Manage shows and episodes in Podcasts Manager

If you haven't read the background on how podcasts work on Google, we recommend that you do so.

Related topics:

• Learn how to manage your show on Google Podcasts.
• Learn how to manage your feeds.

Manage shows

A show on Podcasts Manager represents a specific show (podcast) on Google Podcasts. Podcasts Manager exposes listening statistics for your show on Google Podcasts. Learn more about shows.

Add a show

A podcast does not need to appear on Google Podcasts for you to claim it in Podcasts Manager. However, the show must be capable of appearing in Google Podcasts. Once you create a Podcasts Manager show for the feed, it will appear on Google Podcasts, if it was not there already.

You cannot add a custom feed (a feed that Google Podcasts can't access) to Podcasts Manager.

Prerequisites

• Your show must either be available on Google Podcasts already, or else it must fulfill the prerequisites to be on Google Podcasts.
• You must know the URL of your RSS feed. If you are using a podcast hosting service, such as Libsyn or Anchor, here's how to find your show's feed URL.
• You must have access to the email listed in the RSS feed in the <itunes:owner> element. If you are using a podcast hosting service, learn how to confirm or fix this value.

Add a show

1. Copy the URL of your RSS feed. If your podcast has more than one feed, provide the URL of any feed, and the wizard will suggest the correct URL to verify.
2. Provide your feed URL to the Add and Verify wizard. (If you already have shows registered in Podcasts Manager, open the drop-down list of shows and then click Add show).
3. A verification code will be sent to the email address of the owner specified in the RSS feed (see Prerequisites). Enter the verification code in the wizard as described in the email to prove ownership of the feed.
   Notes:
   • 💡 If this show is not known to Google, it might take a few days for the podcast to appear in Google Podcasts and in Google Search results. Be patient, and keep checking Podcasts Manager for your show link.
   • You do not need to use the wizard with the account that received the email, but you must use the wizard with the same Google account for the entire verification process. You can start and end the wizard flow in separate sessions.
   • The new Podcasts Manager show will be verified for the Google account you used when running the Add and Verify wizard, not the email address to which the verification code was sent.
4. Optionally add users to the show in Podcasts Manager. When you verify ownership of a feed you are granted Admin status for the show with the Google account that you used to verify ownership.
5. View your show's performance data. It can take some time for initial data to show, and there is always some delay before live listening data is shown in Podcasts Manager. Remember to log in using the Google account verified for the show.
   • If Google has already been serving episodes to users and there is listening data, you will see up to 30 days' worth of data as soon as you verify a new show in Podcasts Manager.
   • If you don't see any data for your new show, either the podcast was previously unknown to Google, or you had no listeners on Google Podcasts platforms in the last 30 days. Confirm that your show is indexed by searching Google for your podcast. New data takes about three days to appear on Podcasts Manager.

 

Problems verifying a show feed

• Duplicate feed: If Google says that the podcast that you are trying to create is already being served from another feed, you won't be able to verify ownership of the submitted feed.
• Feed already verified: You can't verify ownership of a feed that someone has already verified ownership of. Contact the feed owner specified in the feed to ask for access to the show.

Reverify show ownership

You might occasionally see a warning on your Podcasts Manager show that you must verify ownership of a new feed for the show. This happens when the RSS feed for the show has changed, and the show has never proved ownership of the new feed.

Feed verification is tied to a show in Podcasts Manager, not to a specific user. If User 1 verifies ownership of a feed for show X, but later quits the show, the show remains verified for all remaining users of that show.

Note that once you click "send code" during the reverification process, you will not be able to access that show in Podcasts Manager until you complete the verification.

Get access to an existing show

If you need access to an existing show in Podcasts Manager, ask an Admin in the show to grant you access.

Add a feed to an existing show

Google serves only one feed per podcast to listeners, and doesn't allow you to add additional feeds. If you think that the wrong feed is being served, you can request a change in the served feed.

If you publish an additional feed for your show, one of the following will occur when Google finds it:

• If the new feed is similar to another feed for any verified show on Podcasts Manager, Google will group that feed with that other show.
• If the feed is not similar to another feed for any verified show on Podcasts Manager, your new feed will be considered a separate podcast, will create a new Podcasts manager show, will be served separately to listeners from the other feed. The different shows might have the same name and branding on Podcasts Manager, but Google won't consider them to be related.

Learn more about podcasts with multiple feeds.

Move a podcast feed (change hosting services)

If you need to change the URL of your show's feed—for example, if you change RSS hosting services—see Move a podcast feed.

Note that moving a feed will require you to verify ownership of the feed at the new URL. You will see a "reverification needed" warning in Podcasts Manager when reverification is necessary.

Also note that if you move the URLs of the episode audio files, Podcasts Manager will show them as new episodes in the episodes list. This is because episodes in Podcasts Manager are uniquely identified by file URL, not by <guid> tag. There currently isn't a way to change the URL of an existing episode without seeing it as a new episode in Podcasts Manager.

Choose a different feed to serve

If you think that Google has chosen the wrong feed for your show, you can choose a different feed to serve for your show.

Remove a show

To remove a show from your show list in Podcasts Manager

1. From the show homepage in Podcasts Manager, click Settings  > Remove show
2. Select Remove from my list.
3. The show will be removed from your show list in Podcast Manager, and you will lose access to the show. Important: If you are the only user, the show will be removed from Podcasts Manager, and all data for the show will be deleted. Note that this does not affect the presence or behavior of the show on Google Podcasts.
4. If you wish to add the show back, you will need to ask a show administrator in Podcasts Manager to grant you access to the show.

To remove a show from another Podcasts Manager user's list

See Managing users and permissions.

To remove a show for all Podcasts Manager users (including yourself)

You must be a show administrator to remove a show for all users.

To remove a show from Podcasts Manager for yourself and everyone else:

1. From the show homepage in Podcasts Manager, click Settings  > Remove show
2. Select Remove for everyone.
3. The show will be removed from Podcasts Manager. Important: All current users will lose access, and all data for the show will be deleted. Note that this does not affect the presence or behavior of the show on Google Podcasts.
4. If you want to add the show back, you will need to add and verify ownership of the show as you would for any new show.

To remove a podcast from Google

See Remove a podcast.

If you are using a podcast hosting service, read your service's documentation to learn how to stop serving a show.

 

Find your show on Google Podcasts

To find your show in Google Podcasts:

• From Podcasts Manager:
  1. Click your show's logo on the show homepage in Podcasts Manager
• From Google Podcasts:
  1. Open Google Podcasts.
  2. Search for your podcast.
  3. Click into the search result for your podcast.

Copy the URL from your browser if you want to share a link to your show.

Note that custom feeds are not visible in Google Podcasts.

Manage episodes

Podcasts Manager is just a reflection of your show's data on Google Podcasts, so you cannot manage episodes using Podcasts Manager. Learn how to manage your show and episodes on Google Podcasts.

Some guidelines:

• Be sure that any changes are to the served feed. Changes made to non-served feeds will not be noticed.
• An episode appears in your show in Podcasts Manager if it has any listening data in the past 16 months, whether or not it exists in your served feed.
• When a new episode is found, you might see a Processing label in Podcasts Manager for the first day or two, while the episode data is being processed.
• Where is my episode? If you don't see an episode listed in Podcasts Manager, see here.

Moving an episode

If you move your episode audio files, note that episodes in Podcasts Manager are uniquely identified by file URL, not by the <guid> tag. This means that if you change the URL of an episode file for any reason, Podcasts Manager will see it as a new, identically named episode in your show, and new listening data will be assigned to the episode by episode URL.

URL changes are any changes except casing, for example:

• http to https is a change
• example.com?id=1111 to example.com?id=2222 is a change
• example.com to Example.com is not a change

Episodes in Google Podcasts platforms are identified by GUID, not by URL, so if the URL changes, the episode won't change for listeners.