How to Find Your Blog’s RSS Feed URL

Athlyn Green is interested in common-sense approaches to health, quality of life, and planning for the future.

Learn what an RSS feed URL is and how to find it.

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RSS Feed URL? What’s That?

Perhaps one of the most dreaded questions a blogger will ever face is a request for his or her RSS feed URL. While many bloggers can whip off their blog’s address with pride, trying to actually nail down their blog’s feed URL is a different matter entirely.

Now, we all know by now that RSS stands for really simple syndication, but the “really simple” part somehow escapes us when we are petitioned to enter our blog’s RSS feed URL into a form.

It’s Needed to Add Your Blog to a Directory

A typical scenario is that you might be trying to add your blog to a blogging directory and you hit a wall when petitioned for that damn feed URL. The awful part of all this is that if you don’t play ball, your blog doesn’t get listed in these directories. For bloggers who are trying to gain an audience, this really isn’t the desired scenario. And no, trying to submit the form without the requested feed URL doesn’t fly, even if you pound Submit or Save repeatedly. Some gremlin has been there ahead of you and has sussed this out already, and that little gremlin knows this is what you’ll try to do.

Nope, you have hit a roadblock. If most of you are honest, at this juncture, you click the little x up in the corner to make the bad form go away, telling yourself you’ll do it when you aren’t so busy. Right.

This is what you’ll see: an annoying form requesting an RSS feed URL.

Athlyn Green

Name of Blog and Blog URL, Easy-Peasy

Now, even if you started out as a novice blogger, sooner or later you would have stumbled upon your blog’s URL—you know, that horizontal line of text that keeps reappearing up top each time you sign in to your blogging platform. You may even have gone well past typing the whole thing out and become adept at grabbing it by highlighting it and copy/pasting it, and you now feel like a bit of a wizard and on top of the game.

Even those as slow as slugs have winkled out that .com, .ca, and .org are site URLs. So that part of the form at least is easily navigable. But, it’s that bottom line that is the Waterloo and that cuts many bloggers right off at the knees.

How to Find Your Blogger Feed URL

For anyone who is trying to bump up blog readership, adding their blog’s RSS feed URL is a necessary, all-be-it painful step (and you thought going to the dentist was bad!). A Feed URL can facilitate automatic updates of your posts, so, yes, it is a big deal and usually saves you from having to manually post these. Much depends on the particular site you are adding your blog to.

Now that you know why your blog feed is important, you may be ready to finally buckle down and learn how to find your feed URL.

Step 1: Open Blogger

The first thing you’ll want to do is shrink down your current window with the form asking you for your feed URL, so you don’t lose your work thus far, and then navigate over to Blogger. (For the sake of this tutorial we’ll be using Blogger). If you have a WordPress blog, no worries. See the video at the bottom of this page.

These buttons should be living in your blog’s sidebar.

Athlyn Green

Step 2: Hunt Up the Orange Buttons

Once you are at Blogger, sign in and click on View Blog.

Find the Subscribe buttons that should be living over in your sidebar: one is entitled Posts, the other is Comments and each of these is prefaced by an orange button.

If the orange buttons haven’t found a home in your sidebar, you have not yet installed them. You’ll be sighing or grinding your teeth at this point. (Scroll down in this article for instructions about how to install them. Honest, it’s just a few clicks).

Open the drop-down menu.

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Step 3: Copy and Paste Your URL From Atom

Okay, once you see the Subscribe buttons in your sidebar area, follow these steps:

1. Click on Posts.
2. You’ll see a drop-down menu and at the bottom, Atom. Click on that.
   
3. A page will open. you will see your Feed URL up top. It should look something like http://——.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default or if you’ve burned a feed at Feedburner, http://feeds.feedburner.com/——/nROL. Below this you will see a listing of your posts. Neat, eh?
4. Run your mouse over the URL to highlight it, copy it, and then paste it into the form.
5. And, if you are a smarty pants, you will pop that URL into a page and send it to your desktop as a shortcut, so that you can find it with one click in the future.

While an Atom feed, I’ve been able to submit this, when asked for a feed URL and the directories have accepted it.

Still Can’t Find it?

If you don’t see what you are looking for from the instructions above, after right-clicking on Atom, select Open Link in New Tab or Open Link in New Window. Look up top of the page in the horizontal bar and you should see the feed URL.

Don’t See the Orange Buttons?

Okay, I promised earlier that if you didn’t find the orange buttons in your sidebar, it meant you hadn’t installed them yet and I would walk you through that.

1. Go to Design (at the top right of your blog’s page) and click on it.
2. Another page will open, now look to the left to where it says, Layout. Click on that.
3. Another page will open and you will see Navbar, Header, Cross-Column, Cross-Column 2. Scroll down until you see Main and then look over in your sidebar section and you will see: “Add a Gadget.” Click on that.

Click on “Add a Gadget.”

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4. Scroll way down until you see “Subscription Links.” Click on this and when the next page opens, make sure to hit Save. Your buttons will now appear in your sidebar. And through these buttons, you can find your RSS feed URL.

Note: Now that you have installed these buttons, your blog visitors will be able to subscribe to your blog and receive your posts in their feed readers.

Click on “Subscription Links,” then hit “Save” on the page that opens.

Athlyn Green

Alert

After you hit “Add a Gadget” and scroll down, you will see an orange button and Feed next to it. Don’t be fooled and think this is what you need to add. Don’t do this. This is for when you want to add someone else’s feed to your blog. Keep scrolling down until you see Subscription Links.

You’re Good to Go

If you’ve followed these instructions, you should be good to go. Once you get onto it, finding your feed isn’t that difficult. Now reward yourself with something nice for finally mastering this.

Using Your Blog Feed Means Greater Post Exposure

You’ve now joined the ranks of accomplished geeks and techies who know a thing or two—and you didn’t sprout another grey hair in the process.

Now that you’ve mastered the art of grabbing an RSS feed URL, you are on your way to increased blog readership because you can add your feed wherever it’s requested.

Submitting a feed URL is a great method of syncing with different sites. Each time you publish a new post, it appears at these sites. You can see why directories need the feed URL. It is an automated process that allows for the inclusion of your latest posts and this is something that benefits all parties.

© 2009 Athlyn Green

Minaki Seirawan on July 04, 2019:

Thank you for the info. It saved me so much time.

Babita Singh on August 21, 2018:

thanks very useful info helped a lot

Ummu Sh on May 08, 2018:

Thank you so much. This is really helpful 🙂

mediapro.ltd on November 21, 2017:

Thank you, it’s help me

IndiasJob on October 16, 2017:

Thanks a lot

IndiasJob

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on October 11, 2017:

Angela, which platform are you using, Blogger or WordPress?

Angela on October 10, 2017:

I’m going nuts. When I do this I get a GIANT page of garbled text (like coding) but no URL…

adetunji on October 08, 2017:

I followed the process as said and I hit the save botton but couldn’t get the RRS What wrong please help me.

Som Harri on September 17, 2017:

Thanks a lot

Jude (medianet.info) on August 09, 2017:

Ah! You finally helped me arrive where I should be. Many thanks.

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on May 22, 2017:

Please, people, do not include links to external websites in your comments. These will be deleted as spam.

Crystal Calhoun on May 02, 2017:

Very Helpful, thanks!

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on May 01, 2017:

Hi NovElle, I’ve always used the Atom feed and the directories have accepted it; however, I’ve included a new video that shows another way to do this. You simply add some words onto your blog name. See above.

NovElle on May 01, 2017:

I followed every step above then proudly hopped over to Twittimer to offer my findings only to be told “it is a ATOM feed and not an RSS feed. So unfortunately, it won’t work” HUH? I’ve never even heard of any of these words before now, and again “Huh?”

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on February 20, 2017:

Hi Mike, is sounds like it can’t locate the feed url, which could signify that part of it is missing. Try carefully copy/pasting it again and see if that does the trick.

mike smith on February 18, 2017:

Thanks – I keep getting the response “retrieving RSS feeds” – is it possible my blog is too big?

Bec on November 05, 2016:

Iv’e just spent 3 hours looking for the solution …. then I found you so HEARTFELT thanks

Baisali Mukherjee on October 28, 2016:

It has solved my problem. Thanks for the post

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on October 12, 2016:

Bolaji, have you checked your sidebar? Scroll down and make sure the buttons haven’t somehow morphed downward. Sometimes sidebar items get a tad scrambled.

If that’s not it, sign out of your blog, then sign back in again, and try again.

Bolaji Oseni on October 12, 2016:

i dont know why i cant add subscription link to my blog. it is not saving even when i click save

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on August 23, 2016:

Nah, no smirk. All in good fun because we have all felt frustration trying to wade through all of this.

Ike on August 21, 2016:

Thanks. I forgot how to access my blog feed and after patiently reading through your ‘instructions for dummies’, I got the information I wanted.

Why do I get the impression though that you had a smirk on your face while writing this article.

Thanks all the same.

Billie Kelpin from Newport Beach on May 16, 2015:

Still wrapping my head around this, but THANK YOU! Love your humor. I hope I’m doing this right. We’ll see. When I clicked on ATOM, I did get a url. However, the message underneath the url on a blank page said that it was invalid. Maybe it’s supposed to say that. I’ll keep reading. Again, very helpful.

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on November 05, 2014:

Aoi, I clicked your link but can’t access the blog and I get the same message. You will have to go into your settings if you are able to. If all else fails, if this is a newer blog, you may choose to create another and try again.

Fiona Barnes on September 27, 2014:

Thank you! So much!

jusmijo on June 07, 2014:

very useful. thank you

aghora on November 26, 2013:

thanks for sharing this information to us

Samson Ogola from Nairobi on November 25, 2013:

This was so helpful.. thanks

koti on July 10, 2013:

very useful to me

Rebecca Shaw on July 07, 2013:

God bless you. This is the only thing I’ve read that makes any sense

humuszka on July 05, 2013:

Thank you! It was really useful! 🙂

Lex on June 01, 2013:

Thank you!

Josemer Lafuente from Philippines on April 19, 2013:

Thank you so much for the info! God bless.

Bijutoha on April 02, 2013:

Please there in my blog I couldn’t find any ATOM after clicking the POSTS .

Jade Cunningham from London on March 22, 2013:

Clever, FUNNY, and instructive. Really detailed post. I’ve even shared it on www.blogbods.com. Newbie bloggers often struggle over RSS feeds. This is very helpful indeed.

D truth uncensored on March 10, 2013:

This was very helpful. It helped me to start the process by enabling that I add subscription links to my blog but I couldn’t find properties or send link so I used copy link location. Thank you for the wonderful information anyway. Fredilia Momodu-Personal Blogger

Bijaya Ghimire from Kathmandu, Nepal on February 19, 2013:

Your very useful tips helped me. thank you

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on November 27, 2012:

Hi Grace,

That probably wouldn’t work. Another way to winkle out the feed URL is to click on Posts. When the drop-down menu appears, go down to Atom. Click on it and when the page opens, find View Feed XML. Click on that and when the next page opens, find the orange box. Right-click on that and select View Page Info and, viola, you will see the feed URL.

grace on November 24, 2012:

This helped me so much thank you. Can I ask a question? there is no properties or send link just save link as, would this still work?

skye2day from Rocky Mountains on November 18, 2012:

Thank you for your great info Athlyn. After years at my blog your hub happened to land on my lap. I have an rss feed but it sure did not come around easy. I love how you write simple easy to follow instructions. God Bless you for it and all of your helpful hubs!! Linked out.

Henry Chow on October 28, 2012:

Thank you so much – it was a great help!

yourcharmedlife on September 27, 2012:

very helpful thanks a ton!!

ShaamCA from India on September 11, 2012:

Quite informative one , Good share

robert on August 21, 2012:

Thank you much….great info. and you did’t have to use profanity etc.

again thanks, learning never ends, and that is good

jide on August 12, 2012:

fantastic article. Got what i needed when i needed it

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on May 18, 2012:

Hi Jerry, I just sent you an email with your Feed URL. At your site, you simply go to the orange feed button in the right column, then you click on RSS FEED, right beside the orange button, when the box pops up, you select Send Link. Your email will open with your RSS feed URL. You copy/paste that.

eric-carter from Fulham, UK on May 17, 2012:

Great hub! Thanks for sharing it, I was wondering about that yesterday, well – now I know 🙂

jiksaw213 from vietnam on May 16, 2012:

You rock Athlyn, i dont know that it coulb be simple!

Ruth Verkaik on April 12, 2012:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! This post was SO very helpful! I found my rss in a matter of minutes from following your simple directions!! This link will certainly be bookmarked for others who I know will need this.

You guys ROCK!

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on March 30, 2012:

Hi Larissa,

You’re welcome!

Larissa T. on March 30, 2012:

You’re kinda like…awesome! Thank you!

Billygar on February 16, 2012:

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Craig Hoffmann on January 28, 2012:

Was very frustrated until I found your very useful tips.

Thanyou so much.

Regards Craig

dungteng on October 27, 2011:

thank for your information, I can find about RSS feed URL

goldenarrow on September 11, 2011:

Where is it on your page as an example? I tried looking for post and can’t find it. I am still at square one if I can’t find “post” on your blog or anyone elses blog then. I can find subscribe on some peoples blogs. I will check to see if your method works when I right click on their subscribe here buttons.

thanks…your steps give me a starting point.

Goldenarrow

Pamela N Red from Oklahoma on April 03, 2011:

Thanks. I am so technically challenged and this made it easy for me.

Peg Cole from North Dallas, Texas on March 24, 2011:

Bookmarked and voted up. Thanks for the very helpful and easy to read information. Next time I will have this when I need it.

Simple & Easy Tasks on August 14, 2010:

Thank you very much for sharing this useful information. I was really struggled a lot just to get RSS feed url for my blog. Hope your methods will help me.

jahmeee on July 30, 2010:

hi, wondering if i created my own template with html via the classic template, can i still find my rss url?

i ve been searching on the net, and all the info seems to be referring to the blogger template designer.

i have already enabled the ‘allow blog feeds’ under settings, but i still am unable to follow my rss feeds on the blackberry.

help would be appreciated!

mincir on July 25, 2010:

In this video you have explained how to subscribe RSS Feed and how to access your blog or site.

Sure I will adopt this way

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on July 07, 2010:

Hi Bailey,

If you are on Blogger, you have to install the subscribe buttons before they appear in your sidebar. You go to Design (Layout), then ‘Ad a Gadget’. Scroll down to the fifth one above the bottom, where it says: Subscription Links and click to add it.

These boxes are a way of altering your HTML without having to go into your template, which can seem overwhelming in the beginning.

Baileybear on July 07, 2010:

I can’t find the two subscribe buttons you mention. Not even sure which sidebar. Plus I’m not even quite sure what a feed is, except that it might be useful? I’ve been here a month and there’s still so much to learn. Thankfully the HP community are very generous with their assistance

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on July 06, 2010:

Hi Bailey,

Please provide details and I will try to help.

Baileybear on July 06, 2010:

I’m stuck at step 1 too – I can’t find what you’re referring to.

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on July 01, 2010:

Hi Pamela,

Yes, once you get onto using feeds they can be very handy. For example, if you want a page to update so that it draws search engine attention, a feed is the perfect item to include. It works away in the background for you.

Pamela Oglesby from Sunny Florida on July 01, 2010:

Very easy to understand RSS feeds finally! I never knew what to do about them. Thanks for the great information.

4 One Week Only on June 24, 2010:

Thanks for the help – Ive been looking for assistance on techy jargon as I don’t have a clue!

Would you guys recommend WordPress or something else?

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on June 17, 2010:

It can be confusing when you are asked to provide your RSS feed URL. I’m glad this information has proved helpful.

worldblogger on June 17, 2010:

This hub is very informative, it will definitely help those who cannot find their URL feed.

lucieanne from Rotherham United Kingdom on May 31, 2010:

Thanks for this. I’m new on here and still fishing around to find useful information. I’ve bookmarked it for later, for when I’m a bit more confident.

Dobson from Virginia on May 19, 2010:

This is nice info for a tricky tool at our disposal.

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on May 17, 2010:

Hi Samson,

Delighted to be of help.

Sam from Tennessee on May 17, 2010:

thanks so much, just what I’ve been looking for…

gramarye from Adelaide – Australia on April 29, 2010:

Good hub, but I still don’t get it. Will have to study some more…

admin on April 25, 2010:

\It’s great thanks alot

i’ll try it in my wordpress blog

thanks

besthubs on April 16, 2010:

Very good hub.I will add your hub to my hub about blogging.Thanks.

Janelle on April 14, 2010:

Thank you so much! These things can be so confusing 😛

musicsound.in on March 15, 2010:

i´m on the net for a very long time already – however – i have to learn and to study all the time new things – for example now all and everything about rss feeds! thank you very much for your helpful article and a happy day and good luck from the musician and artist newsupermusic

gramsmith on January 20, 2010:

I really glad to read your nice article.Its looks like very informative and helpful.Thanks…………….

Georgina Crawford from Dartmoor on January 05, 2010:

Thank you – loads of lovely info to get me started – am bookmarking this one.

naveenkumarc on December 22, 2009:

veryy helpful hub, thanks!

Alysia McAlister from Arizona United States on December 17, 2009:

hallo, I like Green’s funny article. but I’m stuck on step #1.

when I click to blog something, (Amazon author’s page) then they want the rss feed url.

which naturally is invalid. so I navigated, sighing of course,to my hub pages blog in hopes to easily find an example of the rss feed.

the two subscribe buttons on the right don’t say posts and comments. so there’s no drop down menu to click on.

they say subscribe to my blog

and then the other says add a widget.

clicking on either of those subscribe buttons doesn’t lead me to the rss feed url amazon wants.

adding rss? didn’t do the trick. never mind, I’m thinking my page is not fully activated yet to fly. perhaps.

30 whacks with a wet noodle for me then. happy holidays.

great blog. macs might be different also.

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on November 07, 2009:

Hi Scheng,

I used to do that, too, until I discovered the trick above. This saves so much time and gives you the URL.

scheng1 on November 07, 2009:

so simple?! I always go a roundabout way to find rss through feedburner.

Athlyn Green (author) from West Kootenays on November 06, 2009:

Hello Zsuzby and Anne,

I’m glad you found this information helpful.

I’ve stumbled onto most of this by trial and error.

Anne Lyken Garner on November 06, 2009:

Very useful. Thank you so much. Yesterday I submmitted my blogs to a site and it asked me for exactly this. I didn’t know what to put or how to find it. I should’ve seen this yesterday. Bookmarked.

Zsuzsy Bee from Ontario/Canada on November 06, 2009:

Great hub as always. Just the info I was looking for. Thanks for sharing.

hope you’re well

kindest regards Zsuzsy