Understanding RSS Feed Polling Delays

Why Your RSS Feed Updates May Take Time

RSS feed automation checks feeds on a schedule. This explains why updates can take a few minutes, and sometimes longer.

How It Works

Think of it like checking your mailbox:

• We check every 5 minutes

• If we find mail, we check again soon

• If we find nothing, we wait longer before checking again

• After many empty checks, we wait up to 2 hours between checks

What This Means for You

When new items appear

• Best case: 0 minutes (if we check right when a new item appears)

• Typical case: 2–5 minutes (if a new item appears just after a check)

• Worst case: up to 5 minutes (if a new item appears right after a check)

• Rare worst case: up to 2 hours + 5 minutes (if your feed hasn’t had new items for a while)

Why delays vary

The delay depends on when a new item appears relative to our checks, and how long it’s been since we last found new items.

Example 1: Quick update (active feed)

• 10:00 AM: We check your feed → no new items

• 10:00 AM: You publish a new blog post

• 10:05 AM: We check again → found it (5-minute delay)

Example 2: Very quick update

• 10:00 AM: We check your feed → no new items

• 10:01 AM: You publish a new blog post

• 10:05 AM: We check again → found it (4-minute delay)

Example 4: Long delay (inactive feed)

• Your feed hasn’t had new items for several days

• We’ve been checking and finding nothing, so we wait longer between checks

• 2:00 PM: Last check (no new items) → next check scheduled for 4:00 PM (2 hours later)

• 2:30 PM: You publish a new blog post

• 4:05 PM: We check again → found it (1 hour 35 minutes delay)

This happens because:

• After finding no new items multiple times, we increase the wait time

• Wait time increases: 2 minutes → 4 minutes → 6 minutes → 8 minutes → ... up to 2 hours maximum

• Once we find new items again, we reset to checking more frequently

Why We Don't Check Every Second

• Reduces server load

• Reduces costs

• Most feeds don't update every second

• Prevents overwhelming feed servers

• For inactive feeds, longer waits save resources

What You Can Expect

• New items are usually detected within 2–5 minutes (for active feeds)

• Sometimes it’s instant (lucky timing)

• Sometimes it takes up to 5 minutes (normal)

• For feeds that haven’t updated in a while, it can take up to 2 hours + 5 minutes

• After we find new items, we resume checking more frequently

When Do Longer Delays Happen?

Longer delays (up to 2 hours) occur when:

• Your feed hasn’t had new items for several days or weeks

• We’ve checked multiple times and found nothing

• The system increases wait time to save resources

Once we detect new items again, we reset to frequent checks (every 2–5 minutes).

Is This a Problem?

No. This is expected behavior. The system is designed to:

• Check regularly without overloading servers

• Find new items quickly on active feeds

• Be efficient and reliable

• Save resources on inactive feeds