No matter what service or product your business provides, it’s vitally important to provide quality information to your site visitors. For example, if your business provides accounting services, you may want to publish useful information from the taxation office, such as news or updates on tax rulings, small business tax deductions, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, requires a lot of time and expertise. You have to sift through, gather, and organize a ton of data, check your facts, 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 is not only a huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is well beyond your control.
Thankfully, there is a much simpler way to keep your site readers up-to-date with the latest information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the easiest way to provide your site visitors with great information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – Basic Information
- RSS is short for Rich Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “newsfeed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save readers time from having to keep revisiting their site to check for updates.
- Feeds are also used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog entries, news, audios, etc., to which other users can then subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes either full or summarized text along with other metadata like published date, feed author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and blogs that publish feeds and then view any updates posted on these websites through a feedreader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to syndicate their web content automatically.
- Feeds can be made available in different formats and read by different feed aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom Publishing Protocol) feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different machines and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine several RSS feeds to display news and updates from different sources.
In this comprehensive guide, we explain where your RSS feed is located, how to use your WordPress RSS feed to get your content syndicated online, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful way to share content online. Feeds provide a simple and easy way for online users to receive the latest information published on sites and blogs they are interested in.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Most news reporting agencies rely heavily on syndication to publish stories from news sources all around the world.
Syndication allows news reporting agencies to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news headlines and content of interest from all around the globe without actually having to employ and post additional news reporting and content writing staff to every location around the world …
(Many online newspapers rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources all around the planet.)
Syndication is a legitimate way of sharing information with other sites. online media publications syndicate their stories using feeds …
(Online newspapers syndicate information using news feeds)
Most websites actually want you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also sends visitors back to the original site that created and published the content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.
Many online newspapers and major content sites contain 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”, “express tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Many news reporting agencies and major content sites include an RSS feed section. Source: SMH RSS )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different content topics on the site …
(A directory of different feeds. Source: nytimes.com RSS feeds)
These feeds give you access to information about different areas of the site (e.g. technology news, entertainment news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)
An RSS feed list can also contain subcategory feeds …
(Feed sections can also contain subcategories. Image: LA Times RSS)
Note: An RSS feed is only 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 into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Content Syndication
Adding content from someone else’s website on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives additional exposure online to someone else’s business and adds value to your site without you having to create that content …
(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)
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 you also want other sites to syndicate YOUR content.
When other websites syndicate content using your feed, you have the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Look for ways to get users to syndicate your content … it will help increase your exposure online!)
WordPress Feed
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of all your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on the theme you have installed, there are a few ways to access your RSS feed:
1) If your theme displays the Meta widget in a navigation menu …
(Your feed will display as many recent posts as you have specified in your 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 in the feed as full text, or just a summary …
(Settings – Reading Settings – Show ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for each article in a RSS feed)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …
(Post excerpts can affect how a feed appears)
To learn more about Post excerpts, go here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, to view a feed’s content, you have to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into a feedreader, i.e. an application that translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, go to a website or blog and look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link …
(Look for an RSS feed icon. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL to your clipboard)
If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of your feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feedreader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feed readers, WordPress also has the ability to process RSS feeds.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Site
In the example below, we’ll add content from another website or blog to yours.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are in, you can easily display on your site the latest news from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply adding their feed. You can use RSS 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 RSS content to the WordPress sidebar …
(Let’s add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
First, find a website that publishes content that you want to display on your site and copy the feed URL …
(Copy the feed URL)
Next, log into your wordPress Dashboard and go to Appearance > Widget paste the feed into a new RSS widget …
(RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Refresh your web browser. The content from the RSS feed should 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:
How To Add RSS Feed Content To WordPress Posts
Can content from RSS feeds be added to WordPress posts? Yes, it can!
You can do this using plugins. Search on WordPress.org plugin directory for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.
(WordPress RSS plugins)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for complete instructions, or contact us for assistance configuring plugins.
The plugins listed below are useful for adding feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An auto blog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds that you specify.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds into campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator WordPress Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and auto blogging plugin for WordPress with additional functionality with premium add-ons.
For example, the Feed to Post extension allows you to autoblog by importing RSS feeds directly into WordPress posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer – WordPress Plugin)
RSS Post Importer can be used to syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full-text feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) on your WordPress website or blog.
The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of each item in the feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed)
With POWr RSS, you can automatically combine and display content from various RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS plugin also lets you display images, videos, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom borders, fonts, colors, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.
The premium version of POWr contains many additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts, 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 other sources.
This plugin provides loads of powerful features 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)
FeedWordPress is a versatile 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 sites, or display all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Twitter, YouTube, or other online services, into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog Plugin For WordPress)
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 a blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages
(RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types)
By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Use the RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types plugin to include pages in your RSS feed in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
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 see your comments feed by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ widget area of your sidebar …
(WordPress Comments Feed)
Comments posted on your site by visitors can be seen in the Comments RSS page …
(RSS comments feed items seen with a Firefox web browser)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on the browser you are using …
(Comments feed entries viewed using a Google Chrome browser)
Again, you can check the feed content 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. Image 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 WordPress installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using Feeds For Specific Post Items
Being able to display an RSS feed for single posts can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific items 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 individual post items is shown below:
(Single 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 address, 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 syndicate content about specific topics. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.
If your site displays content published under different categories, WordPress allows you to easily create a separate feed for each post category.
Just use the format shown below:
(Format for WordPress post categories RSS feed)
Copy the category URL …
(Copy the selected category link address to your clipboard …)
Append the word “feed” to the end of it …
(Feed format for post categories)
Your RSS feed now only includes content published under this particular 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 – Provide Your Own Page Of RSS Feeds For Your Site Visitors
You can publish a directory of RSS feeds that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories …
(Set Up Your Own RSS Feeds Page)
Link an icon like the one shown below to each feed and then create a table or a list of your individual feeds on a separate page …
(RSS graphic. Source: public-domain-photos.com)
If you need help with creating tables in WordPress posts and pages, go here:
WordPress RSS – Notes
You can customize feeds in a number of ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure various feed formats without touching code. For example, here are some of the kinds of feed types you can use …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Formats)
Below are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed 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 – Displays the latest comments published on your website or blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that displays a post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Displays the latest comments made on a specific post
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Includes the latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/08/27/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Displays latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/05/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Includes the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays latest post entries 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 …
It’s a good idea to let visitors know that they can subscribe to your RSS feed. Place a subscribe button image somewhere visible …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Also, keep in mind that online users will only want to subscribe to your content if the information that you provide on your site is useful, informative, or highly engaging. In other words, provide high-quality information that will add great value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Add someone else’s content and get others to subscribe to your content online with RSS feeds!)
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 Resources:
- Download RSS Feed Images – Visit an online resource site like Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss icon”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS icons.
- 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.org/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – WordPress software documentation site. Visit this site for additional information 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 add content from other websites and blogs to your site via RSS feeds.
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 the benefits of using the WP content publishing platform please click on links to visit other great content we have published on this site.
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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)