As seasoned WordPress experts who've assisted thousands of site owners, we know RSS feed errors can disrupt your content distribution. Triggered often by plugin or theme updates, these issues are common but fixable. Follow our step-by-step guide to diagnose and resolve them.
Most errors stem from XML formatting issues. WordPress RSS feeds use strict XML markup, where extra whitespace, missing line breaks, or tabs can break validation.
Error messages vary by browser but typically flag parser failures. FeedBurner users may see customized alerts.
Now, let's fix them.
The top cause is trailing whitespace after the closing PHP tag (?>) in plugins or your theme's functions.php file.
Recently added code? Edit functions.php (or child theme's) and remove any spaces or line breaks after the closing tag.
Pro tip: Skip the closing PHP tag entirely at the file's end—it's optional and prevents these glitches.
This fixes most cases. If not, use the plugin below.
Install and activate the My RSS Fix RSS plugin. Then, head to Tools » RSS Feed Fix.
Hit the 'Fix feed' button. Your feed should now validate.
Test it in a browser or via a feed validator tool.
This guide should have your WordPress RSS feeds running smoothly. See our tutorial on separate RSS feeds for each category.
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