---
title: "Redirecting common feed URLs in NGINX for RSS discovery"
language: en
topics: ["blog", "cloud", "creating", "howto", "networking", "programming", "webdesign"]
full_article_url: https://willem.com/en/2020-10-31_increase-traffic-to-your-blog-with-a-rss-feed/
---
# Redirecting common feed URLs in NGINX for RSS discovery

*Mimic popular blogging software so feeds get found.*

> Mimic popular blogging software: serve your feed and redirect the common paths /feed/, /blog/feed/, /blog/feed.rss, /blog/feed.atom and /blog/feed.json to the generated files. I set up NGINX redirects so people and computers find my custom feed automatically.

Popular blogging software has feed support built in: on a WordPress site, adding /feed to the address usually just works. A custom-built blog does not get that for free, and a feed nobody can find is worthless.
I configured my webserver, NGINX, to redirect the common feed URLs to the generated feed files, so my custom implementation mimics the behaviour of popular blogging software. My blog answers on /feed/, /blog/feed/, /blog/feed.rss, /blog/feed.atom and /blog/feed.json.
That discoverability pays off, because people and machines automate on top of feeds: newsletter software like Mailchimp can build email campaigns from RSS, IFTTT can tweet new posts automatically, digital signage software turns headlines into news tickers, and reader apps like Feedly can subscribe.