RSS feeds work by taking content that appears on a website, converting it to a simple text format, and then releasing it to a RSS reader–such as Google Reader–to then view the article. If the article is of interest, the person can click the article title and it takes them to the actual web page. RSS Feeds make it possible for people to organize and keep track of all the different websites they frequent. In essence, the RSS feed has replaced the bookmark.
How Does RSS Work?
Before RSS can ever work, the writer needs to publish something. For example, the writer could publish an article on their blog. Once the article is published, it appears on the website. Now that the article is public, anyone and any feed can pick it up.
The RSS feed picks up the articles by visiting your unique RSS link. In the past, a person would have to copy and paste that link into their specific reader. However, these days, a user can click on the subscribe button using their reader of choice. Then, the reader automatically adds the RSS feed to the list and the rest is as easy as clicking and reading.
When the article is published, it doesn’t automatically appear on the RSS feed. The reason for this is because the feed checks out the unique link every once in a while. If you publish an article right after the feed has visited your site, it might not come back again for another couple hours. If the feed notices a new article, it bookmarks it. The reader then picks it up and reveals it to all of the followers.
The problem with this is that, sometimes, it takes a little while for the feed to find the article. To combat this, a website owner can ping the feed. What this means is that it sends out a shout to the feed saying there is a new article. This prompts the feed to visit sooner so people know you’ve updated your site sooner. In other words, a ping is a shout to get the feed to come quicker.
The RSS feed works by syndicating the content that you publish on your site. It takes your content, simplifies it into basic text and then lets all readers know it exists. People can then view many different articles from their RSS reader without having to visit each individual site.
