No matter what your business sells or what industry you are a part of, it’s vitally important to provide high-quality information on your site or blog. For example, if you provide insurance-related services, it’s not a bad idea to provide users with useful information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical findings, insurance tips, etc.
The problem with providing this kind of information, however, is that it is really time-consuming. You have to do a lot of information sorting, researching and organizing, fact-checking, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then make sure that this information is continually 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 entirely beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is an easier way to regularly provide your readers with expert, up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the simplest way to provide your users with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – What Does It Mean?
- RSS, which, according to some definitions stands for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also referred to as a “feed” or “news feed”.
- 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 posts, news, videos, etc., which other users can then subscribe to.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document that includes either full or summarized text along with metadata like published date, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites and blogs that publish feeds and then browse updates posted on these sites through an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate content automatically.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF (Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines, readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software tools also let you combine many RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from multiple sites.
In this in-depth article, you are going to learn where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add content from other websites to your site using RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful and legitimate method used to share content online. Feeds provide web users with a simple way to receive the latest information posted on sites they are interested in.
First, let’s take a look at how syndication is used.
News reporting agencies use content syndication to publish news and stories from other news agencies around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers stories on all kinds of topics and up-to-the-minute news from all around the planet without actually having to post more news staff everywhere around the world …
(Digital publishing agencies and leading media publications use content syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources around the world.)
Syndication is used to share content legitimately with other sites. Global media publications syndicate news stories using news feeds …
(News reporting agencies syndicate stories using news feeds)
Most sites actually would like you to syndicate their content. Content syndication not only allows information to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the site that originally published the content being syndicated. This provides websites with new opportunities to generate additional web visitors.
Many news reporting agencies and leading online media publications include 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”, “calgary herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major sites will include an RSS feed section. Image Source: Sydney Morning Herald )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(RSS feeds section. Image: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
gives you access to different areas of the website (e.g. technology news, sports news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
Feed sections can also include further feed subcategories …
(RSS Feed section. Image: latimes.com)
Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. All you have to do to use the feed is to copy the URL and paste it into an application that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Using Feeds
Adding content from someone else’s site on your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s site additional exposure online, it also adds value to your site without you having to create that content …
(Syndicating Content Benefits Someone Else’s Website And Yours!)
While adding a feed 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 use your content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate content using your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive new web traffic …
(Get users to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress RSS – Overview
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on your theme, there are a number of ways to access the WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget on your sidebar menu …
(Your feed will display as many recent items you have specified in your WordPress Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other 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 …
(WP 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 will appear)
We have created a detailed tutorial about Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, to view the content of an RSDS feed, you have to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, find a website or blog and look for an RSS feed button using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for an RSS feed icon. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)
If you want, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feed reader …
(Paste your URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds.
How To Add RSS Feeds To WordPress Sites
In the example below, we are going to add content sourced from another site to your site.
Adding A Feed To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you could 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 easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, social media 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 an RSS feed to your sidebar)
copy the RSS feed URL from a site that publishes content that you want to add to your site …
(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)
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:
Load your website in your web browser. The content from the RSS feed can now be seen in your sidebar (or wherever you have added the RSS widget – e.g. footer) …
(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 Feed Content To Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to posts instead of a sidebar? Yes, it can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Just search inside the ’Add Plugins’ section (Plugins > Add New) for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ section)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for setup instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.
The plugins below can be used to feed content to posts, or “auto blog” (An auto blog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you select.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and arrange feeds according to campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin with extended functionality with premium add-ons.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin lets you import RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer)
RSS Post Importer lets you curate, syndicate, import, 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 content of each feed item as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)
POWr RSS Feed allows you to combine content from multiple sources using RSS feeds.
This plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed priority, use custom colors, fonts, borders, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all computers, phones, and tablets and supports text in every language.
The premium version contains a number of additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes)
WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you create 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 Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter, export WordPress posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides flexible syndication 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.
You can use this plugin to create aggregator site (sites that combine posts from various different sources), or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, YouTube, or other online services, into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog by WPMUDev)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in your feed URL, give it a name of your choosing (for admin purposes) and select a blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages Plugin For WordPress)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. You can use a plugin like RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types if you want to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress makes available RSS feeds of your latest post comments in addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your posts.
You can inspect these comments by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) …
(Comments Feed)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed entries displayed using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which browser you use …
(Comments feed entries seen using a Google Chrome web browser)
Again, you can check what the comments RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the 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 or blog is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Accessing Feeds For Specific Posts
Being able to access an RSS feed for a single 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 displaying an RSS feed for single posts is shown below:
(RSS Feed For Specific Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the post address, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of a post URI, WordPress will return the comments associated with your post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Category RSS Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to subscribe to content from one or two categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If your website or blog publishes content under various categories, you can provide a separate feed for each post category.
Just use the format below:
(WP category RSS feed format)
Copy the category URL …
(Copy the category URL …)
And add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Feed format for category)
The feed will now only include content assigned to that particular category …
(Category-specific 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 – Create Your Own Directory Of RSS Feeds
You can provide a directory of RSS feeds for your site visitors that allows readers to subscribe to content in the categories that interest them, just like large authoritative sites …
(Publish An RSS Feeds Directory)
All you need to do is link an image to a feed and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a separate page …
(RSS image. Source: public-domain-photos.com)
To learn more about inserting tables into WordPress pages and posts, go here:
RSS Feeds – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in several different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows different feed configurations without code editing skills. Below are examples of some of the kinds of feeds you can use …
(WordPress RSS – Custom Feeds)
For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – Includes your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Feed containing the latest comments left on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed for single items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Contains the latest comments made on specific posts
- 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/2011/10/09/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/07/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays latest posts 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 more thing …
It’s a good idea to promote your RSS feed. Make sure you place a subscribe buttons in a visible location …
(Encourage your visitors to syndicate your RSS feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that online users will only syndicate your content if you publish useful content. In other words, focus on providing your subscribers with high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add someone else’s content and get visitors to share 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 RSS feed 🙂
RSS – Additional Resources:
- RSS Buttons – Visit Feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss buttons”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to learn more about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about the history and benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation and information site. Visit this site for more information about using feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add content from other websites to your site via RSS feeds.
Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about using WordPress for a business website please see our related posts section.
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