Podcast feed continually failing review

Hello ncwriter,

Are you hosting on WPEngine by chance?

I just went into podcastsconnect did the validation step with the feed https://gracechurchcc.com/category/sermons/feed/ and did not see any errors. I do not want to submit the feed though, this should be done under your Apple ID.

Just to double check, are you submitting the podcast in the iTunes desktop app or from the new https://podcastsconnect.apple.com site?

Can you share the exact rejection message you receive when Apple rejects the podcast (that message could be helpful)?

Thank you for your help.

Actually, the site is being hosted at GoDaddy. I am submitting via podcastsconnect.apple.com and the error I’m getting says:

The podcast is not included in the iTunes Store podcast directory. A technical error occurred with metadata, artwork, or attempting to download an episode in the podcast.

I have not received an e-mail notification from them since the original submission confirmation, so I’m only seeing these errors because I log in to the podcastsconnect site to check on the status.

Feed Validator is showing the dreaded “line 42, column 1: channel contains more than one image (2 occurrences)” warning. I’m working with someone else who’s having this problem with their feed and it’s usually a Gravatar link that’s causing it. If you’ve got an Gravatar related plugins you may want to deactivate them and try submitting the feed again. Alternatively, you could try switching to one of the default themes such as the 2015 theme and see if that makes a difference. You can always switch the theme back after the show’s been accepted into the iTunes Store.

No, we’re not using any Gravatar plugin. And as for the line 42 error, I had seen lots of other instances online where it says feedvalidator.com was antiquated and that podba.se and castfeedvalidator.com were better.

When I look at the actual line 42 that it’s highlighting, it appears to be a second instance of the show’s “album art.” I’ve pasted the code below and bolded the problematic instance on line 42.

<!– podcast_generator=”Blubrry PowerPress/6.3.1″ mode=”simple” –>
<itunes:summary>This is the iTunes podcast for Grace Church in Swansboro, NC. Welcome to a gathering of ordinary people who are seeking to walk in the extraordinary truth of Philippians 1:21 – … to live is Christ, to die is gain.</itunes:summary>
<itunes:author>Grace Church Swansboro</itunes:author>
<itunes:explicit>clean</itunes:explicit>
<itunes:image href=”https://gracechurchcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Grace-Church-iTunes.jpg&#8221; />
<itunes:owner>
<itunes:name>Grace Church Swansboro</itunes:name>
<itunes:email>[email protected]</itunes:email>
</itunes:owner>
<managingEditor>[email protected] (Grace Church Swansboro)</managingEditor>
<itunes:subtitle>The podcast of Grace Church in Swansboro, NC.</itunes:subtitle>
<image>
<title>Grace Church Swansboro</title>
<url>https://gracechurchcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Grace-Church-iTunes.jpg</url&gt;
<link>https://gracechurchcc.com/category/sermons/</link&gt;
</image>

Feed Validator is indeed outdated and we try to not rely on it as the default standard anymore. HOWEVER, Apple likes to use it and when they validate feeds thru Feed Validator that come up with these kinds of warnings, they get skittish and want you to fix them. It’s frustrating but we’ve gotta go with it.

And what’s really insidious about this particular error message is, Feed Validator is seeing the <image> tag you actually WANT in the feed as the problem. The tag you want to remove is actually at line 24:

<image>
<url>https://i1.wp.com/gracechurchcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Grace-Church-Logo-Image-5557e9c0v1_site_icon.png?fit=32%2C32</url>
<title>Grace Church Swansboro</title>
<link>https://gracechurchcc.com/category/sermons/</link>
<width>32</width>
<height>32</height>
</image>

And I said before that it might be a Gravator but I think it might actually be a favicon.

That is the site icon! I’ve removed it and it appears it is now validating the feed. Thank you!

That’s the image for Site Identity under Customize. I know how to make a traditional favicon, so I can just do that.

Ok, it turns out that EVEN after having the feed validated by FeedValidator.com, iTunes still rejects it.

I have e-mailed them to find out why, but any insight you might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

Can you email me a screen shot of the error when your truing to submit to iTunes. I just went into podcastsconnect.apple.com again and was able to validate your feed ok. I do not want to “Submit” as it would go into my Apple ID if it did work. cio [at] blubrry dot com. Thanks!

Angelo – It turns out that by deleting the podcast and then resubmitting, it FINALLY took it. Thank you so much for all of your feedback, though, because that is what helped me figure out what was going wrong. ??