No matter what service or product your business sells, providing quality information on your site or blog is essential. For example, if your business provides insurance-related services, it’s a good idea to provide users with information from government departments, such as news and updates on statistical research, insurance advice, etc.

The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it is very time-consuming. You have to do a ton of data gathering, researching and organizing, checking the accuracy of your sources, content writing and editing (or hire someone to do this for you), and then make sure that this information is continually kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this is not only a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is completely beyond your control.

Thankfully, there is a simpler way to continually provide your site visitors with great information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS - One of the simplest ways to provide your readers 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 referred to now as Really Simple Syndication. It is often referred to as a “feed” or “news feed”.
• RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save users time from having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
• Feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog entries, news, videos, etc., which any user can choose to subscribe to.
• RSS feeds can be read with a software-based program called a feed reader, or feed aggregator. Feedreaders can be used to find new content published on websites and distribute this content to other sites.
• There are different feed formats and these can be read by different feed readers. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different devices and programs.
• Many sites and software tools also allow you to combine several RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates from various sources.

In this comprehensive guide, you are going to learn 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 their RSS feed.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) method used for sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide web users with a simple way to receive the latest information posted on websites and blogs they are interested in.

First, let’s take a look at content syndication.

News reporting agencies rely heavily on content syndication to publish news from content sources all around the world.

Syndication allows leading news reporting agencies to deliver readers global stories and the latest newsworthy items from around the planet without having to hire more content writers in every place around the world …

(Many news reporting agencies use syndication to publish newsworthy items from news sources around the world.)

Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately. Global media publications syndicate newsworthy content using news feeds …

(Content publishers syndicate content using news feeds)

Most sites actually would like you to share their information. Content syndication not only allows great information to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the site that originally published the content being syndicated. This provides websites with new opportunities to generate additional web visitors.

Most online newspapers and major sites contain an RSS feed section (look for navigation links that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “courier rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Most leading online media publications provide links to a feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )

Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a list of RSS feeds for different content sections of the site …

(RSS feeds section. Image: NY Times)

These RSS feeds allow you to access content from different sections of the site (e.g. business news, entertainment news, health news, etc.)

A feed directory can also contain further subcategories …

(An RSS directory can also contain feed subcategories. Source: latimes.com feeds)

Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. All you need to do to use feeds is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

The Benefits Of Content Syndication

Syndicating content from someone else’s website or blog on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s business and helps you by freeing you up from having to create the content …

(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Website And Yours!)

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 sites syndicate your feed, you have the opportunity to get more exposure online and drive new web traffic …

(Try to get other online users to syndicate content using your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)

WordPress RSS – About

WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their sites.

Depending on your theme, there are a number of ways to get your RSS feed:

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to be displayed as part of your navigation menu, scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …

(Meta section – Accessing your RSS feed)

2) You can also find built-in links and/or buttons on certain WordPress themes that allow your visitors to copy your RSS feed.

In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the site’s RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …

(Copy feed links to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)

3) On many sites and again, depending on which theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Social Share, Link To Us, or Follow section …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Social Share, Link To Us, or Subscribe toolbar section)

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 website or blog is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your WordPress RSS feed …

(RSS feed content viewed with Firefox)

Note that your feed content will display differently depending on the web browser you are using …

(Feed entries seen on a Chrome browser)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

Specify how many posts you want to display in your RSS page in the Reading Settings section. Select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

(WP Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)

The feed will show the number of items you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section …

(The feed will display as many recent items you have specified in your Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

Another setting in your Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display each article in a feed as full text, or just as a summary …

(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for each article in a RSS feed)

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

(Post excerpts can affect how feeds appear)

We have created a detailed tutorial on using Post excerpts in WordPress here:

• Post Excerpts Explained

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, to view the content of an RSDS feed, you need to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that translates feeds into readable content.

Let’s see how this works.

First, go to a website or blog and look for their RSS feed section using any of the methods described earlier …

(Search for a ’subscribe to feed’ icon. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the feed URL)

If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of your feed into a feed reader …

(Paste the URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)

Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into readable content.

How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Site

Let’s show you how to add RSS content from another site to your WordPress site.

Adding A Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you can easily display on your site the latest news and updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding content from their RSS feed. You can easily 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 sourced from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar …

(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)

First, Find a website or blog containing content that you would like to display on your sidebar and copy the feed URL …

(Copy the feed URL)

Next, go to your Widgets panel and paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(Widgets Area – RSS Widget)

To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:

• Adding And Configuring WordPress Widgets On Your WordPress Blog Sidebar Navigation Area

Refresh your browser. The content can now be seen on the sidebar (or wherever you have placed the RSS widget) …

(RSS Feed Content Added To WP 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:

• How To Set Up Webmaster Accounts

Adding RSS Feeds To WordPress Posts

Can you add content from RSS feeds to WordPress posts instead of the sidebar? Yes, you can!

You can do this using WordPress plugins. Search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.

(‘Add Plugins’ screen – RSS plugins for WordPress)

Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for setup instructions, or contact us if you need assistance with plugin configuration.

The plugins listed below are useful if you would like to add 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)

WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you select.

You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds according to categories.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator WordPress Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress with premium add-ons for extended functionality.

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is an advanced importer that lets you autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into your WP posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator – WordPress Plugin

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer WordPress Plugin)

The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to import, curate, syndicate, merge and display full text RSS feeds on your WordPress site.

RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of each feed item as a separate post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed WordPress Plugin)

The POWr RSS Feed plugin allows you to automatically combine content from various RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed spacing and size, use custom backgrounds, fonts, colors, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in every language.

The premium version contains a number of additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed WP Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes WordPress Plugin)

WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to 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, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, export posts as iTunes podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to a new level.

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress)

FeedWordPress is a versatile syndication plugin 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 display all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, YouTube, or other online services, into a Lifestream.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress

Autoblog by WPMUDev

(Autoblog Plugin)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in the URL of your feed, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select a blog to post content to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog by WPMUDev

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin)

By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Install RSS Includes Pages if you want to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed and not just posts.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages – WordPress Plugin

WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips

Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds

In addition to displaying feeds of your latest posts, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your post comments.

To see your comments feed, locate the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar menu (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …

(WordPress Comments Feed)

All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users will appear in your Comments RSS page …

(RSS comments feed entries displayed with a Firefox browser)

Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which browser you are using …

(Comments feed items viewed on Google Chrome)

Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feed reader …

(Paste your comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the content. Image Source: http://feedreader.com/online)

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 subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Displaying Individual Item RSS Feeds

Being able to use an RSS feed for single post items 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 using an RSS feed for an individual post item is shown below:

(Feed For Single Post Item)

To create the above feed, copy the URI of your post, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.

(Single Post Feed)

Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of the post, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not actual post content itself.

Tip #3 – Post Category Feeds

Some your site visitors may only want to syndicate content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

With WordPress, you can easily create category feeds.

All you have to do is use the format shown below:

(WordPress category feed format)

Select and copy the category URL …

(Copy your category link address …)

Append the word “feed” to the end of it …

(Feed format for post categories)

Your RSS feed will now only include content published under this particular category …

(Category-specific 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 A Feeds Directory

You can publish a directory of feeds for your visitors that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in the categories they are interested in, just like the larger online publishers do …

(Create Your Own Directory Of RSS Feeds For Your Site Visitors)

All you need to do is link an icon to a feed URL and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a new page …

(RSS icon. Image: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)

We have written a detailed tutorial on adding tables to WordPress pages and posts here:

• Adding Tables In Pages And Posts With WordPress

RSS – Notes

Feeds can be customized in several ways, such as adding images and videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.

WordPress allows you to configure different feed formats that do not require editing code. For example, here are some of the kinds of custom feed formats you can use …

(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)

Here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – Feed that displays your latest posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – Displays the latest comments left on your site
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts
• Description: RSS feed containing a specific post
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Contains the latest comments made on a post
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Displays the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/09/27/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Feed that includes latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/11/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Includes the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Displays the latest entries for a search query
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Displays 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 let your site users know that they can subscribe to your feed. Place your ’subscribe to RSS’ button or link in a visible location …

(Encourage your visitors to subscribe to your feeds!)

Keep in mind that other sites will only syndicate your content if you provide great information that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, focus on providing your subscribers with high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

(Easily add great content to your site and get others to share your content with 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:

• Download RSS Icons – Visit sites like Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logo download”, etc.) for sites containing downloadable Free RSS graphics.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here to learn more about RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS.
• WordPress Codex: RSS Feeds – WordPress software documentation and reference repository. Go here to learn more 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 display someone else’s content on your site via RSS feeds.

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section.

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