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How to Add Custom Post Types to Your Main WordPress RSS Feed

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Do you want to add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed?

By default, the WordPress RSS feed only shows your recent blog posts. However, if you are using custom post types for other content, then you may want to include them in your main RSS feed as well.

In this article, we will show you how to easily add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed.

Add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed

Why Add Custom Post Types to the Main RSS Feed in WordPress?

By default, WordPress comes with two commonly used content types: posts and pages. However, you can also create custom post types to add more content types if needed.

For instance, a movie review website may want to create a custom post type using custom taxonomies suitable for that particular content type.

Custom post type preview

Now, your custom post types can have their own RSS feed, which users can access by adding /feed/ at the end of the custom post type archive URL.

https://example.com/custom-post-type/feed/
https://example.com/movies/feed/

However, these custom post-type feeds are not easily discoverable.

For example, when a user enters your website’s URL into their feed reader, they will only be shown the subscription option for your main WordPress RSS feed, and custom post types won’t be included.

Feed reader showing main RSS feed at the top

By adding these post types to your RSS feed, you make it easier for users to subscribe to all of your WordPress site content.

Plus, it can also help improve your website SEO by allowing custom post types in the main RSS feed to be indexed by the search engines.

That being said, let’s see how to easily add a custom post type to your main WordPress RSS feed. We will cover two methods, so you can use the links below to jump to the method you want to use.

Method 1: Add All Custom Post Types to Your WordPress RSS Feed

This method is for you if you want to add all the custom post types to your WordPress RSS feed.

If you are using an eCommerce plugin like WooCommerce, then using this method will also enable you to include the product’s custom post type in the main RSS feed.

You can easily do this by adding custom code to your theme’s functions.php file.

However, keep in mind that the smallest error when entering the code can make your website inaccessible.

That’s why we recommend using WPCode to add code to your website. It is the best custom code snippets plugin on the market and is the easiest way to add custom code without breaking your site.

First, you need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more instructions, see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: The free WPCode plugin is all you need for this tutorial. However, upgrading to the premium WPCode plugin will give you access to a cloud-based snippet library, smart conditional logic, code revisions, and more.

Upon activation, head to the Code Snippets » + Add Snippet page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

From here, click on the ‘Use Snippet’ button under the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option.

Add new snippet

This will take you to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page, where you can start by typing a name for the code snippet.

After that, simply select ‘PHP Snippet’ as the ‘Code Type’ from the dropdown menu on the right.

Choose PHP as the code type for the Custom Post type code

Next, you need to copy and paste the following code into the ‘Code Preview’ box.

This code will allow you to add all publicly available post types to your main WordPress RSS feed.

function myfeed_request($qv) {
if (isset($qv['feed']))
$qv['post_type'] = get_post_types();
return $qv;
}
add_filter('request', 'myfeed_request');
Paste the code for adding custom post type to the WordPress RSS feed

Once you have done that, just scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section and choose ‘Auto Insert’ as the insert method.

Now, the code will automatically be executed on your website once you have activated and saved the snippet.

Choose an insertion method

After that, scroll back to the top of the page and toggle the ‘Inactive’ switch to ‘Active’.

Finally, simply click the ‘Save Snippet’ button to save and execute the custom code on your website.

Save Snippet for adding custom post type to WordPress RSS feed

All the custom post types will now be added to your main WordPress RSS feed.

To make sure that your code is working, you can check your RSS feed by visiting a feed reader.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using Feedly, which is an online tool that allows users to add RSS feeds and websites to their Feedly account, easily organize their content, and receive updates in real-time.

Once you are there, simply type your website URL under the ‘Follow your favorite websites’ option.

The custom post-type content will now be displayed in your WordPress RSS feed.

Check WordPress RSS feed

Method 2: Add a Specific Custom Post Type in the WordPress RSS Feed

If you want to add a specific custom post type to the main WordPress RSS feed, then this method is for you.

To do this, you will have to add custom code to your theme’s functions.php file. But keep in mind that the smallest error while entering the code can break your website.

That’s why we recommend using WPCode instead. It is the #1 WordPress code snippets plugin on the market. Using WPCode is the easiest and safest way to add custom code to your WordPress website.

First, you need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more instructions, see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: The free WPCode plugin is all you need for this tutorial. However, upgrading to the premium WPCode plugin will give you access to a cloud-based snippet library, smart conditional logic, code revisions, and more.

Once the plugin is activated, visit the Code Snippets » + Add Snippet page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

From here, click the ‘Use Snippet’ button under the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option.

Add new snippet

You will now be directed to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page, where you can start by typing a name for your code snippet.

This name won’t be displayed anywhere and is just used for identification purposes.

Next, choose the ‘PHP Snippet’ option from the ‘Code Type’ dropdown menu on the right.

PHP as code type for the specific custom post type code

Once you have done that, copy and paste the following code into the ‘Code Preview’ box.

function myfeed_request($qv) {
    if (isset($qv['feed']) && !isset($qv['post_type']))
        $qv['post_type'] = array('post', 'movies', 'books');
    return $qv;
}
add_filter('request', 'myfeed_request');

After adding the code, type the name of the custom post type next to where '['post_type']' is written in the code. In our example, we have ‘post’, ‘movies’, and ‘books’.

This custom post type will be added to your main WordPress RSS feed.

Paste code to add a custom post type to RSS feed

Now, scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section and select the ‘Auto Insert’ setting.

The custom code will now be automatically executed on your WordPress website upon activation.

Choose an insertion method

Next, you need to scroll back to the top of the page and toggle the ‘Inactive’ switch to ‘Active’.

Finally, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Snippet’ button to save and execute the code on your WordPress website.

Save your snippet

To make sure that the custom post type has been added, you will have to visit a feed reader like Feedly.

Once you are there, simply type in your website’s URL to search for its RSS feed.

The custom post-type content will now be displayed in your WordPress RSS feed.

Check WordPress RSS feed

We hope this article helped you learn how to add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed. You may also want to see our tips to optimize WordPress RSS feeds and our top picks for the best WordPress RSS feed plugins to boost website traffic.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

44 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

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  2. Ralph says

    Oh my! I didn’t even know custop posts don’t go into rss feed… Thank you for this guide. I will fix this immediately

  3. Aidan says

    Hi,

    This doesn’t appear to work with custom post types that are not using a custom taxonomy. We are using a CPT with the ‘category’ taxonomy. Is this why it isn’t working?

    e.g. mysite.com/feed?post_type=news&category=economy

    • WPBeginner Support says

      It should still work for those custom post types, you may want to ensure you’re adding the correct name for your custom post type

      Admin

  4. ReZa says

    Hi
    thank you for your Teaching.

    i use edd in my site, when i want to see edd feed, download category and download tag are not shown in a rss feed.

    at all: in a custom post type, how can i add post type category , post type tag to a feed?

    default WordPress feed for default post type, category and tag show nicely.

    i’m waiting for your answare.

  5. Samuel says

    Feeds are automatically added in the section dedicated for the custom post type example.com/feed/?post_type=books . You can just add an RSS icon linking to the earlier link.

  6. Ruben says

    I wanted to include ALL Custom Post Types so I used this first snippet.
    This included submissions to my Jetpack contact form!
    Unfortunately that took me a while to notice!

    Using the 2nd snippet to define each post type in the array fixed the issue.

  7. whoaloic says

    Hello,
    I meet an issue with a CPT.
    I add a CPT ‘cpt1’ to my feed amont others CPT, but cpt1 does not show in the feed.
    When I put cpt1 alone in the feed, it works.

    any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Regards.

      • JMarqz says

        I just want to ask you something, you could see your CPT in your-site.com/feed? I’m using CPT and WPML, but my CPT never shows in your-site.com/feed, just my normal posts.

        I follow this comment:

        And all the CPT I choose are showing in the Feed reader but never in your-site.com/feed. I desactivate and reactivate WPML still not showing in the URL. I appreciate a lot if you could tell me if your CPT are showing in the URL for the Feed (your-site.com/feed).

  8. Chuck Whelon says

    What if you don;t know the names of the custom post types you want to include in your feed (in example 2) – i.e. I have a webcomic,, & I know the custom post-type for that is “webcomic_post”, but I also want to include posts to my portfolio & woo commerce store products. When I use the first version of the code, these items all show up in the feed, pus some other stuff I want to exclude. The problem is that I don;t know the names of the custom post types being used, and I don’t know how to find them out? I did try ‘product’ and ‘portfolio’ but those didn’t work. I am a bit of a noob at WordPress, so apologies if this is a dumb question — Any help much appreciated!

    • Nathan says

      When you’re in WordPress, hover over the “Portfolio” link, for example, in the left navigation. This should point you at a URL where you can see all of your Portfolio items. Go to that page and look in the address bar, you’ll see the name of the post type listed there.

  9. Neil Curtis says

    Cheers, a quick and easy tip that worked straight away for me. I’ve basically got no ‘posts’ but two custom post types so I had nothing showing in my feed before I edited the functions.php.

    cheers again, Neil

  10. Pranjal says

    Excellent tip, works like charm!

    Want to merge WooCommerce feed to main blog’s feed, thanks again!

  11. Luke Rumley says

    I realize this post is older, but it came in handy today, so thanks! One tip for those that use Jetpack and don’t want to embarrass their visitors, use the second method, not the first! The first method publishes the “feedbacks” CPT to the RSS feed, which are all of the contact form submissions from your site. Oops!

  12. MoiMM says

    My last changes in my function.php file :

    <code>

    /*———————————————————————————–*//* Add Post format in RSS/*———————————————————————————–*/ function myfeed_request($qv) { if (isset($qv[‘feed’])) $qv[‘post_type’] = get_post_types(array( ‘public’ => true ) ); return $qv;}add_filter(‘request’, ‘myfeed_request’);

    </code>

  13. navjotjsingh says

    You should use get_post_types( array( ‘public’ => true ) ) instead of get_post_types() because you may not want the post types which are set not to be a publicly querable to be included in the feed.

      • Adam W. Warner says

        I’ve just found this function and implemented this code (the first one for adding all custom post types) and it works great for adding my custom posts type to my main feed.

        However, it has also added my pages to my feed. I thought this should only add posts, not pages?

        How do I exclude pages?

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