How to Add a Related News Section to Your WordPress Site

While crafting original content is a wise practice, sometimes it’s not enough. Especially when you’re just starting out, it can be hard to fill your site with posts and build your authority in your niche. Incorporating a ‘Related News’ section can help.

By displaying top reports related from your niche you can add content to your site that complements your original posts without the extra work. This also gives you a chance to demonstrate your knowledge of important industry information.

In this post, we’ll discuss how your site could benefit from a Related News section. Then we’ll walk you through how to create one with WP RSS Aggregator. Let’s get to it!

Why Your WordPress Site May Benefit from a Related News Section

Despite your best efforts to produce original content, your blog or website may be looking a little sparse. If that’s the case, you may want to consider feeding external content into your site to create a Related News section.

In addition to filling in the gaps in your site’s content, a Related News section can help lend credibility to it. By demonstrating that you’re in tune with the latest happenings in your niche, you can show users they can trust you to provide accurate and relevant information.

This could help drive more traffic to your site and make it a go-to destination for industry content. Plus, if you source your related news ethically, you can also build useful connections with other people in your niche.

How to Add a Related News Section to Your WordPress Site (In 4 Steps)

Scouring the internet for articles related to your niche would quickly eat up your time. Fortunately, you can instead bring content to you with a plugin such as WP RSS Aggregator. Here’s how it works.

1. Install and Activate WP RSS Aggregator

First, you’ll need to acquire the WP RSS Aggregator plugin. You can find it for free in the WordPress Plugin Directory:

Alternatively, there’s also a premium version. It comes in the form of several add-ons that enable you to format your feed displays, utilize keyword filtering, and more. The Basic plan starts at just $59 per year.

If you want to stick with the free version, head over to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New. Then simply search ‘WP RSS Aggregator’. Click on the Install Now and Activate buttons:

If you prefer the premium version, complete the payment process on the website. You’ll then receive an email that contains the .zip files for any add-ons included in your plan, as well as their license keys.

Add the plugin as described above, then navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin. Choose the .zip files for each of your add-ons and install and activate them. Then make your way to RSS Aggregator > Settings > Licenses. Here, enter the license keys.

2. Set Up Your Feed Source

Once your plugin and any add-ons are installed and activated, you can start creating feed sources. When choosing yours, there are a few key qualities you’ll want to be on the lookout for.

Firstly, it’s best to choose sources that are unique. Users will find value in discovering new creators on your site. That said, you also want your sources to be established enough that you’re confident in their credibility and the reliability of their posting schedule.

Finally, the most important factor when it comes to selecting related news sources is that they’re relevant to your audience. Stuffing your site with posts your readers don’t care about will only annoy them, and could even drive them away.

Once you’ve chosen your sources, navigate to RSS Aggregator > Feed Sources > Add New in your WordPress dashboard:

Title your feed source, then enter the URL for its RSS feed. In most cases, this will be the URL of the site you’re sourcing content from with /feed added to the end. There are several settings you can configure to customize your feed here as well.

Once it’s set up to your liking, click on the Publish Feed button. You’ll now see a preview of the items in your feed in the right-hand sidebar:

If you’d like to display related news from multiple sites, create additional feed sources for each of them.

3. Cite Your Related News Sources

Whenever you source content from another website, it’s vital that you link back to the original post. This can help you avoid committing copyright infringement and building a bad name for yourself in your niche. It also gives you a chance to create relationships with your sources.

WP RSS Aggregator makes this easy by enabling you to automatically link back to the original post for every item you import to your site. In the feed source editor, look for the Link Source setting:

The Link Source and Import source info settings in WP RSS Aggregator.

Turning on the Link Source setting will link the feed’s name back to the source’s website. Having this setting turned on will ensure that you’re always giving credit where it’s due.

4. Publish Your Related News Section

Once your feed sources are all published and you’ve properly attributed them to their original creators, you’re ready to start displaying them on your site. WP RSS Aggregator makes this process easy in both the Block and Classic Editors.

Navigate to the page or post where you want to display your Related News section. Then, if you’re using the Block Editor, add a new block and choose WP RSS Aggregator Feeds under Widgets:

Then, select the feeds you wish to include from the sidebar to the right of the editor. You can include all your feed sources in a single Related News section, or choose specific sources to show or hide:

Selecting the feed sources in the Block Editor.

In the Classic Editor, you’ll instead click on the WP RSS Aggregator icon in the toolbar:

Then, choose your feed sources in the resulting window as you would in the Block Editor. Click on the Add Shortcode button when you’re done:

The WP RSS Aggregator shortcode generator in the Classic Editor.

Publish or update the page, and your Related News section will become visible on your WordPress site.

Spruce Up Your Website with Premium Templates

The list view offered in the free version of WP RSS Aggregator may not be for everyone, which is why they offer a premium Templates add-on for only $39. It currently includes a customisable grid template and an enhanced list one, both of which have various options for displaying images, excerpts, authors’ names, publish dates, and more.

Here’s a look at what you could create with it in various grid options.

A related news section showing the featured image, title, excerpt and meta data from the original source.

Make a more streamlined related news section with just images and titles.

If you prefer a list style, there are even more options available.

It even works with Youtube videos, embedded or not!

If you’d like to give it a go before purchasing, they offer a free demo site.

Click here to open your free WP RSS Aggregator Templates demo site.

Conclusion

Adding a Related News section to your WordPress site can improve your content’s volume and quality while also helping you carve out your place in your niche. Fortunately, creating one for your WordPress site is easy with WP RSS Aggregator.

This article covered how to do so in just four steps: