Setting up a blog to host your podcast

You can use a Blog Page to publish and syndicate a podcast with Squarespace. Blog posts containing Audio Blocks appear in your RSS feed so listeners can use a podcast service like Apple Podcasts to subscribe and download new episodes.

This guide shows how to set up a Blog Page for podcasting, add syndication information, and submit your podcast RSS feed to Apple Podcasts.

Tip: iTunes Podcasts rebranded as Apple Podcasts.

Before you begin

Only blog posts with Audio Blocks can be used for creating a podcast. Apple Podcasts won't recognize other pages with Audio Blocks.
You can post other blog posts without Audio Blocks on the same Blog Page. These won’t sync to Apple Podcasts.
Squarespace formats RSS feeds using the podcasting standards set by Apple Podcasts, but you can share your feed with other subscription services. This guide refers to Apple Podcasts as the default podcast subscription service.
Squarespace-generated RSS feeds can include up 300 of most recent podcast episodes. This is the maximum number of episodes that Apple Podcasts supports.
When adding your first podcasting Blog Page, we recommend creating a URL slug you’re happy with from the beginning. Changing your URL slug later can affect your RSS feed and may cause issues with syndication.

Step 1 - Use a Blog Page

To podcast with Squarespace, you’ll need a Blog Page. The Blog Page creates your podcast, and every blog post on the page with an Audio Block will be its own podcast episode. If a post has more than one Audio Block, only the first Audio Block will appear as an episode in Apple Podcasts.

To add a new Blog Page, in the Home Menu, click Pages, then click the + icon to add a Blog Page.

To use an existing Blog Page, continue to the next step.

Step 2 - Open Podcast Setup

Squarespace uses universal tags to update your RSS feed with your podcast's information. These RSS tags set titles, categories, owner information, Cover Art image, and other information for your podcast. Apple Podcasts requires this information when you submit a podcast.

Tip: Apple Podcasts also creates tags from the information in the Podcasting tab of the Audio Block when you post an individual episode.

Tip: For Apple's technical specifications for podcasting, visit their documentation.

Use these steps to add your information:

In the Home Menu, click Pages.
Hover over the blog page title and click next to the title to open Page Settings.

Click the RSS tab.
Under Apple Podcasts, click Connect.

Step 3 - Enter podcast details

In the Apple Podcasts window, complete the fields with your podcast's information. These details help listeners find and identify your podcast in Apple Podcasts. All fields are required by Apple Podcasts, except for visible Copyright information. You may have to scroll down to see all the fields.

Option	Details
Title	Your podcast title
Author	Author of the podcast
Subtitle	Podcast tagline
Summary	Displays as the podcast's description
Copyright	Copyright information for your podcast: Owner name (required) - This won't appear in the Apple Podcasts app. Owner email (required) - This won't appear in the Apple Podcasts app. Copyright (optional) - Add any copyright information you want visible in the Apple Podcasts app.
Explicit Content	Switch the toggle on if your podcast contains explicit content.
Feed Size	Choose Standard (default) to support syndication of up to 100 posts with the full post content. Choose Optimized for podcasting to support syndication of up to 300 posts with only the blog excerpt. You can switch between Standard and Optimized for podcasting at any time. To enhance performance and ensure your RSS feed conforms to size limits, only blog excerpts display when Optimized for podcasting is selected.
Feed Type	Choose Episodic to display episodes from last to first. Choose Serial to display episodes from first to last. New subscribers automatically download the first episode (or current season).
Categories	Select up to three categories and subcategories. Apple Podcasts uses the first category to list your podcast. Additional categories are used for search.
Cover Art Image	See next step.
Change Feed URL	See Transferring a podcast.

Your Apple Podcasts listing also displays a Website link. This will always use your primary domain plus your Blog Page URL slug, even if you submit your built-in Squarespace domain for your RSS feed. It's not possible to change this link manually, but it'll update automatically if you change your primary domain. To learn more about changing your primary domain, visit Transferring a podcast.

Step 4 - Upload podcast artwork

To upload cover art for your podcast, scroll down and drag your image into the image uploader.

Follow these guidelines for podcast artwork:

Square .jpg or .png file
At least 1400px × 1400px, but no larger than 3000px × 3000px
RGB color format
72 DPI

After adding all your podcast details, click Connect.

Step 5 - Post your first episode

To submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts for syndication, you must first post an episode. Follow the steps in Posting a podcast episode, then continue with Step 6.

Step 6 - Find your RSS feed URL

Your RSS URL is based on your built-in domain and blog page name. Using your built-in Squarespace URL, it will be:

http://yoursitename.squarespace.com/blogname?format=rss

Replace “yoursitename” with your built-in domain and “blogname” with your Blog Page URL slug.

While you can use a custom domain here (http://customdomainname.com/blogname?format=rss), we recommend using your built-in .squarespace.com URL to ensure stability. The URL won't be visible anywhere on Apple Podcasts or to your subscribers. If you prefer to use a custom third-party domain, ensure it's connected properly.

For more help, visit Finding your RSS feed URL.

Step 7 - Submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts

To submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts for approval:

After submitting your podcast, you'll receive an email from Apple Podcasts saying they received your submission. You'll receive another email after it's approved.

Updating your podcast

After you successfully set up your podcast, each blog post with an Audio Block added to this Blog Page will publish as an episode. If a post has more than one Audio Block, the first Audio Block will appear as an episode in Apple Podcasts.

Apple Podcasts refreshes podcasts about once every 24 hours, so this is normally how long updates to the feed will take.

Tip: If it's important that this happens faster, log in to your Podcasts Connect dash and click Refresh Feed. However, Apple Podcasts warns podcasters not to do this too often—it should be for special circumstances, not every new episode.

Creating multiple podcasts

If you publish multiple podcasts through your site, create a unique Blog Page for each podcast, and submit them for syndication separately. Each post on a Blog Page creates a new episode, but all posts on a Blog Page are considered part of single podcast by Apple Podcasts and other subscription services.