{"id":8859,"date":"2019-10-10T11:33:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T18:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ryrob.com\/?p=8859"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:16:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:16:47","slug":"what-is-rss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ryrob.com\/what-is-rss\/","title":{"rendered":"What is RSS? How RSS Feeds Work + Why Email Lists Beat Them for Bloggers (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re new to blogging<\/a> and just starting to dig into how content gets distributed across the web, you\u2019ll eventually run into the question \u2014 what is RSS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short answer: it\u2019s a way for readers to subscribe to new content from a website and get it delivered to a feed reader of their choice, in a standardized format that any app can understand. Long answer: it peaked around 2005, faded for a decade, and now quietly powers podcast distribution, newsletter platforms like Substack, plus the small-but-loyal community of readers who prefer clean feeds over algorithm-driven timelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this guide, I\u2019ll walk you through what RSS actually is, how feeds work under the hood, which RSS readers are worth using in 2026, and the reason I still recommend every new blogger build an email list instead of leaning on RSS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>What is RSS? (Definition)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication \u2014 it\u2019s a type of web feed that lets people (and applications) detect updates to a site like new blog posts or podcast episodes, in a standardized format that computers can make quick sense of.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An RSS feed is a syndication feed readers can subscribe to, so they get immediate updates in their feed reader the moment a new piece of content is published on the site.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the hood, RSS is written in XML (Extensible Markup Language)<\/a>, which is a machine-readable format that any app can parse. A feed reader doesn\u2019t care if the site is WordPress, Ghost, Substack, or a hand-rolled blog; as long as the site publishes a valid RSS feed, the reader can pull in the posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blogs typically use RSS feeds to publish frequently-updated content like new blog posts, news headlines, or new episodes of an audio or video show. Think of it as a news feed for the open web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is RSS? How RSS Feeds Work + Why Email Lists Beat Them for Bloggers in 2026<\/a><\/div>Click To Post on <\/i><\/a>
<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>How RSS Feeds Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the simple version of the RSS flow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. A website publishes an RSS feed.<\/strong> Most WordPress blogs auto-generate one at yourblog.com\/feed\/<\/code>. The feed is an XML file that lists the site\u2019s recent posts with titles, links, dates, and summaries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. A reader subscribes to that feed<\/strong> by pasting the feed URL into an RSS reader app like Feedly or Inoreader.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The reader checks the feed on a schedule<\/strong> (typically every few minutes to hours). When new items appear in the XML, the reader pulls them in.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The new posts show up in the subscriber\u2019s feed.<\/strong> No algorithm, no ads, no ranking; just chronological posts from every site the user subscribed to.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    That process is called web syndication<\/a>, and RSS is one of the oldest and most widely-supported ways to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Screenshot<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    The example above is Feedly, one of the most popular RSS readers. You can subscribe to as many feeds as you want and view everything in one clean, chronological timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/a>Is RSS Still Used in 2026?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Honest answer: yes, but in specific niches. RSS as a mass-market way to follow blogs mostly died a decade ago (Google famously shut down Google Reader in 2013<\/a> and RSS has never regained that kind of mainstream usage). Still, it\u2019s had a small, quiet second life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Where RSS is still alive and well in 2026:<\/p>\n\n\n\n