Troubleshooting podcasts

Last updated December 17, 2022

This guide includes troubleshooting tips for podcasting with Squarespace.

For general steps for setting up a podcast on your Squarespace site, visit Setting up a blog to host your podcast and Posting a podcast episode.

Note

If your podcast is already on Apple Podcasts, you shouldn't ever resubmit it. This can cause duplicate listings, and Apple will remove both feeds.

Errors validating RSS feed

If you see errors validating your RSS feed with Apple, ensure you've:

Then, follow Apple's steps to test your RSS feed and resolve any other errors before trying to validate again. We recommend only using the third-party validators recommended by Apple, as other validators may show errors unrelated to how Apple Podcasts wants you to set up your feed.

RSS feed stops updating

It can take up to 24 hours for new episodes or other changes to appear in Apple Podcasts. If more than 24 hours have passed, there may be an issue with the RSS feed. Review the steps below to resolve it.

New Blog Page URLs

If you've renamed or deleted your Blog Page's URL slug, Apple Podcasts won't be able to update. You have two options:

Domain connections

To check if there are any issues with your custom domain's connection or registration:

  1. Open the Domains panel.
  2. Click the panel for the domain you're using for your RSS feed URL.
  3. Ensure the domain is active and connected to your Squarespace site.

To prevent future issues, log into Podcasts Connect and give Apple the built-in domain for your RSS feed URL instead.

Passwords

If you have site-wide or page passwords enabled, remove them.

Next step

After resolving any of the above issues, test the podcast by manually following it. If you see the newest episodes, Apple Podcasts will update the public listing within 24 hours.

Episode doesn't display cover art

If you embedded an image in the .mp3 or .m4a uploaded as a podcast episode, listeners will see that image as the episode plays.

This image is different than a podcast's cover art, which displays in the Apple Podcasts listing and is set by the Cover Art Image in the Podcasting settings.

To remove the image:

  1. Drag your .mp3 or .m4a file into Apple Podcasts. It will show up in the Music section.
  2. Right-click (or control + click) the file in Apple Podcasts and click Song Info in the menu.
  3. Click the Artwork tab and remove the image from the .mp3 or .m4a.
  4. Drag the file out of Apple Podcasts, then upload it to the blog post.

If you want per-episode images, follow these steps to add .jpegs to each episode before uploading. Ensure the images are square, which means they have the same height and width, and that they're sized between 1400 x 1400 and 3000 x 3000px.

RSS feed is too large

If a podcasting service rejects your RSS feed because it's too large, make your episode summaries shorter.

RSS feeds are only text, so more text makes them larger. Changing the size of artwork or audio files won't affect the size of the RSS feed.

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