RSS Feeds

Siteman CMS includes built-in RSS/Atom feed generation powered by Spatie's Laravel Feed package. RSS feeds allow users to subscribe to your content using feed readers and enable content syndication.

Understanding RSS Feeds in Siteman

RSS feeds in Siteman:

• Are created as special page types
• Generate XML feeds automatically from published content
• Support both RSS and Atom formats
• Include page metadata (title, author, published date, content)
• Update automatically when content changes

Creating an RSS Feed

Step 1: Create a Feed Page

1. Navigate to Content > Pages in the admin panel
2. Click New Page
3. Configure the feed:
   • Title: "RSS Feed" or "Blog Feed"
   • Slug: "/feed" or "/blog/feed"
   • Type: Select "RSS Feed"
   • Feed Title: Your feed's title (e.g., "My Blog - Latest Posts")
   • Feed Description: Brief description of your feed content
   • Feed Language: Select language (e.g., "en-US")
   • Published At: Select current date/time
4. Click Create

The RSS feed is now accessible at the slug you specified (e.g., https://yoursite.com/feed).

Step 2: Verify the Feed

Visit your feed URL in a browser. You should see XML content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
    <title>My Blog - Latest Posts</title>
    <link href="https://yoursite.com/feed" rel="self"/>
    <updated>2024-01-15T10:30:00Z</updated>
    <id>https://yoursite.com/feed</id>
    <!-- Feed items -->
</feed>

Feed Configuration

Feed Metadata

Configure feed metadata when creating/editing the RSS Feed page:

Feed Title: The name of your feed

Example: "TechBlog - Latest Articles"
Default: Uses site name from GeneralSettings

Feed Description: Brief description of your feed's content

Example: "Stay updated with the latest web development tutorials and tips"
Default: Uses site description from GeneralSettings

Feed Language: Language code for the feed

Example: "en-US", "de-DE", "es-ES"
Default: "en-US"

What Gets Included

By default, the RSS feed includes all published pages with:

• Title
• URL (computed_slug)
• Summary/excerpt
• Author name
• Published date
• Last updated date

Customizing Feed Content

Filtering Feed Items

To create a feed for specific content (e.g., only blog posts), you need to modify the feed items source.

Example: Blog-specific feed

1. Create a custom page type that extends RssFeed:

<?php

namespace App\PageTypes;

use Siteman\Cms\PageTypes\RssFeed as BaseRssFeed;
use Siteman\Cms\Models\Page as PageModel;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Spatie\Feed\Feed;
use Spatie\Feed\Helpers\ResolveFeedItems;

class BlogRssFeed extends BaseRssFeed
{
    public function render(Request $request, PageModel $page)
    {
        // Get only posts from a specific blog
        $blogId = $page->getMeta('blog_id');
        $items = PageModel::where('parent_id', $blogId)
            ->published()
            ->get()
            ->map(fn($item) => $item->toFeedItem());

        $settings = app(\Siteman\Cms\Settings\GeneralSettings::class);

        return new Feed(
            $page->getMeta('feed_title', $settings->site_name),
            $items,
            $request->url(),
            'feed::atom',
            $page->getMeta('feed_description', $settings->description),
            $page->getMeta('feed_language', 'en-US'),
            '',
            'atom',
            '',
        );
    }
}

2. Register the custom page type in your AppServiceProvider:

public function boot(): void
{
    app('siteman.page-types')->register(
        'blog-feed',
        \App\PageTypes\BlogRssFeed::class
    );
}

Customizing Feed Items

The Page model includes a toFeedItem() method that converts pages to feed items:

// src/Models/Page.php (excerpt)
public function toFeedItem(): FeedItem
{
    return FeedItem::create()
        ->id($this->slug)
        ->title($this->title)
        ->summary($this->excerpt ?? '')
        ->updated($this->updated_at)
        ->link($this->computed_slug)
        ->authorName($this->author->name ?? '');
}

To customize feed items, you can:

Option 1: Add excerpt field to pages

// In a migration
Schema::table('pages', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->text('excerpt')->nullable();
});

// When creating/updating pages
$page->update([
    'excerpt' => 'A brief summary of the page content...',
]);

Option 2: Use meta description

$page->update([
    'meta' => [
        'description' => 'Description that will appear in the feed',
    ],
]);

// Modify toFeedItem() to use meta
public function toFeedItem(): FeedItem
{
    return FeedItem::create()
        ->id($this->slug)
        ->title($this->title)
        ->summary($this->getMeta('description', ''))
        ->updated($this->updated_at)
        ->link($this->computed_slug)
        ->authorName($this->author->name ?? '');
}

Multiple RSS Feeds

Create multiple feeds for different content sections:

Main Blog Feed

• URL: /blog/feed
• Content: All blog posts
• Use case: General blog subscribers

Tag-Specific Feeds

• URL: /blog/laravel/feed
• Content: Posts tagged with "Laravel"
• Use case: Topic-specific subscribers

Author Feeds

• URL: /author/john/feed
• Content: Posts by specific author
• Use case: Following specific authors

Adding Feed Discovery

Help users and feed readers discover your feeds by adding feed discovery meta tags to your theme layout:

{{-- In your theme layout head section --}}
<link rel="alternate"
      type="application/atom+xml"
      title="My Blog - Atom Feed"
      href="{{ url('/feed') }}">

<link rel="alternate"
      type="application/rss+xml"
      title="My Blog - RSS Feed"
      href="{{ url('/feed') }}">

Feed Subscription Links

Add subscription links to your site:

{{-- Simple feed link --}}
<a href="/feed" class="feed-link">
    Subscribe via RSS
</a>

{{-- With icon --}}
<a href="/feed" class="feed-link">
    <svg><!-- RSS icon --></svg>
    Subscribe
</a>

{{-- Multiple format options --}}
<div class="feed-options">
    <a href="/feed">Atom Feed</a>
    <a href="/feed.rss">RSS Feed</a>
</div>

Testing Your Feed

Feed Validators

Test your feed with these validators:

• W3C Feed Validator
• RSS Feed Validator

Feed Readers

Test with popular feed readers:

• Feedly
• Inoreader
• NewsBlur

Browser Testing

Most modern browsers will display formatted XML when you visit the feed URL directly.

Feed Performance

Caching

Consider caching RSS feeds for better performance:

// In your custom RssFeed page type
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache;

public function render(Request $request, PageModel $page)
{
    return Cache::remember(
        "feed:{$page->id}",
        now()->addHour(),
        function () use ($request, $page) {
            // Generate feed
            return parent::render($request, $page);
        }
    );
}

Clear the cache when content updates:

// In your Page model
protected static function booted(): void
{
    static::saved(function ($page) {
        // Clear feed cache when a page is saved
        Cache::forget('feed:main');
    });
}

Pagination

Limit feed items to improve performance:

// In custom RssFeed page type
$items = PageModel::published()
    ->orderBy('published_at', 'desc')
    ->take(50) // Limit to 50 most recent items
    ->get()
    ->map(fn($item) => $item->toFeedItem());

Feed Security

Rate Limiting

Protect your feed from excessive requests:

// In RouteServiceProvider or web.php
Route::middleware(['throttle:60,1'])->group(function () {
    // Siteman routes including feed
});

Content Filtering

Be cautious about what content you include:

• Exclude draft or unpublished content
• Sanitize HTML in feed items
• Consider partial content vs. full content

Advanced Feed Features

Including Featured Images

Extend toFeedItem() to include images:

public function toFeedItem(): FeedItem
{
    $feedItem = FeedItem::create()
        ->id($this->slug)
        ->title($this->title)
        ->summary($this->excerpt ?? '')
        ->updated($this->updated_at)
        ->link($this->computed_slug)
        ->authorName($this->author->name ?? '');

    // Add featured image if exists
    if ($this->hasMedia('featured_image')) {
        $feedItem->image($this->getFirstMediaUrl('featured_image'));
    }

    return $feedItem;
}

Adding Categories

Include tags as feed categories:

// Extend FeedItem to support categories
$feedItem->category($this->tags->pluck('name')->toArray());

Full Content vs Excerpts

Choose between full content or excerpts:

// Excerpt only (better for driving traffic)
->summary($this->excerpt)

// Full content (better for readers)
->summary($this->content)

// Hybrid approach
->summary($this->excerpt)
->content($this->content) // If FeedItem supports it

Troubleshooting

Feed Returns 404

1. Verify the page exists and is published
2. Check the slug is correct
3. Verify route registration: php artisan route:list | grep feed
4. Clear route cache: php artisan route:clear

Feed Shows Empty

1. Ensure pages are published (published_at in the past)
2. Check getFeedItems() method returns items
3. Verify pages have required fields (title, slug, published_at)

Feed Validation Errors

1. Check XML is well-formed
2. Ensure dates are in ISO 8601 format
3. Verify URLs are absolute, not relative
4. Check for special characters that need escaping

Feed Not Updating

1. Clear cache: php artisan cache:clear
2. Check if caching is aggressive
3. Verify updated_at is being set on page updates

SEO and RSS Feeds

Benefits of RSS feeds for SEO:

• Content Distribution: Wider content reach
• Backlinks: Feed aggregators may link back
• Freshness: Signals regular content updates
• Indexing: Helps search engines discover new content

Best practices:

• Include full or substantial excerpts
• Use descriptive feed titles and descriptions
• Keep feed URLs permanent (don't change)
• Submit feeds to feed directories

Related Features

• Blog - Create blog content for your feed
• Tags - Organize feed content by tags
• Page Types - Understanding RSS Feed page type
• Settings - Configure site-wide feed defaults