The WordPress RSS feed: what it is, where to find it and when to turn it off

The short answer: the RSS feed is a list of your latest posts, written for programs to read, not people. WordPress creates it by itself, at your-domain.com/feed/. It serves news readers and automation; it also serves whoever copies your text, so it pays to choose what it shows.

Where the feeds are

Feed Address
Posts your-domain.com/feed/
Comments your-domain.com/comments/feed/
One category your-domain.com/category/name/feed/
One author your-domain.com/author/name/feed/
What it is for News readers, automatic notices, connecting the site to tools like n8n: n8n and WordPress.

Controlling what it shows, step by step

1 Go to Settings > Reading and look at “For each post in a feed, include”.
2 Choose “Summary” if you do not want the whole text to leave the site; “Full text” gives the whole post to whoever reads the feed.
3 Set how many items the feed shows (the default is enough).
4 Open the feed address in the browser: you see a page of structured text. If it gives an error, save the permalinks again: Permalinks and the 404.
5 If you do not want feeds, switch them off with a security or SEO plugin that has the option. Readers already following them stop receiving.
Full text in the feed makes copying easy. Some sites pick up the feed and republish other people’s posts. A summary, with a link to the post, is a good middle way. It does not cost you the visits of people who want to read more.
If the site’s feed gives an “XML parsing” error or appears blank, almost always a plugin is writing spaces or warnings before the content: deactivate plugins one by one. Disabling plugins, even when you cannot get in.

Your site’s feed gives an error and you do not understand why? Open a ticket with the feed’s address.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

WordPress permalinks and the 404 that follows

Disabling plugins, including when you cannot get in

n8n and WordPress: posts and WooCommerce orders

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