No matter what product or service you sell or what industry your business belongs to, providing high-value information to your site readers is essential. For example, if you provide accounting services, it’s not a bad idea to publish information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax tips, etc.
The problem with creating this kind of information, however, is that it is really time-consuming. You have to sift through, gather, 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 continually make sure that this information is 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.
Thankfully, there is a much simpler way to continually provide your users with up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - One of the simplest ways to provide your site visitors with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – A Basic Overview
- RSS stands for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred to, Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “web feed”.
- RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content so that their users can read it without having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- RSS feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog entries, news, audio lists, etc., which other users can then subscribe to.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is an XML (XML = Extensible Markup Language) document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata such as published date, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on sites that publish feeds and then keep up with any updates posted on these websites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate web content.
- Feeds can be made available in different formats and read by different feed readers. 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 and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine different RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from many websites.
This article shows you how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to display someone else’s content on your site via their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a really powerful and legitimate method used for sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide a simple and easy way for online users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites.
First, let’s look at content syndication.
News reporting agencies and many global online publications rely on syndication to publish newsworthy content from content sources all around the world.
Content syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers global stories and the most recent news from all over the globe without having to hire and set up more reporting agencies everywhere around the world …
(Many news reporting agencies and influential media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish news and stories from news sources all around the world.)
Syndication is used to share information legitimately. online media publications syndicate information using news feeds …
(Online newspapers syndicate news stories using feeds)
Most websites actually would like you to syndicate their content. Syndicating content not only allows high-quality information to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Most leading online media publications will have a 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”, “miami herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many online newspapers and major content sites provide links to a feed section. Image: Sydney Morning Herald RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link brings up a list of different RSS feed sections …
(RSS directory. Image Source: nytimes.com)
These feeds give readers access to information from different sections of the website (e.g. business news, sports news, editorials, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain subcategory feeds …
(Feed sections can also contain feed subdirectories. Source: LA Times RSS)
Note: A feed is just a URL. All you need to do to use feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Content Syndication – Benefits
Adding content from someone else’s website or blog on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s business additional exposure online, it also adds value to your site without you having to create this content …
(Using Feeds)
While adding feeds 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 sites to use your content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your feed, this gives you the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more visitors …
(It’s a good idea to get other websites to syndicate your feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress Feed – About
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on your WordPress theme, there are a few ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget in a navigation menu …
(Your feed page will display as many recent posts as you have specified in your WordPress Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
Another setting in your WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display each article in a feed as full text, or a summary …
(WP Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for articles in your feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content displays …
(Post excerpts can affect how a feed appears)
We have created a detailed tutorial about WordPress Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all that’s required to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can translate feeds into readable content.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, go to a website whose feed you want to subscribe to and search for their RSS feed icon using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for an RSS feed link. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL to the clipboard)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of your feed into a feed reader …
(Paste your URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feedreaders, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into human-readable content.
How To Add Feeds To Your WP Site
In the example below, we are going to add content from other websites to your WordPress site.
Adding Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is in, you can easily 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 feed. You can easily 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 RSS content to the WordPress sidebar …
(Add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar)
First, find a website or blog containing content that you want to display on your sidebar and copy the RSS feed URL …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Panel – RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content can now be seen in your sidebar …
(RSS Feed Added To WP Sidebar)
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 you add content from an RSS feed to a post instead of a sidebar? Yes, you can!
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Just search inside the Plugins admin section for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ section)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for full instructions, or contact us if you need assistance configuring plugins.
The plugins listed below are useful if you want to add feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An autoblog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico)
WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from selected RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange feeds into categories and campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress with extended functionality with a number of premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post extension allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into WordPress posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
RSS Post Importer allows you to import, syndicate, curate, merge and display full text RSS feeds on your WordPress site.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full article content of each item in your feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)
With POWr RSS, you can automatically combine and display content from a number of different RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom colors, backgrounds, fonts, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on all computers, phones, and tablets and supports text in every language.
The premium plugin version contains a number of additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes Plugin)
WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to create curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.
This plugin provides features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn, export posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication options for WordPress site 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 site (sites that combine and display posts from many different sources), or display all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Facebook, YouTube, 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, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in your feed URL, give your feed a name (for admin purposes) and select a blog to post content to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types Plugin)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Install RSS Includes Pages to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts.
For more details, go here:
WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of your latest post comments in addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your posts.
You can inspect these by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget area of your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors will appear in your Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed content viewed using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed page will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(Comments feed items displayed with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feed reader …
(Paste your comments feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed 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 website has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Accessing RSS Feeds For Specific Items
Being able to use an RSS feed for individual 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 displaying an RSS feed for a single post is shown below:
(Individual Post RSS Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post address, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post URL, WordPress will return the comments left on that post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to syndicate content about certain categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
With WordPress, you can easily create category feeds.
Just use the format shown below:
(Use this format for WordPress post categories feed)
Select and copy the category link address to your clipboard …
(Select and copy your category link address …)
Append “feed” to the end of it …
(WordPress post categories feed format)
Your category RSS feed will now only display content specific to this 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 – Publish An RSS Feeds Page
You can publish your own feeds list that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories …
(Create Your Own Page Of Feeds For Your Visitors)
All you need to do is link a button graphic like the one shown below to the URL of your category feed and then create a table or a list of your individual feeds on a new page …
(RSS button. Image Source: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
We have created a detailed tutorial on inserting tables into WordPress here:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
You can customize your RSS in various different ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows you to configure a number of different feed formats that do not require messing with code. For example, here are just some of the kinds of feeds you can use …
(Different Feed Types You Can Create With WordPress RSS)
For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown 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 – Displays the latest comments published on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed containing single 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 – RSS feed displaying the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/05/17/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Displays the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/09/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – RSS feed containing latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: RSS feed displaying latest post entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Displays latest post entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
It’s a good idea to promote your RSS feed. Make sure you place a ’subscribe to RSS’ button or link in a visible location …
(Remember to make your feeds visible your feeds!)
Also, keep in mind that other sites will only syndicate your content if you provide useful content that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Add content from other sites and get other sites to subscribe to your content using 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 Feed Buttons – Visit online resource sites like www.feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss images”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization with three primary duties: publishing RSS specifications, providing guidance to developers who create RSS applications and broadening the public understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress documentation. Go here for more information about feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via RSS.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about using WordPress please see other posts we have published on this site.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group