How to Remove/Disable RSS Feeds in WordPress?

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RSS, or really simple syndication, were the hip thing some 10 years ago when the social media was still in the embryonic stage. RSS feeds allowed users to subscribe to your blog posts and get the latest articles delivered to their desktops instantly. Now, most people get their content and news dose via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In this era, RSS feeds have become less relevant. RSS feeds are also not required when the website is a static website without a blog.

Do you want to disable RSS feeds on your WordPress website? RSS feeds might not be necessary when building static websites or when the social media platforms are preferred for content delivery to readers. You can remove or turn off the RSS feeds for a WordPress website.

By default, WordPress does not have any option to remove RSS feeds. However, you can disable RSS feeds in WordPress by modifying the code for your WordPress theme or using a plugin.

Method 1: Using WordPress Plugin to Remove RSS Feeds

Using a plugin to disable RSS feeds in WordPress is easy and safe for beginners. Just install and activate the Disable Feeds plugin. How to install a WordPress plugin? One of the easiest methods is to go to the Plugins section in the dashboard, click on the Add New option, search for the desired plugin and click on the install button. Once done, you will have to activate the plugin.

Once this Disable Feeds plugin is active, it will start redirecting users to your website when they request an RSS feed. You can also change the settings available for the plugin. Visit Settings » Reading page to configure them.

Method 2: Manually Disable RSS Feeds in WordPress

If you are comfortable editing WordPress themes, you can easily turn off the RSS feeds by adding a few lines of code. You will have to edit your WordPress theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin and add (copy-paste) the following code.

function wpb_disable_feed() {
wp_die( __('RSS feeds not available! Please visit our <a href="'. get_bloginfo('url') .'">homepage</a> or subscribe via <a href="http://facebook.com/smartwebworker/">Facebook</a> or <a href="http://twitter.com/smartwebworker/">Twitter</a>!') );
}
add_action('do_feed', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rdf', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss2', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_atom', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss2_comments', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_atom_comments', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);

Important: Don’t forget to replace the Facebbok & Twitter links with your own social media links.

This WordPress code snippet deactivates the RSS functionality and returns an error page the RSS feed link is reqested.