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RSS Aggregator: What is It, How It Works, And Why You Need It

First things first – there is loads of content on the Internet.

In fact, that’s an understatement.

Believe it or not, more than 4.4 million blog posts are published every day. (Source)

Yes, 4.4 million!

The worldwide web is expanding and the amount of content being published every day is expanding with it.

There are millions of websites ready to give you the daily dose of their awesome articles. (Count us in the list!)

Endless articles, interviews, and reports, and much more – all waiting for you to click through and read.

So, how would one single human visit tons of websites to gobble all this content?

Enter: RSS feeds.

RSS Feeds – What the Heck Are They?

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. It is an Internet language standard similar to HTML. 

Yeah, we know…not very exciting. 

The term might sound like a lot of technical mumbo jumbo, but you don’t really need a Ph.D. in Nerdology to understand what RSS feeds are.

In fact, it’s “really simple.”

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Let’s say you follow a blog religiously.

To find out if there is a new post on the blog or not, what you do is, you either manually visit the website or you subscribe to their e-newsletter, right?

Well, this is okay if you’re following one or two blogs. 

However, if the number is five, ten, or more, then manually visiting each website or even subscribing to their newsletters is not an option. 

This is exactly where RSS comes into the picture. 

Instead of you having to go to 10 different websites, you can simply subscribe to their RSS feeds. 

RSS feeds allow you to easily collect and to receive updates to web-based content of your interest.

The aim of RSS feeds is pretty straightforward – you subscribe to them and then every bite from every source you care about is fed directly to you.

Well, not directly, but through an intermediary known as an RSS aggregator.  

Umm…RSS Aggregator? Sounds Interesting!

An RSS aggregator is a tool that helps you wrangle all of the technical mumbo-jumbo of RSS feeds into something readable.

Basically, all the content that you’re interested in can be found and personalized for you in one place – the RSS aggregator.

Rather than going to each individual site to check for updates, an RSS aggregator will bring all the updates to you, saving you time and patience.

It’s just like using Netflix. All the movies are there in one place for you to watch, in contrast to walking into a cinema hall to see what new movies have been released.

In this post, we’re going to unravel the best RSS Aggregator out there. But, before that, you need to know how an RSS aggregator works.

Okay So, How Exactly Does an RSS Aggregator Work?

Every RSS aggregator works within the same framework.

You tell it what RSS feeds you want to follow – say BBC, or CNN – and the aggregator will automatically pull the recent posts from those sites and showcase them to you.

All you’re supposed to do is add the RSS feed URL to your RSS aggregator and it will show you all the recent posts published by the websites in one location.

Typically, it will contain just the first few paragraphs of the latest published posts, and at the end of every post, there will be a link that you can click on in case you want to read the entire article.

Read more: Best News Aggregator Websites (And How To Build Your Own)

Why Do I Need an RSS Aggregator? Social Media Will Keep Me Updated!

We’re sure this thing has crossed your mind at least once.

Answer this – what’s the difference between a buffet and a la carte menu?

In both circumstances, you get to decide what you want to eat, right?

But the buffet gives you a whole lot of choices you otherwise might never have seen.

This is exactly the difference between getting news from an RSS aggregator and getting it from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform for that matter.

RSS aggregators give you a unified way to get the latest updates from different sources in one place.

Whereas social media platforms are the ones who get to decide what should appear in front of your eyes.

Score: 1-0.

So, how does RSS feeds help you as a website owner?

You can notify potential readers that new content is out without breaking a sweat. Basically, all the nuts and bolts of your content can be distributed outside of your hosting platform and you can broaden your audience reach without them needing to visit you on the regular.

And how does RSS feeds help you as a reader?

Every time a website you love posts new content, you’ll know immediately. All the information gets delivered to you and you don’t have to go around surfing the internet, looking for posts that you might find interesting.

Well, folks, the moment you’ve been waiting for has come!

As we promised, it’s time to unravel the best RSS aggregator on the planet.

An RSS aggregator that packs tons of features and is in the good books of thousands of people.

Want to know what we’re talking about? Read on…

Read more: Content Aggregator: Definition, Importance & Tools!

Elink – The Best RSS Aggregator On Earth

Elink is a robust RSS aggregator that allows you to add RSS feeds of the publications you love the most. The platform has an easy to read and a clutter-free interface that puts your entire focus on the stuff you are reading without any distractions.

Elink.io: Rss feed reader and aggregator

You can choose from an infinite number of RSS feeds and make sure that you never miss out on any content from your favorite websites. You can even create different feed folders to organize your feeds based on different categories. Elink also helps you can easily filter and search for articles based on keywords and sources, helping you discover and curate content easily.

Once your feed is populated, just click on any headline to read more details about the article. Click further if you want to read the entire article and you’ll be redirected to the publication’s website.

Along with being an awesome RSS aggregator, elink is also one of the best content curation platforms out there.

Using elink, you can bundle articles directly from your favorite RSS feeds and create professional email newsletters, single web pages, and web content and share them with the world. You can update the titles, descriptions, and images to add your own voice and you can even update your content after it has been published!

That’s not it! You can save your precious time by automating your content creation and publishing on elink. The platform lets you generate automatic newsletters or website content from your selected RSS feed and produce relevant and engaging content that you can share with everyone!

All-in-all, elink is not just great RSS aggregator, but is a dream tool for anyone who creates and distributes content online!

Wrapping Up

Considering the breadth and depth of the Internet, reading and consuming relevant content can be terribly intimidating.

However, the one solution that often gets overlooked is – RSS feeds.

Yes, RSS feeds aren’t as popular as they used to be.

But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re a super amazing way to stay on top of all the latest content.

In the true spirit of keeping up with all the information, nothing beats RSS feeds and RSS aggregators.

RSS aggregators allow you to follow your favorite writers, channels, influencers, and publications like a shadow.

To be honest, if you’re not using an RSS aggregator, you’re missing out (and probably wasting a lot of time bouncing from one website to another, searching on google, or scrolling through social media.)

By the way, if you’ve got any questions or suggestions, tweet to us @elink_io and let us know.

We’d be more than happy to help you out!

Further reads:

Top CNN RSS Feeds You Must Follow!

9 Ways to Read RSS Feeds

How to Embed Custom RSS Feeds (HTML Code) on Your Website?

Top 8 RSS Reader Apps for News Enthusiasts!

Podcast RSS Feeds: The Best Way To Keep Up With Your Favorite Podcasts

RSS to Email: How to Create Automated Email Newsletters Using RSS!

Top RSS Feed Widgets For Your Website!

Top 35 World News Websites & RSS Feeds to Follow!

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