harris2021

Apple replied but only to confirm the block tags are gone. They didn’t have any insight about what caused the problem or what undid the problem.

Anyway, the important thing is that they are back to working normally : )

Thanks again for your help Shawn.

Shawn,

Thank you for your continued assistance.

I decided to re-check the 2 blocked podcasts today before I tried your latest suggestion.

Good news, they are back! I’m not sure what fixed them. I had been in discussion with Apple Podcasts support and they were looking into it, so maybe they fixed them. Unsure. I will probably hear back from them shortly and I will let you know.

Thank you again for your help with this.

Hi Shawn,

I am using the wordpress.com Business plan. So my podcast host has always been wordpress.com. The powerpress plug-in is the only podcasting plug-in I’ve added to the site and I activated the “don’t allow other plug-ins to modify the podcast feeds” to prevent any conflicts with other plug-ins.

The key question now is how do I remove those iTunes block tags from those two podcasts? The podcasts have been removed from Apple Podcasts (and other sourced platforms) as a result.

Can you help me to figure out how the Powerpress plug-in accidentally added those block tags so I my podcasts will appear again in Apple Podcasts?

Is there a way you can look at the rss feed code to see where/how those block tags were inserted? Perhaps that would give a clue?

Thank you for your help with this.

Thanks Shawn.

I am currently testing the Blubrry plug-in (iTunes Block tag added to the feed/category) on one private podcast to confirm it blocks the podcast episodes from appearing in other places.

I am also testing the Yoast SEO plug-in (NoIndex tag added to the feed/category) on a different private podcast to confirm it blocks the podcast post from appearing in Google search results.

If neither one fully blocks the private podcast from being found as episodes and posts, then I will try using both plug-ins on one private podcast feed/category.

This may take a couple of weeks to fully run. Stay tuned.

Thanks Shawn. I actually don’t want to block my entire site from Google, I only want to block the private podcast feeds. I still have a public podcast feed on the same site and I want my home page and other pages very visible.

So is my understanding correct: the Blubrry plug-in can keep my private podcast from appearing in Google Podcasts and appearing in Google Search results as podcast “episodes” (by inserting iTunes blocking tags), but it won’t stop Google from putting my podcast “posts” in search results (because that would require NoIndex tags)?

This is what my early testing is showing so far, but it will take a few more days to truly know because it can take a week for full site indexing to run again.

Thanks for your help.

I think I’ve learned the difference between iTunes blocking tags and NoIndex tags. Someone can feel free to let me know if this evolved understanding is correct or not.

I checked the “Prevent the entire podcast from appearing in the Apple Podcast directory” option for a podcast. I did a Google search for episodes in that podcast and they stopped showing up as “podcast episodes” in a Google search.

Which was exactly what I wanted.

But then I noticed the podcast “posts” still appeared in Google search results (not as podcast episodes, but as normal blog posts with the player in them).

So I think I need to do another step to truly hide podcast episodes and podcast posts from Google – and I think that is what Mike mentioned earlier, the “NoIndex” tag, which can’t be done with the Blubrry plug-in.

Is this understanding correct?

Thanks for your help.

Typing them in.

No codes between paragraphs at all in “Text” view of a post.

There is a strange thing that happens every time when I hit “edit” to open up a post. A different font and spacing of the entire post flashes for half-second, then disappears and my normal post shows. I don’t remember that happening before this extra line break problem started.

Classic editor.

Wonderful, thanks Shawn!

I asked Google Podcasts how to prevent them from indexing my site and putting my private podcasts on Google Podcasts and they basically said: ‘to remove the podcast from Google Podcasts add active blocking tags (e.g., <itunes:block>yes</itunes:block) in your RSS feed.‘

So I think that plug-in function will do the trick. What do you think?

Also, I think you keep overlooking these questions, lol, “The feature warns of a “permanent consequence”, what does that mean? Can I uncheck and undo this change if something goes awry?”

Thanks for your assistance.

Thanks for the reply Mike.

This was an important part of my question, “…while also blocking Google from indexing my site and putting the podcast on Google Podcasts as a public podcast.”

I currently do as you said; I don’t submit to Apple Podcasts but Google Podcasts and other platforms are indexing my site, pulling my private podcasts, and showing them publicly on their podcast platforms.

So will using that function and inserting those tags stop that from happening?

And please let me know about these prior questions: The feature warns of a “permanent consequence”, what does that mean? Can I uncheck and undo this change if something goes awry?

Thanks Mike, I appreciate the help.

Thanks for the reply.

Full Text was already checked.

Using classic editor but I don’t see “summary” so currently can’t check the box or write a summary. I will attach a screenshot if able.

Not using a word processor. Problem started after I added the Blubrry plug-in.

I’ve seen this problem mentioned in about 3 other Blubrry plug-in threads but it doesn’t seem like it has been figured out yet. I reached out to some of those thread creators and the problem still persists for them.

I appreciate the help. Any other ideas I could try?

(how attach screenshot?, I don’t see a function, thanks)

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by harris2021.