Confirm the show is in the index at all
Sign in at podcastsconnect.apple.com and look at the show's status before you touch anything else. Green means it is ready or available on Apple Podcasts, yellow means a process is still running, and red means you have to do something before it can appear. A show that isn't in the catalog cannot be ranked, so anything other than Published is the whole problem and no amount of title editing will move it.
If the show isn't in your account yet, click the Add (+) button, choose New Show, then Add a show with an RSS feed, paste the feed URL and click Add. Review the Show Information page, set Content Rights, add contact information, then open Availability on the left and set Countries or Regions, Distribution, Transcripts, Show Release and Show Claiming. Click Save, then publish. Apple's own steps add the part people skip: every show has to pass technical validations and a review process, and Apple publishes no turnaround for it, so don't believe anyone who quotes you one.
Then check the country. Apple says Search will only display the channels, shows, and episodes creators made available in each country or region, across over 170 countries and regions, all enabled for new shows by default. If somebody abroad tells you they can't find the show, look here first, in the same Availability panel.
Fix the three fields Search actually reads
Apple lists what orders Search results, and the only factor you type is metadata: the show name, the channel name, and the episode title. The other two are popularity and user behavior, meaning follows, plays, and whether people play or follow you straight out of a search result. Description, author and transcripts are not on that list, so write the description for a human being and stop stuffing keywords into it.
The instruction is literal, so treat it as a checklist: make sure your channel name, show titles, and episode titles are specific and unique so they may appear in relevant searches, be distinctive, avoid names that are too generic or too similar to existing shows, and avoid using emojis and repeated episode titles. If half your episodes are called Interview or your titles all open with a number and a pipe, that's the edit to make this afternoon.
On the titles themselves, Apple's editors ask for brief and focused and tell you to leave episode numbers and metadata out of the title, because including them can push the part that matters out of view. Make all of these edits at your host, not in Apple, unless the show was created inside Podcasts Connect, since Apple reads this back out of your RSS feed.
Set the category, because the category is the chart
Charts are associated with categories, so your category selection decides which charts you can appear on at all. Apple says the primary category is what places your show on each category page, in Top Charts, and in personalized recommendations, while the secondary category feeds select category pages, recommendations, and the editorially curated collections on New.
You get two categories, primary and secondary, plus a subcategory for each where one exists. A show can appear on the charts for every category and subcategory it selects, and Apple encourages filling those slots wherever they are honestly relevant, which means an empty subcategory slot is a chart you are not on.
Nine subcategories got their own charts and pages in June 2023: Mental Health, Relationships, Self-Improvement, Personal Journals, Entrepreneurship, Documentary, Parenting, Books and Language Learning. Apple's worked example is the U.S. Mental Health charts, which display the top 200 shows and the top 200 episodes in that market on a mix of listening, follows and completion rate. If one of those nine honestly describes your show, put it in.
In Podcasts Connect, select the show, select the categories and subcategories, and save. In the feed it is the itunes:category tag, and the value has to match Apple's table exactly, capitals and all. A category on its own looks like <itunes:category text="History" />, and a category with a subcategory nests inside it: <itunes:category text="Education"><itunes:category text="Language Learning" /></itunes:category>. Copy each value out of Apple's table rather than typing it, because any category name containing an ampersand has to be escaped in the feed.
Ask for the follow, not the review
Apple won't publish the algorithm, but it names what the charts measure: listening, follows, and completion rate. Follows is the one a call to action moves directly, and Apple's line is blunt: the more followers and engagement, the higher a show's chart position.
Say follow, and say it in the episode. Apple's own sample wording asks listeners to follow the show on Apple Podcasts so they get notified each time a new episode is available. Don't say subscribe. On Apple Podcasts that word means a paid subscription, so a subscribe ask points your listener at a purchase instead of the free button that feeds the chart.
Completion rate is the third input and the one no promotion can buy. It is earned by cutting the stretch of the episode people skip. Reviews still do real work on the human reading your show page, and Apple encourages you to ask for them, so keep asking. Just stop counting them as chart work.
Measure it in Analytics in Podcasts Connect. Select a show for net new followers over the last week, month, 60 days and all time, then open Trends for the graph over time. Followers are calculated and updated daily, so a show that launched this morning with zero followers should be checked tomorrow, not this hour.
Check that the change landed
Apple detects a feed edit and updates it on Apple Podcasts within 24 hours. The thing to read is the Last Refresh date and time in Apple Podcasts Connect, not the app on your phone. If that stamp has moved and your change still isn't there, the change never left your host.
When it still hasn't moved after a full 24 hours, work Apple's order of operations: confirm the change is saved and published at your host, check the show's status in Podcasts Connect, then select the show and click Refresh Feed. Artwork is the exception to all of this, because a new image needs a different filename before Apple will pick it up.
Don't conclude anything about ranking from one afternoon. Top Shows and Trending Episodes are refreshed throughout the day, and Trending Episodes is built to reflect recent listening, so a position can shift within hours. One screenshot is not a result. Check on the same day each week and compare those.
Submit the one thing Apple lets you submit
Rank takes no submissions. Editorial featuring does, and it is a separate system: it buys consideration for placement on Home, New, and select category pages in Search, with no documented effect on your chart position or your Search order. The route is the feature request form Apple links from its own pitch guidance.
Your feed has to be live on Apple Podcasts before you can pitch, and Apple asks for the exact title, URL and category of what you are pitching. Requests must be submitted two weeks in advance of the date you want. Ask for a Monday: Apple refreshes at least once a week in most countries and regions, and says the majority of updates publish on Mondays.
Apple lists what a strong request carries: a compelling subject line, a brief synopsis, the show's format, background on hosts and guests, your marketing, social and PR plans with dates, and why this is the moment for it. Featuring art is not required, with one exception: a request for a position at the top of New requires a Showcase Hero art submission, built on Apple's template, delivered as a layered PSD, carrying no network or sponsor logos, and visually distinct from your show artwork.
Nobody tells you if it worked. Apple says you will not be notified if your show is featured, so watch the New tab and your category pages yourself. Pitch no more than once every six to eight weeks, and file a separate form for every country you want to be considered in. Launching something new: get a trailer live at least two weeks ahead of your first full episodes, because the feed has to exist before the pitch can.
If nothing moved
Not showing up in Search at all. Confirm an episode is actually published rather than the feed merely submitted, then check the status in Podcasts Connect and work Apple's availability checklist: approved and showing Published, a release date already in the past, clearances in the countries you care about, and no itunes:block tag on the episodes that are missing.
Analytics blank. That is a floor, not a fault. At least five unique users have to play your content inside the time frame you selected before Apple will show the metric, and you get a Not Enough Data message until they do.
A chart position you think is wrong. There is nothing to file and nobody to appeal to. Apple states that automatic downloads are not factored into rankings, and rankings cannot be purchased or sold, says altering podcasts with the sole intent of increasing chart rankings is discouraged, and monitors the charts to check the engagement is genuine. It also states that causing activities that interfere with the integrity of Apple Podcasts is against its content guidelines, so the chart-placement services are selling you a product Apple says is not for sale.
None of this reaches anywhere else. Everything on this page changes your position inside one app. It does nothing on Spotify, nothing on YouTube, and nothing for the person typing your guest's name into Google, because an episode inside a listening app is not a web page. That part is separate work.