Submitting Your Podcast to Directories
Benecaster generates a public RSS feed for your show that you can submit to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, and every other podcast directory. This is separate from the private token-based feeds your subscribers use — it’s a standard public URL, no login required.
Your Public Feed URL
Your public feed URL follows this format:
https://yoursite.com/podcast-feed/
If you have multiple shows, each has its own URL:
https://yoursite.com/podcast-feed/your-show-slug/
If you’ve enabled pretty permalinks (Benecaster → Settings → Feeds), the format is:
https://yoursite.com/podcast/your-show-slug/feed/
Both formats resolve to the same feed content.
What appears in the public feed? Only episodes where you have set a public availability date and that date has passed. Episodes only available to paid tiers are not included. If you haven’t set any public availability dates, the public feed will be empty — set dates on each episode in the episode editor under the Availability tab.
Submitting to Apple Podcasts
- Sign in to Apple Podcasts Connect
- Click + to add a new podcast
- Enter your public feed URL
- Apple will validate the feed and ask you to claim ownership
Apple Podcasts validates your feed against the iTunes RSS specification. Benecaster generates a fully spec-compliant feed — artwork, categories, language, and all required tags are included automatically from your show settings.
Artwork requirements: 3000×3000 px minimum, JPEG or PNG, under 500 KB. Set your show artwork in Show Settings → General.
Submitting to Spotify
- Go to Spotify for Podcasters and sign in
- Click Add a podcast
- Choose I have a podcast RSS feed and enter your public feed URL
- Verify ownership
Note: Spotify for Podcasters is for submitting your public podcast listing. Spotify does not support private subscriber-authenticated feeds — your paying subscribers need a podcast app that supports custom RSS URLs. See Adding Your Feed to a Podcast App.
Other Directories
Submit the same public feed URL to any directory:
| Directory | Submission |
|---|---|
| Podchaser | podchaser.com/creators |
| Listen Notes | listennotes.com/submit |
| Overcast | Indexed automatically from Apple Podcasts |
| Pocket Casts | Indexed automatically from Apple Podcasts |
| Google Podcasts | Indexed automatically via Google Search |
| Podcast Index | podcastindex.org/add |
Most directories index from Apple Podcasts within a few days of your show being listed there — submitting to Apple first is usually the highest-leverage step.
Analytics for Public Feed Listeners
Benecaster tracks episode downloads through the download proxy. When a listener who found your show through Apple Podcasts or another directory downloads an episode, that download appears in your analytics dashboard alongside downloads from your private subscribers — by episode, by date, by app, and by country.
The App dimension in your analytics shows breakdowns by podcast client (Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, etc.), so you can see which apps your public-feed listeners use.
Feed crawl requests — Apple’s indexer fetching your RSS XML, for example — are not counted as episode downloads. Only audio file requests count.
Keeping Your Listing Current
After the initial submission, directory listings update automatically when your feed changes. Episode titles, descriptions, artwork, and show metadata sync when the directory’s crawler next fetches your feed — usually within 24 hours.
If you change your public feed URL (for example, by migrating to a new domain or enabling pretty permalinks), update your directory listings using the <itunes:new-feed-url> redirect. Benecaster supports this via the new_feed_url key in the benecaster_feed_channel_data filter, or you can configure it through the migration wizard if you’re moving from another platform.