No matter what your business sells or what industry you are in, providing quality information on your site or blog is vitally important. For example, if you provide insurance-related services, you may want to publish the latest information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical findings, insurance tips, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, requires a huge amount of work and expertise. You have to do a ton of data sorting, researching and organizing, fact-checking, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually make sure that this information is kept 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 beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a simpler way to continually provide your site visitors with great information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS - The simplest way to provide your blog subscribers with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – What Does It Mean?
- RSS is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred to, Really Simple Syndication. It is often referred to as a “feed” or “news feed”.
- RSS allows content publishers to automatically syndicate their content so that their site readers can read it without having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
- Feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog posts, news headlines, audios, etc., to which users can choose to subscribe.
- You can view the content of RSS feeds using software programs called feed readers, or feed aggregators. Feed readers are used to access new content published on websites and distribute this content (and updates made to the content) online.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF (RDF = Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different devices and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine many RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from a number of websites.
In this article, we will explain how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display content from other websites and blogs on your site via RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful method used to share content online. Feeds provide a way for web users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites and blogs.
First, let’s take a look at how syndication is used.
Online newspapers use content syndication to publish stories from content sources around the world.
Syndication allows leading online newspapers to deliver readers the most recent news headlines and stories of interest from around the globe without actually having to hire more news writers in every location in the world …
(Many news reporting agencies and highly-visited online media publications use syndication to publish newsworthy items from news sources around the planet.)
Syndication is a legitimate method of sharing information. Global media publications syndicate their news stories using news feeds …
(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share information with other publications)
Most websites actually want you to syndicate their information. Syndicating content not only allows information to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the original site that published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Many news reporting agencies and major online media publications provide links to a feed section (look for links in the navigation menu that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “star tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Most leading online media publications provide links to an RSS feed section. Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds link brings up a directory of different RSS feeds of the site …
(RSS feeds directory. Image: nytimes.com)
Each of these RSS feed items allows you to access content from different sections of the site (e.g. technology news, arts news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain feed subdirectories …
(RSS Feed section. Image Source: latimes.com)
Note: A feed is simply a URL. To use feeds, all you need to do is copy the URLs and paste these into software that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Content Syndication – Benefits
Adding someone else’s content to your site has some obvious benefits. It gives someone else’s business additional exposure online and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create this content …
(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)
While adding RSS feeds 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 there are benefits in getting other sites to use your content.
When other sites syndicate content using your RSS feed, you have the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive more web traffic …
(Try to get visitors to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress Feed – About
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on your WP theme, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on your sidebar or footer, just scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(You can access your WordPress RSS feed in the Meta section)
2) You can also find built-in links and buttons on certain 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 RSS URLs to your clipboard from “subscribe” buttons)
3) On many sites and again, depending on your WordPress site’s theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Social Share, Link To Us, or Follow Us section …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Follow, Share, or Link To Us slide-out, floating, or fixed toolbar)
4) You can also view your WordPress RSS feed by simply typing your site’s URL into a web browser and adding “/feed” after the URL, e.g.:
- http://www.yourdomain.com/feed
- http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/feed (if your website is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your WordPress RSS feed page …
(RSS items viewed using Firefox)
Note that your feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS feed content displayed using Google Chrome)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many entries you would like to display in your RSS Feed page, go to your Reading Settings section and type in the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Syndication items setting)
Your feed section will show the number of posts as you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section …
(The feed will display the number of items you have specified in your 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 feeds is whether to display each article in a feed as full text, or as a summary …
(WordPress Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed appears …
(Post excerpts can affect how your feed content displays)
If you need help using Post excerpts in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all you need to do to view a feed’s content is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that can read and translate feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, find a website whose content you want to subscribe to and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ button using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for a ‘subscribe’ icon or link. Image source: http://www.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 feedreader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the content. Image Source: Feedreader.com)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into readable content.
How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Site
In the example below, we’ll add RSS content from another website or blog to your site.
How To Add An RSS Feed To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business is in, you could display on your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding their RSS feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, social media updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to the WordPress sidebar …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation menu)
First, Go to a website or blog that publishes content that you want to add to your site and copy its feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Panel – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your web browser. The content will now appear on the sidebar (or wherever the RSS widget has been placed) …
(RSS Feed Content Added To 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 Add RSS Feed Content To Your WordPress Posts
What if you want to add content from RSS feeds to a post instead of a sidebar?
You can do this using plugins. Just search on WordPress.org plugin repository for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ section – WordPress RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us if you need help with plugin configuration.
Here are a few auto blogging tools that allow you to automatically add new with RSS feeds:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico Plugin)
WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all the feeds you import and arrange feeds into categories.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator)
WP RSS Aggregator is an 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 add-on lets you import RSS feeds directly into WP posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin)
The RSS Post Importer plugin lets you curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full-text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress blog.
The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full content of each item in the feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed)
The POWr RSS Feed plugin lets you combine and display content from multiple content using RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom fonts, backgrounds, colors, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in any language.
The premium plugin edition 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:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress)
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 loads of features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides flexible Atom/RSS 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 FeedWordPress to create aggregator sites, or display all of your online activity in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog by WPMUDev Plugin For WordPress)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Just 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 Plugin)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. 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:
Using RSS – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to making RSS feeds of your posts available, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of your post comments.
You can access this by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget of your sidebar (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) …
(WordPress Comments Feed)
Comments posted on your site by visitors display in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries 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 as seen with Google Chrome)
Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …
(Paste the 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 WP installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Single Item Feeds
Being able to select an RSS feed for a single post item can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific posts to RSS aggregator sites, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.
The formula for using an RSS feed for single post items is shown below:
(Individual Post RSS Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post URI, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of the URI of your post, WordPress will return the comments made on your post, not the post content itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category 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 or blog contains content published under different categories, you can easily create a separate RSS feed for each category.
All you have to do is use the format shown below:
(Use this format for WP post categories feed)
Select and copy the category URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your category link address …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(WordPress post categories RSS feed format)
Your category RSS feed will now only include content specific to that 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 – Publish Your Own List Of Feeds
You can provide a feeds list that allows readers to subscribe to content in the categories they are interested in …
(Provide A Directory Of Feeds)
All you need to do is link a button graphic like the one shown below to your category feeds and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button. Source: public-domain-photos.com)
To learn more about creating tables in WordPress, go here:
WordPress RSS – Additional Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in various different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require editing code.
WordPress allows you to configure several feed formats that do not require editing code. Here are some examples of feed formats you can display …
(Different Custom Feeds You Can Create With WordPress RSS)
For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – contains your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Displays the latest comments posted on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed containing a single post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: RSS Feed for the latest comments made on an individual post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/03/12/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – RSS feed displaying latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/11/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Includes latest items for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Includes latest 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 feeds. Make sure you place your subscribe button in a visible location …
(Promote your feeds!)
Also, keep in mind that other sites will only syndicate your content if you provide useful content. In other words, provide high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Easily add great content to your site and get other users to share your content using 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 🙂
RSS – Additional Resources:
- RSS Graphics – Visit online resource sites like Feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss logos”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS graphic elements.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board is an independent organization responsible for publishing the RSS specification, guiding developers who create RSS applications and helping to further the understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about using RSS.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation site. Go here for more information about using WordPress RSS 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 display someone else’s content on your site via their RSS feed.
Hopefully, this post has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you improve your business online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please click on links to visit our related posts section.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)