RSS feeds are the raw material of most automated news websites. If you know how to find RSS feeds quickly, test them, and use them within the rules, you can build a steady flow of fresh stories for your site. This guide shows simple methods that work on almost any website, plus the checks you should run before you connect a feed to WordPress.
What an RSS feed is (in one minute)
An RSS feed is a machine-readable list of a website's latest posts. Each item usually has a title, a link, a date, a short summary, and sometimes the full text and an image. Atom is a similar format, and most tools read both. You only need the feed URL, which you paste into a feed reader or an auto-posting plugin.
Method 1: Try the common feed URLs
Many websites publish their feed at a predictable address. Start by adding one of these to the end of the site's domain:
| Try this URL | Common on |
|---|---|
example.com/feed |
WordPress sites |
example.com/rss |
Many news and CMS sites |
example.com/rss.xml |
Static sites, some news portals |
example.com/feed.xml |
Jekyll, Hugo and other static generators |
example.com/atom.xml |
Blogs using Atom |
example.com/index.xml |
Hugo sites |
If the page shows a block of code or a formatted list of posts, you have found the feed. If you get a "page not found" error, move to the next method.
Method 2: Look in the page source
Most websites announce their feed inside the HTML, even if there is no visible RSS icon. Here is how to find it:
- Open the website in your browser.
- Right-click on an empty part of the page and choose View page source (or press Ctrl+U on Windows).
- Press Ctrl+F and search for
application/rss+xmloralternate. - Look for a line like
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="...">. - Copy the URL inside
href. That is the feed.
Search for application/atom+xml too, in case the site uses Atom. Some sites list several feeds here, for example one for posts and one for comments. Pick the posts feed.
Method 3: Check the RSS or "subscribe" page
Large news publishers often have a page that lists their feeds by section. Look in the footer for links named "RSS", "Feeds", or "Subscribe", or search Google for site:example.com rss. A focused section feed, such as business or sports, usually fits a niche site better than a site-wide feed.
Method 4: Use a browser extension or feed reader
If you check many sites, a browser extension saves time. Search your browser's extension store for "RSS feed finder" or "RSS subscription". These extensions show an icon when the current page has a feed and let you copy the URL in one click.
Feed readers such as Feedly or Inoreader can also help. Paste a normal website address into their search box and they will often find the feed for you.
Method 5: Google News RSS search feeds
Google News can produce an RSS feed for a search query. This is handy when you want stories on a topic from many publishers, not just one site. The URL format looks like this:
https://news.google.com/rss/search?q=electric+vehicles+india&hl=en-IN&gl=IN&ceid=IN:en
Change the words after q= to your topic. The hl, gl and ceid parts control the language and country edition. For Hindi results in India, you might use hl=hi&gl=IN&ceid=IN:hi.
Keep two things in mind:
- The links in these feeds usually point to a Google News redirect page, not straight to the publisher. Some tools cannot follow these links to extract the full article.
- The stories belong to the original publishers. A Google News feed is a discovery tool. It is not permission to republish anyone's content.
Method 6: WordPress category and tag feeds
Any WordPress site with feeds turned on offers feeds for each category, tag and author. This lets you pick exactly the topic you want.
| Feed type | URL pattern |
|---|---|
| Whole site | example.com/feed/ |
| One category | example.com/category/technology/feed/ |
| One tag | example.com/tag/smartphones/feed/ |
| One author | example.com/author/name/feed/ |
| Search results | example.com/?s=keyword&feed=rss2 |
To get the category slug, open the category page on that site and copy the part of the URL after /category/. Then add /feed/ to the end.
How to test a feed before you use it
Finding a feed is only half the job. A bad feed will fill your site with broken or thin posts. Test every feed before you connect it.
Step 1: Validate the feed
Paste the feed URL into a validator such as the W3C Feed Validation Service. It will tell you if the feed has errors. Small warnings are usually fine. Serious errors can stop a plugin from reading the feed at all.
Step 2: Check freshness
Open the feed and look at the dates of the latest items. Ask:
- When was the newest item published?
- How many new items appear per day or per week?
A feed that has not updated in months is probably abandoned. A feed that publishes hundreds of items a day may be too much for a small site. Match the feed to your posting plan.
Step 3: Full content or summary?
Some feeds include the full article. Others include only one or two sentences. Open a few items and compare them with the real article on the website.
If the feed has only summaries, a plain RSS importer will create very short posts. You then need full-article extraction, which fetches the page and pulls out the main text. AI AutoPost can do this automatically using the page's NewsArticle or BlogPosting structured data or main content, or with a custom CSS selector, XPath or regex. You can read more on the features page.
Step 4: Check images
Look for an image in each item. It may be inside <enclosure>, <media:content>, or in the content HTML. Posts without a featured image look weak on most news themes. If a feed rarely includes images, you may want to skip it, or use a tool that skips items without an image.
Step 5: Check the links
Click a few item links. They should open the correct article, not a login wall, a paywall or a redirect loop. If the source is paywalled, full-article extraction will not work and you should not try to get around it.
Use feeds properly: rules that protect your site
A feed makes content easy to access. It does not make the content yours. Most sites publish feeds for readers, not for other websites to copy.
Read the source's terms
Before you use a feed on your site, look for the source's terms of use, copyright page or RSS policy. Some publishers allow reuse with credit. Some allow only headlines and short summaries. Some forbid any reuse. Follow what they say.
Prefer sources that allow reuse
Good choices include:
- Government and public-sector press release feeds, where the terms allow reuse.
- Organisations that publish under open licences such as Creative Commons (check which licence and its conditions).
- Company newsrooms that publish press releases for wide distribution.
- Partners who have given you written permission.
The content sources page has more ideas on choosing sources.
Always credit and link
Name the original source and link to the original article in every post. This is fair to the publisher and helps readers check the facts.
Add original value
Copying articles word for word can infringe copyright. It also gives Google little reason to show your page instead of the original. Add something new: local context, a summary in another language, a short explanation, or your own analysis. Our guide on avoiding duplicate content on a news site covers this in detail.
If you are unsure whether you can use a source, ask the publisher or get legal advice. It is much easier to pick a different source than to deal with a complaint later.
From feed to published post
Once you have a short list of tested feeds, you can connect them to WordPress. In AI AutoPost, you create a campaign, add one or more feed URLs, choose a category and set the maximum number of posts. You can add filters such as minimum word count and blocked keywords, and choose AI rewriting or translation. The how it works page shows the full flow, and our RSS to WordPress auto-post guide walks through the setup.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if a website has an RSS feed?
Try /feed or /rss after the domain. If that fails, view the page source and search for application/rss+xml. Most WordPress and news sites have a feed even if they do not show an RSS icon.
Can I use any RSS feed on my website?
No. A public feed is not a licence to republish. Check the source's terms, credit and link to the original, and add your own value. If you are not sure, ask the publisher or a lawyer.
Why do some feeds show only a short summary?
The publisher chose to share only an excerpt, often to bring readers to their own site. If their terms allow it, a tool with full-article extraction can fetch the rest of the text from the article page.
Are Google News RSS feeds good for auto-posting?
They are good for finding stories on a topic. But the links often go through Google redirects, and the content belongs to many different publishers with different terms. Use them for research, and pick your actual sources carefully.
Next steps
Pick three to five feeds in your niche, run the tests above, and note each source's terms. When your list is ready, download AI AutoPost to turn those feeds into scheduled WordPress posts, or check the pricing page to see the credit packs.
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