and displays content from a number of different RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust sizing and spacing of feeds, use custom fonts, colors, backgrounds, 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 WP Plugin)
The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress 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, auto blogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Twitter/Facebook, export WordPress posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides versatile syndication for WordPress site-generated content.
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 sites, or bring together all your online activity in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog – WordPress Plugin)
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, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types – WordPress Plugin)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Use a plugin like the RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types plugin if you want to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Using RSS – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available to online users, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site.
You can see your comments feed by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget of your sidebar menu …
(WordPress Comments Feed)
Comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed items seen using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which browser you use …
(RSS comments feed content displayed using a Google Chrome web browser)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the content. Image: 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 WordPress site installation is in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Creating RSS Feeds For Individual Posts
Being able to access an RSS feed for individual 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 displaying an RSS feed for single posts is shown below:
(Single 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 your post URI, WordPress will return the comments for that post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only want to subscribe to content about certain topics. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
If you publish content under many categories, you can provide a separate RSS feed for each category.
Just use the format shown below:
(WP post categories RSS feed format)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Copy your category link address …)
And append “feed” to the end of it …
(Format for WP category feed)
The feed now only contains content posted in that 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 – Publish Your Own Page Of Feeds
You can set up a page of RSS feeds for visitors that allows readers to subscribe to specific content …
(Create A Feeds Directory)
All you need to do is link an icon like the one shown below to the URL of your feed and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a separate page …
(RSS graphic. Image: public-domain-photos.com)
If you need help with adding tables to WordPress pages and posts, go here:
RSS – Notes
You can customize your RSS in a number of ways, such as adding videos and images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure various feed types that do not require messing with code. For example, here are just some of the kinds of feed types you can use …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Formats)
For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the image above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – contains your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed that displays the latest comments left on your blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed containing an individual post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed that displays the latest comments made on a specific post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/01/08/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/10/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – RSS feed that displays latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays the latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes latest 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 let your site users know that they can subscribe to your feed. Make sure you place a subscribe button image in a visible location …
(Remember to promote your RSS feeds!)
Keep in mind that other website owners will only want to syndicate your content if you provide great content. In other words, you must provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Add content to your site and get other sites 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 Icons – Visit a site like Iconspedia or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to learn more about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex: WordPress Feeds – WordPress documentation. Go here to learn more about using WordPress RSS feeds.
Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add someone else’s content to your site using their RSS feed.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business web site please see other great articles and tutorials we have published on this site.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)