Some podcast directories will accept a submission inside their system using a standard RSS feed. Others prefer a submission straight from the podcast host. Below, we outline the best steps to take to submit your show to some of the most popular podcast directories.
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
Radio.com
Deezer
Stitcher
iHeartRadio
Some podcast directories pull your show in on submission almost immediately. Others take a few days to a week to approve your show and make your show visible in their directory.
Apple Podcasts can take up to a week to approve your show for submission, and up to another week to fully index your show in their directory. However; as other apps pull from Apple Podcasts to populate their listings, it can take a full month for those apps to pick up on what Apple Podcasts makes available for your show.
For this reason, Libsyn recommends beginning the submission a full month prior to your launch date. If you wish your show to be available for you to market by a specific date (hard launch), you should be submitting weeks to a month ahead of time (soft launch) so you have your URLs to your show in those directories that you can market your show to your potential audience with.
Keep in mind also that giving this period of time will allow some wiggle room should your show be rejected for any reason. It will give you time to find out why, and get your show properly resubmitted without the concern of missing your target launch date.
Once you have submitted your show to directories and been approved and listed, all you have to do going forward is publish content! Your updated or new content will automatically be pulled by those podcast directories automatically.
You're All Done!
You've created your first piece(s) of content, configured your show, published episodes, and set up your show to distribute to some of the most popular directories around.
Getting Help When You Need It
If you need help with any part of the getting started process or any other questions or concerns you might have, we have answers to help you.
Check out our help resources (including talking to our team directly) found here.