How to Limit the Number of Posts in WordPress RSS Feed

Ran into an error or decided there are too many RSS feed posts, and you want to restrict their number? Although RSS feed is seemingly falling into obscurity, the reality is different. Thanks to technological advancement, people may not install clients as often. However, various software depends on the data extracted from it, making it a powerful marketing tool and means of connecting with a user base, regardless of a niche. In the age of multimedia and social media, people want the latest information quickly. However, its providers may need to slow its spread. Therefore, they need to know how to limit the number of posts in the WordPress RSS feed. We can help.

Note. By default, WordPress displays the last 10 posts in an RSS feed to visitors. You can (and should) use a separate number for search engines. After all, these software systems want to scour the RSS sitemap for all the changes since their last visit.

1. Limit the RSS feed posts number using WordPress Admin

We want to clarify that this method will determine the number of visible posts in your RSS feed for visitors and search engines. However, the extent of influence for the latter is undetermined, since the exact way they work is secret, and they would nonetheless use it as described above. Thus, do this if you want your WordPress website visitors to see a specific number of RSS feed posts:

1. Access the WordPress Admin Section.
2. Expand the sidebar on the left-hand side.
3. Go to Settings, then select Reading.
4. Find an entry titled “Syndication feeds show the most recent” and enter (or use the arrows to set) the number of posts that will appear in your RSS feed.
5. Configure the “For each article in a feed, show” setting to:
   1. Full text. All RSS feed posts will fully appear. Ideal for a journal website or a personal blog but not for websites that post a lot or want a fast loading speed.
   2. Summary (named Excerpt on some WordPress versions). A better option in our opinion. It reduces the size of an RSS feed to crucial information, boosting loading speed and decreasing post size on the server.
6. Once you’re finished, click the Save Changes button.

2. Restrict the number of posts from RSS feeds for search engines only

Do you want search engines to extract as much data about your website from an RSS feed without encountering slow loading speed and poor user experience? The method above is unsurprisingly not the way to go about it. Thus, let us ask you, “Are you using any SEO plugins or tools for WordPress or an RSS aggregator plugin?”

If so, those may offer an option of increasing the limit for the number of RSS feed posts on WordPress without all the disadvantages. We couldn’t find this option in Yoast SEO, though you can use a workaround to set the maximum number of posts per page. Instead, to give you an idea of where to look, we’ll demonstrate this is the “All in One SEO” plugin. We are not affiliated and urge you to find an equivalent option within the settings of the one you use.

All in One SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin – Easily Improve SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic

After you install this WordPress plugin, go to the same sidebar in WordPress Admin. Now:

1. Click on All in One SEO, then, when it expands, Sitemaps.
2. A new page will open on the right-hand side. Switch to the RSS Sitemap tab.
3. Make sure the Enable Sitemap option is toggled on.
4. Scroll down and, in the “Sitemap Settings” enter a digit under Number of Posts. One might already be there, such as 50.
5. Make sure to put a checkmark in front of the post types you want to appear in the RSS sitemap.
6. With that done, click the Save Changes button.
7. Optional. To test this configuration, click the Open RSS Sitemap button under “Preview”.
8. Submit your newly configured RSS sitemap using Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and other search engines you want to respect this setting.