How to Create an RSS Feed from a Website with RSS Anything

Updated

RSS Anything turns a web page that contains a list of links into an RSS or Atom feed. To use it, open the RSS Anything page, paste the URL of the page you want to follow, generate the feed URL, then add that feed URL to your RSS reader. This works best on pages whose main content is a list of links, such as a blog index, news listing, or link roundup.

What RSS Anything Does

RSS Anything is a Diffbot tool described as a way to "transform any old website with a list of links into an RSS or Atom Feed." Its interface is intentionally minimal: you enter a URL and get a feed URL back.

That means the tool is not a general-purpose scraper for every kind of page. Its stated purpose is pages built around lists of links, which is exactly the structure an RSS reader needs in order to show you individual items.

Step-by-Step: Generate a Feed

Step 1: Open RSS Anything

Go to the RSS Anything site. The page presents a single input for a URL and a button to get your feed.

Step 2: Enter the target page URL

Paste the full URL of the page you want to convert. Choose a page that is primarily a list of links rather than a single article or an app-like interface.

Step 3: Generate the feed URL

Submit the URL. RSS Anything returns a feed URL you can copy. The resulting feed is available in RSS or Atom format, so it will work with readers that accept either.

Step 4: Subscribe in your RSS reader

Paste the generated feed URL into your RSS reader's "add subscription" or "add feed" field. Your reader will fetch the feed and display the links as items.

Quick Reference

Step Action Result
1 Open RSS Anything You see the URL input
2 Paste the target page URL The page is ready to convert
3 Generate the feed You get a copyable feed URL (RSS or Atom)
4 Add the feed URL to your reader Items from the page appear in your reader

What Kinds of Pages Work Best

The tool is designed for "any old website with a list of links." In practice, that points to pages like:

  • Blog or article indexes
  • News or update listings
  • Link roundups and resource pages
  • Any page whose value to you is the set of links it contains

If a page is a single long article with no list of links, it is a poor fit for this tool's stated purpose.

Common Snags to Expect

  • The feed looks empty or incomplete. The source page may not be structured as a list of links, or the links may load dynamically after the page loads.
  • The feed URL does not subscribe. Check that you copied the entire URL and that your reader accepts RSS or Atom feeds.
  • Items change or disappear. The feed reflects the links on the source page, so if that page changes, the feed changes with it.

The Short Version

RSS Anything is a fast way to follow a link-list page in your RSS reader: paste the page URL, copy the generated feed URL, and subscribe. It is the right tool when the page you care about is a list of links, and the wrong tool when it is not.