No matter what your business sells or what industry you belong to, providing high-value information to your blog readers is essential. For example, if you provide accounting services, you may want to publish information from the taxation office, such as news and updates on tax rulings, small business tax deductions, etc.
To create and publish this type of information, however, is very 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 not only involves 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 keep your site visitors up-to-date with great information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your blog subscribers with great information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
Some Basic Information About RSS
- RSS is short for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred to, Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “news feed”.
- Once users subscribe to a website’s feed, they no longer have to physically visit and check the website for content updates. Instead, their browser will constantly monitor the site and keep subscribers automatically updated.
- Feeds are often used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog posts, news headlines, audio lists, etc., which any user can then subscribe to.
- You can view RSS feeds with web-based, desktop-based, and even mobile-based programs called RSS feed readers, or aggregators. Aggregators are used to find content on all different kinds of topics and syndicate this content (and any updates made to this content) to various online properties.
- There are different feed formats and these can be read by different feed readers. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines, feedreaders, and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine several RSS feeds to receive news and updates from different sources.
In this in-depth guide, we will show you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful and legitimate method used for sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide a way for web users to receive the latest information published on sites they are interested in.
First, let’s take a look at syndication.
Many online newspapers and highly-visited online media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish content from news agencies around the world.
Content syndication allows digital publishing agencies to deliver readers stories from all over the planet without actually having to set up additional content writers everywhere around the world …
(Content agencies rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy items from other news agencies around the planet.)
Syndication is used to share information legitimately. online media publications syndicate newsworthy content using feeds …
(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share newsworthy content with other publications)
Most sites actually want you to share their information. Content syndication not only allows information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site responsible for publishing the content being syndicated. This provides websites with new opportunities to generate additional web traffic.
Many digital publishing agencies and leading online media publications provide links to a 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”, “la times rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major sites will include an RSS feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link brings up a directory of different RSS feeds …
(RSS feeds directory. Image Source: New York Times)
These RSS feed items give you access to different sections of the site (e.g. business news, travel news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
An RSS feed directory can also include further subcategory feeds …
(RSS Feed section. Source: latimes.com)
Note: A feed is simply a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is to copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can process the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
RSS Feeds – Benefits
Adding someone else’s content to your site has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s business and adds value to your site without you having to create this content …
(Syndicating Content Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)
While adding a feed from another site is a great way to add content to your site without having to create it, it’s worth keeping in mind that you also want other sites to syndicate your content.
When other sites syndicate your feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more visitors …
(Get visitors to syndicate your feed … it will help to increase your traffic!)
WordPress RSS Feed – About
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.
Depending on your theme, there are a few ways to get the WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget on your sidebar menu …
(The feed page will show as many recent posts as you have specified in your WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other 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 – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …
(Post excerpts can affect how a feed appears)
We have written a detailed tutorial on Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, to view a feed’s content, you have 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 for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, find a website whose content you want to subscribe to and search for an RSS feed link …
(Look for an RSS feed icon. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL)
If you want, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image Source: Feedreader)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into readable content for humans.
Adding Feeds To Your Site
In the example below, we’ll add content from other sites to your site.
How To Add A Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is in, you can easily add to your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding content from their RSS feed. You can use feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, social media comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar area)
First, Go to a site containing content that you want to display on your sidebar and copy its feed URL …
(Copy the feed URL to your clipboard)
Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(WordPress RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your browser. The content can now be seen on the 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:
How To Add RSS Feed Content To Your WordPress Posts
Can you add content from RSS feeds to a post? Yes, you can!
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Search inside your Plugins section for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.
The plugins 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)
WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from multiple RSS/Atom feeds.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds according to categories and campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging WordPress plugin with extended functionality with premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin is a popular, feature-filled importer that allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
RSS Post Importer lets you syndicate, import, curate, merge and display full-text feeds on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of each feed item as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)
With the POWr RSS Feed plugin, you can combine and display content from multiple sources using RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display images, videos, and article content, adjust sizing and spacing of feeds, use custom fonts, backgrounds, colors, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any tablet, phone, or computer and supports text in any language.
The premium edition of POWr contains many additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes WP Plugin)
WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.
This plugin provides functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress is a versatile Atom/RSS syndication plugin for WordPress-generated 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.
FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator sites, or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Facebook, Flickr, or other online services, into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog – WordPress 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, give the feed a name (for admin purposes) and select the 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 For WordPress)
Install RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).
For more details, go here:
WordPress RSS – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to displaying RSS feeds of your posts.
To inspect these comments, go to the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(Comments Feed)
Comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in the Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed items viewed with Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on the browser you use …
(RSS comments feed items as seen on a Google Chrome web browser)
Again, you can check what the comments feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the content. 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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Single Post Item 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 a single post item is shown below:
(Feed For Single Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the web address of your post, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of the post URL, WordPress will return the comments for that post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to subscribe to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If your website or blog displays content published under different categories, WordPress allows you to easily provide a separate feed for each different category.
Just use the format below:
(Use this format for WP post categories RSS feed)
Copy the category URL …
(Select and copy your category link address …)
Append the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Format for WordPress category RSS feed)
The category feed will now only contain content posted under that category …
(Category-specific 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 Feeds Directory
You can set up your own feeds page that allows readers to subscribe only to content in the categories that interest them, just like large authoritative sites …
(Create Your Own Page Of Feeds For Visitors)
Link an icon to the URL of your category feed and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button. Image: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
We have created a detailed tutorial about inserting tables into WordPress content here:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in various different ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure a number of different feed formats without touching code. Here are some examples of feed types you can use …
(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create With WordPress RSS)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – displays your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – RSS feed that includes the latest comments published on your site
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed for a specific post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed that displays the latest comments made on specific posts
- 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/2017/06/13/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Feed containing the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/10/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Includes latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Contains the latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Contains latest items for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One more thing …
Remember to let your users know that they can subscribe to your RSS feeds. Make sure you place a ’subscribe to RSS’ buttons in a visible location …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that other sites will only want to subscribe to your content if you provide your visitors with high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add someone else’s content and get online users to share your content using RSS!)
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 Images – Visit an online resource site like Feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS graphic elements.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization with three primary duties: publishing the RSS specification, guiding developers who create RSS applications and furthering the understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about the history and benefits of using RSS.
- WordPress.org/Feeds – WordPress software documentation repository. Visit this site for more information about using WordPress feeds.
Congratulations! Now you know 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 and blogs to your site using RSS.
Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress please see our related posts section.
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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