No matter what your business sells or what industry you are a part of, you need to provide high-quality information to your site or blog readers. For example, if you provide travel services, it’s a good idea to provide users with useful information from government departments and foreign travel offices, such as news or updates on travel warnings, advice from consular offices, etc.

The problem with providing this kind of information, however, is that it is very time-consuming. You have to do a ton of information gathering, researching and organizing, checking your sources for accuracy, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then ensure that this information is continually kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this not only involves a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is completely beyond your control.

Fortunately, there is a simpler way to keep your site visitors up-to-date with great information.

It’s called RSS …

(RSS - One of the easiest ways to provide your users with up-to-date information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

RSS – What Is It?

• RSS, which, according to some definitions is short for Rich Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It it is also called a “feed” or “news feed”.
• Once a user subscribes to an RSS feed, they no longer have to physically check the source website for updated content. Instead, their browser will continually monitor the site and automatically keep subscribers updated.
• RSS feeds are typically used to publish information that is frequently updated, such as new blog entries, news, audios, etc., to which other users can then subscribe.
• RSS feeds can be read using software programs called RSS feed readers, or feed aggregators. Feedreaders can be used to access content on all different kinds of topics and syndicate this content (and any updates made to the content) online.
• Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feed aggregators. 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 devices, feed readers, and programs.
• Many sites and software tools also let you combine different RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from multiple sites.

In this detailed article, we show you where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site using their RSS feed.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a very powerful method used to share content online. Feeds provide a simple way for online users to stay up-to-date with the latest information posted on websites and blogs they are interested in.

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

Digital news publishers rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy content from news agencies around the world.

Syndication allows most online newspapers and popular online media publications to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news headlines and fresh content from all over the globe without having to post more reporters and writers all around the world …

(News reporting agencies rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy content from other news agencies around the world.)

Syndication is used to share information legitimately. News reporting agencies syndicate their information using news feeds …

(Content syndication is a legitimate method of sharing newsworthy content)

Most sites actually want you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows information of great value to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This can be an effective way to generate web traffic.

Many content publishing agencies will contain an RSS feed section (look for links that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “courier rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

(Major sites have a feed section. Image: Sydney Morning Herald )

Clicking on a site’s RSS links section will bring up a list of RSS feeds for different content sections of the site …

(RSS directory. Source: New York Times RSS)

gives readers access to information from different areas of the website (e.g. technology news, sports news, lifestyle magazine, etc.)

Feed sections can also contain further subcategories …

(RSS Feed section. Image Source: latimes.com feeds)

Note: A feed is simply a URL. All that’s required to use an RSS feed is to copy the URL and paste it into a program that can translate the feed 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 not only gives additional exposure online to someone else’s site, it also helps your site by freeing you up from having to create that content …

(Content Syndication Benefits Someone Else’s Business And Yours!)

While adding an RSS 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 sites to use your content.

When other sites syndicate your RSS feed, you have the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new web traffic …

(Look for ways to get other website owners to syndicate content using your feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)

WordPress Feed – About

By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your latest posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their websites and blogs.

Depending on which theme you have installed, there are a number of ways to get your RSS feed:

1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget as part of your navigation menu …

(Your feed page will display the number of posts as you have specified in the Reading Settings section)

Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed

Another setting in your WP Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display articles in your feed as full text, or as a summary …

(Reading Settings – Display ‘Full Text’ or ‘Summary’ for each article in your RSS feed)

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

(Post excerpts affect how content in feeds display)

We have written a detailed tutorial about WordPress Post excerpts here:

• Post Excerpts An Overview

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned previously, all that’s required to view a feed’s content is 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 show you how this works.

First, find a website or blog and look for their RSS feed link using any of the methods described earlier …

(Search for an RSS feed icon. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

(Copy the URL of your feed)

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

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

Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS feeds.

Adding An RSS Feed To WordPress Sites

Let’s show you how to add content from another website or blog to your site.

Adding Feeds To Your Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you can display on your site the latest news and updates 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 content sourced from an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar …

(Add an RSS feed to your sidebar)

First, Find a website containing content that you want to add to your sidebar and copy its RSS feed to your clipboard …

(Copy your feed URL)

Next, go to Appearance > Widgets and paste the feed into an RSS widget …

(RSS Widget)

To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:

• How To Add WordPress Widgets To Your Sidebar Section

Load your website in your web browser. The content will now display on the sidebar (or wherever you have inserted the RSS widget) …

(RSS Feed Content Added To WP 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 Set Up Webmaster Accounts

Adding RSS Feed Content To WordPress Posts

Can content from an RSS feed be added to posts instead of a sidebar? Yes, it can!

You can do this using WordPress plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin repository for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.

(WordPress RSS plugins)

Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for configuration instructions, or contact us if you need assistance configuring plugins.

Here are a number of WordPress plugins that you can use to curate and add content from RSS feeds to your pages:

WPeMatico

(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)

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

You can manage all of your imported feeds and arrange them according to categories and campaigns.

For more details, go here:

• WPeMatico Plugin For WordPress

WP RSS Aggregator

(WP RSS Aggregator WordPress Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive 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 lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your posts.

For more details, go here:

• WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress

RSS Post Importer

(RSS Post Importer WP Plugin)

RSS Post Importer lets you syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full text RSS feeds on your WordPress site.

The plugin fetches an RSS feed and publishes the full article content of every item in your feed as a separate post.

For more details, go here:

• RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress

Powr RSS Feed

(Powr RSS Feed)

With POWr RSS Feed, you can combine and display content from various sources using RSS feeds.

This plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom borders, fonts, colors, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.

The premium plugin version contains many additional features.

For more details, go here:

• Powr RSS Feed

WP Pipes

(WP Pipes WP Plugin)

The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you 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, auto blogging, auto post to Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, export your posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and help take your WordPress CMS to a new level.

For more details, go here:

• WP Pipes WP Plugin

FeedWordPress

(FeedWordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress provides simple and 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.

FeedWordPress can be used to create aggregator sites, or bring together all your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, YouTube, or other online services, in one place.

For more details, go here:

• FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress

Autoblog

(Autoblog)

Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in your feed URL, give the feed a name of your choosing (for admin purposes) and select a blog that you want it to post to.

For more details, go here:

• Autoblog by WPMUDev WordPress Plugin

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages Plugin)

Install RSS Includes Pages if you would like to include pages in your RSS feed and not just posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).

For more details, go here:

• RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types – WordPress Plugin

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – WP Comment RSS Feeds

WordPress displays RSS feeds of your post comments in addition to giving online users access to feeds of your latest posts.

To view these comments, go to the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …

(Comments Feed)

Comments posted on your site by visitors will appear in the Comments RSS page …

(Comments feed items viewed using a Firefox web browser)

Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which web browser you use …

(RSS comments feed entries as seen using a Google Chrome web browser)

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

(Paste the comments feed URL into a feed reader to view the content. Image: 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 subfolder, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Displaying Single Item RSS Feeds

Being able to access an RSS feed for a specific post 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 accessing an RSS feed for single posts is shown below:

(Feed For Single Post)

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 the post URI, WordPress will return the comments made on your post, not actual post content itself.

Tip #3 – Category Feeds

Some your site visitors may only be interested in subscribing to content from a particular post category. They may not want to subscribe to all of your site’s content.

With WordPress, you can create separate category feeds.

All you have to do is use the format shown below:

(RSS feed format for category)

Select and copy the category URL …

(Select and copy your category link address …)

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

(WordPress post categories RSS feed format)

The category feed will now only contain content posted for this particular 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 – Create An RSS Feeds Page

You can create your own page of RSS feeds that allows your readers to subscribe only to content in specific categories, just like large online publishers …

(Publish Your Own List Of RSS Feeds For Subscribers)

Link a button to category (or specific post) feed URLs and then create a table or a list of your feeds on a new page …

(RSS button image. Source: public-domain-photos.com)

We have written a detailed tutorial about adding tables to WordPress pages and posts here:

• Adding Tables To WordPress Content

WordPress RSS – Additional Notes

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

WordPress allows various RSS feed configurations that do not require touching code. Here are some examples of feeds you can display …

(WordPress RSS – Feed Formats)

Here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the image above:

• Feed Type: All Posts
• Description: Content feed – Feed that contains your latest 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: RSS feed for individual posts
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
• Description: Displays the latest comments made on an individual post
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/post-title/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Day – Displays latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2010/05/08/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Month – Feed that displays the latest post entries in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/07/feed/

• Feed Type: Archives
• Description: Year – Contains latest items in each archive
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/feed/

• Feed Type: Search Results
• Description: Includes the latest items for a search query
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/

• Feed Type: Custom Post Type
• Description: Includes the latest entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
• Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book

One last thing …

Remember to let users know that they can subscribe to your RSS feeds. Make sure you place your ’subscribe to RSS’ links somewhere visible …

(Remember to make your feeds visible your feeds!)

Finally, keep in mind that other website owners will only want to syndicate your content if your information is useful, educational, or highly engaging. In other words, provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their users.

(Add content to your site and get other users to share 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 feed 🙂

Resources:

• Download RSS Buttons – Visit an online resource site like Iconspedia.com or search online (e.g. “free RSS icons”, “rss logo download”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS graphic elements.
• RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and resources about RSS.
• Wikipedia.org/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS.
• WordPress.org – WordPress software documentation and information site. 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 display someone else’s content on your site using their RSS feed.

Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of issues that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you expand your business online. To learn more about using WordPress please click on links to visit our related posts section.

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