You built a great blog. You want people to subscribe. You want your episodes to show up on Apple Podcasts.
But when you click your RSS link (yoursite.com/feed), you don’t see a list of posts. You see a scary error message like this:
“XML Parsing Error: XML or text declaration not at start of entity”
Or maybe just a blank white screen.
This is a disaster. If your RSS feed is broken, your email newsletter (Mailchimp) won’t send. Your podcast stops working. Your content distribution dies.
But don’t panic. This is usually caused by a tiny mistake in your code—often just a single “space” where it shouldn’t be.
In this guide, we will show you how to find that error and fix it permanently.
How to Know if Your Feed is Broken
Sometimes your feed looks fine to you, but broken to computers. Before we fix it, let’s test it.
Use the Validator
Don’t just look at the feed in Chrome. Use a professional tool.
Go to the W3C Feed Validation Service.
Type in your feed URL (usually
https://yoursite.com/feed).Click Check.
If it is Green: Your feed is valid! The problem might be with your podcast app or email service, not your site. If it is Red: It will give you a specific error line. Keep reading.
The Quick Fixes (Try These First)
Before we touch any code, let’s try the easy solutions.
1. Fix 404 Errors (Feed Not Found)
If the validator says “404 Not Found,” your site doesn’t know where the feed lives. This happens if your URL structure gets confused.
The Fix:
Log in to WordPress.
Go to Settings > Permalinks.
Do not change anything.
Just click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom.
Why this works: This forces WordPress to “flush” its rewrite rules and find the
/feed/URL again.
2. Turn Off Caching
Feeds update constantly. If your caching plugin saves an old version of the feed, it might break.
The Fix: Go to your caching plugin (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache). Look for a setting called “Exclude URLs.”
Add this:
/feed/(.*)Action: Clear your cache. This ensures visitors always get the fresh, working feed.
The "Whitespace" Error (The #1 Cause)
If your error says “XML or text declaration not at start of entity,” this is your problem.
What does it mean? RSS Feeds are written in XML. The very first line of the file must be the XML tag.
Correct:
XML<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>Broken (Notice the blank line above?):
XML<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
If there is even one space or one blank line before that tag, the feed breaks. This blank line is usually hiding in your theme’s functions.php file or a plugin file.
How to Fix the Whitespace Manually
Connect via FTP: Use FileZilla to access your site files.
Check
functions.php: Go towp-content/themes/your-theme/. Downloadfunctions.phpand open it.Look at the Bottom: Does the file end with
?>? If there are blank lines after that closing tag, delete them.Better yet: Delete the
?>tag entirely. PHP files don’t actually need it at the end, and removing it prevents this error.
Check the Top: Look at the very first line. Is there a space before
<?php? Delete it.
How to Fix it with a Plugin (Easy Way)
If you don’t want to edit code, a developer created a tool just for this.
Install a plugin called “Fix My Feed RSS Repair”.
Go to Tools > RSS Feed Fix.
Click the “Fix Feed” button.
This script scans your PHP files for empty lines and deletes them automatically.
Note: Deactivate the plugin once you are done.
Plugin Conflicts
If it wasn’t a whitespace issue, a plugin might be outputting garbage text into your feed.
How to find the bad plugin:
Deactivate All: Go to your Plugins page and turn everything off.
Check the Feed: Does it load now?
Yes: It is a plugin issue.
No: It is a theme issue (switch to a default theme to test).
Reactivate One by One: Turn on one plugin. Refresh your feed. If it works, turn on the next one.
Identify: As soon as the feed breaks again, the last plugin you activated is the culprit.
The "Content" Error (Special Characters)
Sometimes the feed structure is fine, but a specific blog post breaks it. This happens if you copy-paste weird characters from Word or use broken HTML codes.
The Symptom: The feed loads halfway, then cuts off abruptly.
The Fix:
Look at where the feed cuts off. Which post is the last one shown?
Go to that post in WordPress.
Look for special characters (like ampersands
&that aren’t encoded as&).Update the post.
Refresh the feed.
Conclusion
A broken RSS feed is a silent traffic killer. You might not notice it for weeks, but your subscribers will.
Your Repair Checklist:
Resave Permalinks (Fixes 404s).
Exclude Feeds from Cache (Fixes “stale” content).
Remove Whitespace (Fixes XML Parsing Errors).
Validate using the W3C tool.
Need Help with Custom Feeds? If you are running a podcast or a complex syndication network and can’t get your feed to validate, you might need a custom solution. Contact Our WordPress Experts today. We can debug your XML output and get your content flowing again.
