PODCAST SEO & DISCOVERABILITY
Being found online is a considerable part of podcast audience growth and podcast SEO plays an important role in listenership.
Podcast consumption has steadily risen over the last few years and will continue to expand as more people turn to podcasts to supplement their digital news, education, and entertainment.
While people create podcasts for various reasons, the main objective is to have people listen and enjoy what they hear, and listen some more. But this cannot happen if a podcast is not discoverable online.
There are somewhere around 900,000 podcasts now available (yes, some are inactive, and others don’t post content regularly), so optimizing your podcast SEO is essential to get found.
Here are four ways you can make that happen:
CREATE A PODCAST WEBSITE
It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should have the following:
- Podcast About Section
- Episodes
- Show notes
- Blog
- Contact Details
Let’s dive deeper into podcast SEO for episodes, show notes, and blog.
PODCAST SEO - EPISODES
1️⃣ Research keywords first, then create your content around them. People are looking for information for a reason, and if you can create content about your podcast topic that speaks to those keywords, your podcast will be quickly discovered.
2️⃣ Use websites like Buzzsumo and Ubersuggest to see what’s ranking.
3️⃣ Optimize your episode titles. Pop your keywords into a blog title generator. They will come up with a bunch of titles that you can use. Save ones your like in a spreadsheet to use later.
PODCAST SEO - SHOW NOTES
Google indexes written content, so create show notes for each episode.
Long-form content is important in marketing your podcast. You will rank better, get more social shares, and you can use the show notes to create different social content like a blog, twitter quotes, Facebook posts, LinkedIn lives, etc.
You can also use the show notes in PDF form to send to your marketing email list or as an opt-in.
PODCAST SEO - BLOG
1️⃣ Make sure you create a blog post for each episode as another avenue for people to find you and then go to your podcast. You can use your show notes and spice them up a bit, or take a piece of the notes and expand on it.
2️⃣ Add one or two H2 headings that contain the keywords.
Insert a relevant image and make sure to add the keywords in the image title, alt text, and caption. Search engines love images so make them work for you. (keep an eye on your image size, it can slow your website speed down which will have an adverse effect).
3️⃣ Add internal links to other blog pages that are similar so that people and search engines can find more of your content.
Always add a call to action at the end of each blog so the reader knows what you want them to do next – listen to my podcast, subscribe, signup, or read more, are always good options.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Now that you have done all these things, you want to share them as much as you can.
1️⃣ Backlinks are so relevant to raise your search engine ranking. You can publish your content on sites like Medium or BizSugar. Send links to people you think would find your content useful and ask them to share it with others.
2️⃣ Take the opportunity to use social media to promote your podcast as much as you can. Use audiograms (Headliner App is excellent for this), written posts, tweets, and lives.
3️⃣ Provide your podcast guests with promotional materials from their episode and ask them to share on their social accounts.
FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT PODCAST SEO
You are probably reading this and thinking, “Oh no! More work to do on my podcast.” But, think about it this way, you are creating such fantastic content right now, and it will all be for nothing if you don’t put in the extra work and optimize your podcast SEO. Your content deserves to be served to the world, so spend some time setting this up, and before you know it, the process will be part of your everyday prep.
SEO will help you to rank better, become more discoverable, reach new listeners, and grow your audience. All the rewards you want!
Next, if you are interested in monetizing your podcast, read this first and then contact us.
You will also find this article: 6 Steps To Podcast Sponsorship Success useful.
Follow True Native Media for more insights on all things podcast and visit our podcaster page to find out how we help podcasters monetize their shows.