{"id":43135,"date":"2023-05-18T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=43135"},"modified":"2023-05-17T10:32:09","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T08:32:09","slug":"how-to-add-rss-sitemap-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-add-rss-sitemap-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Add a WordPress RSS Sitemap to Max Your SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]So you\u2019ve added both an HTML and an XML sitemap to your website and now you\u2019re thinking – well, that\u2019s all there is to it, right? Wrong. While these types of sitemaps are extremely important for the SEO of your website, as they let both the users and Google know of all your pages and posts, the set can actually be completed by adding an RSS sitemap or feed, too. In this article, we\u2019re discussing why, and showing you how to add a WordPress RSS sitemap.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”80px”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”new-top-picks-banner”][vc_empty_space height=”80px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Why Your Website Needs an RSS Sitemap<\/h2>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]A sitemap usually means two things. A user-visible HTML sitemap<\/strong> is a hierarchical list of all the pages under a domain. It serves as a roadmap for visitors to help them navigate the website and find what they need easily. As such, a sitemap is an important UX component.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]The other type of sitemap is the one that\u2019s \u201cunder the hood\u201d and it\u2019s not visible nor intended for visitors. Instead, it\u2019s created for the sake of Google (and other search engines<\/a>) to inform it of all the pages and content you have on there, so it can crawl and index them<\/strong>. This is what we call an XML sitemap<\/a> and it should be an integral part of your SEO strategy.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]The XML sitemap is usually quite large as it contains information about all of your pages<\/strong>. The RSS sitemap, on the other hand, is smaller and lighter because it contains the most recent information about changes and updates to your pages<\/strong>. In simple terms, it lets Google know about your freshest content, so it can index it sooner.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]It is therefore clear that for best results you should use a combination of both XML and RSS sitemaps.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Now, let\u2019s see how to set a WordPress RSS sitemap for your website.
\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”68px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Creating a WordPress RSS Sitemap<\/h2>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]To easily add an RSS sitemap to WordPress, your best bet is to use a plugin. The one we recommend for this purpose is AIOSEO (All in One SEO)<\/a>, a multipurpose SEO plugin that packs a great set of SEO features and has a staggering 3+ million active installs. The features are too many to list, so we\u2019ll just say that it helps you with on-page optimization, it has a local business module, Rich Snippets Schema, robots.txt editor, easy integration with Google Search Console, various analysis tools and much more. Of course, it also has tools that help you add a WordPress RSS sitemap, which is a free feature (the plugin has a premium version, too).[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]After installing and activating the plugin<\/a>, you will need to go through a guided setup wizard. Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s not long and it\u2019s very easy to complete.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]

\n
\n \"AIOSEO <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]After you\u2019ve completed the setup, you will find a brand new menu item in your dashboard header menu, called SEO<\/em>. Any time you need to work on something using AIOSEO, you will click on this item, which will take you to a designated page with various tools and analytics.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"AIOSEO <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Scroll down the page until you reach a section that says Sitemaps<\/em>. Click on the link that says Manage<\/em>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"AIOSEO <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Click on the RSS Sitemap option in the horizontal menu. This will take you to the RSS setup section.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]First, click on the toggle to enable RSS sitemap. You should also specify the number of posts to include in the sitemap. The recommended setting is 50 or less, because the RSS sitemap is supposed to be small and light.
\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
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\n \"AIOSEO <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]If you click on the Open RSS Sitemap button<\/em>, the current map will open in a new tab so you can see which pages are included. It will look something like this, but with your URLs, of course:[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"RSS <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]The last option allows you to choose which post types you want to include in your WordPress RSS sitemap. The Include All Post Types<\/em> is the default option, but you can uncheck it if you only want to include certain post types – just posts, just products, just pages, landing pages, portfolio, or a combination of those.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”]
\n
\n \"AIOSEO <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=”38px”][vc_column_text]Lastly, click on Save Changes<\/em> and that\u2019s it – the plugin will automatically create and add an RSS sitemap to your website.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Note that you will have to submit your map to Google Search Console, of course. We have a detailed tutorial on adding your website to Google Search Console<\/a> that also covers adding sitemaps, so if you\u2019re not sure how to do it, we recommend you check it out.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”68px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Wrapping It Up<\/h2>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Adding a WordPress RSS sitemap is actually a piece of cake, as we saw. AIOSEO is an excellent plugin that can help you with many of your SEO tasks, so by installing even the free version you will enjoy other benefits too, not just the RSS sitemap feature.
\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Combining XML and RSS sitemaps is an excellent way of letting Google know what you got going on your website, and also of keeping it updated with your freshest content. You basically have no excuse for not having one!
\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how to easily add a WordPress RSS sitemap to your website, using a free plugin, and help Google learn about your freshest content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[15,74,25,127],"class_list":["post-43135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-plugins","tag-rss","tag-seo","tag-sitemap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}