Before migrating your podcast - Validate the RSS feed
The RSS feed is the container that holds all of your podcast’s information, details, and episodes. Podcasts are moved from one hosting service to another using the RSS feed.
Before migrating your podcast to Castos, we recommend checking the RSS feed to make sure:
- it contains the correct number of episodes
- it's accessible
- it's free of errors
Recommended RSS feed validation tools
The following tools are free and do not require the podcaster to download an app or program.
- Podba.se
Missing episodes
Castos will import exactly what is contained in the RSS feed. If the episode count is off, episodes are likely missing from the RSS feed. Below are a few reasons this might be the case:
- The original hosting platform has limited the number of episodes included in the RSS feed. Hosting platforms that offer both free and paid subscription plans may have a limitation on the quantity of episodes included in the RSS feed.
- The original hosting platform account settings need to be updated. We recommend double-checking with the original host to ask if they have a setting or feature that would add episodes to the RSS feed.
- Your website or feed cache needs to be refreshed.
Inaccessible Feed
An RSS feed that is not available will often display a "404 error"
- Verify the RSS feed URL is correct. Check for spelling errors.
Validation errors
Most often, validation errors occur when the RSS feed isn't formatted correctly or contains something it shouldn't.
- An invalid feed is often caused by one or more "invalid" characters that need to removed or edited. For example, using a series of dashes "-" in the description to create a line break or an episode file that contains characters other than: 0-1, a-z, or A-Z
- An episode file uploaded using a filetype that isn't supported by Apple Podcasts and other podcast listening platforms. We recommend uploading audio files as MP3 files and video episodes as MP4 files.
If you're still seeing discrepancies, we recommend contacting the original hosting platform for assistance.