SEO PlaysA DR 98 dofollow link from Apple for one podcast episode
You get a dofollow link on your show page on podcasts.apple.com, and it goes to whatever address you put in your feed. Ahrefs' public page for apple.com puts its Domain Rating at 98, and Apple's pages name no fee.
One episode is enough. Apple won't list a show until its feed carries an episode.
What to do
- Record 1 episode and save it as AAC, which Apple recommends, or as MP3.
- Put it on the free plan at RSS.com (opens in a new tab), or host the feed yourself, which Apple allows.
- Set the show website in the host's settings to the page you want linked.
- Open the feed URL and check the channel link tag for that page, and the item link tags if you want episode links.
- Create an Apple Podcasts Connect account at podcastsconnect.apple.com (opens in a new tab).
- Click Add (+), then New Show, then "Add a show with an RSS feed", paste the feed URL, pick the access restriction and click Add.
- Set Content Rights, enter your contact information, set Availability, click Save, then Publish.
- Wait for Apple's status email, and don't count the days, because Apple's pages name no review time.
- Open the live show page and check that its website link goes to your page.
Apple reads the website link out of your feed's channel link tag. Five big shows carry their feed's address on their show pages, down to Modern Wisdom's odd /books/ path. The Joe Rogan feed has no channel link tag, and that show page has no website link either.
But most sampled RSS.com feeds put an rss.com page in the channel link tag, and then Apple links to the host's page instead of yours. Item link tags are worse, because RSS.com and Anchor point them at the host and Buzzsprout leaves them out. I'd count on the show page link and treat episode links as a bonus. The website field fixes the show page link, though the episode links need item link tags that point at your pages. In the sample, only self-hosted feeds, Substack on its own domain and some RedCircle feeds did that. Nobody here has measured a ranking change from this link.
Evidence
The DR figure comes from Ahrefs' public page for apple.com.
A script read the show pages and feeds of Lex Fridman Podcast, The Daily, Syntax, Dwarkesh Podcast, Modern Wisdom and The Joe Rogan Experience on 2026-09-05.
On the 5 pages with a website link, the address equals the feed's channel link tag, with no nofollow, no ugc, no sponsored on the link.
Lex Fridman episodes 501 and 500 link to lexfridman.com/dhh-2/ and lexfridman.com/khabib-nurmagomedov/, the addresses in their item link tags.
Apple's "Submit a show" page gives the click path and names no fee, its review page names no review time, and its hosting page allows self-hosting.
RSS.com's pricing page, read the same day, lists the Free plan at USD 0 with a public RSS feed and no credit card.
In 36 sampled host feeds, 1 of 6 RSS.com channel link tags left the host, every RSS.com and Anchor item link stayed on the host, and no Buzzsprout item had a link tag.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-05. A play whose evidence stops holding up is rewritten or retired.