Tips on how to use RSS feeds to spice up your productiveness

Let me placed on my curmudgeon hat for a minute: the web was so much much less of a passive expertise. We repeatedly checked our favourite blogs and information web sites, saved up with a couple of mates on Fb, and customarily curated our personal on-line lives. As we speak, although, social media algorithms largely resolve what you see and in what order. The web data atmosphere is cluttered, overwhelming, and makes it too straightforward to doomscroll. 

Discovering helpful data and taking in high quality information means proactively shutting out the noise. And RSS feeds may also help you try this. 

By handpicking your personal newsfeed, you’ll be able to simply preserve observe of each content material supply that issues to you, from blogs and newsletters to job postings and on-line mentions of your model. If you happen to assume RSS died when Google Reader shut down—or should you’re solely vaguely conscious of the best way to use RSS feeds—this information is for you.

What’s RSS?

An RSS (Actually Easy Syndication) feed is an internet file that comprises particulars about every bit of content material a website has printed. Every time a website publishes a brand new piece of content material, particulars about that content material—together with the full-text of the content material or a abstract, publication date, writer, hyperlink, and many others.—are routinely generated within the file and displayed in reverse chronological order.

Since they’re up to date with particulars about every bit of content material a website publishes, RSS feeds are endlessly helpful. Do every little thing from maintaining along with your favourite weblog’s new articles to routinely producing electronic mail newsletters and social media posts to advertise your new content material.

RSS feeds are usually coded in XML format and appear like this:

If you happen to’re used to taking a look at code all day, you may be capable to make sense of this as simply as you’ll be able to learn formatted content material on an internet site. However for the remainder of us, this seems like loads of nonsense. So to show an RSS feed into one thing readable, you want an RSS reader.

An RSS reader is an app that parses the XML code of an RSS feed and renders it to look extra like what you’d see on an internet site. For instance, this is the identical RSS feed pictured above in Feedly (free plan accessible), a preferred RSS reader:

How do RSS feeds work?

Fifteen years in the past, when RSS was extra fashionable, practically each web site had an RSS icon that linked to its RSS feed, making it straightforward for individuals to subscribe through their most popular reader. As we speak, that is not often the case—however the absence of an RSS icon on a website does not imply you’ll be able to’t get that website’s content material through RSS. Take a look at our tutorial on the best way to discover the RSS feed for nearly any web site for extra particulars. 

With the fitting RSS aggregator, you will get an RSS feed from nearly any weblog, podcast, social media account, or electronic mail e-newsletter you wish to comply with.

I take advantage of Feedly as my RSS reader—so I am going to use that in many of the examples beneath—however there are many different nice RSS reader apps to contemplate should you’re getting began with RSS. Or if you wish to transfer ahead with Feedly, try our tutorial on the best way to add an RSS feed to Feedly.

However RSS works the opposite approach round, too. It does not solely pull content material into an RSS reader app; you need to use it to push content material to websites and apps as effectively. That is an ideal job for RSS by Zapier.

What’s RSS by Zapier?

RSS by Zapier is a built-in Zapier software that bridges RSS feeds with automation. It really works in two instructions: you’ll be able to set off automated workflows (we name them “Zaps”) each time new objects seem in an RSS feed. Or you’ll be able to create your personal Zapier RSS feed with it, dropping in objects from exercise in different apps. 

For only one instance—out of actually 1000’s—you possibly can routinely publish your newest weblog content material to your social media pages. Or you possibly can flip Google Calendar updates into feed objects, centralizing occasion notifications on your staff.

Better of all, RSS by Zapier comes with all plans—even our free one—so you can begin experimenting with it straight away. All through this information, you may see it in motion powering lots of the recommended automated workflows.

Tips on how to use RSS feeds

Following your favourite blogs is the only method to get began with RSS, however it’s simply one of many many advantages RSS presents. Listed below are eight methods to make use of RSS feeds to consolidate the data you care about and automate your work:

Maintain observe of recent weblog posts, podcasts, and YouTube channel uploads

I learn loads of blogs. As a author, I like to remain on high of business information—and I additionally prefer to comply with my area of interest pursuits, like working and wholesome recipes. My RSS aggregator lets me peruse a customized feed of all my favourite blogs with out having to verify every web site individually for updates.

I can select any feed to see the content material I have not reviewed, click on via and skim any particular piece of content material I am concerned with, after which click on Mark All As Learn to clear all new articles from Feedly so once I log in subsequent time, I solely see content material I have not seen earlier than.

To subscribe to an RSS feed, copy the URL of the web page you wish to comply with (a weblog homepage, podcast episodes checklist, YouTube channel homepage, and many others.). Paste it into your RSS aggregator app, and if an RSS feed exists for that web page, you’ll be able to subscribe to it instantly.

But when no RSS feed exists, you are not essentially out of luck. You may also use RSS by Zapier at no cost to create customized RSS feeds, gathering all of your studying materials in a single place. Listed below are a couple of Zaps to strive:

Obtain and think about electronic mail newsletters in your RSS reader

The jury should still be out on whether or not inbox zero is nice or unhealthy for productiveness, however for me, it is the one method to handle electronic mail. And since I am an inbox zero fanatic, I unsubscribe instantly from each electronic mail e-newsletter I obtain. I am unable to stand to have an electronic mail e-newsletter clogging up my inbox and harassing me till I’ve time to take a look at it.

However there are some newsletters I need to learn as a result of the publishers solely ship new content material through these newsletters. There is not any corresponding weblog publish, podcast, or YouTube channel to comply with in Feedly; the one method to get the content material is to subscribe to the e-newsletter.

The answer to this situation: Kill the Publication (free).

Kill the Publication generates an electronic mail deal with that you need to use to subscribe to newsletters you wish to obtain. Any newsletters despatched to that electronic mail deal with are transformed into an XML feed. 

To see these newsletters, simply add the supplied Atom feed hyperlink to your RSS reader. 

After subscribing to that feed, you’ll view your newsletters alongside the opposite content material you comply with in your RSS reader. Your electronic mail inbox will thanks.

If you’d like extra inspiration, listed below are extra methods to learn newsletters with out clogging up your inbox, or you’ll be able to tame your inbox much more by automating your electronic mail.

View social media posts from essential accounts

If you happen to’re uninterested in social media algorithms dictating what you see, you’ll be able to curate your personal social feed utilizing RSS. Simply use RSS.app to create an RSS hyperlink for accounts you wish to comply with, then subscribe to it in your RSS reader.

For instance, if I wish to see Zapier’s Fb posts in Feedly, I simply have to:

• Paste the URL of Zapier’s Fb web page into RSS.app

• Generate an RSS feed and URL

• Subscribe to that URL in Feedly

You may make as many feeds as you need utilizing this technique, however they’re going to solely work for one account at a time.

Another choice is to create a extra superior social media RSS feed utilizing Zapier. For instance, you’ll be able to create an RSS feed that shows the entire sizzling posts on the high of a subreddit or your favourite creator’s new Instagram posts.

Uncover newly posted job openings

Some employers publish their open roles on Glassdoor, some publish on Certainly, some use area of interest websites, and a few solely publish jobs to their web sites. This makes searching for a brand new job a protracted strategy of navigating to a number of web sites to search for new postings you may wish to apply to.

RSS makes this simpler as effectively.

Some job search websites, like We Work Remotely, provide RSS feeds for every of their classes of jobs that you would be able to subscribe to for updates.

Others, like Certainly and Glassdoor, allow you to subscribe to job alerts through electronic mail—however you do not essentially have to make use of your private electronic mail deal with. As a substitute, join alerts utilizing a Kill the Publication electronic mail deal with to get these electronic mail alerts in your RSS reader.

You may create a feed in your RSS reader for every of the sources you verify often for newly posted jobs. Or, if you’d like all new jobs in a single feed, you’ll be able to create an RSS superfeed utilizing Zapier that mixes a number of feeds collectively and delivers new job posts to you in a single large feed.

Create electronic mail newsletters routinely

RSS is a good way to maintain observe of the content material your favourite publishers are posting, however it works effectively from the opposite facet of the fence, too. If you happen to’re a writer, you need to use an RSS feed to construct your electronic mail newsletters routinely out of your weblog, podcast, YouTube, and social content material.

For instance, in case your electronic mail e-newsletter is a listing of your most not too long ago printed posts with titles, hyperlinks, and transient descriptions, you’ll be able to push these particulars through RSS to your electronic mail e-newsletter software so you do not have to repeat and paste these particulars in manually. Then all it’s worthwhile to do is add a topic line, choose a listing, and click on Ship to streamline your e-newsletter creation course of.

Many electronic mail e-newsletter apps—together with MailerLite and Mailchimp—provide RSS-to-email options by default. However even when your most popular electronic mail e-newsletter app does not provide this characteristic, you’ll be able to construct a Zap that connects your electronic mail software to RSS by Zapier to automate the method.

This is an instance Zap for SendGrid:

Create social media posts routinely

One other approach publishers can automate a few of their work is through the use of RSS feed updates to routinely publish new content material to their social media profiles.

With RSS by Zapier, you’ll be able to join your RSS feed to your social media profiles to routinely publish posts on your new content material on what you are promoting or private social media profiles:

Possibly you often share business articles along with your coworkers or handle a social media account that shares attention-grabbing content material from elsewhere. Attempt these workflows, which routinely share what you are studying without having to repeat and paste.

Monitor model mentions in a feed

You can pay a month-to-month subscription price for a model monitoring software to trace mentions of your model throughout the net, or you are able to do the identical factor at no cost utilizing RSS feeds and a reader.

If in case you have Google Alerts arrange on your identify or your model’s identify, you’ll be able to have these alerts delivered to an RSS feed as a substitute of your electronic mail account. When organising your alert: 

1. Choose RSS feed within the Ship to discipline. Click on Replace alert.

   

2. Navigate again to your alerts web page, then click on the RSS icon to repeat the hyperlink to the alert.

   

3. Add that RSS hyperlink to your reader app, and you will get a real-time feed of your or your model’s on-line mentions.

You may also use Zapier to watch model mentions on a number of social media websites.

An RSS reader can be a good way to see every little thing your rivals are doing. Utilizing the strategies above, you’ll be able to subscribe to your rivals’ blogs and electronic mail newsletters, see all of their social media posts, and even get Google Alerts for his or her model—all inside your RSS reader.

Do one thing with what you have learn

Typically we learn for pleasure, and different instances we choose up helpful insights we might wish to strive later, like a recipe or a productiveness tip. Attempt these Zaps to show these updates into duties so no concepts fall via the cracks. 

The advantages of RSS feeds

Social media’s prevalence has made RSS feeds much less fashionable, however there are nonetheless loads of causes to go for RSS. As an example, RSS feeds allow you to:

• Keep away from lacking new content material out of your favourite manufacturers and authors

• Curate your personal newsfeed as a substitute of counting on algorithms to do it for you

• See content material chronologically, with nothing repeated or out of order

If you happen to largely wish to see content material a lot of individuals favored or interacted with, social media is the best way to go. But when what you wish to see is the entire most up-to-date content material from the websites and folks you care about, RSS beats social media each time.

RSS feed FAQ

What does RSS stand for?

RSS is brief for “Actually Easy Syndication.” It is a net feed that allows you to see every bit of content material a website has printed, in reverse chronological order. 

How do you allow guidelines on all messages downloaded from RSS feeds?

If you happen to subscribe to an RSS feed in Microsoft Outlook, you’ll be able to create guidelines for incoming objects (like transferring messages to a particular folder, marking them as learn, or categorizing them). To use these guidelines to each message:

• Go to Residence > Guidelines > Handle Guidelines & Alerts.

• Click on New Rule.

• Choose Apply rule on messages I obtain underneath the Begin from a clean rule part.

• Click on Subsequent and choose via the RSS Feed.

• Select the precise RSS feed or choose all RSS feeds if you wish to apply the rule to each message from any feed.

• Set the situations and actions you need the rule to take.

Click on Subsequent, then End to use the rule.

What’s the RSS feed of a podcast?

If you wish to add a podcast to your RSS aggregator app, you’ll be able to strive utilizing the hyperlink to the podcast’s episode web page. If that does not work, strive trying to find the podcast on Pay attention Notes, a podcast search engine. Click on the RSS icon to repeat the present’s feed hyperlink.

Does anybody nonetheless use RSS feeds?

They may seem to be a factor of the previous, however RSS feeds are nonetheless alive and effectively in the present day. RSS aggregator instruments like Feedly and Flipboard allow you to curate your personal studying checklist from a various array of sources throughout the web. And if you use automation to streamline your RSS feeds, they change into a strong software for content material curation (and creation).

This text was initially printed in June 2019 by Jessica Greene, with earlier updates by Krystina Martinez and Nicole Replogle. It was most not too long ago up to date in December 2025 by Steph Spector.