No matter what your business provides or what industry you are a part of, you need to provide quality information to your site users. For example, if your business provides accounting or financial planning services, you may want to include the latest information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax tips, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, requires a great deal of effort and resources. You have to do a ton of information sifting, researching and organizing, fact-checking, content writing and editing (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure 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 beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a simpler way to keep your users up-to-date with the latest information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the easiest ways to provide your users with great information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS Made Simple
- RSS, which, according to some definitions is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly referred to as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- 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 also used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog post items, news headlines, audio lists, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with metadata such as date of publishing, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites and blogs that publish feeds and then keep up with any updates posted on these websites through a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate web content automatically.
- Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feedreaders. 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, feedreaders, and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine different RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates from multiple sources.
In this comprehensive guide, we will explain how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display someone else’s content on your site via RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) way of sharing content online. Feeds provide web users with a simple and easy way to keep up with the latest information posted on websites they are interested in.
First, let’s look at syndication.
Many news reporting agencies and highly-visited media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy content from content sources all around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers interesting stories and the latest news from around the globe without actually having to post additional news reporting and content writing departments all around the world …
(Many digital publishers use content syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies all around the world.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately. online media publications syndicate their newsworthy content using feeds …
(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share newsworthy content with other publications)
Most sites actually would like you to share their information. Content syndication not only allows information to be shared, but it can also send visitors back to the site that originally created theoriginally created and published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Major content sites include an RSS 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”, “nz herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many digital news publishers include an RSS feed section. Source: SMH )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section brings up a list of different RSS feeds …
(RSS feeds section. Image Source: nytimes.com)
Each of these feed items lets you access content from different sections of the website (e.g. technology news, entertainment news, jobs, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain subcategories …
(Feed sections can also contain subcategory feeds. Image: Los Angeles Times RSS)
Note: A feed is only a URL. To use feeds, all you need to do is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Syndicating Content
Adding someone else’s content to 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 the content …
(Content Syndication - Benefits)
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 worth keeping in mind that you also want other websites to use your content.
When other sites syndicate your content, this gives you the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Try to get users to syndicate your content … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress Feed
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on your WordPress site’s theme, there are a few ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget in a navigation menu …
(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 Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display posts in your feed as full text, or a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for each article in a RSS feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …
(Post excerpts affect how feeds will appear)
If you need help using excerpts in WordPress Posts, see this step-by-step tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, all you need to do to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s see how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and search for a ‘subscribe’ button using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for an RSS feed section. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into readable content.
Adding Feeds To WordPress Sites
Let’s show you how to add content from other site’s RSS feeds to yours.
How To Add 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 simply by adding their RSS feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, Facebook updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation area …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation area)
First, go to a website containing content that you want to add to your sidebar and copy the RSS feed to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(WP RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content should now appear in 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:
Adding Content From RSS Feeds To Posts
Can you add content from RSS feeds to WordPress posts instead of a sidebar? Yes, you can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us if you need assistance configuring plugins.
The plugins listed below are useful for adding 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 Plugin For WordPress)
WPeMatico is an easy to use auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and arrange them according to campaigns and categories.
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 with extended functionality with premium add-ons.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)
RSS Post Importer lets you curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress blog.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full content of every item in your feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed)
With the POWr RSS Feed plugin, you can automatically combine and display content from various RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom fonts, backgrounds, colors, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in all languages.
The premium edition of this plugin contains a number of additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes – WordPress Plugin)
The WP Pipes plugin 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 powerful 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:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress)
FeedWordPress is a versatile 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 many different sources), or bring together all your online activity in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog)
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 your feed URL, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages Plugin For WordPress)
Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).
For more details, go here:
WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of your post comments in addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your latest posts.
To inspect the comments in your feed, locate the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar menu (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed items as seen using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on the web browser you use …
(Comments feed items seen with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …
(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image 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 website is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Displaying RSS Feeds For Specific Items
Being able to access an RSS feed for individual posts can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items 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 specific post items is shown below:
(Feed For Single Post)
To create the above feed, copy the URL of your post, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of a post address, WordPress will return the comments made on your post, not actual content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Using Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only be interested in syndicating content from one or two categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
WordPress allows you to create category feeds.
All you need to do is use the format below:
(WordPress post categories RSS feed format)
Copy the selected category link address …
(Copy your category URL …)
Add “feed” to the end of it …
(Feed format for category)
Your category feed will now only include content published under this particular category …
(Category 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 Page Of Feeds
You can publish your own list of feeds that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories …
(Set Up Your Own List Of Feeds)
You can link an icon to the URL of your category feed and then create a table or a list of your category feeds on a new page …
(RSS button image. Source: public-domain-photos.com)
If you need help with creating tables in WordPress pages and posts, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
RSS – Additional Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in a number of ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows several feed configurations without code editing skills. For example, here are some of the kinds of feed types you can create …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown 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 displays the latest comments posted on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that includes individual items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Contains the latest comments made on a post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Contains latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/12/29/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/04/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: Contains latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes latest items for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to promote your feed. Place your subscribe button image in a visible location …
(Remember to make your feeds visible your feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that other website owners will only syndicate your content if you provide your subscribers with high-quality content that can add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add great content to your site and get other sites to subscribe to your content online 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 feed 🙂
Additional RSS Resources:
- RSS Buttons – Visit www.iconspedia.com/search/rss or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS logo”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS graphics.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing the RSS specification, providing guidance to developers who create RSS applications and helping the general public to gain a better understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about RSS feeds.
- WordPress.org/Feeds – WordPress documentation and information. Visit this site to learn more about WordPress and RSS.
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 websites to your site using their RSS feed.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you expand 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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