No matter what service or product you provide or what industry your business is a part of, providing quality information on your site or blog is essential. For example, if you provide accounting or financial planning services, it’s not a bad idea to publish useful 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, is very time-consuming. You have to sort through, research, and organize a lot of information, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually 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 completely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a simpler way to provide your site visitors with up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the easiest ways to provide your subscribers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – Basic Definition And Information
- RSS is short for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content so that their users can read it without having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
- Feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog posts, news, video playlists, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML (Extensible Markup Language) document that includes full or summarized text along with 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 sites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate their content automatically.
- Feeds can be made available in different formats and read by different aggregators. 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 machines, feedreaders, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine several RSS feeds to receive news and updates from multiple sources.
This article explains 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 websites on your site using their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful and legitimate way of sharing content online. Feeds provide an easy way for online users to receive the latest information posted on sites and blogs they are interested in.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Online media publications use syndication to publish content from other news agencies all around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers stories and newsworthy content from all around the globe without actually having to set up more content writers in every location around the world …
(Global media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy items from news sources around the planet.)
Syndication is used to share content legitimately with other sites. online media publications syndicate information using news feeds …
(Content syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content)
Most websites actually want you to share their information. Syndicating content not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site that published the content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate significant web traffic.
Many news reporting agencies have a feed section (look for links in their navigation menu that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “telegraph rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many content agencies have an RSS feed section. Image Source: SMH RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(RSS feeds directory. Image Source: New York Times RSS)
These feed items allow you to source content from different areas of the site (e.g. business news, arts news, health news, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain further feed subdirectories …
(An RSS feed directory can also contain subcategory feeds. Source: latimes.com)
Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. To use RSS feeds, all you need to do is copy the URLs and paste these into a program that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Content Syndication – Benefits
Syndicating content from someone else’s website or blog on your website has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s site and adds value to your site without you having to create this content …
(Syndicating Content - 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 there are benefits in getting other sites to syndicate your content.
When other sites syndicate your feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Get users to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
Overview Of The WordPress RSS
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on your WP theme, there are a few ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget on the sidebar …
(The feed will display as many recent items you have specified in the WordPress Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in your Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display your posts as full text, or just as a summary …
(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 a feed will appear)
To learn more about Post excerpts, refer to this tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, to view the content of an RSDS feed, you need to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ button …
(Look for a ‘subscribe’ icon or link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL)
If you want, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into readable content.
How To Add A Feed To Your WordPress Site
In the example below, we are going to add content from other sites to your WordPress site.
How To Add Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you can easily display on your site the latest news and updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding content from their RSS feed. You can use RSS feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, Facebook comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content sourced from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation area …
(Add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu)
copy the feed URL from a site that publishes content that you would like to add to your site to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
Next, go to your Widgets screen and paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(WordPress RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed should appear in the sidebar …
(RSS Feed Content Added To WordPress 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 Your WordPress Posts
Can content from RSS feeds be added to a post instead of your sidebar? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Search inside the Plugins section (Plugins > Add New) for RSS Aggregator, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for setup instructions, or contact us for assistance configuring plugins.
Here are some auto blogging plugins that let you automatically create new with feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from multiple RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds into categories and campaigns.
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 plugin for WordPress with premium add-ons for additional functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is a feature-filled importer that lets you autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into your WP posts or any other custom post type.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
RSS Post Importer allows you to syndicate, import, curate, merge and display full-text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress blog.
RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full content of every item in the feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed)
With POWr RSS, you can automatically combine and display content from multiple RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom colors, backgrounds, fonts, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any computer, phone, or tablet and supports text in any language.
The premium edition of this plugin contains many additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes Plugin)
WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and other sources.
This plugin provides loads of powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, export posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication for WordPress site content.
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 bring together content from various different sources), or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Twitter, Flickr, or other online services, in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog 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 your feed URL, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select a blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages WP Plugin)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. You can use a plugin like the RSS Includes Pages plugin if you want to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available to online users.
You can see this by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in your Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content as seen on a Firefox browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on the web browser you use …
(RSS comments feed items seen on Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image: Feedreader.com)
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 – Specific Post RSS Feeds
Being able to use an RSS feed for specific post items 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 URI of your post, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post URI, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not actual post content itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site visitors may only be interested in subscribing to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
If your website displays content published under several categories, WordPress allows you to provide a separate feed for each post category.
Just use the format below:
(Format for WP post categories RSS feed)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Copy the category link address …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WP RSS feed format for category)
The feed now only contains content posted in that particular category …
(Category 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 – Create An RSS Feeds List
You can provide a page of feeds for your visitors that allows readers to subscribe only to content in the categories they are interested in, just like large websites …
(Provide Your Own RSS Feeds Page)
All you need to do is link an icon to the URL of your feed and then create a table or a list of all feeds on a separate page …
(RSS icon. Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
To learn more about creating tables in WordPress posts, go here:
RSS Feeds – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in a number of ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows various feed configurations without editing code. Here are some examples of feed types you can use and how to structure these feeds …
(WordPress RSS – Custom Feeds)
Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown 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 – Feed that includes the latest comments left on your website
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed that displays single posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed that includes the latest comments made on single post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Includes latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/10/06/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Includes the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/01/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Feed displaying the latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Feed containing latest entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Displays latest posts for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to let your users know that they can subscribe to your feeds. Place a subscribe links in a visible location …
(Promote your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only want to subscribe to your content if you provide your visitors with very high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add someone else’s content and get visitors to subscribe to your content with WordPress and RSS!)
If you need great content ideas subscribe to our FREE content creation course using the form below:
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our feed 🙂
Additional Resources:
- RSS Icons – Visit feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss icon”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS graphics.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and links to resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about RSS feeds.
- WordPress.org/WordPress Feeds – Official WordPress documentation and reference. Visit this site for additional information about using WordPress feeds.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to display content from other websites on 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 build a better business online. To read more about using WordPress for a business website please click on links to visit our related posts section.
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