Podcast syndication is what enables your episodes to reach and be consumed by your audience. This process relies on the use of RSS feeds, which serve as a bridge between your podcast and the various platforms where listeners access content. While several feed formats exist—such as Atom, RSS 0.92, and RDF—podcasting apps and directories, including Apple Podcasts, only support the RSS 2.0 (RSS2) format. Using this standardized format ensures your episodes are properly distributed across all major platforms.
Learn more about RSS on Wikipedia.org.
Podcast Feeds and WordPress
A podcast feed is like a blog feed with the addition of media enclosures. We recommend using WordPress for podcasting simply because podcasting is an extension of blogging. WordPress creates RSS feeds for you from the blog posts you create. By adding the Blubrry PowerPress podcasting plugin to WordPress, you transform the WordPress blogging platform into a podcasting platform as well.
RSS Feed is not a Web Page
An RSS feed is an XML-formatted document that lists blog posts and podcast episodes with the latest post/episode at the top. In a browser, the feed will look similar to HTML source code. The code is not intended to be viewed as a web page. Only feed readers, directories, and subscription services can properly decipher the contents of RSS feeds.
How RSS Syndication Works
Podcast syndication (like blog syndication) is simple.
1. Obtain a web location for your podcast feed to reside (your website / your .com). If you are using a platform such as WordPress, the platform will provide this location for you. If your website was example.com, then your podcast feed would be https://example.com/feed/podcast/.
2. Create at least one podcast episode. If you are using WordPress, you will want to install the Blubrry PowerPress podcasting plugin to add podcasting support. A podcast episode in WordPress is nothing more than a blog post with a media file URL linked in the podcast episode box added to the post edit screen. An example media file will look like https://example.com/path/to/media.mp3.
3. Submit your podcast RSS feed to podcast directories such as Apple Podcasts. It is required you have at least one episode, empty feeds cannot be submitted.
4. Every few hours each podcast directory you submit your RSS feed to will reference your feed location to check for new content within the feed. The next time you create a new episode, your feed will be updated with your latest episode at the top. Typically within 24 hours, the podcast directories to which you provided your feed location will see the new episode and update your listing.
5. When a listener subscribes to your show on most directories, they are subscribing to your RSS feed. So while a directory may be slow to update, your subscribers will typically have access to your new episode immediately. There are exceptions, such as Spotify, where listeners are dependent on those sites to update first.
6. Subscribers using most podcast apps will then automatically get your latest episode downloaded to their device as soon as it is available from your site.
RSS Feed vs. Media Files
Media files are referenced within each item (podcast episode) listed in the RSS feed. What happens to the media files depends on the feed reader, podcast directory or subscription service. Apple Podcasts will display the episodes listed in the feed in the form of a list that can be subscribed. The Blubrry podcast directory displays the episodes in a webpage and provides a web-based player for optional playback. The media files are typically only downloaded when the feed is subscribed to or the user clicks play.