Every podcast runs on an RSS feed, even if you've never seen yours. Understanding what it is, where to find it, and how it works will save you headaches down the road — especially when you want to do things like import your episodes into tools like PodDistill.
What Is an RSS Feed?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Your podcast's RSS feed is a structured file hosted at a URL that contains all the information about your show: the title, description, artwork, and a list of every episode with its audio file, publish date, and metadata.
Think of it as a live table of contents for your podcast. Every time you publish a new episode, your hosting platform updates the RSS feed automatically. Podcast apps check the feed periodically and pull in new episodes when they appear.
How Podcast Apps Use Your Feed
When a listener subscribes to your podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or any other app, the app stores your RSS feed URL. It then checks that URL on a regular schedule — usually every few hours — to see if anything has changed.
When you publish a new episode, here's what happens behind the scenes:
- Your hosting platform adds the episode to your RSS feed (the XML file gets updated with a new entry).
- Podcast apps detect the change during their next check.
- The new episode appears in the listener's library, sometimes with a push notification.
This is why there's sometimes a delay between publishing an episode and it showing up in every app. Each app polls on its own schedule.
Where to Find Your RSS Feed URL
Your RSS feed URL is generated by your podcast hosting platform. Here's where to find it on the most popular hosts:
- Buzzsprout: Go to your podcast dashboard, click Directories, and look for your RSS feed URL at the top of the page. It will look something like feeds.buzzsprout.com/123456.rss.
- Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor): Go to Settings, then Distribution. Your RSS feed URL is listed under "Copy RSS feed." Note that Spotify for Podcasters uses an anchor.fm feed URL.
- Libsyn: Navigate to Destinations in your dashboard. Your RSS feed URL is listed there. Libsyn feeds typically look like yourshow.libsyn.com/rss.
- Transistor: Go to your podcast settings. The RSS feed URL is on the Distribution tab. Transistor uses a feeds.transistor.fm domain.
- Podbean: Find it under Settings > Feed in your dashboard. Your feed URL will be on a feed.podbean.com domain.
If you use a different host, look for "RSS feed," "distribution," or "directories" in your dashboard settings. Every hosting platform provides this — it's how your podcast reaches listeners.
What's Inside the Feed
Under the hood, an RSS feed is an XML file. You don't need to understand XML to run a podcast, but knowing the basics helps when debugging issues.
At a high level, your feed contains two main sections:
- Show-level information: Your podcast's title, description, author, language, category, and artwork URL. This is what podcast directories display on your show page.
- Episode entries: Each episode is an item in the feed. It includes the episode title, description, publish date, duration, and — most importantly — the enclosure tag, which points to the actual audio file URL.
Podcast apps read this structure to display your show artwork, list your episodes in order, and stream or download the audio files. Everything a listener sees in their podcast app comes from your RSS feed.
Why Your Feed Matters for PodDistill
PodDistill uses your RSS feed to import your podcast and its episodes. When you paste your feed URL into the dashboard, PodDistill reads the same XML data that podcast apps use and pulls in your episode list, titles, descriptions, and audio file links.
From there, you can transcribe any episode and generate a newsletter from the transcript. The entire workflow starts with your RSS feed — it's the single URL that connects your podcast to PodDistill. If you're ready to try it, our getting started guide walks you through the full process.
Common RSS Feed Issues
Most of the time your feed works silently in the background. But when something goes wrong, here are the usual culprits:
- Feed not updating after publishing: Most hosting platforms update the feed instantly, but some have a short delay. If your new episode isn't showing up, wait 15-30 minutes and check again. If it's still missing, check your host's dashboard to confirm the episode is actually published (not scheduled or in draft).
- Using the wrong URL: Your podcast website URL is not your RSS feed URL. Your Spotify or Apple Podcasts link is not your RSS feed URL. The feed URL comes specifically from your hosting platform and usually contains "feed" or "rss" in the path.
- Feed validation errors: If you manually edited your feed or your host has a bug, the XML might be malformed. Run it through a feed validator to check. Common issues include missing required tags, invalid characters in descriptions, and incorrect date formats.
- Old or expired feed URL: If you switched hosting platforms and didn't set up a redirect, your old feed URL might be dead. Podcast apps and tools (including PodDistill) that have the old URL won't get updates. Always set up a 301 redirect when you move hosts.
Get Started
Your RSS feed is the backbone of your podcast's distribution. If you're launching a new show, make sure your feed is set up correctly from the start — our podcast launch checklist covers everything you need.
If you already have a podcast, grab your feed URL and sign in to PodDistill to import your episodes. Paste the URL, pick an episode, and you're minutes away from your first newsletter.