diff --git a/app/labor/podcast_feed.rb b/app/labor/podcast_feed.rb
index bcc26465c..03a0fcbf0 100644
--- a/app/labor/podcast_feed.rb
+++ b/app/labor/podcast_feed.rb
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ class PodcastFeed
     rss = HTTParty.get(podcast.feed_url).body
     feed = RSS::Parser.parse(rss, false)
     feed.items.first(num).each do |item|
-      if !existing_episode(item, podcast)
-        create_new_episode(item, podcast)
-      elsif (ep = existing_episode(item, podcast).first)
+      ep = existing_episode(item, podcast).first
+      if ep
         update_existing_episode(ep, item, podcast)
+      else
+        create_new_episode(item, podcast)
       end
     end
     feed.items.size
@@ -23,6 +24,18 @@ class PodcastFeed
     Rails.logger.error(e)
   end
 
+  private
+
+  # returns empty array if an episode doesn't exist
+  def existing_episode(item, podcast)
+    # presence returns nil if the query is an empty array, otherwise returns the array
+    podcasts = PodcastEpisode.where(media_url: item.enclosure.url).presence ||
+      PodcastEpisode.where(title: item.title).presence ||
+      PodcastEpisode.where(guid: item.guid.to_s).presence ||
+      (podcast.unique_website_url? && PodcastEpisode.where(website_url: item.link).presence)
+    podcasts.to_a
+  end
+
   def create_new_episode(item, podcast)
     ep = PodcastEpisode.new
     ep.title = item.title
@@ -54,14 +67,6 @@ class PodcastFeed
     update_media_url(episode, item)
   end
 
-  def existing_episode(item, podcast)
-    # presence returns nil if the query is an empty array, otherwise returns the array
-    PodcastEpisode.where(media_url: item.enclosure.url).presence ||
-      PodcastEpisode.where(title: item.title).presence ||
-      PodcastEpisode.where(guid: item.guid.to_s).presence ||
-      (podcast.unique_website_url? && PodcastEpisode.where(website_url: item.link).presence)
-  end
-
   def get_media_url(episode, item, podcast)
     episode.media_url = if Rails.env.test? ||
         HTTParty.head(item.enclosure.url.gsub(/http:/, "https:")).code == 200
diff --git a/spec/labor/podcast_feed_spec.rb b/spec/labor/podcast_feed_spec.rb
index ad13a7ddb..2d128ca26 100644
--- a/spec/labor/podcast_feed_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/labor/podcast_feed_spec.rb
@@ -13,13 +13,37 @@ RSpec.describe PodcastFeed, vcr: vcr_option do
     podcast
   end
 
-  it "fetches podcast episodes" do
-    PodcastFeed.new.get_episodes(podcast, 2)
-    expect(PodcastEpisode.all.size).to eq(2)
+  context "when creating" do
+    it "fetches podcast episodes" do
+      expect do
+        PodcastFeed.new.get_episodes(podcast, 2)
+      end.to change(PodcastEpisode, :count).by(2)
+    end
+
+    it "fetches correct podcasts" do
+      PodcastFeed.new.get_episodes(podcast, 2)
+      episodes = podcast.podcast_episodes
+      expect(episodes.pluck(:title).sort).to eq(["Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong", "IFTTT Architecture with Nicky Leach"])
+      expect(episodes.pluck(:media_url).sort).to eq(%w[https://traffic.libsyn.com/sedaily/AnalyseAsia.mp3 https://traffic.libsyn.com/sedaily/IFTTT.mp3])
+    end
   end
 
-  it "does not refetch already fetched episodes" do
-    2.times { PodcastFeed.new.get_episodes(podcast, 2) }
-    expect(PodcastEpisode.all.size).to eq(2)
+  context "when updating" do
+    let!(:episode) { create(:podcast_episode, media_url: "http://traffic.libsyn.com/sedaily/AnalyseAsia.mp3", title: "Old Title", published_at: nil) }
+    let!(:episode2) { create(:podcast_episode, media_url: "http://traffic.libsyn.com/sedaily/IFTTT.mp3", title: "SuperPodcast", published_at: nil) }
+
+    it "does not refetch already fetched episodes" do
+      expect do
+        PodcastFeed.new.get_episodes(podcast, 2)
+      end.not_to change(PodcastEpisode, :count)
+    end
+
+    it "updates published_at for existing episodes" do
+      PodcastFeed.new.get_episodes(podcast, 2)
+      episode.reload
+      episode2.reload
+      expect(episode.published_at).to be_truthy
+      expect(episode2.published_at).to be_truthy
+    end
   end
 end