Episode Description is using Post Content

PowerPress 7.2 was released a few days ago. Please update to the latest version and see if that takes care of the problem.

I upgraded and the problem is still there.

When I tried to load your podcast RSS feed here:
https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/

It looks like an oddly formatted page instead of XML code. Is it possible that you have some plugins or a WordPress theme that is affecting how the feed displays? This page has suggestions on how to diagnose this kind of problem:
https://create.blubrry.com/resources/powerpress/using-powerpress/diagnosing-feed-andor-player-issues-with-powerpress/

Hi Shawn

We have more examples of this problem occurring.

When I put https://upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/ into three different feed validators they validate successfully. And our podcasts are turning up in iTunes.

On your troubleshooting page you recommend using firefox. When viewing the feed in firefox I believe there are no xml errors.

A duplicate copy of the website on our dev servers shows no errors so rules out plugins etc.

The malformed xml in chrome is possibly our firewall or cloudflare and not likely the cause (or related to) of episodes showing the article content in the description feed instead of the iTunes Summary defined under Podcast Episode. The content that Powerpress is generating before rendering in the browser seems to be incorrect.

Thank you.

Heide

I subscribed to your show using desktop iTunes on my iMac. The summary that appears for the Mark Greene episode matches what’s in the podcast RSS feed for that episode, and it is different (and shorter) than the main episode description in the feed.

The same is true for the Rachel Botsman episode. I’m also seeing the same thing for both episodes on the iTunes Store web preview here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-uplift-podcast/id1205825756?mt=2

If you’re still seeing an incorrect summary for these summaries, where is it? If it’s on an existing subscription within a podcasting app, delete that subscription and resubscribe and see if the issue remains.

Hi Shawn,

The problem is showing (for example) on the phone app called Casts. Ref the following two screen shots:

https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/MarkGreene_IsIncorrect.png
https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/MarkGreene_on_Casts.jpeg

Compared with a podcast that is displaying correctly:

https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/DavidVago_IsCorrect.png

Seems when the <description> is populated with the article content an app like Casts then shows the article content and not the iTunes Summary.

When the <description> is populated with the social media description (is this what is should be doing?) the app then shows the iTunes Summary.

Somehow powerpress is populating the <description> from the article content for some podcasts but not the majority.

If you could please review.

Thanks,

Heide

Hello Heide,

I checked your podcast on the official Apple Podcasts iOS app and the itunes:summary values are what are displayed in iTunes. If this is not the case, please tell me exactly which episode does not appear correctly in the iOS podcast app.

Is the problem with the “Casts” app? It is not up to us bu the app developer which data they use and how it looks in their application.

Your web server (or CloudFlare) is returning the content type text/html (rather than text/rss or application/rss). This is a problem that you will want to get resolved. While looking at the headers I see you are using CloudFlare as well as a plugin called securi. Sucuri also caches content, so you have 2 layers of caching (CloudFlare and Sucuri). I would pick one, or make a cautious effort to remember you need to clear both anytime you update your site.

Something to remember is CloudFlare caches based on the client, so even though your feed may look one way in Firefox, it may look different (cached) in Chrome. Because of this, anytime you have CloudFlare involved and you cannot just switch it off, plan on clearing its cache on a regular basis so you do not misdiagnose a problem.

I would highly suggest not using CloudFlare where your podcast feed is hosted. We have seen a lot of bizarre things happen including podcasts getting de-listed from iTunes because CloudFlare will randomly block servers based on traffic patterns that they deem as possible security issues. CloudFlare specifically has blocked Apple’s servers because Apple does not use reverse pointer records. If you ever increase the security settings through CloudFlare you will inadvertently block Apple from accessing your podcast feed. We have a service you can use to get around CloudFlare’s problems that is free, https://www.podcastmirror.com You can also use FeedBurner for the same purpose but I do not recommend it as FeedBurner has not been updated in years.

Thanks,
Angelo

Hi Angelo,

Thanks for your response. In iTunes desktop the description is presenting correctly.

I’ve checked and the problem is also showing in other apps such as Overcast and more importantly the Apple Podcast app.

This is the app I have installed on my iPhone 6S:

https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/PodcastApp_Apple1.jpeg
https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/PodcastApp_Apple2.jpeg

Here’s the David Vago podcast:
https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/PodcastApp_DavidVago.jpeg
The episode notes are populated by the <description> tag in the xml – ref my links from yesterday. Note this text is the Yoast SEO Facebook Description for this article: https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/DavidVago_YoastSEOSettings.png

And not any of the Powerpress iTunes fields:
https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/DavidVago_PowerpressSettings.png

Here’s the Mark Greene podcast:
https://dev.upliftconnect.com/support/PodcastApp_MarkGreene.jpeg
The episode notes are populated by the <description> tag in the xml – ref my links from yesterday. But for this one its taking the article content.

Where should the <description> tag be populating from? Its coming from the Facebook description, and its coming from the article content. I don’t think this has anything to do with caching. Before I report any support issues with you I clear both our Sucuri and Cloudflare caches and view in a private Safari browser. Also please check out the feed url on dev: https://dev.upliftconnect.com/channel/podcasts/feed/podcast/ and search for Mark Greene … the same problem is there ie: the article content is turning up in the <description> tag. Our dev is not behind sucuri or cloudflare.

Here’s the podcast article for your reference: https://upliftconnect.com/mark-greene-solve-masculinity-crisis/

If you could please look at the detail in the XML and the screenshots I’ve sent you, you’ll see what I am talking about.

FYI I have raised a support query with cloudflare wrt to the content type for our feed. Its most likely a Sucuri thing. Thanks for that. We may look to switch to your suggested podcast mirror. Is there a cost for using this? And do we need to re-submit our feed to iTunes and others if we start using it?

Heide

Hello Heide,

Sorry for the delay., I have been doing testing when I have time and waiting for the results to show up, took a few days to get what I think is happening.

I was under the assumption last summer that with the iOS podcast app if the content:encoded value is not in the feed, that iTunes fallback to the <itunes:summary>. It appears that is not the case. I believe what is happening in your blog post <description> is being used rather than your <itunes:summary>.

The Desktop iTunes app uses your <itunes:summary> by default, then falls back to your <description> if no iTunes summary is present.

Under normal circumstances, the <description> tag is an excerpt of your blog post. If you enable blog post excerpts, you can create a custom excerpt that then is used in this description tag. If you don’t customize an excerpt, a description is generated based on the first portion of your blog post content, trimmed of HTML (normally).

PowerPress does not modify any of these native WordPress tags in the feeds. It may be that other plugins are modifying their content though causing the issue.

There is an option in PowerPress settings > Feeds tab that you can enable to not allow other plugins to modify podcast feeds. Please try enabling that option, save the settings then clear your caching where appropriate and lets see if that solves the problem.

Thanks,
Angelo

Hi Angelo,

Our <itunes:summary> is always populated and is what is shown in Desktop iTunes. There is no issue there.

As described in my previous post the problem lies with the iTunes and other Apps which use the <description> tag for the Episode Notes, which in some cases is populated by either the blog content or the Facebook description.

If PowerPress doesn’t modify the <description> (a native WordPress) tag then perhaps we’ll have to look into creating a custom blog post excerpt to push populate this tag in the feed.

We already have the setting on the PowerPress > Feeds tab to not allow other plugins to modify podcast feeds set to true. It’s been set true since we started using Power Press.

If you have any other ideas please let me know.

Many thanks,

Heide

Hello @hgetrost,

My last suggestion is to enable the excerpt option and write a custom excerpt. That should directly populate the description tag.

Let me know if that works.

Thanks,
Angelo