How to Customize WordPress RSS Feed Without Editing Core (2026)

Want to add a copyright line, related posts or a featured image to your feed? In 2007 we customised our WordPress feed by editing core files, first wp-rss2.php and then feed-rss2.php, and lost every change when we upgraded to WordPress 2.2. Today there’s a much better way to customize WordPress RSS feed output: hooks and filters that survive every update.

Quick answer: Don’t edit wp-includes/feed-rss2.php; it’s overwritten on every update. Instead, add code to the Code Snippets plugin or your child theme’s functions.php using filters such as the_content_feed (add text or images to each item) and actions such as rss2_item (add custom tags). SEO plugins like Rank Math and Yoast also let you add text before or after feed content without code.

Why we lost our feed changes in 2007

Older WordPress versions built the feed from wp-rss2.php in the root folder. WordPress 2.2 moved the template to wp-includes/feed-rss2.php, so our edits disappeared. Core files are replaced on every update, so any change there is temporary.

Add content to every feed item

This snippet adds a copyright line and a link back to the post:

add_filter( 'the_content_feed', function ( $content ) {
    $link = get_permalink();
    $content .= '<p><a href="' . esc_url( $link ) . '">Read the full post on our site</a>. &copy; ' . date( 'Y' ) . ' ' . get_bloginfo( 'name' ) . '</p>';
    return $content;
} );

Add the featured image to your feed

add_filter( 'the_content_feed', function ( $content ) {
    if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
        $content = get_the_post_thumbnail( null, 'large' ) . $content;
    }
    return $content;
} );

Other ways to customize WordPress RSS feed settings

• Full text or summary: Settings > Reading > “For each post in a feed, include”.
• Number of items: Settings > Reading > “Syndication feeds show the most recent”.
• Exclude a category: use the pre_get_posts action with is_feed().
• Delay publishing to feeds by a few minutes to fix typos first.
• Custom feed template: copy feed-rss2.php into your child theme and load it with add_feed() if you need full control.

Without code

Rank Math (General Settings > Others) and Yoast (Settings > Advanced > RSS) let you add text with your post link before or after each feed item, which also helps you get credit when scrapers copy your feed. See our tips to stop RSS feed scraping.

FAQ

Where is the WordPress RSS feed?

At yoursite.com/feed/, with category feeds at /category/name/feed/.

Why don’t my feed changes show up?

Feed readers and caching plugins cache feeds. Clear your cache and wait for readers to refresh.

Can I edit feed-rss2.php?

You can, but updates will overwrite it. Use filters or a child-theme template instead.