Google Reader will be gone by summer. Yesterday Google officially announced that on July 1, 2013 it will retire the most popular RSS feed reader available. Rumors have been swirling for a year about the demise of Google’s popular RSS feed delivery system, Feedburner, and this is just one more nail in the coffin. Read on to discover how this will radically impact millions who depend on these services to deliver and read countless blog posts. And, see what you need to do right now to prepare so you don’t lose your site readers, like setting up RSS to email options such as those found in MailChimp, Aweber, and FeedBlitz.
What Happened?
Since 2011, Google has closed 70 of its online services. Some of them include apps and APIs created by Google, such as Google Maps API for Flash, and some were acquisitions such as Google Web Security, which came to Google as part of the Postini buyout. Google developed Google Reader in 2005 and acquired Feedburner in 2007.
Then, last summer, a big shutdown hit. Google announced the shut down Feedburner’s API. That was the first clue that Google was getting out of the RSS feed business. Read my post Will Google Shut Down Feedburner?
Feedburner is the delivery arm of Google’s RSS feed services. Google Reader is the receiving arm of that service. And now that arm is being cut off.
Why Now?
It’s simple, G+. Google has bet the farm on G+ becoming the answer to everything. And it’s way more than a social platform. Way, way more.
In 2011, Google began moving business toward Google+Local. Then it begain moving users of its apps, specifically Gmail, toward setting up verifiable digital identities via G+ Personal Profiles.
And then Google sweetened the deal for online content writers (blog owners) to help the search engine sort the good from the bad from the ugly by favoring posts written by those with a verifiable digital identity. That’s the whole crux behind AuthorRank. (Read Why You Need AuthorRank for SEO) It has become the hottest SEO ticket for bloggers to get noticed in 2013.
What’s Next?
If you do not already have your G+ profile set up, do it now. And get busy posting there. Then get busy setting up your AuthorRank.
The writing’s on the wall. Google wants you to post on G+. By taking away Google Reader, they want more of your followers to read your posts on G+ too.
What Else is Next?
Start moving your blog post readers to RSS-to-Email subscription. Start now. The reason for the urgency goes beyond what’s happening to Google Reader. Facebook is making significant changes to its News Feed and posts from business pages are going to get left in the dust.
The only way to ensure that your blog posts get delivered to your fan base is via email. RSS-to-email services are available from Feedburner for free. But if you’re still using that service, you’re taking your chances that it won’t shut down without notice. That’s what thousands of bloggers in Japan woke up to discover one morning when Google suddenly cut off the service there.
RSS-to-email is available from FeedBlitz as well as email services such as Aweber, but both will cost you. The only other free alternative is MailChimp, which offers the service free for up to 2000 subscribers.
Get On MailChimp Now
I’m hosting a webinar on Friday, March 15, 2013 that goes step-by-step through setting up RSS-to-email via MailChimp.
You can also get the MailChimp Video Course anytime and it covers everything about setting up MailChimp, list segmentation, as well as RSS-to-email.
You can also get both the SEO & AuthorRank course and the MailChimp course in the VIP Library, which includes all the WordPress and Genesis videos too, and is about $50 cheaper than getting the courses individually. See all video courses.
Is RSS Dead?
No! Folks can still subscribe to your site’s raw RSS feed, they just won’t be able to read it in Google Reader after July 1. But there are other feed readers. And, there are lots of things you can do with your feed, even those for your categories. I show you several great ways to make use of them in the MailChimp course.
More Resources
I’ve got plenty of free resources on BlogAid for you too. These are no-strings-attached downloads, so go get them right away.
The Ultimate FeedBurner Alternatives Guide
How to Export Feedburner RSS and Set Up MailChimp RSS to Email
MailChimp Signup Forms, Plugins, and Widgets Review
More Blog Posts
If you’re a little fuzzy on all the parts of RSS feeds, or want to know more about why you should be offering your blog posts via email, here are a few articles you’ll want to read.
NOTE: These posts were written before the rumors started flying about Feedburner, so overlook the temptation to use that service now. I switched from Feedburner to MailChimp, and so should you.
The 3 Parts of RSS Feeds You Need to Know
Offer Multiple Subscriptions for Higher Visibility
Wrap Up
Are you on G+ yet? Are you offering a subscription to your posts via email? I know you’ve probably got questions. Ask away here in the comments and let’s get you some help and clarity and get you on the right track with ensuring your posts stay in front of your readers.
And, to ensure that you stay connected with me, subscribe to the posts on BlogAid right now.
This book could save you hundreds of dollars and months of frustration. Get it free with your subscription to
Sarah says
March 14, 2013 at 12:46 amthis was a great post, MaAnna. I’m bummed. Google Reader was part of my morning routine for content aggregation and share. I just signed up for Feedly, but it’s already buggy, immediately after download. I get your point about moving people to e-mail subscriptions instead of RSS, and e-mail is also my focus in my business, but I loved Google Reader for my content consumption. I cannot possibly subscribe to hundreds of e-mail lists. Which aggregation tool will you switch to?
MaAnna Stephenson says
March 14, 2013 at 1:14 amOh me too, Sarah. I follow over 100 blogs to keep up with this industry and not looking forward to replacing Google Reader for that, especially since I mainly read on my iPad. Whatever I get will definitely have to work on that.
I’ll be writing more posts as I test them out and see which ones work best. I don’t think I’ll start with Feedly! Thanks for the heads up on that.
Sarah says
March 14, 2013 at 2:03 amgreat, look forward to those, MaAnna ! Btw: do check out Feedly, just be patient in the beginning. I think it just had a hard time loading all my hundreds of feeds from Google Reader, but once it did it looks fabulous.
Cheryl Pickett says
March 14, 2013 at 9:18 amI’m with both of you. Clearly Google does not know how many people use Reader to read much more than they ever could/would as individual email notices. I used to use Yahoo as my home page with a few reads on that, but that started getting really glitchy which was way I switched to both igoogle and Reader. Definitely looking forward to the replacement info.
MaAnna Stephenson says
March 14, 2013 at 4:11 pmThere has been an outcry from Google Reader fans, and even a petition to keep it. But, I don’t think folks are taking the bigger picture into consideration with how methodically Google has been moving folks toward using G+ and tying everything they have to it. This has been going on since 2011.
The other big outcry came when they started shutting down the Feedburner API. I doubt it will be long for this world now either.
Google is giving notice that it is getting out of the RSS feed business on both ends.
I touched on the major impacts in this post, and expect to see many more in the near future.
Folks really don’t have long to get ahead of this crashing wave.
Jacqui says
March 14, 2013 at 8:35 amHi, great timing for me with the post. I’m kinda new in setting up my website and still learning. I’m a little confused with something you’ve mentioned above – I currently have an RSS Feed with Feedburner which is then feeding into Mailchimp (RSS to email). When you say that you switched from Feedburner to Mailchimp, what did you mean exactly? I’m also having issues with bringing in an image from my blog post into Feedburner (WP RSS Image plugin not working) – any tips would be greatly appreciated :)
MaAnna Stephenson says
March 14, 2013 at 8:56 amJacqui, cut out the middle man. You should use your site’s raw feed to send to MailChimp, not your FeedBurner feed. And, consider an Open Graph plugin to deal with the images. It will also help pick up the right title. There are standalone plugins for Open Graph. The folks at Facebook made the first one. But several other plugins have a setting for it too, like the WordPress SEO plugin and some of the social sharing or social follow plugins. The main thing is, you only want one to do it so that you don’t have a plugin conflict.
Jacqui says
March 14, 2013 at 10:44 pmThankyou very much MaAnna, you’ve been such a great help!
Mary Hone says
March 14, 2013 at 11:43 amI am wondering about the RSS to email option on mailchimp. Why is that better, or even different than a regular email subscription? I am self hosted wordpress with everyone going through feedburner, which I am going to switch. I guess I will just direct everyone through my default RSS on the blog. I have 3 blogs, 2 don’t have many subscribers and the other one does. I’m just trying to find the very best option for me.
MaAnna Stephenson says
March 14, 2013 at 5:40 pmMary, with regular RSS, folks still have to have a reader, and they have to remember to check that reader. Plus, with your raw feed, you won’t have any way to track your subscriptions or whether they actually read the post, visit the site, or click on links. With RSS to email, you are assured that they have the opportunity to read your posts and you can track a lot more analytics.
And, to gain more subscribers, it’s a good idea to ask them to sign up once in awhile too.
Mary Hone says
March 14, 2013 at 8:21 pmHelp!!! I did a stupid thing. I imported my email contacts into a CSV from feedburner for two of my blogs. The one blog that has the most subscribers, I didn’t. I went into feedburner, and redirected the feed, and deleted the feed. So now I can’t get into feedburner to grab those email people, and I didn’t write a post telling my RSS subscribers to refollow me. I didn’t think I would totally lose access to feedburner like that I can still see my blog in feedburner, but that’s it. How can I reverse it, even for a day or two?
MaAnna Stephenson says
March 14, 2013 at 9:34 pmOh Mary, I’m so sorry to hear about this for you. I think that once you delete the burned feed it’s gone. You can put out a post telling folks that you are making the switch and then keep referring to that post via social media and the other places that folks follow you. Over time you will likely get back all the folks who really enjoy your posts.
As a note to others, even after you move folks out of Feedburner, do not delete the account. You can use it to redirect folks back to the site for your new subscription feed service.
Alex Thompson says
March 14, 2013 at 10:06 pmHelpful post, Got in the right time, I like to use your methods to transfer from Google Reader. Glad to know about the same.
Frampton Martin says
March 20, 2013 at 7:25 amSince Google Reader won’t be more around us I think this step by Google will also help in promoting White Hat SEO practices to be continued ahead by increasing personalize responses and subscription that email subscription.
Thanks