Are you looking to add a RSS sitemap in WordPress?
RSS sitemap helps Google index your new website content and updates faster. Google recommends using RSS sitemap in combination with XML sitemap for maximum SEO results.
In this article, we will cover how to easily add RSS sitemap in WordPress without any code.
What is RSS Sitemap?
Unlike a traditional XML sitemap which are usually large, RSS sitemap are small because they only contain the most recent updates to your site.
Google crawls RSS sitemaps more frequently which helps your content updates get indexed faster and improves your WordPress SEO rankings.
A good way to think about it is that your XML sitemaps give Google information about all of the posts and pages on your website. Whereas RSS sitemap update Google on the content that has been recently updated.
For optimal crawling, Google recommends using both XML sitemaps and RSS sitemap.
Depending on the type of website you have, you may also want to take add a video sitemap and news sitemap alongside the RSS sitemap for maximum SEO benefits.
With that said, let’s take a look at how to add RSS sitemap in WordPress.
How to Add RSS Sitemap in WordPress
The easiest way to add RSS sitemap in WordPress is by using the All in One SEO plugin. It is the best WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million websites.
We’re using the premium version of AIOSEO on WPBeginner to improve our SEO rankings, but the RSS sitemap feature is available in the free version as well.
First thing you need to do is install and activate the All in One SEO plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once activated, you will be prompted to go through the guided set up wizard. It’s very beginner friendly, and it will help you setup all the right settings.
To enable the RSS sitemap in WordPress, you need to go to AIOSEO » Sitemaps settings page and click on the RSS Sitemap tab.
Simply toggle the enable Sitemap option, and that’s it.
You have successfully added RSS sitemap in WordPress. You can click on the Open RSS Sitemap button to see how your RSS sitemap looks.
Alternatively, you can also go to the following link:
https://yoursite.com/sitemap.rss
Once you have enabled it, you will need to submit the RSS sitemap in Google Search Console.
The process of submitting a RSS sitemap is similar to how you would add any other sitemap. Here’s a detailed tutorial on how to submit your sitemap in Google search console.
As you can see in the screenshot above, Google reads the RSS sitemap faster than it reads the general XML sitemap.
This is why we strongly recommend enabling this feature to get a competitive SEO advantage.
AIOSEO is a powerful WordPress SEO plugin with all the features that you need to improve your search engine rankings. You can see our ultimate guide on how to properly setup All in One SEO for maximum benefits.
Final Thoughts on WordPress RSS Sitemap
RSS sitemap technology has been around for a long time, but many website owners don’t know how to leverage it. That’s because most website builders and WordPress SEO plugins don’t have this feature.
AIOSEO short for All in One SEO is the most comprehensive SEO toolkit, so it comes built-in with RSS sitemap feature along with dozens of other features.
When we switched WPBeginner from Yoast plugin to AIOSEO plugin, we saw a boost in our SEO rankings and website traffic. We believe a big reason for that is the RSS sitemap feature because it helped our content updates get indexed faster.
In the recent months, Microsoft has launched the IndexNow protocol to further boost SEO speed. Currently that’s only being used by Bing and Yandex, so we’re using both IndexNow and RSS sitemap to speed up our SEO results.
The good news is that AIOSEO was the first WordPress SEO plugin to add IndexNow support as well because they’re staying at the forefront of SEO changes.
We hope this article helped you learn how to add RSS sitemap in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WooCommerce SEO guide to improve your SEO rankings, and our comparison of the best email marketing services to connect with readers after they leave your website.
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The post How to Add RSS Sitemap in WordPress (The Easy Way) first appeared on WPBeginner.
