Which RSS Feed URL to Use When Your Site Has Several

Short answer: For most sites, use the main posts feed: /feed/ on WordPress, /rss/ on Ghost, /feeds/posts/default on Blogger, or the blog’s .atom feed on Shopify. Use a category or tag feed when a channel should only receive one topic, prefer RSS or Atom versions that you can validate, and never connect a comments feed or a search feed to social auto-posting. Whatever you choose, use the final HTTPS address without redirects.

Why one site has so many feeds

If you have ever looked for your site’s RSS feed, you may have found several candidates: /feed/, /rss/, /feed/atom/, /comments/feed/, /category/news/feed/, and perhaps a feed.xml arba index.xml as well. They are not duplicates by accident. Content management systems generate a feed for almost every list of content they can produce: all posts, one category, one tag, one author, comments, search results, and sometimes the same list in two or three formats.

That flexibility is useful, but it creates a practical question whenever you set up a feed reader, a newsletter digest or a social media auto-posting tool: which URL is the right one? Choosing the wrong feed is one of the most common reasons automation behaves strangely. Posts appear twice, comments get published as if they were articles, some items are missing, or nothing happens at all.

This guide explains the main feed types, lists the usual URLs on popular platforms and gives a simple way to decide.

The main feed types and what they contain

• Main posts feed. The latest published posts across the whole site, newest first. This is the feed most people mean when they say “our RSS feed”.
• Category feed. Only posts in one category, for example “News” or “Recipes”. Useful when different channels should receive different topics.
• Tag feed. Only posts with one tag. Similar to category feeds, but tags are often used less consistently, so check that tagging is reliable before depending on it.
• Author feed. Posts by one author. Handy for multi-author blogs where each writer wants their own posts on their personal profiles.
• Comments feed. The latest comments, either site-wide or for a single post. Useful for moderators, not for publishing to social media.
• Search feed. Posts matching a search term. Some platforms generate them, but results can change unpredictably, so they are a poor basis for automation.
• Format variants. The same list in RSS 2.0, Atom, and sometimes the older RSS 0.92 or RDF formats. The content is the same; only the XML structure differs.

Common feed URLs by platform

Here are the usual addresses on popular platforms. Replace example.com with your domain, and always open the URL in a browser to confirm it returns XML.

If your platform is not listed, look at the page source for a link rel="alternate" tag with type="application/rss+xml" arba application/atom+xml. That is the feed the site itself advertises. Our guides to finding feeds on WordPress and on Blogger go into more detail.

RSS or Atom: does the format matter?

When a platform offers both, the choice is usually less important than people expect. Both formats carry titles, links, summaries, dates and unique identifiers, and every serious feed reader and auto-posting service supports both. There are a few practical differences worth knowing:

• Dates. RSS 2.0 uses RFC 822 dates such as Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000; Atom uses ISO 8601 dates such as 2026-09-29T08:00:00Z. Atom dates are harder to get wrong.
• Update times. Atom has a required updated element for each entry, which some tools use to spot edits.
• Images. Many WordPress plugins and themes add images to the RSS 2.0 feed but not to the Atom variant, simply because RSS is the default. Check which one includes the images you want.
• Legacy formats. WordPress still serves RSS 0.92 at /feed/rss/ and RDF at /feed/rdf/. Avoid these for new setups; they carry less information.

The rule of thumb: pick the format that contains the most complete data for your items, usually the platform’s default, and stick with it. Switching formats later can change item identifiers and cause re-posting. For a deeper comparison, read Atom feed vs RSS feed.

Choosing a feed for social auto-posting

For publishing new content to social networks, apply these rules in order:

1. Start with the main posts feed if every post should go to every connected channel.
2. Switch to category feeds when channels have different audiences. For example, a LinkedIn company page might receive only “Industry insights”, while a Facebook Page receives “Events” and “Offers”. Each channel gets its own feed URL.
3. Use author feeds for personal profiles on multi-author sites, so each writer shares only their own work.
4. Avoid comments, search and archive feeds. They are not meant for publishing. A comments feed connected to a social account will post every comment as if it were an article.
5. Do not connect overlapping feeds to the same channel. If a post belongs to two categories and both category feeds go to the same account, it will usually be posted twice. Either use one feed per channel or make sure your categories do not overlap for that channel.

Some tools also offer keyword filters that include or exclude items by words in the title or description. That can replace category feeds when your site does not categorise posts cleanly. See category filtering for social accounts for examples.

Use the final URL, not a redirecting one

Many sites have several addresses that all end up at the same feed: http:// ir https://, with and without www, /feed ir /feed/, or an old FeedBurner address. Each redirect adds a request, and some automation tools, caches and security layers treat redirects inconsistently. Worse, if a redirect is removed during a site migration, the feed stops working silently.

Open your candidate URL, follow any redirects and use the final address, the one that returns XML directly with an HTTP 200 status. If you are unsure, a command such as curl -sIL https://example.com/feed shows every hop. Also make sure the final URL uses the same domain as your articles; tools sometimes use the feed’s domain to build absolute links.

How many items should the feed show?

Most platforms show the latest 10 items by default. WordPress controls this with the “Syndication feeds show the most recent” setting under Reading. For auto-posting, 10 to 20 items is usually enough, as long as you do not publish more than that between checks. If you publish many posts in a burst, a very short feed can cause items to fall off the list before a tool sees them. On the other hand, a feed with hundreds of items is slow to download and parse. Our article on how many items to include covers the trade-offs.

Also check full text versus summary. WordPress has a setting to include the full text or only an excerpt. For social auto-posting, the excerpt is usually enough, and it keeps the feed small; for feed readers, many subscribers prefer full text.

Quick checks before you connect a feed

Before you paste a URL into any tool, run through this list:

• Does the URL return XML with an HTTP 200 status, not an HTML page or a login screen?
• Does it contain the items you expect, newest first, with correct titles and links?
• Do items include images, either as enclosures, in the description or through Open Graph tags on the linked pages?
• Are the dates correct and in the right time zone?
• Does it validate without errors in a feed validator?
• Is it the final HTTPS address without redirects?
• Is it the only feed connected to that social channel, or are overlapping feeds excluded?

Five minutes spent here prevents most of the problems people later attribute to the auto-posting tool.

What happens if you switch feeds later

Changing the feed URL connected to an existing channel is safe if you understand one detail: tools remember which items they have already posted, usually by the item’s GUID or link. If the new feed uses the same identifiers, nothing is reposted. If it uses different identifiers, for example because you switched from RSS to Atom and the platform formats IDs differently, older items may look new and be posted again. To be safe, set a start date or limit posts to items published after the switch.

Typical situations where people change feeds, and what to watch in each case:

• Moving from the main feed to category feeds. Items keep the same links and GUIDs, so tools normally recognise them. The main risk is overlap: a post in two categories may now reach one channel twice.
• Retiring an old FeedBurner or proxy address. The items are the same, but the proxy may have rewritten links or identifiers. Expect some reposting unless you set a start date.
• Migrating to a new platform. A move from one CMS to another almost always changes GUIDs and often changes URLs. Treat the new feed as a fresh source and start it from the migration date.
• Changing domains. Links change even when content does not. Update the feed URL in every tool at the same time as the redirect goes live.

In every case, watch the first few automated posts after the change and check the posting log. Problems show up immediately, which makes them easy to fix before followers notice.

How PostRSS works with multiple feeds

PostRSS accepts any RSS 2.0 or Atom feed and checks it every 5 minutes on all plans, or every minute on Enterprise plans. You can connect several feeds to one account, send one feed to many targets, and give each source its own keyword filters to include or exclude items by words in the title and description. Posts can be built from the item title, the description, the page title or your own static text, and images come from the feed item or the page’s Open Graph tags. You can also choose the date to start from, so switching feeds does not repost your archive. See the features page for details and the pricing page for plans.

Related reading

• How to Filter Your RSS Feed by Category Before Auto-Posting
• RSS Feed Autodiscovery: Make Sure Tools Can Find Your Feed
• Why Your RSS Feed Auto-Posts the Same Article Twice
• How to Write an RSS Feed by Hand: A Minimal Valid Example

The bottom line

Most sites need only one feed for automation: the main posts feed in the platform’s default format. Use category, tag or author feeds when channels need different content, avoid comment and search feeds, never connect overlapping feeds to the same channel, and always use the final HTTPS URL. Check the feed once before connecting it, and it will keep working quietly in the background.

FAQ

What is the RSS feed URL for a WordPress site?

The main feed is your domain followed by /feed/, for example https://example.com/feed/. WordPress also offers /feed/atom/ for Atom, /comments/feed/ for comments, and category feeds such as /category/news/feed/.

Should I use the RSS or the Atom version of my feed?

Either works with modern tools. Choose the one that includes the most complete data for your items, usually the platform default, and avoid switching later because identifiers may change and cause reposting.

Why are comments being posted to my social accounts?

You have probably connected a comments feed instead of the posts feed. Replace it with the main posts feed or a category feed, and check that no comment feed URL remains connected.

Can I send different categories to different social accounts?

Yes. Connect each account to its own category or tag feed, or use keyword filters if your tool supports them. Make sure one account does not receive two overlapping feeds, or posts may appear twice.

Does it matter if my feed URL redirects?

Often it still works, but redirects add delay and can break silently after a site migration. Use the final HTTPS address that returns XML directly with an HTTP 200 status.