Google refused th RSS generated with this plugin

DEBUG

the feed it shit: https://www.radiobluitalia.net/feed/podcast/30-minuti
I did notice that this line code (line 112 into /template/feed-podcast.php) doesn’t return the correct URL of the podcast.

It should be https://www.radiobluitalia.net/podcasts/30-minuti/
While it returns just the DOMAIN the variable

FEED-PODCAST.PHP

The line 2 generated, has this remark from the validator

In addition, interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.
line 2, column 149: Use of unknown namespace: ttp://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0

let’s go further

The function ssp_feed_channel_link_tag doesn’t add the /podcasts/ subdirectory.

112: <?php echo esc_url( apply_filters( 'ssp_feed_channel_link_tag', $home_url, $podcast_series ) ) ?>

If I turn the line above into <link><?php echo $feed_link ?></link> then it works.
Of course all the other issues are opened. Please can you check and validate your code?

Lines 179/180 seem do not work correctly:

179: // Prevent WP core from outputting an <image> element
180: remove_action( 'rss2_head', 'rss2_site_icon' );

indeed the <image> tag at the very end of the feed and without <link></link> is generated

CONTROLLER FEED

Into /controllers/class-feed-controller.php
line 185 is $itunes_explicit = $is_explicit ? 'yes' : 'clean';
It should be $itunes_explicit = $is_explicit ? 'yes' : 'false';

Line 304 is $itunes_explicit_flag     = 'clean';
it should be $itunes_explicit_flag     = 'false';

RELEASE UN UPDATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: added details
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: Added details about lines 179 and 180
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: More complete debug
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy.

MISTYPING CORRECTION: in the above comment I erroneously wrote “sh*t” but it’s a stupid mistyping I didn’t recognize it and I can’t edit the comment. I’m sorry. The phrase had to start “The feed it should be”.
My apologizes

DEBUG 2:

The IF and WHILE at Line 189 is introducing the incomplete <image</image> tag at the end of the RSS feed. It’s not the function “remove_Action” as I supposed in my first comment

hi @tormy,

Version 2.23 of SSP updates the explicit tag to True or False.

That said, we recommend using https://www.castfeedvalidator.com/ to validate your podcast feed: https://www.radiobluitalia.net/feed/podcast/30-minuti

W3.org is not a podcast feed validator and does not recognize many of the podcasting namespaces that are required by podcast directories in order to have your RSS feed properly distributed and ingested. As such, they’ll throw errors that are not really errors.

I hope this helps but please let us know if we can assist further.

hello @keleigh824 please consider that Google is not using at all https://www.castfeedvalidator.com/  but they are using the W3 Validator. This is from th email the Support of Google sent to us. They clearly told the RSS must comply the W3

So the outcome from your validator has not any effectiveness/validity when the Company that should distribute the RSS uses another reference.

Hence ALL what is highlighted by the W3 must be corrected (so they say)

On top of this: I checked this morning. the version of SSP is updated (auto-update is active) to 2.23.0, but the itunes tag is not FALSE or TRUE .. .still CLEAN … hence the issue is not solved

I can’t copy and paste the screenshot but you can test the link to the W3 validator:

https://www.radiobluitalia.net/feed/podcast/30-minuti

Please here the email form Google:

“Thank you for contacting us regarding your Google Podcasts issue.

Please understand that Google Podcasts is a Search feature that scans the open web to surface podcast content on various?Google Podcasts platforms, whereas?Google Podcasts Manager?is an analytics tool which helps podcast publishers view and analyze user listening data for their podcasts.?

While reviewing your issue, we observed that your podcast feed (https://www.radiobluitalia.net/feed/podcast/30-minuti), doesn’t meet the requirements to be compliant for Google Podcasts. We’ve attached a screenshot for reference. This is also the reason why your show is not yet available on Google Podcasts. For more information, you may refer to this Help Center article on?RSS feed guidelines for Google Podcasts.

We’d recommend you to rectify the issues in your RSS feed. After the changes are done, please speed up the indexing process by registering your podcast feed with?PubSubHubbub’s Publish tool. Please wait at least 72 hours (and up to 6 days) for Google Podcasts to make updates based on your changes.?

Once your feed is compliant, Google Podcasts should start serving your show. If you run into any issues, please reply to this email with any relevant screenshots and we’ll be happy to help you resolve it. For additional queries or concerns, please refer to the?Podcasts Manager Help Center.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding.Case Number [00692577]

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: added details

@tormy

I am checking your RSS feed now and the value says “False”.

Please do a hard refresh of your browser as you may be seeing a cached version.

hello @keleigh824 I did check. Not really it tells “Clean”.
I tried with 2 different browsers as well. And one of them I never used with Validator before.
Plese the screenshot here
https://www.radiobluitalia.net/issues/RADIOBLU.png

as you see, there are 4 issues never solved yet and one of them is the itunes explicit. but ALL 4 ones of them must be corrected. And above in my comments I wrote also the lines and how to correct them.

However 3 days an half ago I posted ALL the solutions (except one due the big problem with the name spaces) here:

https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/google-refused-th-rss-generated-with-this-plugin/#post-17089969

But I see your team didn’t pay any attention to it. While implementing that code: solves everything (but the namespace), and I tested it as well.
Should I get the salary Devs? ??

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: added details

@tormy I’ll look further into the explicit settings.

As for other w3 issues,

1. Google Podcasts requires the Google Podcasts namespace (See: https://support.google.com/podcast-publishers/answer/9889544?hl=en&ref_topic=10310260&sjid=14162232349459554815-NA#namespaces) Essentially, Google Podcasts is telling you to use an RSS validator that doesn’t even recognize their own podcasting namespace which is required by them.

2. Google Podcasts also requires the link tag (line 34) to include the podcast website (as do all podcast directories). If this is removed, your feed will be removed from all other podcast directories. (See: https://support.google.com/podcast-publishers/answer/9889544?hl=en&ref_topic=10310260&sjid=14162232349459554815-NA#namespaces:~:text=RSS%20tags.-,%3Clink%3E,-Fully%2Dqualified%20URL

3. As for our stylesheet error, this does not invalidate your feed. This is included to make the RSS feed human-readable, instead of just a wall of XML.

4. As for the Image tag, this is also defined in Google Podcasts feed guidelines: https://support.google.com/podcast-publishers/answer/9889544?hl=en&ref_topic=10310260&sjid=14162232349459554815-NA#namespaces:~:text=of%20the%20podcast.-,Image,-An%20image%20to

@keleigh824 Ok let e me see the points you listed

1. for the name space: it’s a problem with the lines inside that tag rss the url is: ?https://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0 but if you check it, the URL is dead together with the URL of wellformedweb.org (which doesn’t exist any longer. Also the domain is on selling) and purl.archive.org (only that group of pages is not any longer existing)
NOTE: i edited because when I tested it, a error 404 was found. Now is back. So I deleted that sentence.

2. Google is NOT asking to remove any url. Google requires that the TAG (line 34) includes the URL of the podcast together with the domain. but what I get is ONLy the domain name and not the full URL that address to the podcast itself. Indeed there i sony https://radiobluitalia.net/ instead of https://www.radiobluitalia.net/rss/podcasts/30-minuti

3. I didn’t say to remove the stylesheet. I just wrote what I noticed. yes I know very wel the XLS is made for human readable content. But (there is a BUT), inside that code there is something is not working as it should.

4.The image tag is missing (it is required BUT you missed it completely) si the tag <link>...</link> I clearly said that. the LINK.
Indeed at line 63 there is the <url> the <title> but NOT the <link> which is REQUIRED by the page you linked. You need to add that tag as well with the same identical content of the tag <url>. It’s the very last <image> tag into the code.

EDIT: from the page you have linked: When using an RSS?<image>?tag, you must include a nested?<link>?element that points to the?podcast homepage, and a nested?<title>?tag that matches the?<title>?element in the homepage.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: corrected details, well formed links
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: Added an Edit reporting the important content from the linked page
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: added also which kind of tag I'm referring to
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: Strokethrough

@keleigh824 you stated “Version 2.23 of SSP updates the explicit tag to True or False.”

and when I reported to you that it didn’t work, you added “I am checking your RSS feed now and the value says “False”.
Please do a hard refresh of your browser as you may be seeing a cached version.“

Now, because I’m a bit tired to be the “ping-pong ball” between the 2 players (You and Google), I went to check the source code of the version 2.23.0 installed on the server (automatically updated)

And indeed I am right. The code on /php/classes/controllers/class-feed-controller.php DIDN’T change at all

Please here below I highlighted the wrong lines. In 2.23.0 STILL WITH WRONG CODE

        if ( $ep_explicit && $ep_explicit == 'on' ) {
            $itunes_explicit_flag     = 'yes';
            $googleplay_explicit_flag = 'Yes'; <<< THIS IS WRONG: it must be "true"
        } else {
            $itunes_explicit_flag     = 'clean';
            $googleplay_explicit_flag = 'No'; <<< THIS IS WRONG. It must be "false"
        }

here the screenshot where you can see the installed version:

https://www.radiobluitalia.net/issues/RADIOBLU_0.png

here the screenshot of the code. Still wrong. I have not clue what you delivered. but it’s not any version with ethese (alla) issues solved at all.

https://www.radiobluitalia.net/issues/RADIOBLU_1.png

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: Added links with screenshots
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: separated paragraph for better readability
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy. Reason: Corrected paragraphs

@keleigh824 please here the solution it works:
I modified the code on the files feed-podcast.ph and class-feed-controller.php as in these screenshots

https://www.radiobluitalia.net/issues/FEED-PODCAST.PHP.png
https://www.radiobluitalia.net/issues/CLASS-FEED-CONTROLLER.PHP.png
https://podba.se/validate/?url=https://www.radiobluitalia.net/feed/podcast/30-minuti
And the result IS positive as I stated several times:

Here the screenshot from W3 Validator:
https://www.radiobluitalia.net/issues/W3_VALIDATOR.png

Here from YOUR validator:
https://www.radiobluitalia.net/issues/CASTOS_VALIDATOR.png

In few words: I was fully right and I did suggest you there mods since my comment #1.

IT’S NOW UP TO YOU (CASTOS)
to find out to correct the remaining 2 issues:
* Undefined item element: image (since there are all the images on every single episode and on the podcast itself)
* Use of unknown namespace: https://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0

IMMEDIATE STOP AUTO-UPDATE CASTOS
To avoid that the modifications I have made are removed by an update, I stopped the automated updates on WordPress.

WILLING TO TEST
In case of you need to test a future release: please feel free to contact me, and I will report any error should occur.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy.

Ok again my answer is in hold by an administrator …

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by tormy.

@tormy I’m leaving this reply of mine up.

Ok again my answer is in hold by an administrator …

It’s an automated system and your extensive formatting is telling the spam system (incorrectly) that you are a spammer (you are not).

You are making the system convinced you are a spammer (again, you are not a spammer) when you reply again with something like this.

Ok again my answer is in hold by an administrator …

These are 100% staffed by volunteers and that includes the plugin author and any plugin support person.

When you his the moderation queue, just wait and stop replying. The queue is looked at all the time and gets cleared out.

I know this problem is important to you but again, all support here is voluntary, unpaid and for free. Just wait and your reply will show up. If it takes a while, that’s OK because we’re all volunteers here just like you.

@jdembowski good morning. Thank you for the clarification.
Yes I edited several times the comment, to add details that can be useful to @keleigh824 since I notice that the 2.23.0 contained some “correction” but int the wrong place. This lead to a 2.23.0 without any effectiveness in terms of issue solution.

I’m working hard to solve all the issues and to propose the correct code, although I expect that official Devs are engaged in this, rather than to leave us (as customer) to fight against these issues.

I can’t figure out how to solve the last 2 errors.
* One is the missing <link></link> tag into every <image></image> (except the very first, and you see my corrected code).
This has to do with the class-feed-controller.php. Hence Castos have to figure it out and really quickly, since several podcasts are impacted (on Google).

* The other one is the unknown namespace. In this case I already answered to Google Support telling them that their namespace is not recognized. I’m waiting for their answer (it takes always long). I hope they will pop-up with a solution.

Google is removing the podcasts that are not fully compliant with W3. the only one way is to have the RSS fully aligned

rather than to leave us (as customer) to fight against these issues.

There are no customers on this site and there never has been. At best you are an opensource collaborator. You are NOT a customer here. If they never reply to you again, that’s fine. See the part about volunteers. No one is compelled to do anything here and that includes any support.

If you are this developer’s customer, as in you paid them, then they cannot and must not support you here. That’s not permitted for anyone. They would risk getting into real trouble on this site if they supported an actual customer here.

For pro or commercial product support please contact the developer directly on their site. This includes any pre-sales topics as well.

As the developer is aware, commercial products are not supported in these forums. I am sure they will have no problem supporting you there.