No matter what service or product you provide or what industry your business is a part of, it’s vitally important to provide high-value information to your site users. For example, if your business provides medical services, you may want to provide users with useful information from the health department, such as news and updates on medical research, health and fitness tips, etc.
To create and publish this kind of information, however, takes a lot of effort and expertise. You have to do a lot of data sifting, researching and organizing, checking the accuracy of your sources, writing and editing content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then make sure that this information is continually kept up-to-date. As you can imagine, this not only involves a huge amount of work but most of the information you are dealing with is beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a simpler way to continually provide your readers with up-to-date information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is the simplest way to provide your subscribers with up-to-date information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
RSS – A Basic Overview
- RSS, which, according to some experts is short for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly referred to now as 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.
- RSS feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog entries, news, audio playlists, etc., to which users can choose to subscribe.
- Essentially, an RSS feed is a structured XML document that includes full or summarized text along with other metadata like date of publishing, author, etc. It allows people to subscribe to content on websites and then browse updates posted on these sites using an RSS feed reader. Conversely, RSS feeds also enable publishers to automatically syndicate their content.
- There are different feed formats and these can be read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF (Resource Description Framework) feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure that feeds are compatible with different machines, feed readers, and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also let you combine multiple RSS feeds to receive news and updates sourced from various different websites.
This detailed guide shows you where to find your WordPress RSS feed, 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 their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a very powerful (and legitimate) way of sharing web content. RSS Feeds provide web users with a simple and easy way to receive the latest information posted on different websites.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Content agencies and many influential online media publications use content syndication to publish news from news sources around the world.
Syndication allows most leading digital news agencies to deliver readers up-to-the-minute news and newsworthy stories from all over the planet without having to employ additional reporting agencies everywhere around the world …
(News reporting agencies rely on content syndication to publish news and stories from news sources around the globe.)
Syndication is used to share newsworthy content legitimately with other sites. online media publications syndicate their newsworthy content using news feeds …
(Content syndication is used by news reporting agencies to share content with other news 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 that created and published the content being syndicated. This provides websites with additional opportunities to generate significant web visitors.
Many news reporting agencies have a feed section (look for links in their navigation menu that say ”RSS”, “Syndication”, or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “international herald tribune rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Major sites will have a feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS feeds section will bring up a directory of RSS feeds for different areas of the site …
(RSS feeds list. Image: New York Times RSS)
These feed items give readers access to information about different sections of the site (e.g. business news, sports news, editorials, etc.)
Feed sections can also contain feed subcategories …
(A feed directory can also contain subcategories. Image Source: LA Times RSS)
Note: A feed is simply a URL. To use a feed, all you need to do is copy the URL and paste it into software that can translate the feed into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
Content Syndication – Benefits
Syndicating content from someone else’s site on your website has some obvious benefits. It gives someone else’s website additional exposure online and helps you by freeing you up from having to create this content …
(The Benefits Of Using RSS Feeds)
While adding RSS feeds from another site is a great way to add content to your site that you don’t have to create, it’s worth keeping in mind that there are benefits in getting other sites to syndicate YOUR content.
When other websites and blogs syndicate your content, this gives your business the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive more web traffic …
(It’s a good idea to get users to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress RSS Feed – About
By default, WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing others to syndicate your content on their websites.
Depending on your WordPress theme, there are a few ways to get your RSS feed:
1) If your theme allows the Meta widget to display on your sidebar or footer menu, just scroll down to the Meta section and click on Entries RSS …
(WordPress Meta widget – Accessing your RSS feed)
2) You can also find links and/or buttons on certain themes that allow your visitors to copy your feed.
In the screenshot below, for example, a visitor can simply copy the RSS feed URL by clicking on on the Subscribe to RSS link …
(Copy feed links to your clipboard from “subscribe to RSS” buttons)
3) On some websites and again, depending on your WP theme, you can find the RSS feed displayed in a Links, Share, or Subscribe section …
(Look for an RSS button in a a Social Share, Follow Us, or Link To Us floating, fixed, or slide-out toolbar)
4) You can also view your WordPress site’s feed by simply 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 site is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Using any of the above methods will bring up a page containing your site’s feed …
(Feed entries viewed on a Firefox browser)
Note that your feed items will display differently depending on which browser you are using …
(RSS items displayed with Google Chrome)
Specify Number Of Items To Display On Your RSS Feed
Specify how many items you would like displayed in your Feeds page in the Reading Settings section. Select the number of items to show in the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” field …
(Reading Settings – Syndication feeds)
The feed page will display the number of posts as you have specified in the Reading Settings section …
(The feed will display the number of items you have specified in the 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 RSS feed is whether to display posts as full text, or a summary …
(WP Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)
Post Excerpts can also affect how your feed content appears …
(Post excerpts affect how a feed displays)
If you need help using excerpts in WordPress Posts, see this step-by-step tutorial:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, all you need to do to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL to your clipboard and paste it into an application that can translate feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s see how this works.
First, find a website or blog and search for their RSS feed icon using any of the methods described earlier …
(Look for a ’subscribe to feed’ link. Image source: http://www.yourcoffeeguru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed to your clipboard)
If you want, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the URL of your feed into an online feed reader …
(Paste the URL of your feed into a feed reader to view the content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Like feedreaders, WordPress has the ability to process RSS feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your visitors.
Adding An RSS Feed To WordPress Sites
Let’s show you how to add content from other sites to your WordPress site.
How To Add Feeds To Your WordPress Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you operate in, you can add to your site the latest content from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply importing their feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site such as news, Facebook updates, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to your sidebar …
(Let’s add an RSS feed to your sidebar)
copy the RSS feed URL from a website containing content that you would like to add to your site …
(Copy the feed URL to the clipboard)
Next, go to your Widgets section and paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Area – RSS Widget)
To learn more about adding content to sidebars using widgets, go here:
Load your site in your browser. The content from the RSS feed will now show on the sidebar (or wherever you have placed the RSS widget) …
(RSS Feed 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 Add RSS Feed Content To Posts
Can content from an RSS feed be added to posts? Yes, it can!
You can easily do this using plugins. Just search on the WordPress plugin directory for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ section)
Note: Most RSS plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for instructions, or contact us for help configuring plugins.
Here are some auto blogging plugins for WordPress that allow you to create new using RSS feeds and imported content:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico WP Plugin)
WPeMatico is an easy to use plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from specific RSS/Atom feeds.
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 is an RSS feed importer and autoblogging plugin for WordPress that offers extended functionality with premium extensions (add-ons).
For example, the Feed to Post add-on for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin allows you to import RSS feeds directly into posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer)
The RSS Post Importer plugin can be used to syndicate, curate, import, merge and display full text RSS feeds on your WordPress website or blog.
The plugin will fetch an RSS feed and publish the entire content of each feed item as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed Plugin For WordPress)
POWr RSS Feed combines and displays content from a number of different RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and article content, adjust the priority of different feeds, use custom backgrounds, colors, fonts, and more. It is also mobile responsive 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:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes WP Plugin)
WP Pipes is a powerful data migration plugin that lets you curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and other sources.
This plugin provides features like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, auto blogging, auto post to LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter, export your posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress Plugin For WordPress)
FeedWordPress provides simple and flexible Atom/RSS syndication options 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 posts from various different sources), or bring together all your online activity (e.g. from your blog, Facebook, Flickr, or other online services, in one place.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog by WPMUDev
(Autoblog – WordPress Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up in minutes, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Simply copy and paste in your feed URL, give it a name of your choosing (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 WP Plugin)
Use RSS Includes Pages to include pages in your WordPress RSS feed and not just posts (by default WordPress only includes posts in your RSS feed).
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – WordPress Comment RSS Feeds
WordPress displays RSS feeds of the latest comments posted on your site in addition to giving online users access to RSS feeds of your latest posts.
You can access these comments by clicking on Comments RSS in the ‘Meta’ section of your sidebar menu …
(Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors and users can be seen in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries displayed with Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed items will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(RSS comments feed entries seen on Google Chrome browser)
Again, you can check what the RSS feed contains by pasting the feed URL into an online feed reader …
(Paste your 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 is located in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Using Feeds For Single Items
Being able to display an RSS feed for an individual 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 creating an RSS feed for specific posts is shown below:
(Feed For Single Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the post address, and add “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only append “/feed” to the end of a post URI, WordPress will return the comments for your post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Category Feeds
Some your site visitors may only want to subscribe to content about specific topics. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
With WordPress, you can create individual category feeds.
All you have to do is use the format shown below:
(Use this format for WP category RSS feed)
Select and copy the category link address …
(Copy the category link address …)
Add “feed” to the end of it …
(Use this format for WP post categories feed)
Your RSS feed will now only contain content published in this category …
(Category-specific feed)
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 Feeds Directory
You can create a feeds directory that allows your readers to subscribe to content in specific categories …
(Set Up Your Own Feeds List)
All you need to do is link an icon to your category (or single post) feed URLs and then create a table or a list of all your individual feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button. Image: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/free-cliparts/computer/other/rss_button_roman_bertle_01-2522.htm)
To learn more about creating tables in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:
WordPress RSS – Notes
RSS feeds can be customized in various different ways, such as adding images to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these feed customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure a number of different feed formats without editing code. For example, here are just some of the kinds of custom 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 listed above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that displays your latest entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – Displays the latest comments posted on your site
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed for specific posts
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/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 – Contains latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2018/10/04/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Contains the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/04/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – RSS feed that includes the latest post entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2014/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: Displays latest entries for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Displays latest entries 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 your users know that they can subscribe to your feeds. Place a subscribe buttons in a visible location …
(Promote your RSS feeds!)
Keep in mind that other sites will only syndicate your content if you provide your visitors with very high-quality content that can add great value to their sites and benefit their visitors.
(Easily add content to your site and get online users to share your content using RSS!)
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 – Additional Resources:
- Download RSS Graphics – Visit iconspedia.com/search/rss or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “rss logo download”, etc.) for sites that contain downloadable RSS images and icons.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board Go here to learn more about RSS.
- Wikipedia/RSS – Learn more about the benefits of using RSS feeds.
- WordPress Codex – Official WordPress documentation. Visit this site for more information about using RSS feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know where your RSS feed is located, how to syndicate your content online using feeds, and how to display someone else’s content on your site using their RSS feed.
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of problems that can affect your web site and how WordPress can help you build a better business online. To learn more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business web site please click on links to visit other great content on this site.
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com