As a WordPress site owner, you have a ton of control over how your content is presented to the world. One key area where you can fine-tune the experience is your RSS feed.
While most WordPress users are happy to let their RSS feed update instantly when a new post is published, there are some compelling reasons to add a bit of a delay. In this post, we‘ll dive into the whys and hows of delaying posts from appearing in your WordPress RSS feed.
What is an RSS feed?
Before we jump into the tutorial, let‘s make sure we‘re all on the same page about what an RSS feed is and how it works.
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It‘s a standardized XML file format that allows content to be syndicated and distributed to other websites and applications. When you publish a new post on your WordPress site, that content is automatically added to your RSS feed.
A typical RSS feed includes key pieces of information for each post:
- Title
- Description or excerpt
- Author
- Publish date and time
- Full content (or a portion of it)
- Featured image
So when a new item hits your RSS feed, all of that information is made available for other sites and services to display and distribute.
WordPress generates multiple RSS feeds by default, including:
- Your main posts feed (example.com/feed)
- Comment feeds for each post
- Category and tag feeds
- Author-specific feeds
Many WordPress sites use their main RSS feed to power automated email newsletters, content syndication to other sites, or mobile app content. That‘s why understanding and controlling the timing of when posts appear in your feed can be so important.
5 Reasons to Put Your WordPress RSS Feed on a Delay
So why would you want to delay content from appearing in your RSS feed? Isn‘t instant distribution the whole point? Well, not always. Here are a few scenarios where an RSS delay can be beneficial:
1. Prevent premature publishing mishaps
We‘ve all been there. You‘re rushing to get a post out, you hit publish, and then immediately spot a glaring typo or formatting issue. With an RSS delay in place, you give yourself a short window to proofread the live post and make corrections before it hits your subscribers‘ inboxes or feed readers.
2. Get the SEO edge on scrapers
Content scraping websites often use RSS feeds to quickly identify and copy new posts from other sites. If you‘re a relatively new or low-authority site, sometimes these scrapers can even outrank you in search results for your own content! Adding a delay to your RSS feed gives search engines time to crawl and index your original post first.
3. Maintain a consistent subscriber schedule
Let‘s say you have an email newsletter that goes out every morning at 9am, powered by your RSS feed. If you publish posts sporadically throughout the day, your subscribers will receive that content at different times. Adding a delay and setting all posts to publish at a specific time (e.g. 6am) ensures a consistent experience.
4. A/B test before full distribution
Your RSS feed is often the first place that new content is distributed. If you want to test out different titles, featured images, or excerpt text before a post is widely shared, an RSS delay gives you a window to swap those elements out based on initial engagement data.
If you use an automated social media scheduler like Buffer or Hootsuite, you might want your social posts to go out before the content hits your RSS feed. A delay ensures your social media followers are the first to see new posts, not your email subscribers.
How to Delay RSS Feed Posts in WordPress (2 Methods)
Now that you know why you might want an RSS feed delay, let‘s get into the technical details of how to set it up on your WordPress site.
We‘ll cover two methods:
- Using the WPCode plugin (easy & safe for all users)
- Manually adding code to your theme‘s functions.php file (advanced users only)
Method 1: Delay RSS Feed Posts with the WPCode Plugin
The simplest way to add an RSS feed delay to your WordPress site is by using a plugin. While there are a few plugins dedicated solely to this purpose, our favorite solution is the free WPCode plugin.
WPCode is a powerful plugin that allows you to easily add custom code snippets to your WordPress site without needing to directly edit your theme files. It has a huge library of pre-built snippets for common WordPress customizations, including RSS feed tweaks.
Here‘s how to use it:
Step 1: Install and activate the WPCode plugin
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New and search for "WPCode". Click "Install Now" and then "Activate".
Step 2: Access the code snippet library
Once activated, you‘ll see a new "WPCode" menu item in your WordPress dashboard. Hover over it and click on "Snippets" to access the library.
Step 3: Search for the RSS feed delay snippet
In the search bar at the top of the Snippets screen, type "RSS". This will filter the library down to RSS-related snippets.
Look for the snippet titled "Delay Posts in RSS Feeds" and click the "Use snippet" button.
Step 4: Customize the delay time
By default, the WPCode RSS delay snippet is set to hold posts for 10 minutes before they appear in your feed. If you want to adjust that timing, you can modify two pieces of the snippet:
- On Line 10, change the value of
$waitto the number of units you want to delay for (e.g.30) - On Line 13, change the value of
$unitto the type of unit. Options areMINUTE,HOUR, orDAY.
So if you wanted to delay posts for 2 hours, you‘d use:
$wait = ‘2‘;
$unit = ‘HOUR‘;Step 5: Activate the snippet
Once you‘ve got the timing set, just flip the toggle at the top of the snippet window from "Inactive" to "Active" and click the "Update" button.
That‘s it! Your RSS feed will now delay posts by your specified time period. If you ever need to adjust the delay or remove it entirely, just head back to the WPCode snippet library and make your changes.
Method 2: Manually Add RSS Feed Delay Code to functions.php
If you‘re an advanced WordPress user comfortable editing your theme files, you can also manually add the RSS delay code to your theme‘s functions.php file.
Here‘s the code you‘ll need to add:
function delay_rss_feed( $where ) {
global $wpdb;
if ( is_feed() ) {
$now = gmdate( ‘Y-m-d H:i:s‘ );
$wait = ‘10‘;
$unit = ‘MINUTE‘;
$where .= " AND TIMESTAMPDIFF($unit, $wpdb->posts.post_date_gmt, ‘$now‘) > $wait ";
}
return $where;
}
add_filter( ‘posts_where‘, ‘delay_rss_feed‘ );Let‘s break down what this code is doing:
- The
is_feed()function checks if the current request is for an RSS feed. If so, the delay logic is applied. - The
gmdate()function gets the current GMT datetime. This is compared against thepost_date_gmtfield in the database to determine if a post should be included in the feed. - The
TIMESTAMPDIFF()function is a MySQL function that calculates the difference between two dates. In this case, it‘s checking if the difference between the current time and the post publish time is greater than our specified$waitperiod. - The resulting
$whereclause is added to the WordPress query that generates the RSS feed, effectively hiding posts that are younger than our delay period.
You can modify the $wait and $unit variables to set your delay period, just like in the WPCode snippet.
A couple notes on this method:
- Be sure to add this code to the very bottom of your theme‘s functions.php file, ideally just before the closing
?>tag. - Keep in mind that any customizations made directly to your theme files can be overwritten if you update your theme. Always keep a backup and use a child theme where possible!
- If you‘re not comfortable editing PHP files directly, stick with the WPCode plugin method. Even seasoned WordPress developers can make mistakes that bring down a whole site.
Tips and Best Practices for RSS Feed Delays
We‘ve covered the technical setup, but what about the strategy behind RSS feed delays? Here are a few tips and best practices to keep in mind:
Choose the right delay period for your content and audience
There‘s no one-size-fits-all answer for how long your RSS feed delay should be. It depends on the type of content you publish and the expectations of your audience.
For example, a news website publishing breaking stories might want a very short delay of 5-10 minutes to allow for quick edits while still getting information out fast. On the other hand, an evergreen blog publishing in-depth tutorials might be fine with a delay of a few hours to allow for thorough proofreading and promotion.
Think about your content strategy and your subscribers‘ needs to find the right balance.
Set clear expectations with your audience
If you do decide to add an RSS feed delay, make sure your subscribers know what to expect. You might add a line to your email signup confirmation message like:
"New posts are added to the email newsletter every weekday at 9am. Posts typically publish on the blog 2 hours prior."
This helps avoid confusion or frustration if a subscriber sees a new post on your site but doesn‘t receive it in their inbox right away.
Stay consistent with your publishing schedule
An RSS feed delay doesn‘t mean you should be publishing at random times throughout the day. Your audience still appreciates consistency and predictability, even if the actual delivery of new content is slightly staggered.
Aim to publish new posts on a regular schedule (e.g. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6am) and let your RSS delay handle the rest.
Make exceptions for time-sensitive content
There may be situations where you don‘t want a particular post held up by your RSS delay. For example, if you‘re publishing an announcement about a flash sale or addressing an urgent customer service issue, you want that content distributed as quickly as possible.
In these cases, you can either temporarily disable your RSS delay or adjust the post timestamp to be further in the past to bypass the delay. Just remember to set everything back to normal once the time-sensitive period has passed!
Troubleshooting RSS Feed Delays
If you‘ve set up an RSS feed delay but your posts still aren‘t showing up as expected, here are a few things to check:
Caching plugins: If you use a caching plugin on your WordPress site, it may be serving up an older, cached version of your RSS feed. Try clearing your cache and then checking the feed again.
CDN issues: Similarly, if you use a content delivery network (CDN) like Cloudflare, it can sometimes take a bit for changes to your RSS feed to propagate. Give it a few minutes and then check again.
Incorrect timezone settings: The RSS delay code uses your WordPress site‘s timezone setting to determine when a post should appear in the feed. Double-check that your timezone is set correctly in Settings > General.
Plugin conflicts: If you have other plugins that modify the behavior of RSS feeds, they may be interfering with the delay functionality. Try temporarily deactivating other RSS-related plugins and see if the delay starts working properly.
If you‘ve checked all of the above and your RSS feed delay still isn‘t working as expected, it may be time to seek out expert help. You can post a question on the WordPress.org support forums or reach out to a professional WordPress developer for assistance.
Conclusion
Delaying posts from appearing in your WordPress RSS feed can be a smart strategy for maintaining content quality, improving SEO, and creating a better experience for your subscribers.
Whether you choose to use a plugin like WPCode or manually add the delay code to your theme files, the setup process is relatively straightforward. Just remember to choose an appropriate delay period for your content, communicate any changes to your audience, and keep an eye out for any troubleshooting issues.
Happy publishing!
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