No matter what product or service you provide or what industry your business is in, providing high-quality information to your blog visitors is vitally important. For example, if your business provides travel services, it’s not a bad idea to include the latest information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, tips from consulates, etc.

To create and publish this kind of information, however, is very time-consuming. You have to do a ton of data gathering, researching and organizing, checking your sources for accuracy, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure 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 well beyond your control.

Fortunately, there is a simpler way to continually provide your site visitors with expert, up-to-date information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS is one of the simplest ways to provide your users with great information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

What You Need To Know About RSS

• 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 readers time from having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
• RSS feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog entries, news headlines, audio playlists, etc., to which any user can then subscribe.
• RSS feed content can be viewed using software-based programs called RSS readers, or feed aggregators. Feedreaders can be used to find new content published on websites and distribute this content (and any updates made to this content) to other online properties.
• Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom 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, feed readers, and programs.
• Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine multiple RSS feeds to receive news and updates from multiple sources.

This in-depth guide shows you where your RSS feed is located, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to display someone else’s content on your site using RSS feeds.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a very powerful and legitimate way to share content online. Feeds provide a way for online users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on different websites.

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

Global media and news reporting agencies rely on syndication to publish content from other news agencies around the world.

Syndication allows content publishing agencies to deliver readers the latest news items and interesting content from around the planet without having to hire and post additional news reporting departments everywhere around the world …

(Global media publications rely on content syndication to publish stories from other news agencies around the globe.)

Syndication is used to share information legitimately. Global media publications syndicate news stories using feeds …

(Content syndication is used by global media publications to share newsworthy content with other publications)

Most websites actually want you to share their information. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it can also send visitors back to the original site responsible for creating and publishing the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.

Major content sites will contain a 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”, “daily telegraph rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Major content sites have an RSS feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a list of RSS feeds for different content areas of the site …

(RSS Feeds. Image: nytimes.com RSS feeds)

These RSS feed items give you access to content from different areas of the site (e.g. business news, travel news, jobs, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain subcategories …

(A feed directory can also include subcategories. Source: Los Angeles Times RSS)

Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. To use an RSS feed, all that’s required is to copy the URL and paste it into an application that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

The Benefits Of Content Syndication

Syndicating someone else’s content 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 that content …

(Content Syndication 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 there are benefits in getting other websites to syndicate your content.

When other websites syndicate your feed, you have the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive more visitors …

(Get other online users to syndicate your content … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)

WordPress RSS Feed

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

Depending on the WP theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to access your RSS feed:

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display in a navigation menu, 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 or buttons on certain themes that let your visitors copy your RSS feed.

In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can copy the feed URL by right-clicking and copying on the Subscribe to RSS link …

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

3) On some sites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Links, Share, or Follow toolbar section …

(Look for an RSS button in a a Links, Share, or Follow section)

4) You can also view your 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 is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

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

(Feed items displayed on Firefox)

Note that your feed page will display differently depending on the web browser you use …

(RSS feed entries viewed using a Google Chrome web browser)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

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

(WordPress Reading Settings – Syndication feed items setting)

The feed page will display as many recent posts as you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section …

(The feed will display as many recent items you have specified in the 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 each article in a feed as full text, or a summary …

(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 content in feeds will appear)

If you need help WordPress Post excerpts, see this tutorial:

• A Basic Guide To Using WordPress Post Excerpts

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, to view a feed’s content, 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 see how this works.

First, go to a website or blog and search for a ’subscribe to feed’ button using any of the methods described earlier …

(Search for an RSS feed section. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy your feed URL to the clipboard)

If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into a feedreader …

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

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

How To Add RSS Feeds To WordPress Sites

Let’s show you how to add content from another website or blog’s RSS feeds to yours.

Adding An RSS Feed To Your Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you could 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 use feeds to display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, Facebook updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.

Let’s add content from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar navigation area …

(Add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar)

copy the RSS feed URL from a site containing content that you would like to add to your site to your clipboard …

(Copy the feed URL to your clipboard)

Next, paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(RSS Widget)

To learn more about using widgets, go here:

• How To Use Widgets

Load your site in your browser. The content from the RSS feed should now appear on the sidebar …

(RSS Feed Content Added To Sidebar)

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 An RSS Feed To Your WordPress Posts

Can you add content from RSS feeds to a post? You sure can!

You can easily do this using plugins. Search inside the Plugins admin section for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.

(‘Add Plugins’ search results – RSS plugins)

Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for help configuring plugins.

Here are a few plugins you can check out that allow you to add RSS feeds to your posts:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico WordPress Plugin)

WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you choose.

You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds into campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico WP Plugin

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress)

WP RSS Aggregator is an RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin that offers extended functionality with premium add-ons.

For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer Plugin)

RSS Post Importer lets you curate, import, syndicate, merge and display full text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress blog.

The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the full content of each feed item as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer WordPress Plugin

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed Plugin)

POWr RSS combines and displays content from a number of different RSS feeds.

The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom fonts, colors, backgrounds, and more. It also displays feeds correctly on any tablet, computer, or phone and supports text in any language.

The premium version 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:

• Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes – WordPress Plugin)

The WP Pipes plugin is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to create curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and other sources.

This plugin provides loads of 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:

• WP Pipes Plugin For WordPress

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress is a simple and flexible Atom/RSS syndication plugin for WordPress.

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 site (sites that combine and display posts from different sources), or display all your online activity into a Lifestream.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress

Autoblog

(Autoblog by WPMUDev WordPress Plugin)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, with no coding required and no complicated instructions. Simply 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:

• Autoblog Plugin For WordPress

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types WP Plugin)

Install RSS Includes Pages if you would like to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages Plugin For WordPress

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

WordPress displays RSS feeds of your post comments in addition to displaying feeds of your posts.

You can see your comments feed by clicking on Comments RSS in your ‘Meta’ widget area …

(Comments Feed)

Comments posted on your site by visitors and users display in your Comments RSS page …

(Comments feed items viewed with a Firefox web browser)

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

(Comments feed items as seen on Google Chrome)

Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …

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

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

Tip #2 – Single Post Item RSS Feeds

Being able to create an RSS feed for an individual post item 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 using an RSS feed for an individual post item is shown below:

(Feed For Single Post Item)

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 append “/feed” to the end of the post URI, WordPress will return the comments made on your post, not the content of the post itself.

Tip #3 – Using Category RSS Feeds

Some your site users may only want to syndicate content from a specific category. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.

With WordPress, you can easily create separate category feeds.

Just use the format below:

(WP RSS feed format for category)

Copy the category URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the selected category link address …)

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

(WP RSS feed format for category)

Your category RSS feed now only includes 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 – Publish A Page Of Feeds

You can set up your own RSS feeds page that allows your readers to subscribe to content in the categories they are interested in, just like the larger online publishers do …

(Set Up Your Own List Of Feeds On Your Site)

All you need to do is link an icon like the one shown below to each feed and then create a table or a list of all feeds on a new page …

(RSS graphic. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)

If you need help with adding tables to WordPress pages and posts, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Create And Insert Tables Into WordPress Pages And Posts Easily

RSS – Notes

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

WordPress allows different feed configurations without touching code. Here are some examples of feeds you can display …

(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)

Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the diagram above:

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

• Feed Type: All Comments
• Description: Comments feed – RSS feed displaying the latest comments posted on your website or blog
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/

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

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Feed that includes the latest comments made on a specific post entry
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Feed displaying the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2015/02/20/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Displays latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/04/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Contains the latest posts in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2011/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Displays 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 last thing …

Remember to promote your feed. Make sure you place your ’subscribe to RSS’ links somewhere visible …

(Promote your RSS feeds!)

Also, keep in mind that other website owners will only subscribe to your content if you publish useful information that informs, engages, and entertains. In other words, you need to provide high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their users.

(Easily add great content to your site and get others to syndicate your content online with 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 feed 🙂

RSS Resources:

• Feed Icons – Visit an online resource site like www.iconspedia.com/search/rss or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logo”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS graphic elements.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here if you want to gain a better understanding of RSS.
• Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the history and benefits of using RSS feeds.
• WordPress.org/RSS Feeds – WordPress software documentation and information. Go here to learn more about using WordPress RSS.

Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, 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.

Hopefully, this post has given you 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 using the WP content management software please see other great content on this site.

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