If you are hosting your podcast at Mixform your iTunes tags are automatically set up for you :). This article are for those setting up their own RSS feed outside of Mixform.

Setting up your RSS feed yourself? I tried to gather in this article what you need to know about Itunes meta tags.

Your podcast RSS feed needs iTunes specific meta tags if you want to add it to the iTunes Music Store. First of all, When using the iTunes specific tags, you must add a namespace declaration in your RSS feed. Put the following line in your feed:

<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/DTDs/Podcast-1.0.dtd" version="2.0">

Before we go into the details of each tag, the image below gives you an general idea of where the information you provide in each tag will end up in your iTunes listing. Notice how you have tags for both the channel and items (episodes).

The additional tags, specific to iTunes are:<itunes:category><itunes:explicit><itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><itunes:author><itunes:keywords><itunes:duration><itunes:owner><itunes:name><itunes:email><itunes:image><itunes:block><copyright>*<link>*

While doing the research to implement the video poscast feed, I came across a great article from Feed For All1 that explains in detail what which tag is. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I’m citing the most informative parts of the article below. I simply updated the information and re-styled it to make it an easier reading. if you are in a hurry, just check out an example feed at the Apple’s website.

<itunes:category>

This tag can only be populated using iTunes specific categories, as listed below. Categories can be applied at 2 levels; Top Level Categories (in bold), and Sub-Categories where noted. This tag is applicable to both Channel & Item elements. It is allowable to have multiple Top-Level Categories for Channels and Item(s), however iTunes will take the first Top Level Category as the Primary Category for your Channel or Item(s). It is also, allowable for each Top Level Category to have multiple Sub-Categories.

Podcasts hosted at Mixform have the category set automatically to “Visual Arts” but you can override that.

  • Arts
    • Design
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Food
    • Literature
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
  • Business
    • Business News
    • Careers
    • Investing
    • Management & Marketing
    • Shopping
  • Comedy
  • Education
    • Educational Technology
    • Higher Ed
    • K-12
    • Language Courses
    • Training
  • Games & Hobbies
    • Automotive
    • Aviation
    • Hobbies
    • Other Games
    • Video Games
  • Government & Organizations
    • Local
    • National
    • Non-Profit
    • Regional
  • Health
    • Alternative Health
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Self-Help
    • Sexuality
  • Kids & Family
  • Music
  • News & Politics
  • Religion & Spirituality
    • Buddhism
    • Christianity
    • Hinduism
    • Islam
    • Judaism
    • Other
    • Spirituality
  • Science & Medicine
    • Medicine
    • Natural Sciences
    • Social Sciences
  • Society & Culture
    • History
    • Personal Journals
    • Philosophy
    • Places & Travel
  • Sports & Recreation
    • Amateur
    • College & High School
    • Outdoor
    • Professional
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • IT News
    • Podcasting
    • Software How-To
  • TV & Film

<itunes:explicit>

This tag should be used to note whether or not your Podcast contains explicit material. There are 2 possible values for this tag: Yes or No. If you populate this tag with “Yes”, a parental advisory tag will appear next to your Podcast cover art on the iTunes Music Store. This tag is applicable to both Channel & Item elements.

<itunes:subtitle>

At the Channel level, this tag is a short description that provides general information about the Podcast. It will appear next to your Podcast as users browse through listings of Podcasts. At the Item level, this tag is a short description that provides specific information for each episode. Limited to 255 characters or less, plain text, no HTML

<itunes:summary>

At the Channel level, this tag is a long description that will appear next to your Podcast cover art when a user selects your Podcast. At the Item level, this tag is a long description that will be displayed in an expanded window when users click on an episode. Limited to 4000 characters or less, plain text, no HTML

<itunes:author>

At the Channel level this tag contains the name of the person or company that is most widely attributed to publishing the Podcast and will be displayed immediately underneath the title of the Podcast. If applicable, at the item level, this tag can contain information about the person(s) featured on a specific episode.

<itunes:duration>

This tag is for informational purposes only and will allow users to know the duration prior to download. The tag is formatted: HH:MM:SS This tag is applicable to the Item element only.

<itunes:keywords>

This tag allows users to search on text keywords. Limited to 255 characters or less, plain text, no HTML, words must be separated by spaces. This tag is applicable to the Item element only.

<itunes:owner>

This tag contains the e-mail address that will be used to contact the owner of the Podcast for communication specifically about their Podcast on iTunes. It will not be publicly displayed on iTunes. This tag is applicable to the Channel element only.

<itunes:email>

Required element specifying the email address of the owner.

<itunes:name>

Optional element specifying the name of the owner.

<itunes:image>

This tag specifies the artwork for the Channel and Item(s). This artwork can be larger than the maximum allowed by RSS. Details on the size recommendations are in the section below.

Preferred size: 300 pixels x 300 pixels at 72 dpi Minimum size: 170 pixels x 170 pixels square at 72 dpi Format: JPG, PNG, uncompressed

<itunes:block>

Use this inside an <item> element to prevent that episode from appearing in the iTunes Podcast directory. Use this inside a <channel> element to prevent the entire podcast from appearing in the iTunes Podcast directory.

<copyright>*

This tag contains copyright information about your Podcast. The tag is free text and can include dates, for example: Apple Computer 2005. You do not need to include the copyright symbol in the tag, it will automatically be displayed in iTunes.

<link>*

This tag contains the link to your website and will be displayed next to your Podcast cover art.

*Additionally, these two tags are not specific to iTunes, but will be displayed prominently.

An example feed

This feed is given as an example at the Apple’s website.

Resources and Thank You!

1 Feed For All: Itune Tutorial Tags

Apple Podcast Specs