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Google announced Wednesday that as of July 1, 2013 Google Reader will be going away.

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

If you try to add an RSS Subscription to your Google Reader, you are likely to see this message:

This announcement comes as a shock to those who are avid users of Google Reader's service, ...and to me! Google cites a decline in usage and efforts to focus of fewer services. So what does that mean for your RSS subscriptions? Will you lose all of the subscriptions to your favorite websites and blogs? No, not if you act quickly! You can export and move your RSS Subscriptions to another Feeder Reader. Don't know which Feed Reader to choose? Check out these best alternatives.

How to move your RSS Subscriptions

Once you have decided on a new Feed Reader,  follow these steps to move your RSS Subscriptions for your new Feed Reader service. The process is pretty simple!

1. Visit Google Takeout and select Reader. It may take some time to download, depending on how many RSS subscriptions you have. Once your Reader files have reached 100%, click "Create Archive". This will create the file you need to import your feed subscriptions to your new RSS Reader.


2. Once the Archive is created, click the Download button.


3. Open up the ZIP file you just downloaded and look through the folders inside. Inside the Reader folder, you should see a file called subscriptions.xml. Extract that XML file to your desktop.


4. Open up your new Feed Reader you have chosen, visit settings, and find the Import option. Select it, and choose the subscriptions.xml file you just extracted. All of your feeds should now appear in your new feed reader.

Unfortunately, this won't import your starred items and your new feed reader will not know which articles you've already read on Google Reader, but at least now you will still have all your RSS subscriptions. According to Google, you have until July to decide on which Feed Reader you like and move your RSS subscriptions, but I recommend moving them as soon as possible just in case!

Did you know you can also move your RSS Subscriptions to Bloglovin'? If you use Bloglovin' and would like to move your Google Reader RSS subscriptions to Bloglovin' all you need to do is make sure you are logged in to your Bloglovin' account and then click here to import your RSS subscriptions!

I am sad to see Google Reader go, it was good while it lasted!