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

• 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.
• To ensure Apple Podcasts can validate your podcast feed, the first post on your blog page must contain an audio block. Blog posts without audio blocks won’t sync to Apple Podcasts.
• Squarespace-generated RSS feeds can include up to 300 most recent podcast episodes.

Step 1 - Use a blog page

To podcast with Squarespace, use a blog page to host your podcast. Create podcast episodes by adding blog posts with audio blocks. If a post has more than one audio block, only the first audio block will appear as an episode in Apple Podcasts.

When adding your first podcasting blog page, we recommend creating a URL slug you plan to use for the foreseeable future. Changing your URL slug later can affect your RSS feed and may cause issues with syndication.

To add a new blog page, open the Pages panel, 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, 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:

1. Open the Pages panel.
2. Hover over the blog page title and click  next to the title to open page settings.

3. Click the Feeds tab.
4. Click Podcasting.
   

Step 3 - Enter podcast details

In the Podcasting tab, 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 Language, Copyright, and Contact Details. You may have to scroll down to see all the fields.

Option	Details
Title	Your podcast title
Author	Author of the podcast
Description	Displays as the podcast's description
Cover Art	See next step.
Language (optional)	Select your podcast's language.
Type	Choose Episodic (default) 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).
Length	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.
Categories	Select up to three categories and subcategories. Apple Podcasts uses the first category to list your podcast. Additional categories are used for search.
Copyright (optional)	Add any copyright information you want visible in the Apple Podcasts app.
Contact Details	Contact information for your podcast: Name (optional) - This won't appear in the Apple Podcasts app. Email (optional) - This won't appear in the Apple Podcasts app. Though this is optional for Apple podcasts, some services, like Spotify and Stitcher, require an email address when submitting your RSS feed.
Explicit Content	Switch the toggle on if your podcast contains explicit content.
Change Feed	See Transferring a podcast.

Your Apple Podcasts listing also displays a Website link. This will always link to 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 updates automatically if you change your primary domain.

To learn more about what happens when you change 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 no more than 512 KB
• At least 1400px × 1400px, but no larger than 3000px × 3000px
• RGB color format
• 72 DPI

After adding all your podcast details, click Connect in the top-right corner.

Tip: If you need to update your podcast artwork later, upload the new art with a different filename to ensure Apple Podcasts recognizes the change.

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:

https://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 (https://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:

1. Create an Apple ID or use your existing ID to log into Podcasts Connect.
2. Validate your podcast.
3. Submit your podcast.

If you encounter any errors, visit Troubleshooting podcasts. Keep in mind, XML tags may display in Podcasts Connect, but this doesn't affect feed validation and the tags won't be visible in Apple Podcasts.

After successfully 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.

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.