No matter what service or product you sell, providing high-value information to your site readers is important. For example, if your business provides travel services, it’s not a bad idea to publish the latest information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, advice from consulates, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, is very time-consuming. You have to sort through, research, and organize a ton of data, check your sources for accuracy, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then make sure that this information is continually 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 well beyond your control.
Fortunately, 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 up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Does RSS Stand For?
- RSS is an acronym for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly referred, Really Simple Syndication. It can also be referred to as a “feed” or “web feed”.
- When a user subscribes to an RSS feed, they no longer have to physically visit and check the source website for updated content. Instead, their browser will continually monitor the site and keep feed subscribers updated.
- RSS feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog posts, news, music playlists, etc., to which any user can choose to subscribe.
- RSS feed content can be read using software programs called feedreaders, or aggregators. Aggregators are used to find new content published on websites and syndicate this content to many online properties.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different feed 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 tools also let you combine several RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates sourced from various sites.
In this comprehensive article, we will show you 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 method used for sharing web content. Feeds provide a simple and easy way for web users to stay up-to-date with the latest information published on websites they are interested in.
First, let’s look at the uses of syndication.
Global media publications rely heavily on content syndication to publish news and stories from news agencies all around the world.
Content syndication allows digital news publishers to deliver readers stories from all around the planet without having to send more staff to every location in the world …
(Global media publications rely heavily on syndication to publish news and stories from news sources all around the planet.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately. online media publications syndicate information using feeds …
(Content syndication is a legitimate way of sharing newsworthy content)
Most sites actually would like you to share their content. Syndicating content not only allows information to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site that published the content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.
Most leading online media publications include 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”, “courier mail rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Leading online newspapers have an RSS feed section. Image Source: SMH )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section brings up a list of different RSS feeds of the site …
(RSS feeds list. Image: nytimes.com)
These feeds give readers access to different sections of the website (e.g. business news, travel news, jobs, etc.)
An RSS list can also contain feed subcategories …
(Feed sections can also contain feed subdirectories. Image: 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 translate the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Syndicating Content – Benefits
Adding content from someone else’s website or blog on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s content and helps your site by freeing you up from having to create the content …
(Content Syndication - Benefits)
While adding 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 websites and blogs syndicate your feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain increased exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Get visitors to syndicate your feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress RSS Feed – Overview
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a few ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display as part of your navigation menu, just scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(You can access your WordPress RSS feed from the Entries RSS menu)
2) You can also find built-in links and buttons on certain themes that allow your visitors to copy your feed.
For example, in the screenshot below, a visitor can copy the 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 the WP theme you have installed, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Keep In Touch, Links, or Social Share toolbar …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Link To Us, Share, or Follow section)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s feed by 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 WP installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up your site’s feed page …
(Feed items as seen with Firefox)
Note that your feed page will display differently depending on the web browser you use …
(Feed items viewed using Google Chrome)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
You can specify how many items you want to display in your RSS section, by going to your Reading Settings section and entering the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Settings – Reading Settings – Syndication items setting)
Your feed will display as many recent posts as you have specified section …
(The feed will show 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 the WP Reading Settings section that affects your feeds is whether to display articles as full text, or just a summary …
(WP Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …
(Post excerpts affect how your feed content will display)
If you need help using WordPress Post excerpts, go here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned earlier, all that’s required to view a feed’s content is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s show you how this works.
First, find a website whose feed you want to syndicate and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link …
(Search for an RSS feed icon. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the feed URL)
If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into a feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed content. Image: Feedreader)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process XML/RSS feeds and convert these into readable content for humans.
How To Add RSS Feeds To Your WP Site
In the example below, we are going to add content from another site to your WordPress site.
How To Add Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry your business operates in, you can easily add to your site the latest content from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding content from their feed. You can use feeds to 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 your sidebar …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, Go to a website or blog that publishes content that you want to add to your site and copy the RSS feed 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 a new RSS widget …
(Widgets Screen – RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Refresh your browser. The content from the RSS feed will now show in the sidebar (or wherever the RSS widget has been placed – e.g. footer) …
(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 Feed Content To Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to posts? It sure can!
You can do this using plugins. Search on WordPress.org plugin directory for RSS Post, RSS feed to post, etc.
(‘Add Plugins’ screen – RSS plugins)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us if you need help configuring plugins.
Here are a number of WordPress plugins that allow you to curate and add content from RSS feeds to your pages:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use autoblogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you choose.
You can manage all the feeds you import and organize feeds according to categories and campaigns.
For more details, go here:
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 add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to import RSS feeds directly into your WordPress posts or any other custom post type.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to curate, syndicate, import, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of every item in the feed as a separate post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed WP Plugin)
With POWr RSS, you can combine and display content from various RSS feeds.
The plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed priority, use custom fonts, borders, colors, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.
The premium plugin edition contains a number of additional features.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes)
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 powerful functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter, export posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to new levels.
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress)
FeedWordPress is a flexible syndication plugin for WordPress site-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.
You can use this plugin to create aggregator site (sites that combine and display content from different sources), or bring together all of your online activity in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in your feed URL, name your feed (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 WP Plugin)
By default, WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed. Use RSS Includes Pages if you want to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Using RSS – Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to making RSS feeds of your latest posts available, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of comments posted on your site.
You can view this by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget …
(WordPress Comments Feed)
Comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed entries seen with Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on the browser you use …
(RSS comments feed entries seen using Google Chrome)
Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into a feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feedreader to view the feed 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 or blog has been installed in a subfolder, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Displaying RSS Feeds For Individual Items
Being able to access 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 using an RSS feed for a specific post item is shown below:
(Specific Post Feed)
To create the above feed, copy the post address, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post RSS Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of your post URL, WordPress will return the comments associated with that post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site users may only want to subscribe to content from specific categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
If your website displays content published under many categories, WordPress allows you to easily create a separate feed for each different category.
All you have to do is use the format below:
(Feed format for post categories)
Select and copy the category URL …
(Copy your category link address …)
And append “feed” to the end of it …
(WP category RSS feed format)
The feed now only includes content posted in this particular category …
(Category 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 A Page Of Feeds
You can publish an RSS feeds directory that allows your readers to subscribe to content in specific categories, just like large websites …
(Provide An RSS Feeds Directory)
All you need to do is link an icon like the one shown below to each category feed URL and then create a table or a list of all your feeds on a separate page …
(RSS icon. Source: public-domain-photos.com)
To learn more about adding tables to WordPress pages and posts, go here:
RSS – Additional Notes
You can customize your feeds in various different ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows various RSS feed configurations without touching code. Here are some examples of feeds you can use …
(Different Feed Types You Can Create Using 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 – RSS feed that includes the latest comments left on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that contains single items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Displays the latest comments made on individual items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Displays latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/09/19/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – RSS feed that displays latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2017/07/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Displays latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: RSS feed displaying latest entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Feed containing latest post entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to let your visitors know that they can subscribe to your RSS feeds. Place a ’subscribe to RSS’ buttons somewhere visible …
(Encourage your site users to syndicate your RSS feeds!)
Finally, keep in mind that online users will only subscribe to your content if you provide your subscribers with high-quality information that can add value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Add content from other sites and get visitors to subscribe to your content using RSS feeds!)
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 – Resources:
- RSS Feed Images – Visit feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “RSS buttons”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download RSS graphics.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and links to resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about the history and benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress.org/WordPress Feeds – WordPress software documentation repository. Visit this site for more information about feeds in WordPress.
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 someone else’s content to your site using RSS.
Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you grow your business online. To learn more about using WordPress please click on links to visit other great content we have published on this site.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)