What is the difference between RSS and Atom?

Both are XML feed formats for content syndication. Atom is more strictly defined and uses ISO 8601 dates. RSS 2.0 is more widely supported and uses RFC 822 dates. Most feed readers support both.

What should the GUID contain?

The GUID should be a permanent, unique identifier for the item. Using the canonical URL is common, but for posts that may move, a stable UUID or permalink is better since GUIDs must never change once published.

Can I include HTML in the description?

Yes. Wrap the content in a CDATA section: HTML content here ]]> . This prevents the parser from interpreting HTML tags as XML elements.

RSS 2.0 Feed XML Example

RSS feeds let readers subscribe to your blog or podcast using any feed reader without relying on social media algorithms. An RSS 2.0 feed contains a channel element with site metadata followed by item elements for each post. Each item should include a title, description, link, pubDate in RFC 822 format, and a GUID that uniquely identifies the post. The XML formatter validates the feed structure and namespace declarations before you deploy the endpoint. Test your feed with a validator like the W3C Feed Validator to ensure compatibility with all readers.

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <channel>
    <title>My Dev Blog</title>
    <link>https://blog.example.com</link>
    <description>Tutorials on web development and DevOps</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <lastBuildDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2026 09:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
    <atom:link href="https://blog.example.com/rss.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
    <item>
      <title>Getting Started with Cron Jobs</title>
      <link>https://blog.example.com/cron-jobs</link>
      <description>Learn how to schedule tasks with cron expressions.</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://blog.example.com/cron-jobs</guid>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

[ open in XML Formatter → ]

FAQ

What is the difference between RSS and Atom?: Both are XML feed formats for content syndication. Atom is more strictly defined and uses ISO 8601 dates. RSS 2.0 is more widely supported and uses RFC 822 dates. Most feed readers support both.
What should the GUID contain?: The GUID should be a permanent, unique identifier for the item. Using the canonical URL is common, but for posts that may move, a stable UUID or permalink is better since GUIDs must never change once published.
Can I include HTML in the description?: Yes. Wrap the content in a CDATA section: <description><![CDATA[<p>HTML content here</p>]]></description>. This prevents the parser from interpreting HTML tags as XML elements.

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