- Content Planning
- Explainer
RSS Feeds for Blogs: Articles, Comments, or Both?
Editorial responsibility: SearchCub
Choose an article feed for blog-content updates, a comment feed for discussion updates, or both when you want both kinds of reading. Check what the actual feed contains before subscribing, because a familiar blog name does not tell you which stream you found.
RSS is a structured format for distributing web content. A feed reader uses its entries to help you follow that content. The RSS 2.0 specification, checked on October 8, 2026, describes the feed's channel and its individual items.
For your own blog, the keyword-research guide for bloggers helps you choose the subjects you will publish. A feed gives readers another way to follow what you publish afterward.
Choose the Updates Before the Address
WordPress's feed documentation distinguishes its site-content feeds from its comments feed. The latter contains comments rather than the site's articles. WordPress also documents a feed for comments on one specific post.
That gives you a useful choice:
What you want to follow | Feed to look for | What to check |
|---|---|---|
Blog content | Article or site-content feed | Entries describe the blog's content and link to those pages |
Conversation across the blog | Site-comments feed | Entries are comments, rather than new articles |
Conversation about one post | That post's comments feed, when available | The comments belong to the particular post you chose |
Use the feed links the site actually provides. WordPress notes that themes do not all expose every available feed type; other platforms can behave differently. An absent comments-feed link is a reason to check the site's documentation, rather than guess an endpoint.
Keep the Feed Address Separate From the Story Link
The feed address identifies the stream you follow. An item's link identifies the content described by that entry. Copying a story's address is not the same choice as following the blog's feed.
An RSS channel has its own title, website link and description. Individual entries have their own fields. Here are the three fields that explain this teaching article entry:
Item field | Invented teaching value | What it tells this reader |
|---|---|---|
| Label the Parts Drawer | Which article the entry describes |
|
| The article address in this example |
| A three-step way to name small storage drawers. | A synopsis of this teaching article |
These words and addresses are invented teaching inputs, not a tested feed or real article. The address is shown as text so you can distinguish its role from the feed address.
The RSS specification allows an item's description to be a synopsis or to contain the complete content. A short entry therefore does not establish that an article has been cut short: use its story link to continue when the feed supplies an excerpt.
Two Filled Feed-Choice Cards
Both cards below belong to the fictional teaching blog Workshop Notes. Its name, article, comments and feed paths are invented; no endpoint, reader compatibility or update delivery was tested.
Card A: Follow the blog's articles
Reader goal: follow Workshop Notes' article updates.
Chosen stream: article feed.
Teaching feed address:
https://example.com/feeds/articles.xml.Example entry: Label the Parts Drawer, with the synopsis and article link shown above.
Why this choice: the reader wants the published content, rather than the discussion beneath it.
Real-site check: confirm that the supplied feed contains article entries; record the actual feed address.
Card B: Follow the discussion
Reader goal: follow comments across Workshop Notes.
Chosen stream: site-comments feed.
Teaching feed address:
https://example.com/feeds/comments.xml.Example entry: an invented comment asking, “Would removable labels make it easier to reuse a drawer?”
Teaching comment address:
https://example.com/blog/label-the-parts-drawer#comment-teaching-a.Why this choice: the reader wants discussion updates, including contributions that are not new posts.
Real-site check: confirm that the entries are comments and whether they cover the whole site or only one article.
The different paths demonstrate two different streams; they are not default WordPress paths to copy. If you want both streams, keep both actual feed addresses with clear names.
Make the Choice Clear on Your Blog
Download the filled blog-feed choice cards. The file includes the two completed cards, the teaching entry and fields for replacing them with your own checked feed information.
Name a link for what it provides, such as “Article updates” or “Comments on this post.” If you offer several streams, explain their scope instead of labeling every link simply “RSS.”
Keep this reader subscription choice separate from submitting a sitemap to a search engine or deciding whether another publisher should republish your work. The completed choice here is which content stream a reader wants to follow.
Blog categories provide a different route: browsing groups of existing articles on your site. The blog-post writing guide helps you create the content itself. For a feed, finish by recording its actual address, the kind of entries you checked and a name that tells readers what they will receive.