Podcast Directory Submission 101

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Discover the essential steps to get your podcast listed on major listening directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Music. This episode breaks down the process of creating and submitting your RSS feed to ensure your content reaches your target audience!

Have a topic or question we should address on a future episode? Text us or email the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success Team at [e-mail]

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Episode Transcript

Cara Pacetti (00:00):
Welcome to Podcasting Q&A brought to you by
the people at Buzzsprout.
I'm your host, cara Bassetti,and I am bringing you the best
tips and strategies to keep youpodcasting with confidence.
Today, we're talking all aboutgetting your podcast listed on
the listening directories.
We see questions come into thesupport inbox all the time from

(00:23):
podcasters and they just want toknow how do I get the content
that I've worked so hard tocreate in front of my listeners?
And the answer is you have tosubmit your podcast to the
listening directories.
Apple, spotify, youtube Musicthose are some of the top
podcasting directories wherelisteners can tune in and hear

(00:43):
your content.
And so, in order to get yourpodcast in front of your
listeners, there's a couple ofkey steps that are involved with
this process.
So first, I'd like to start offby just defining a couple of
the key terms when it comes topodcasting and kind of the
process.
You'll often hear a term calledan RSS feed, so when you are
hosted with a podcast host, wewill help you create an RSS feed

(01:08):
.
Now, an RSS feed is just a webpage that contains all of your
content.
So your artwork, your episodedescriptions, your title, your
links and, most importantly,your audio files.
Those are all contained on anRSS feed and you would upload
your content to your podcasthost, like Buzzsprout.
We will create an RSS feed foryou and all of your content can

(01:31):
be found there.
Then we need to get thatcontent to the directories.
So I mentioned this before, butApple, spotify, youtube Music
are some of the most populardirectories right now.
A directory is basically aplace that listeners go to find
content, so if you have an itchto listen to a podcast, you

(01:52):
would visit a listeningdirectory and search up the
content that you want to listento, and so you would just head
to Apple Podcasts, search atopic and then Apple Podcasts
will provide a list of availablepodcasts related to that topic
that you've searched.
That is why it is imperativethat you get your content listed

(02:12):
on these directories so thatyou can be discovered.
But, like I said, there's acouple of details that need to
be completed in order to getyour podcast to those
directories, and so a couple ofthose include a title, a podcast
description, a podcast categoryand also a creator.
So title prettyself-explanatory Description.

(02:34):
Think about just a couple ofsentences describing what your
podcast is about.
Remember, on the directories,these listeners are heading
there to basically window shop.
They just want to know what'sout there that's related to this
category that I'm searching,and so keeping your podcast
description short, simple andreally enticing may make your

(02:55):
podcast stand out in comparisonto others and would really
motivate your listener tosubscribe and hear more of your
show.
The next step is to select apodcast category.
Now you only need one in orderto be listed on the directory,
so you want to make sure it'sthe one that best describes your
podcast.
If it involves a nichesubcategory, then that's totally

(03:18):
fine.
If you want to use anoverarching category, you can do
that, but you just want it tobe the one that really fits the
content of your podcast, and ifyou don't see one that is an
exact match, just find theclosest relative category.
The list is set by Apple, andsometimes they do make updates
to it, but there's not really away to add your own unique

(03:40):
category, and so you'll want toselect your category, and then
you'll need to add a podcastcreator, so that can be you as
the host if you are anindependent podcaster.
If your podcast is for, say,your company or maybe a hospital
or a school, it could be thename of the school that you're

(04:00):
working, of the hospital or eventhe company that you're working
for.
Typically, the creatorinformation is displayed just
below your podcast title on someof the listening directories,
and so that field will need tobe completed in order to submit
your podcast to the directories.
And so you'll want to make sureyou add artwork, make it

(04:21):
specific to your podcast, makesure you're capturing the
overall vibe that you want tocommunicate to your listeners.
The last remaining requirementwould be to publish your first
episode.
Typically, we recommendpodcasters would publish a
trailer episode.
In this case, a trailer episodeis great because, since it is

(04:42):
going to be live on your RSSfeed when you submit to the
directories, the listener maydiscover your podcast before
you've actually officiallylaunched, and so what better to
have there for them to find thanyour trailer episode, which is
introducing your podcast?
So that is what we recommend.
Starting with, a trailerepisode is just an introductory

(05:04):
episode.
There's no hard and fast ruleson how short or how long the
trailer needs to be.
You just want to make sure thatyou introduce yourself,
introduce the podcast title, letlisteners know where they can
find your podcast, and just givea little bit of information of
what your podcast is going to beabout and what they can expect.
And again, you want to show offyour personality.

(05:26):
It's your first introductionwith your listener, and so just
make sure that you are puttingyour best foot forward.
But that is what we recommendstarting with.
And so once you've publishedthat and you've completed all of
the detail and information andyou've uploaded your episode
artwork, now is the time to takethe necessary steps to submit
your podcast to ListeningDirectories.

(05:49):
The good news about this youonly have to do it once.
The way that podcasting worksis you submit your RSS feed to
the directories and then thedirectories can read that web
page, they can read all of thecontent so they can see your
artwork, your descriptions, yourtitle and they can show that on
their platforms.
Most directories continuallycheck your RSS feed for updates,

(06:13):
and so that's why, if youpublish your episode at 9 am but
you see that it doesn't go liveon the directories until 12 pm,
that's because the directorydidn't check your RSS feed until
12 pm for an update.
And so just keep in mind thatlittle delay.
Every directory has a little bitdifferent of a process for

(06:34):
submitting your podcast.
I know for Apple and forSpotify.
When you are hosted withBuzzsprout.
It is a one-click submission.
You will simply click GetListed on the directories page
inside of your Buzzsproutaccount and within three days,
or maybe even sooner, yourpodcast will be listed on both
Apple and Spotify.
So you can get this donerelatively quickly.

(06:57):
And the good news is, when yousubmit to Apple Podcasts, your
podcast will actuallyautomatically be submitted to
Overcast, castro, castbox,goodpods and TrueFans.
So that is really helpful forgetting your podcast listed
across multiple directories.
If you are submitting to anotherdirectory that doesn't have a

(07:18):
one-click submission, you willneed your RSS feed and in some
cases the directories will needto verify that you are the owner
of that RSS feed.
There's a couple of ways thatthey do this.
One of the common ways that wesee is by adding an email into
your RSS feed.
We try to make that really easyfor you.
In your Buzzsprout account, youwould just head to directories,

(07:39):
email verification, and you cantype in the email and we will
add it to your RSS feed for 48hours.
So, for example, youtube, ifyou are logging in with a
certain email for your YouTubestudio, that's the email that
you need to add to your RSS feedbecause they are trying to
verify that you are the ownerand that's the email that

(07:59):
they're seeing on their end Makesense.
One more thing I'm going to sayabout YouTube, because it is a
pretty popular podcastingdirectory at this time is that
when you submit your RSS feed toYouTube, it is getting listed
on both your YouTube channel andthe YouTube Music Platform as a
static image of your podcastartwork that you added to your

(08:20):
hosting site, and then it willplay the audio file with that
static image, and so when yousubmit your RSS feed, your
podcast will be available bothon your YouTube channel and on
the YouTube Music ListeningPlatform.
But overall, that is theprocess of submitting your
podcast to the listeningdirectories.
Just a quick recap before wesign off, create your content,

(08:43):
upload those files to yourpodcast host and complete all of
the details for your podcastthat I mentioned in this episode
.
Submit your RSS feed to thelistening directories that you
want your podcast featured onand then, from there, any edits
you make inside of your podcasthosting account will
automatically display across allof your listening directories.

(09:05):
Hosting account willautomatically display across all
of your listening directoriesand your listeners will be so
happy because it will reach themjust in time.
I hope this was helpful.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode.
If you have any questions forthe Podcaster Success team about
submitting your podcast to thelistening directories, you can
reach out to us at any time atsupport at buzzsproutcom.
While we're tackling commonquestions we see in the support
inbox.
I also want to hear directlyfrom you If you have questions
at any time at support atbuzzsproutcom.
While we're tackling commonquestions we see in the support

(09:27):
inbox.
I also wanna hear directly fromyou If you have questions you'd
like answered on a future show.
Just click the send us a textlink in the show notes.
Since we too went through thissubmission process, podcasting
Q&A is available on yourfavorite podcasting apps, so be
sure to join us every Monday tokickstart your week.
Thank you for listening.

(09:48):
Have a great week and keeppodcasting.