How to Find RSS Feeds for Any Website

Published January 2026 · 7 min read

One of the most common questions from RSS newcomers is "How do I find the RSS feed for a website?" While RSS feeds are everywhere, they're not always obvious. This guide covers every technique for discovering RSS feeds, from the easy automatic methods to detective-level sleuthing.

Method 1: Use Auto-Discovery (Easiest)

The simplest method is to let your RSS reader do the work. Our free RSS Feed Reader includes auto-discovery—just paste the website's main URL and we'll find the RSS feed automatically.

This works because most websites include a special link in their HTML that points to their RSS feed. RSS readers can detect this link even if there's no visible RSS icon on the page.

Steps:

  1. Copy the website's homepage URL (e.g., https://example.com)
  2. Paste it into your RSS reader's "Add Feed" field
  3. The reader searches for and subscribes to the RSS feed

This method works for about 80% of websites with RSS feeds.

Method 2: Look for the RSS Icon

Many websites display an RSS icon that links directly to their feed. Look for the orange RSS icon (a dot with two curved lines, like a broadcast signal) in these locations:

  • Header or navigation menu
  • Footer
  • Sidebar
  • Article pages near social share buttons

Clicking this icon usually takes you directly to the feed URL, which you can then copy and paste into your RSS reader.

Method 3: Check Common Feed URLs

Most websites follow standard conventions for their RSS feed URLs. Try appending these paths to the site's domain:

  • example.com/feed
  • example.com/rss
  • example.com/feed.xml
  • example.com/rss.xml
  • example.com/atom.xml
  • example.com/index.xml
  • example.com/feed/rss
  • example.com/blog/feed

WordPress sites almost always use /feed, making them easy to find.

Method 4: View Page Source

For a more thorough search, you can look at the website's HTML source code:

  1. Right-click on the webpage and select "View Page Source" (or press Ctrl+U)
  2. Search for "rss" or "atom" (Ctrl+F)
  3. Look for lines containing type="application/rss+xml" or type="application/atom+xml"
  4. The href attribute contains the feed URL

This is essentially what auto-discovery does automatically, but doing it manually can find feeds that auto-discovery misses.

Method 5: Platform-Specific Feeds

Many platforms have predictable RSS feed patterns:

YouTube

Every YouTube channel has an RSS feed. The URL format is:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID

To find the channel ID, go to the channel page and look at the URL. If it shows a custom URL, view the page source and search for "channelId".

Reddit

Every subreddit and user page has an RSS feed. Just append .rss to the URL:

  • reddit.com/r/technology.rss
  • reddit.com/user/username.rss

Medium

Medium publications and users have RSS feeds at:

  • medium.com/feed/@username
  • medium.com/feed/publication-name

Substack

Substack newsletters all have feeds at:

newsletter-name.substack.com/feed

GitHub

GitHub repositories have feeds for releases, commits, and more:

  • Releases: github.com/user/repo/releases.atom
  • Commits: github.com/user/repo/commits.atom
  • Tags: github.com/user/repo/tags.atom

WordPress Sites

WordPress has a standard feed structure:

  • Main feed: example.com/feed
  • Category feed: example.com/category/name/feed
  • Author feed: example.com/author/name/feed
  • Comments: example.com/comments/feed

Method 6: Use Browser Extensions

Browser extensions can help detect RSS feeds on any page you visit:

  • Firefox: Has built-in feed detection that shows an icon in the address bar
  • Chrome: Extensions like "RSS Feed Reader" or "Feedbro" detect feeds automatically

These extensions highlight when a page has RSS feeds available, making discovery effortless.

Method 7: Google Search

Sometimes the easiest method is to search for it:

  • Search: site:example.com rss
  • Search: "example.com" rss feed

This can find documentation pages or blog posts where the site mentions their RSS feed URL.

What If There's No RSS Feed?

Some websites genuinely don't offer RSS feeds. In these cases, you have options:

Check for Alternative Formats

Some sites offer email newsletters instead of RSS. You can use services that convert newsletters to RSS feeds.

Use RSS Bridge Services

Tools like RSS-Bridge can generate feeds for websites that don't offer them natively. These work by scraping the website and converting updates to RSS format.

Request It

Contact the website and ask if they offer RSS or could add it. Many site owners don't realize RSS is still popular and might add it upon request.

Organizing Your Discovered Feeds

Once you've found feeds, organize them effectively:

  • Use categories to group similar topics
  • Start with a few feeds and add more gradually
  • Export your feeds as OPML for backup
  • Regularly review and unsubscribe from low-value feeds

Conclusion

Finding RSS feeds is usually straightforward once you know where to look. Auto-discovery handles most cases, but the techniques above ensure you can find feeds even when they're hidden. Start adding feeds to your reader today and build your personalized news stream.

Try our free RSS Feed Reader with built-in auto-discovery—just paste any website URL and start reading.

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