Jan 09 2008
How to Add New Feeds to Google Reader
There are a few different ways to add new feed subscriptions to Google Reader. (Note: This is a follow up to How to Set up Google Reader, which you may wish to look at first if you don’t already have a Google account). The first few are within the Google Reader interface.
Look for the Icon on the left hand side that says “Add Subscription”. When you click on this you will get a box to add a website address.
Here you can either enter the URL (web address) of the website that you’d like to subscribe to, and the reader should automatically detect the feed:
Or else you can enter the URL of the website’s feed if you know it (or if you have copied and pasted it from the site). NOTE: this is a very awkward way of adding subscriptions which I don’t typically use, but it IS an option.
Alternatively you can click on the “discover” button and search for a keyword:
When you locate the correct feed, click the “subscribe” button.
The latest posts (usually 10) will appear in your reader.
Other Ways of Subscribing to Feeds
I find the easiest way to subscribe to feeds is when I’m actually on the website that I want to subscribe to. A vast majority of blogs will have an RSS Icon. There are varied formats but usually they look something like this.
Clicking on this button on a webpage will often bring up a page of options like this. Simply click on the “add to Google” icon:
When prompted, select Google Reader on the next page:
Alternatively, you can usually subscribe to a website from your browser (if you can’t locate the “subscribe” button on the website).
In FireFox, you will see a symbol in your address bar. Like this:
In Internet Explorer 7, you might find the icon next to your tools and settings:
Edited: this doesn’t always add a subscription to Google Reader – thanks Guera
If you do not get a subscription option page go into your internet settings and click on “content”, then “settings” under the feed section:
Then make sure the following boxes are UNTICKED (note in my screenshot one is still ticked).
I was not able to locate any browser options for subscribing on Internet Explorer 6.
There you have it! Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments if there is something that isn’t clear.
16 Responses to “How to Add New Feeds to Google Reader”
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I use Bloglines. Is google reader a better platform?
Kelley’s last blog post..Update on sleep and apologies.
I wish you’d written that six weeks ago when I was trying to figure all that out! lol. I’m all set up now though
Bettina’s last blog post..Grumble grumble……. damn telemarketers!
Kelley
I have dabbled in Bloglines, and prefer Google Reader – perhaps more because it’s what I’m used to. I did this more as a “how to” for people who haven’t yet set up a feed reader, than to try and convert anyone 😉
Bettina
LOL – well hopefully it might be timely for someone.
Am I a bit slow that I’ve NEVER noticed you can subscribe to a page from the URL field in Firefox until you pointed it out?
Burgo’s last blog post..Robert Francis – One by One. And, a side helping of Wild Sweet Orange – Wrestle With God
Thanks for that outline, Meg. I had already set it up but had never used the discover function before. That´s pretty useful.
I have found using IE7 that when I click the rss button it takes me to a microsoft page where you click subscribe to feed and then they go into the rss folders in Outlook. I don´t mind it because they are separated out from emails but I can just open one program and get everything. The feeds are also all listed near the favourites tab. I only switched over to Google Reader recently so I could access the feeds from any computer. I can´t work out a way to tell IE7 to subscribe to the feed in reader, so I have been using Firefox more and more.
lol I`m sure it will Meg. I thought you did a good job of putting the “how to” together by the way.
Bettina’s last blog post..Screwing with the Telemarketers
I like Google Reader. My only frustration is that on my laptop, the list of subscribed blogs window only scrolls down a third of the way through my list. No idea why that would be. Any ideas. Everything else is hunky dory.
Colin Campbell’s last blog post..Word Hokey Cokey
Hi Meg,
Google reader is pretty cool! Amongst it’s mass of features and filters there is also a bookmarklet you can drag to the toolbar which makes it super easy to subscribe to feeds. I think it’s under settings > goodies and look in the last paragraph.
Burgo – It’s handy if you’re having trouble locating a subscribe button, that’s for sure.
Guera – Yay! I found the solution and have updated the post to show how
Many thanks for pointing that out.
Colin – could it be browser related? What are you using? Other thought is that if you make folders & sort your feeds that way, perhaps it might display the (now) shorter lists. You can collapse and expand folders.
Rod – that is a very hand tip, thanks. I couldn’t get it working in IE, but it does work well in Firefox.
Awesome! Thanks Meg for finding the fix. I switch between IE and Firefox quite a lot and it was getting painful to have to go back to Firefox to subscribe to something. Now I can streamline it all. (and thanks for the link too
)
guera’s last blog post..A Mexican Epiphany
[…] to use Google Reader with only a few feed subscriptions is boring. You already might have added the feeds of websites you frequently visit, but still feel you want more. You have no idea though what sites […]
How do I set up a feed from my site. I had one set up, but I can’t find again how to go back and modify it as my site name has changed?
Hi Carrie
It would probably be easiest to set this up through http://feedburner.com. I’ve written a bit about this:
http://blogpond.com.au/2007/11/26/you-may-have-more-subscribers-than-you-think/
Just follow the instructions at Feedburner (I’m hoping this works if you don’t have a site feed). If not, let me know.
[…] to use Google Reader with only a few feed subscriptions is boring. You already might have added the feeds of websites you frequently visit, but still feel you want more. You have no idea though what sites […]
[…] How to add feeds to Google Reader […]