How can I see if a website or blog offers RSS?

What is RSS? 

RSS (Rich Site Summary) are file formats for web feeds. They show changes of a website e.g. a news page, blog, audio or video logs. 

An ordinary RSS channel provides the addressee, similar to a news ticker, with short blocks of information, consisting of a headline with a text address and a link to the original page. The provision of data in RSS format is also referred to as RSS feed. If a user subscribes to an RSS channel, the client regularly checks the server for updates in the RSS feed. (Wikipedia, 2018, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(Web feed)) 

RSS feeds can be displayed and configured in Konrad (the Scope curation console) in the Discovery section. I can configure a feed "Tech News" with one or more sources e.g. heise.de and golem.de. By clicking on the feed I can see all current articles on both websites. 

Why should I care?

For me, the New York Times is a website with particularly relevant topics. Instead of going to the site every day and searching for new topics myself, I can use RSS. The website informs me about changes and new articles with an RSS feed.  

If I only have one website that delivers interesting articles, the organizational effort for me is limited. If I have to go through more than 20 pages manually, I prefer to use RSS. This informs me directly and I don't have to look for myself. This saves me an enormous amount of time in which I can, for example, browse through websites that are only sporadically interesting.  

What is the difference between RSS and search?

When a website offers an RSS feed, new articles are sent to me. I don't have to open the page myself, search for topics and import them. I get all new articles of the site without further restrictions. 

I am more flexible in my search where I can filter for articles that are especially interesting to me. A search for "artificial intelligence" only shows me articles on this topic. 

Depending on the application, the suitable method must be selected. More information on RSS vs. Search here.

How do I find out if there is an RSS feed?

The RSS icon is usually displayed in the news, blog or latest sections.  

For security it is recommended to install a browser extension. If an RSS feed is available, this shows a message and the correct link to the feed. 

Possible extensions / add-ons: 

• Chrome: RSS Subscription Extension (by Google)
• Firefox: Feedbro by Nodetics 

As soon as I am on the website of my choice and it offers an RSS feed this is indicated by my extension. In Chrome the icon becomes active (colored in orange) and by clicking on it, I can open the feed directly. 

Here are other possible extensions: 

My Yahoo,Pluck, Bloglines, Netvibes, Google Reader and Pageflakes, Feedly, Fark, Pulse, News360