Is your podcast feed as optimized as it can be? This will tell you.
Basic universal tests—the podcasting equivalent of "Is the patient breathing?"
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Is something there? First we check if something’s at the URL, and that it takes a reasonable amount of time to retrieve. | |
| Is it XML? XML is a language that computers (and soon, robots!) use to talk to each other. This tests to see if the content at the URL is XML. Technically, it tests whether or not the content is “well formed” according to the XML standard. | |
| Is it an RSS feed? RSS is the special "flavor" of XML used to publish blog and podcast feeds. This test makes sure the feed conforms to the RSS 2.0 specification, too. | |
| Is the feed delivered securely? Apple Podcasts requires SSL-encrypted feeds, whose URLs start with https://. |
But does it feel good?
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Does the podcast feed have a “good” URL? Here I test for problems like the use of someone else's domain, the use of deprecated services, etc. |
This section tests stuff that matters as specified in Apple’s requirements for Apple Podcasts.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Cover art The cover art must be 1,400–3,000 pixels square to look good on fancy retina-class displays. | |
| Support for HTTP HEAD requests The server for your episodes must support "HTTP HEAD requests", which is a fancy way of saying that Apple Podcasts must be able to get information about your files without downloading them whole. | |
| Byte-range support The server for your episodes must support "byte-range requests", which enables podcast apps to fetch media in chunks. This is required to support streaming, and is required to be promoted in Apple Podcasts. | |
| Is there a valid Apple Podcasts category? Podcasts must have a valid itunes:category tag to be accepted for iTunes. | |
| Is there an Apple Podcasts summary? Podcasts should have a valid itunes:summary tag, or at least a description. | |
| Does it have everything it needs to be searched properly? Podcasts must have valid title, author and description tags at the channel and item level of your podcast feed, so that Apple Podcasts has enough source material for its search engine. | |
| Do episode links have file extensions? Apple Podcasts needs episode enclosure URLs to have valid file extensions, even thought that's not techically neccessary. |
Test whether podcast meets the new PSP-1 standard by the Podcast Standards Project.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Required namespaces XML "namespaces" are used to extend the things that can be used in RSS podcast feeds. This tests whether the feed specifies the namespaces needed for PSP-1 compliance. | |
| Required channel elements This tests whether the podcast feed includes things that are required for the podcast, represented by the RSS channel. | |
| Recommended channel elements This tests for other recommended podcast information. These are not required. | |
| Required item elements This tests whether the podcast feed includes things that are required for podcast episodes, represented by the RSS item. | |
| Recommended item elements This tests for other recommended podcast episode information. These are not required. |
This podcast feed meets requirements for the Podcast Standards Project's PSP-1 certification.