OK, it’s July of 2017 and the powers that be over at Apple have announced that the next version of their software (IOS 11) will introduce a few updated iTunes tags.

You may not even know what a “tag” is. 🙂

That’s OK – that’s why I’m publishing this episode. iTunes tags are simply some pieces of data that you are able to add to your podcast OR to each episode (depending on what tag we’re talking about) that enables you to communicate to the iTunes software and store, about your episodes and show, more effectively.

That was confusing. Let me say it this way…

Now, you get to tell the iTunes store team/software some details about your podcast and its episodes. You do that by using these iTunes tags. There. That was better.

So how do you access or use these new iTunes tags?

That’s the obvious question, right? So I’m glad you asked it. 😉 In most cases these tags will be available for you wherever you host your media (Blubrry, Libsyn, Spreaker, Podbean, etc.). In some cases, they won’t be supported by your media host – in which case I’d say RUN DON’T WALK from that media host. With Apple being the “big dog” in the podcasting industry any host worth its salt should be keeping pace with what they are doing. If they aren’t, then they are a wanna’ be that probably never will be.

That’s just MY take on it.

Anyway, inside your reputable media host, you’ll find options for these new tags that iTunes has made available

And what about podcatchers or podcast players OTHER than Apple’s?

This announcement will also impact the way many of the non-Apple podcasting apps out there operate. Some of those apps will offer support for these new iTunes tags – some may not. So… you can decide if that matters to you from a listener perspective. Regardless, I cover this a bit toward the end of the episode.

On this episode about iTunes tags I’m going to…

  • Walk you through each of the new iTunes tags
  • Tell you what iTunes intends them for
  • Provide some scenarios for how you might use them
  • Give you a few tips or cautions about each (I’ve already been using them)
  • And explain why they are important (or not) – in each case.

So there you have it – the summary of what I’ll be talking about on this episode. Start listening or use the time-stamped outline below to go directly to the section you are most interested in learning about.

And go make it a PODCASTIFICATING day!

Here’s a rough outline of this 7/2017 iTunes tags episode…

  • [1:28] Do you even know what tags are when it comes to iTunes?
  • [2:19] Episodic or serial show type?
  • [4:15] iTunes keyword tags? Really?
  • [5:20] There is now a specific “iTunes title” you can use.
  • [6:50] A 512 character iTunes summary is coming soon for each episode.
  • [7:44] What “type” of episode is the episode you’re publishing?
  • [11:23] What if I WANT to have episode numbers on my episodes?
  • [12:01] Ratings tags are still around.
  • [14:22] You can change the author tag for each episode.

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