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How to submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

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How to get your podcast into people’s ears

When you’re thinking about starting a podcast it’s a bit of mind f*ck trying to work out how your show gets from your computer into people’s phones.

The good news is it’s waaaay easier than you’d think.

Step 1: Upload the MP3 of your episode to your podcast host

Once you’ve recorded your very first episode, edited it and exported the file to MP3 you’ll need somewhere to house it.

Ideally, that’s NOT on your website (unless you want people visiting it to describe the speed as “glacial”).

Instead, you want to set up an account with a podcast host and store all your MP3’s there.  And it’s this host that acts as the middleman between you and each of the podcast directories.

The steps to release a podcast episode

Read

What podcast host should you choose?

There are a bunch out there so it all comes down to personal preference, but here are a few I recommend…

Whooshkaa

Logo for podcast host, WhooshkaaA podcasting platform created in Australia.

Whooshkaa is free to upload your podcasts and they have some great sharing features e.g. their player plays natively in Facebook.

They also find targeted ads to insert into your show so you can generate revenue without having to do the legwork of finding advertisers yourself.

This is the platform I use to house all my shows.

Price: Free (they make their money from advertising revenue, which you get a cut of).

Omny

Omny Studio LogoAnother platform I’ve had a great experience with.

The major limitation with these guys, is when you share your episodes on social they don’t play natively i.e. you have to click the link to go to another page.

When social is an important part of your promotional strategy this isn’t ideal but it’s not the end of the world.  I also don’t think the player is as well designed as Whooshkaa’s BUT it’s waaaay better than the players for the podcast hosts below.

LibSyn

Where to host your podcastThis is one of the most established and well-known podcast hosts and is used by a lot of the major podcasts in America.

I used Libsyn before I moved to Whooshkaa and it worked well.  I just found the design a bit basic and wanted something that looked really nice on my website.

Price: US$5 – $75

Blubrry

Where to host your podcastAnother podcast host a lot of podcasters use. They have a WordPress plugin called ‘PowerPress’ which allows you to publish episodes from inside your website.

I’ve never used this platform but there are a lot of podcasters who recommend it.

Price: US$12 – $80

Do you need a podcast host?

Read

Step 2: Submit your show to your favourite directories

When you create your show within a podcast host it’ll generate an “RSS feed.”

That sounds techy but it’s really just a fancy URL.

Each podcast host will have their own version or structure for the URL but one thing they all have in common is they include the letters “rss.”

For example:

https://showname.podcasthostname.com/rss

When you release your very first episode you’ll need to copy that URL and submit it to the podcast directories you want your show to appear in.

Once your show is listed in each of these directories you won’t need to worry about doing this step again because each episode will automatically pop up when you press publish inside your media host.

The steps to release a podcast episode

Read

Where do I submit my show?

There are a bunch of directories you can submit your podcast to and even more that will automatically register your show because it’s been submitted to iTunes.

If you Google “podcast directories” you’ll find a bunch and you can submit to as many as you want but here are a few I recommend…

Suggested podcast directories

The process for submitting to the first directories on this list is really simple.  You just click the link, fill in the required info and wait to get an email saying your show is live…

Apple Podcasts (a lot of people still refer to this as iTunes but it’s different)

Spotify

Stitcher

Pocketcasts

TuneIn

The process for submitting your show to the next directory is a little more difficult…

Google Podcasts

Google Podcasts doesn’t work like other directories because it uses Google’s search capabilities to find your podcast rather than you having to physically submit it.

If Google has already found your podcast, you’re in luck.  If not, it might take a few steps and a little help to get things sorted.

So what do you need to do?

Check if your podcast is in Google Podcasts already

Because Google is very smart, it might have already found your show without you knowing it.

To find out if that’s the case you just need to copy and paste your RSS feed into Google’s Direct Link Generator and press “Generate.”

Screenshot of Google Direct Link Generator

If your podcast is already in Google Podcasts you’ll get a message saying “Podcast retrieved.”

Screenshot of success message from Google Direct Link Generator

If you get that message, breathe a sigh of relief because you don’t need to do anything else!

If you get a red error message there are a few steps you’ll need to take to make sure Google can find your pod.

Make sure your website is compatible with Google Podcasts

Google finds your podcast by searching for the corresponding website.  This could be one you’ve created yourself or a website provided by your podcast host.

Either way, it needs to be compatible with Google’s requirements.

Be warned that if code and any mention of “website back ends” fills you with dread these requirements might have you heading for the hills.

The good thing is, if you have a website through your podcast host they should have everything optimised for Google.  If they don’t you can tell them to do the hard work for you.

If you’re doing things yourself it might be worth hiring a freelancer via UpWork or Fiverr to copy and paste the code in the right place for you.

This should be a super easy task for whoever you hire (as long as they know what they’re doing) so don’t get ripped off.

If your website has all the right lines of code in the right places but it’s still not showing up in the Link Generator, you might need to give Google a little nudge to help it find your show.

Help Google find your RSS feed

You do that by submitting your website to Google via their Search Console.

Again, if you’re breaking out in hives because these instructions look like they’ve been written in another language just hire someone to take the copying and pasting out of your hands.

What directories should you submit your podcast to?

Read

Step 3: Be patient

When you’re submitting your show to podcast directories like iTunes and Spotify it can take a little while before they appear.

That’s why it’s always a good idea to start your feed off with a “coming soon” episode or a trailer, so your show will be live and in the directories when you release your first episode.

Why you need a trailer for your podcast

Read

Whichever way you do it, you’ll usually receive an email from the directories you’ve submitted your show to (except Google) saying “it’s live!”

After that happens it’s time to spread the word because you’re officially a podcaster!

Got a burning podcasting question you’d like answered? Send me an email.

Want to start your own podcast but need a little help?  Download my “How To Start A Podcast” guide or sign up for my online podcasting course, PodSchool.

14 Comments
  1. Jacqui says:

    Hi, I see that you have to pay to use most of the media hosts, but do you have to pay when you upload your RSS feed to a directory?

    1. rcorbett says:

      Hey Jacqui! Nope! You can upload it to as many directories as you like and it’s free to do that. Rach

  2. Kareline Van der Linden says:

    What do you do when your podcast is in an non English language, and this language is not listed in the language option?

    Thank you!

    1. rcorbett says:

      Hey Kareline. Great question! What hosting platform are you uploading your show to? Might be a question for them. Rach

  3. Kayla says:

    Hi there!
    iTunes approved my podcast, and then the next day denied it. What would be the reason for this? Any advice on guaranteeing getting accepted into iTunes?

    1. rcorbett says:

      Hey Kayla, I’d really just be taking a guess not knowing your podcast and how it’s set up. Did iTunes not send an email saying it had been rejected and detailing why?

  4. Emma Rowley says:

    Hi! Can you recommend any graphics software we can use to promote the podcasts?
    Thank you 🙂

    1. rcorbett says:

      Hey Emma, I do all my graphics using Canva (https://www.canva.com/) and then I create audio cards with those graphics in Wavve (https://wavve.co).

  5. Michael Brown says:

    Hi Rachel
    Where do Whooshkaa place the ads in a podcast?

    1. rcorbett says:

      Hey Michael, You mark up the file where you’d like the ads placed. Rach

  6. Kamran says:

    Hey such a helpful article I wanted to know whether you would have to place an ad on every episode if your hosting via whooshka

    1. rcorbett says:

      Hey Kamran, So glad you found it helpful. You ad your own markers into each episode for where you’d like ads placed so if you didn’t want ads in an episode you just wouldn’t put any markers in. Rach

  7. Nick says:

    Hi Rach, you say you use Whooshkaa but YGSS on this website looks like its housed on soundcloud? Am I missing something? I find the choice of host confusing! Nick

    1. rcorbett says:

      Hey Nick, I use Whooshkaa as my podcast host but I use Soundcloud to house the little promo snippets I share on social media. You’ll notice the bits of audio I have on Soundcloud are only small portions of the podcast, not the whole show. Rach

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GET MY FREE PODCAST GUIDE

WANT TO START A PODCAST BUT HAVE NO IDEA HOW? THIS GUIDE TAKES YOU THROUGH ALL THE TOOLS AND TECH YOU NEED TO GET GOING!

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