No matter what product or service your business provides, it’s important to provide quality information on your site or blog. For example, if you provide travel-related services, it’s not a bad idea to provide users with information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, advice from consulates, etc.
The problem with creating this type of information, however, is that it involves an enormous amount of work and expertise. You have to sort through, research, and organize a ton of data, check your facts, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually 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 simpler way to keep your users up-to-date with your 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
RSS – What Is It?
- RSS, which, according to some definitions is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known now as Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “web feed”.
- Once a user subscribes to an RSS feed, they no longer have to manually check the source website for content updates. Instead, their web browser will continually monitor the content and automatically keep subscribers up-to-date.
- RSS feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as blog posts, news headlines, videos, etc., which users can choose to subscribe to.
- RSS feeds can be read using a software called an RSS reader, or feed aggregator. Aggregators can be used to find content on all different kinds of topics and distribute this content (and any updates made to the content) to various online properties.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feedreaders. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF (RDF = Resource Description Framework) 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 allow you to combine many RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates from multiple sources.
This guide explains where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to add content from other sites to your site using RSS.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful (and legitimate) method used to share content online. RSS Feeds provide online users with a simple way to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on different sites.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Global media and online newspapers use syndication to publish stories from news sources around the world.
Syndication allows online newspapers to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news and fresh stories from all over the globe without having to hire and post additional writers everywhere in the world …
(Digital content agencies rely heavily on syndication to publish content from other news agencies around the world.)
Syndication is used to share content legitimately. online media publications syndicate stories using news feeds …
(Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing newsworthy content)
Most sites actually want you to share their content. Syndicating content not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the site that originally published the content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate new web traffic.
Most news reporting agencies and major sites will have an RSS feed section (look for menu links that say “RSS” 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 news reporting agencies and leading online media publications contain an RSS feed section. Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a directory of different RSS feed sections of the site …
(RSS directory. Source: New York Times)
gives you access to content from different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, arts news, editorials, etc.)
An RSS feed directory can also include further subcategory feeds …
(RSS Feed section. Source: LA Times RSS)
Note: A feed is just a URL. To use feeds, all you have to do is copy the URLs and paste these into an application that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Content Syndication – Benefits
Syndicating someone else’s content on your site has some obvious benefits. It helps someone else’s website and helps your site 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 that you don’t have to create, it’s a great idea to try and get other websites to syndicate your content.
When other sites syndicate content using your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive more web traffic …
(Try to get visitors to syndicate your feed … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress RSS Feed – Overview
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your 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 get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on the sidebar, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(WordPress Meta widget)
2) You can also find links and buttons on certain WordPress themes that let your visitors copy your RSS feed.
In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the site’s RSS feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy RSS links to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)
3) On many websites and again, depending on which theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Social Share, Stay In Touch, or Link To Us floating, slide-out, or fixed toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Keep In Touch, Social Share, or Links toolbar section)
4) You can also view your RSS feed by 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 is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your WordPress RSS feed page …
(Feed entries viewed on a Firefox browser)
Note that your feed content will display differently depending on the browser you are using …
(RSS feed entries displayed on Google Chrome web browser)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
To specify how many entries you would like to display in your Feeds page, go to your Reading Settings section and enter the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(WP Settings – Reading Settings – Syndication feed items field)
Your feed page will show as many recent posts as you have specified in the Reading Settings section …
(The feed page will show the number of items you have specified in your WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other setting in your Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display articles as full text, or a summary …
(WordPress 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 feeds will appear)
We have created a detailed tutorial about WordPress Post excerpts here:
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 reads and translates 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 a ‘subscribe’ button using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for a ’subscribe to feed’ icon or link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL)
If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste your feed URL into a feedreader to view the content. Image: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into human-readable content.
How To Add A Feed To WordPress
Let’s show you how to add content from other websites to yours.
How To Add An RSS 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 news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply importing content from their 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 from an RSS feed to your sidebar …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar)
copy the RSS feed URL from a website containing content that you want to add to your sidebar to your clipboard …
(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:
Refresh your web browser. The content should now appear in 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:
Adding RSS Feed Content To WordPress Posts
What if you want to add content from an RSS feed to a post instead of your sidebar?
You can easily do this using WordPress plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin directory for RSS Aggregator, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ search results – RSS plugins for WordPress)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us for assistance configuring plugins.
The plugins listed 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 WordPress Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize them according to categories and campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin that offers premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Post Importer plugin lets you syndicate, import, curate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress site.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full content of each feed item as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)
POWr RSS Feed allows you to combine content from multiple RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom colors, borders, fonts, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any tablet, phone, or computer and supports text in any language.
The premium edition of this plugin contains many 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 Plugin)
The WP Pipes plugin 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 loads of functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook, export posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to a new level.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress WP Plugin)
FeedWordPress provides flexible syndication for WordPress-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 site (sites that display content from various different sources), or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Twitter, Flickr, or other online services, into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog Plugin)
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 the URL of your feed, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types)
Use a plugin like RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).
For more details, go here:
Using WordPress RSS Feeds – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of comments posted on your site in addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available to online users.
To see your comments feed, go to the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar (note: this section may not be visible on some themes) and click on Comments RSS …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users will appear in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed items as seen with Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you are using …
(Comments feed items viewed using a Google Chrome browser)
Again, you can check what the feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste your URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Image: 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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Creating Single Item RSS Feeds
Being able to display an RSS feed for an individual post 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 accessing an RSS feed for a specific post item is shown below:
(Specific Post Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the URL 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 a post URL, WordPress will return the comments left on your post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Post Category Feeds
Some your site users may only want to subscribe to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
WordPress allows you to create separate category feeds.
Just use the format below:
(Feed format for post categories)
Copy the category URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the selected category link address …)
Add the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Format for WordPress post categories RSS feed)
Your category feed will now only contain content published in this particular 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 – Create A Page Of Feeds For Your Visitors
You can publish your own feeds page that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories …
(Set Up A Page Of RSS Feeds)
Link an image like the one shown below to each category feed URL and then create a table or a list of all your individual feeds on a separate page …
(RSS image. Image: public-domain-photos.com)
We have written a detailed tutorial about adding tables to WordPress pages and posts here:
RSS Feeds – Additional Notes
Feeds can be customized in a number of 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 types that do not require editing code. For example, here are some of the kinds of feeds you can use …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)
Below are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples shown in the image above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that displays your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Includes the latest comments left on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: RSS feed for single post entries
- 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 post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/06/22/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains latest items in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/07/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Displays the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Contains latest post entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Contains the latest entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One more thing …
Remember to let your site visitors know that they can subscribe to your RSS feed. Make sure you place a subscribe button image in a visible location …
(Remember to make your feeds visible your feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only subscribe to your content if you publish great information that educates, engages, and entertains. In other words, you must provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add great content from other sites and get other sites to syndicate 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 RSS feed 🙂
Additional RSS Resources:
- RSS Graphics – Visit feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS icon”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to gain a better understanding of RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – General information about using RSS feeds.
- WordPress.org – Official WordPress documentation and reference. Visit this site for additional information about RSS feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add content from other sites to your site via their RSS feed.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please click on links to visit our related posts section.
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