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ahmet gedik
ahmet gedik

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Building an RSS Feed Generator for Video Blog Content

#php #rss #webdev #seo

Introduction

RSS feeds are not dead. They're essential for content distribution, SEO, and keeping engaged audiences updated. Here's how I built an RSS feed generator for the blog content on ViralVidVault that outputs valid Atom/RSS 2.0 XML.

Why RSS for a Video Platform?

Three reasons:

  1. Search engines crawl RSS feeds for content discovery
  2. Feed readers (Feedly, Inoreader) drive consistent traffic
  3. Podcatchers and aggregators can pull your video blog content automatically

The Generator 

<?php

class RssFeedGenerator
{
    private string $siteUrl;
    private string $siteName;
    private string $siteDescription;

    public function __construct(
        string $siteUrl = 'https://viralvidvault.com',
        string $siteName = 'ViralVidVault',
        string $siteDescription = 'Your vault of viral videos from around the world',
    ) {
        $this->siteUrl = rtrim($siteUrl, '/');
        $this->siteName = $siteName;
        $this->siteDescription = $siteDescription;
    }

    public function generate(array $articles): string
    {
        $xml = new \DOMDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');
        $xml->formatOutput = true;

        $rss = $xml->createElement('rss');
        $rss->setAttribute('version', '2.0');
        $rss->setAttribute('xmlns:atom', 'http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom');
        $rss->setAttribute('xmlns:media', 'http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/');
        $xml->appendChild($rss);

        $channel = $xml->createElement('channel');
        $rss->appendChild($channel);

        // Channel metadata
        $channel->appendChild($xml->createElement('title', $this->siteName));
        $channel->appendChild($xml->createElement('link', $this->siteUrl));
        $channel->appendChild($xml->createElement('description', $this->siteDescription));
        $channel->appendChild($xml->createElement('language', 'en'));
        $channel->appendChild($xml->createElement('lastBuildDate', date(DATE_RSS)));

        // Atom self-link
        $atomLink = $xml->createElement('atom:link');
        $atomLink->setAttribute('href', "{$this->siteUrl}/feed.xml");
        $atomLink->setAttribute('rel', 'self');
        $atomLink->setAttribute('type', 'application/rss+xml');
        $channel->appendChild($atomLink);

        // Items
        foreach ($articles as $article) {
            $item = $this->createItem($xml, $article);
            $channel->appendChild($item);
        }

        return $xml->saveXML();
    }

    private function createItem(\DOMDocument $xml, array $article): \DOMElement
    {
        $item = $xml->createElement('item');

        $item->appendChild($xml->createElement('title', htmlspecialchars($article['title'])));
        $item->appendChild($xml->createElement('link', "{$this->siteUrl}/blog/{$article['slug']}"));

        $guid = $xml->createElement('guid', "{$this->siteUrl}/blog/{$article['slug']}");
        $guid->setAttribute('isPermaLink', 'true');
        $item->appendChild($guid);

        $item->appendChild($xml->createElement('pubDate', date(DATE_RSS, strtotime($article['published_at']))));

        // Description with CDATA
        $desc = $xml->createElement('description');
        $desc->appendChild($xml->createCDATASection($article['excerpt'] ?? substr($article['body'], 0, 300) . '...'));
        $item->appendChild($desc);

        // Categories
        foreach ($article['tags'] ?? [] as $tag) {
            $item->appendChild($xml->createElement('category', $tag));
        }

        // Media thumbnail if available
        if (!empty($article['thumbnail'])) {
            $media = $xml->createElement('media:thumbnail');
            $media->setAttribute('url', $article['thumbnail']);
            $item->appendChild($media);
        }

        return $item;
    }
}
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Serving the Feed 

<?php
// Route: /feed.xml

$db = new Database(__DIR__ . '/../data/articles.db');
$articles = $db->getRecentArticles(limit: 20);

$generator = new RssFeedGenerator();
$xml = $generator->generate($articles);

header('Content-Type: application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8');
header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600');
echo $xml;
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Caching the Feed

RSS feeds don't need to be generated on every request. Cache the output:

$cacheFile = __DIR__ . '/../data/pagecache/feed.xml';
$cacheTtl = 3600; // 1 hour

if (file_exists($cacheFile) && (time() - filemtime($cacheFile)) < $cacheTtl) {
    header('Content-Type: application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8');
    readfile($cacheFile);
    exit;
}

// Generate fresh feed
$xml = $generator->generate($articles);
file_put_contents($cacheFile, $xml, LOCK_EX);

header('Content-Type: application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8');
echo $xml;
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Autodiscovery

Add this to your HTML <head> so feed readers can find it:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" 
      title="ViralVidVault Blog Feed" 
      href="https://viralvidvault.com/feed.xml">
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Validating Your Feed

Use the W3C Feed Validation Service at https://validator.w3.org/feed/ to check your output. Common issues:

  • Missing guid elements
  • Invalid date formats (must be RFC 2822)
  • Unescaped HTML in descriptions (use CDATA)
  • Missing xmlns declarations

The RSS feed at viralvidvault.com passes W3C validation and is indexed by major feed aggregators. It's a small effort that yields steady, recurring traffic.

Part of the "Building ViralVidVault" series.

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