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How to Configure RSS Feed Campaign

Learn how to set up and configure an RSS Feed campaign to automatically generate content from external RSS/Atom feeds.

Table of Contents

What is an RSS Feed Campaign?

An RSS Feed Campaign pulls items from a remote RSS or Atom feed, then uses AI to rewrite and expand those items into unique posts on your WordPress site.

Instead of scraping search results like Article campaigns, RSS Feed campaigns work directly with structured feed data from trusted sources.

Key Features

✅ Feed-Based Content: Uses RSS/Atom feeds as the content source ✅ Automatic Title & Link Extraction: Reads titles and URLs from each feed item ✅ AI Rewriting: Generates unique articles based on the original feed content ✅ Source Attribution: Keeps track of original item links in post meta ✅ Content Filtering: Filter or modify content using blocking and search/replace rules

Ideal Use Cases

  • News Curation Sites – Pull in news from authority sources and rewrite them
  • Industry Digest Blogs – Aggregate industry updates from multiple feeds
  • Niche Content Hubs – Collect content from relevant blogs in your niche
  • Multi-Author Aggregators – Curate posts from partner or contributor feeds

How RSS Feed Campaigns Work

Under the hood, RSS Feed campaigns are powered by AIContentWriter\Campaigns\RSSFeed (see includes/Campaigns/RSSFeed.php).

The 4-Stage Process

1. FETCH & PARSE FEED
   ↓
   Loads the RSS/Atom feed URL
   Parses XML and extracts items (title + link)

2. FILTER & DEDUPLICATE
   ↓
   Skips items with missing title or link
   Checks if an item with same title + link already exists

3. CREATE PENDING POSTS
   ↓
   Creates temporary posts (aicw_post)
   Stores campaign ID and source link as post meta

4. AI CONTENT GENERATION & PUBLISHING
   ↓
   AI generates full article content
   Thumbnails are created
   Posts are published based on campaign settings

Duplicate Protection

For each RSS item, the plugin:

  • Extracts the title and link from the feed
  • Checks for existing posts with the same title
  • Compares their _aicw_content_source_link meta with the feed link
  • Skips the item if a matching post already exists

This reduces the risk of duplicate posts, even if the feed repeats or republishes items.

Prerequisites

Before configuring an RSS Feed campaign, make sure you have:

1. A Valid RSS/Atom Feed URL

You’ll need at least one working feed URL, for example:

  • A news site feed: https://techcrunch.com/feed/
  • A WordPress blog feed: https://example.com/feed/
  • A category-specific feed: https://example.com/category/wordpress/feed/

Tip: Open the feed URL in your browser. You should see RSS/Atom XML, not an error page.

2. AI API Key Configured

You need at least one AI provider for content generation:

  • Google Gemini API (recommended – has a free tier)
  • OpenAI / ChatGPT API (paid, per-usage)

Configure them under:

WordPress Admin → AI Content Writer → Settings → API Settings

See: Getting API Keys

For automatic featured images:

  • Configure a Pexels API key in the plugin settings
  • Not required, but highly recommended for better presentation and SEO

Step-by-Step Configuration

Step 1: Create a New Campaign

  1. Go to AI Content Writer → Campaigns
  2. Click Add New Campaign
  3. Enter a descriptive Title, e.g.:
    • “Tech News from RSS”
    • “WordPress Tutorials Feed”
    • “SEO Industry Updates via RSS”

Step 2: Select Campaign Type: RSS Feed

In the Campaign Details section:

  1. Find the Campaign Type dropdown
  2. Select RSS Feed
  3. This will hide keyword-based fields and show the RSS-specific field

Locate the RSS Feed Link field.

  • Paste your feed URL, for example:
    • https://techcrunch.com/feed/
    • https://www.wpbeginner.com/feed/
    • https://example.com/category/wordpress/feed/

Requirements:

  • Must be a valid, publicly accessible URL
  • Must return a valid XML that can be parsed as RSS/Atom

Tips:

  • For WordPress sites, try adding /feed/ to the main blog or category URLs
  • Use RSS discovery tools or browser extensions if you can’t locate feed links

Step 4: Configure Content Filtering (Optional)

Block Keywords

Use Block Keywords to skip items that contain certain terms.

Example:

giveaway, contest, sponsored, press release

Use cases:

  • Skip promotional or low-value posts
  • Avoid certain brands or topics
  • Filter out categories you’re not interested in

Matching is case-sensitive, so consider using multiple variants if required.

Search & Replace (Pro)

In Pro, you can define search/replace pairs to automatically modify generated content.

Use cases:

  • Replace competitor names with neutral wording
  • Standardize terminology (e.g., “e-commerce” → “eCommerce”)
  • Add custom branding or disclaimers to certain phrases

HTML Cleaner (Pro)

If the feed content includes HTML and you want to strip specific parts, use HTML Cleaner.

Example selectors:

.ad, .advertisement, #popup, .sidebar, script, iframe

Common usage:

  • Remove ad blocks
  • Remove comments or sidebar widgets
  • Remove embedded scripts and iframes

Step 5: Configure Content Insertion (Optional)

You can inject your own custom content before or after the AI-generated article.

Position

Options:

  • None – Don’t insert any custom content (default)
  • Before Content – Insert at the top of the post
  • After Content – Insert at the bottom of the post

Content

This field accepts plain text or HTML.

Example disclaimer (Before Content):

<div class="feed-disclaimer">
  <p><strong>Note:</strong> This article is based on content from external sources and has been rewritten using AI. Please verify any time-sensitive information.</p>
</div>

Example call-to-action (After Content):

<div class="rss-cta">
  <h3>Want More Updates?</h3>
  <p>Subscribe to our newsletter for curated news directly in your inbox.</p>
  <a href="/newsletter/" class="button">Subscribe Now</a>
</div>

Step 6: Configure Publishing Options

These settings control how generated posts appear on your site.

Post Type

Choose where to publish:

  • Post – Standard blog posts (recommended)
  • Page – Less common, for static-like content
  • Custom Post Types (CPTs) – If you have a dedicated CPT for news or articles

Post Status

Common options include:

  • Draft – Posts require manual review (recommended while testing)
  • Pending Review – For editorial workflows
  • Publish – Automatically published when generation is complete

Start with Draft or Pending Review until you’re confident in the content quality.

Post Author

Select the WordPress user who will be set as the author.

Good practices:

  • Create a dedicated user like “AI Writer” or “News Bot”
  • Or assign posts to your editorial account

Categories & Tags

  • Assign relevant categories to organize content
  • Use tags to improve internal search and SEO

Example:

  • Categories: News, WordPress, Industry
  • Tags: RSS, automation, AI, curated

Step 7: Configure Campaign Settings

Posts per Run

Controls how many items from the feed are converted into posts per cron execution.

Recommendations:

  • Testing: 1 post per run
  • Normal Use: 2–3 posts per run
  • High Volume: 5+ posts per run (ensure your server and API quotas can handle this)

Keep in mind:

  • RSS feeds may not always have enough new items to meet your desired volume
  • Duplicate protection will skip already-processed feed items

Frequency

In the free version, cron frequency is primarily hourly-based. In Pro, you can configure more granular intervals (e.g., every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, daily, weekly) using the plugin’s frequency settings.

Best Practices

Choosing Quality Feeds

✅ Prefer well-known, authoritative sources ✅ Check that feeds are updated regularly ✅ Avoid feeds that only provide short link stubs without context ✅ Validate feeds using an RSS validator or reader when possible

Balancing Volume

✅ Start with 1–2 posts per run while testing ✅ Monitor logs and output for a few days ✅ Gradually increase volume once you’re happy with quality ✅ Avoid flooding your site with too many new posts at once

Content Quality

✅ Review generated posts regularly, especially early on ✅ Use Block Keywords to filter out irrelevant or low-quality topics ✅ Use Search & Replace (Pro) to fix recurring phrasing issues ✅ Add manual edits or commentary where needed

SEO Considerations

✅ Ensure featured images are enabled (via Pexels integration) ✅ Assign meaningful categories and tags ✅ Add internal links to related posts manually or using SEO tools ✅ Use an SEO plugin to manage meta titles and descriptions ✅ Avoid producing near-duplicate content across multiple feeds/campaigns

Legal & Ethical Considerations

While the plugin rewrites content using AI, you should still:

  • Respect the terms of use and licensing of feed sources
  • Consider including attribution where appropriate
  • Avoid presenting rewritten news as original reporting if that’s misleading
  • Consult legal guidance if you operate in regulated industries or regions

Troubleshooting

No Posts Being Generated

Possible causes:

  1. RSS feed URL is invalid or unreachable
  2. Feed returns empty or malformed XML
  3. Campaign is paused
  4. WP-Cron is not running
  5. Feed contains no new items or all items are duplicates

What to check:

  • Open the feed URL in your browser – does it load correctly?
  • Go to AI Content Writer → Logs and look for error messages
  • Confirm the campaign status is Active
  • Verify WP-Cron is functioning (or set up a real cron job to hit wp-cron.php)

Duplicate Posts

The plugin already checks for duplicates by:

  • Looking up existing posts by title
  • Checking post meta _aicw_content_source_link against the feed link

If you still notice similar posts:

  • Confirm the source feed isn’t publishing slightly modified duplicates
  • Reduce Posts per Run to give more time between pulls
  • Use multiple feeds instead of hammering one feed too frequently

Feed Parsing Errors

If logs show XML or parsing-related errors:

  • Validate the feed with an online RSS validator
  • Ensure your server can access the feed host (no firewall/DNS issues)
  • Some non-standard feeds may not be supported; try an alternative source

AI or API Errors

If titles are created but content is not:

  • Check API Settings for Gemini or OpenAI
  • Look for specific error messages in Logs (e.g., invalid key, quota exceeded)
  • Reduce Posts per Run
  • Try switching from ChatGPT to Gemini or vice versa

Examples

Example 1: General Tech News

Campaign Configuration:

Title: Tech News Feed
Type: RSS Feed
RSS Feed Link: https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Posts per Run: 3
Post Status: Draft
Categories: News, Technology
Tags: tech news, startups, innovation
Status: Active

Result: 3 tech-related draft posts per run, based on the latest items from TechCrunch.

Example 2: WordPress Tutorials

Campaign Configuration:

Title: WordPress Tutorials Feed
Type: RSS Feed
RSS Feed Link: https://www.wpbeginner.com/feed/
Posts per Run: 2
Post Status: Publish
Categories: WordPress, Tutorials
Tags: WordPress, how-to, guides
Block Keywords: giveaway, contest
Status: Active

Result: 2 tutorial-style posts per run, excluding giveaways and contests.

Example 3: SEO Industry Updates

Campaign Configuration:

Title: SEO Industry Updates
Type: RSS Feed
RSS Feed Link: https://moz.com/blog/feed
Posts per Run: 1
Post Status: Draft
Categories: SEO, Industry News
Insert Content Position: After Content
Insert Content:
  <p><em>This article is part of our curated SEO news series, powered by AI. For tailored SEO help, <a href="/contact/">contact our team</a>.</em></p>
Status: Active

Result: 1 rewritten SEO article per run, with a custom CTA added after the content.

Next Steps

Once your RSS Feed campaign is running smoothly, you may want to:

For deeper control and optimization:

Last Updated: November 28, 2025 | Plugin Version: 2.1.0

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