Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

Learn about the benefits of using RSS and how to access, format and use WordPress RSS feeds to import and syndicate your content …

WordPress User's Guide To RSSNo matter what service or product your business provides, providing high-quality information on your site or blog is important. For example, if you provide medical services, it’s not a bad idea to publish information from the health department, such as news and updates on medical research, health and fitness advice, etc.

The problem with providing this type of information, however, is that it involves a huge amount of effort and resources. You have to do a ton of data sorting, researching and organizing, fact-checking, 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 lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is well beyond your control.

Thankfully, there is a much easier way to keep your site readers up-to-date with your information.

It’s called RSS

RSS - The simplest way to provide your users with the latest information

(RSS - The easiest way to provide your users with up-to-date information)

The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS

What Does RSS Mean?

  • RSS is an acronym for RDF Site Summary, or, as is more commonly known, Really Simple Syndication. It is often called a “feed” or “web feed”.
  • RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content to save users time from having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
  • Feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as blog post items, news headlines, videos, etc., which users can then subscribe to.
  • You can view the content of RSS feeds using a web-based, desktop-based, and even mobile-based software program called a feedreader, or aggregator. Aggregators can be used to access content on all kinds of topics and syndicate this content online.
  • Feeds can be made available in different types and read by different feed 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 devices and programs.
  • Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine different RSS feeds to display news and updates sourced from many sites.

In this guide, we explain how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add someone else’s content to your site using RSS.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds

Content syndication is a powerful and legitimate way of sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide a simple way for web users to receive the latest information published on sites and blogs they are interested in.

First, let’s look at syndication.

Media publications rely on content syndication to publish news from other news agencies all around the world.

Content syndication allows many digital content publishing agencies and many leading online publications to deliver readers stories and news items from around the planet without actually having to send additional staff and reporters all around the world …

Most news agencies and highly-visited online media publications use syndication to publish news and stories from other news agencies all around the globe.

(Many digital content publishing agencies rely heavily on content syndication to publish newsworthy stories from news sources around the globe.)

Syndication is used to share information legitimately. Content publishers syndicate their stories using feeds

Digital publishers syndicate their news stories using news feeds

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

Most websites actually want you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows great information to be shared, but it can also drive visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.

Many online newspapers and major sites provide links to 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”, “courier mail rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …

Leading news reporting agencies provide links to an RSS feed section

(Many online newspapers and major sites include a feed section. Image: Sydney Morning Herald RSS )

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

A site's directory of different RSS feeds

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

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

An RSS list can also contain further feed subcategories …

RSS Feed section.

(RSS Feed section. Source: Los Angeles Times)

Important Info

Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. To use feeds, all you have to do is to copy the URLs and paste these into software that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.

The Benefits Of Syndicating Content

Adding content from someone else’s site on your site has some obvious benefits. It not only helps someone else’s site, it also adds value to your site without you having to create that content …

Content Syndication Has Many Benefits!

(Syndicating Content - 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 syndicate content using your RSS feed, this gives your business the opportunity to gain more exposure online and drive new visitors …

Get other online users to syndicate your content ... it will help increase your exposure online!

(Look for ways to get other websites and blogs to syndicate your content … it will help increase your exposure online!)

WordPress RSS Feed – Overview

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

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

1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on your sidebar menu, you can scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS

You can access your WordPress RSS feed from the Entries RSS menu

(Access your WordPress RSS feed in the Entries RSS menu)

2) You can also find built-in links or buttons on certain themes that let your visitors copy your RSS feed.

For example, in the screenshot below, 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

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

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

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

(Look for an RSS button in a a Social Share, Keep In Touch, or Link To Us toolbar)

4) You can also view your WordPress 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 RSS page …

RSS content seen using a Firefox web browser

(Feed entries viewed with Firefox)

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

Feed items viewed on Google Chrome

(RSS feed items as seen with a Chrome browser)

Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed

You can specify how many entries you would like to display in your Feeds section in the Reading Settings section. Select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …

WP Settings - Reading Settings - Syndication feeds

(Reading Settings – Number of syndication feed items setting)

The feed page will show the number of items you have specified in your Reading Settings section …

The feed will display the number of items you have specified in the Reading Settings section

(The feed page will show 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 posts as full text, or as a summary …

Reading Settings - 'For each article in a feed show': 'Full text' or 'Summary'

(WordPress Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’: ‘Full text’ or ‘Summary’)

Idea

Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …

Post excerpts can affect how your feed content will appear

(Post excerpts can affect how a feed will appear)

To learn more about Post excerpts, see this step-by-step tutorial:

View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, 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 can translate feeds into readable content.

Let’s show you how this works.

First, find a website whose feed you want to syndicate and search for a ’subscribe to feed’ button using any of the methods described earlier …

Search for an RSS feed section.

(Look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link or button. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)

Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …

Copy the URL of your feed 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 feed reader …

Paste the URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the content.

(Paste your feed URL into a feed reader to view the content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)

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

How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Site

Let’s show you how to add content sourced from another site to yours.

Adding RSS Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar

As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you can easily add to your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry simply by adding content from their RSS feed. You can use feeds to 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 the WordPress sidebar area …

Add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar area

(Add an RSS feed to the WordPress sidebar)

First, Go to a website or blog containing content that you want to display on your site and copy the RSS feed URL to your clipboard …

Copy the feed URL

(Copy the URL of your feed to the clipboard)

Next, paste the feed into a new RSS widget …

Widgets Panel - RSS Widget

(Widgets Panel – RSS Widget)

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

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

RSS Feed Content Added To WordPress Sidebar

(RSS Feed Content Added To WP 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

(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 Posts

Can you add content from an RSS feed to posts? You sure can!

You can easily do this using plugins. Search on WordPress.org plugin directory for RSS, RSS feed to post, etc.

'Add Plugins' search results

(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.

The plugins listed below are useful for adding feed content to posts, or “autoblog” (An autoblog is a blog with content that is automatically gathered and compiled from RSS feeds):

WPeMatico

WPeMatico WP Plugin

(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)

WPeMatico is an auto blogging plugin that lets you publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.

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

For more details, go here:

WP RSS Aggregator

WP RSS Aggregator Plugin For WordPress

(WP RSS Aggregator WP Plugin)

WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin that offers additional functionality with premium extensions (add-ons).

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 WordPress posts.

For more details, go here:

RSS Post Importer

RSS Post Importer WP Plugin

(RSS Post Importer Plugin)

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

RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of each item in your feed as a standalone post.

For more details, go here:

Powr RSS Feed

Powr RSS Feed Plugin

(Powr RSS Feed WordPress Plugin)

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

The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom backgrounds, fonts, colors, and more. It is also mobile responsive and supports text in any language.

The premium edition 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 WordPress Plugin

(WP Pipes Plugin)

The WP Pipes plugin for WordPress is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you create 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, autoblogging, auto post to Facebook/Twitter/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:

FeedWordPress

FeedWordPress WP Plugin

(FeedWordPress – WordPress Plugin)

FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible syndication for WordPress 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 sites, or bring together all of your online activity (e.g. from your blog, LinkedIn, Flickr, or other online services, in one place.

For more details, go here:

Autoblog by WPMUDev

Autoblog by WPMUDev - WordPress Plugin

(Autoblog WP Plugin)

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 the URL of your feed, give the feed a name (for admin purposes) and select the blog that you want it to post to.

For more details, go here:

RSS Includes Pages

RSS Includes Pages

(RSS Includes Pages Plugin For WordPress)

By default, WordPress only posts posts in your RSS feed. Use a plugin like the RSS Includes Pages plugin if you would like to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed and not just posts.

For more details, go here:

Important

Useful Tips

Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds

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

To inspect these, locate the ‘Meta’ section on your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS

WordPress Comments RSS

(Comments RSS)

All the comments posted on your site by visitors and users will appear in your Comments RSS page …

Comments feed entries as seen on a Firefox web browser

(Comments feed items as seen using a Firefox browser)

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

Comments feed entries viewed with Google Chrome

(Comments feed entries viewed using Google Chrome)

Again, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into a feed reader …

Paste your comments feed URL into a feed reader to view the feed content.

(Paste the comments feed URL into a feedreader to view the feed 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 WP site installation is in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)

Tip #2 – Individual Item Feeds

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

Individual Post RSS Feed

(Single Post Feed)

To create the above feed, copy the URI of your post, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.

Single Post Feed

(Single Post Feed)

Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of the post address, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not the post content itself.

Tip #3 – Displaying Post Category RSS Feeds

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

If your website or blog displays content published under different categories, WordPress allows you to offer users a separate feed for each category.

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

WP RSS feed format for post categories

(Format for WordPress post categories feed)

Select and copy the category URL to your clipboard …

Copy your category link address ...

(Copy your category link address …)

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

RSS feed format for post categories

(Format for WP post categories RSS feed)

Your category feed will now only include content specific to that particular category …

Category-specific feed page

(Category 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

(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

(WordPress post category feed format)

To find the post category ID, go to Posts > Categories …

Posts > Categories menu

(Posts > Categories menu)

Locate the post category you want and hover your mouse over the title to reveal its unique ID …

Post Category 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

(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

(Paste the feed into your browser)

This will display the feed for that specific category …

RSS feed of a specific post 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

(Post category feed format)

Here is the feed format again …

Post category feed

(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

(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

(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 Your Own Directory Of Feeds For Your Subscribers

You can provide your own directory of RSS feeds for subscribers that allows readers to subscribe to specific categories, just like large websites …

Provide Your Own Directory Of RSS Feeds For Your Subscribers

(Create A Feeds Directory)

You can also link an icon like the one shown below to your category feeds and then create a table or a list of your category feeds on a separate page …

RSS icon

(RSS graphic. Image: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)

We have created a detailed tutorial on adding tables to WordPress posts and pages here:

RSS Feeds – Notes

You can customize your feeds in various different ways, such as adding videos and images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require editing code.

WordPress allows a number of feed configurations that do not require messing with code. Here are some examples of custom feed types you can create …

WordPress RSS - Custom Feeds

(WordPress RSS – Feed Types)

For your convenience, here are the different feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed 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 – RSS feed displaying the latest comments left on your website
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
  • Feed Type: Individual Posts
  • Description: RSS feed containing an individual post entry
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-blog-post/feed/
  • Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
  • Description: Includes the latest comments made on individual items
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/
  • Feed Type: Archives
  • Description: Day – Includes the latest items in each archive
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/03/09/feed/
  • Feed Type: Archives
  • Description: Month – Displays latest posts in each archive
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/11/feed/
  • Feed Type: Archives
  • Description: Year – Displays latest items in each archive
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/feed/
  • Feed Type: Search Results
  • Description: Includes latest post entries for a search query
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
  • Feed Type: Custom Post Type
  • Description: Displays latest post entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
  • Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book

One more thing …

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

Remember to make your feeds visible your RSS feeds!

(Promote your feeds!)

Keep in mind that other website owners will only want to syndicate your content if you provide useful information. In other words, provide high-quality information that can add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.

Easily add someone else's content and get online users to share your content with RSS!

(Add content to your site and get online users to syndicate your content with RSS feeds!)

Tip

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 🙂

Additional RSS Resources:

  • Download RSS Icons – Visit FeedIcons or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS logo”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS icons.
  • RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and resources about RSS.
  • Wikipedia/RSS – General information about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
  • WordPress Codex – WordPress documentation repository. Go here for additional information about feeds in WordPress.

Using RSS In WordPress

Congratulations! Now you know where to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS feeds, and how to add content from other websites 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 get better results online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website or blog please see our related posts section.

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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group