Let’s talk about the opportunities with SEO for podcasts. Oh yes, didn’t you know? Podcast SEO is indeed a thing, And in this blog post, I’m going to share with you the secrets behind podcast SEO and provide you with actionable strategies to maximise the visibility and reach of your podcast episodes.
Look, the truth is that most people who are podcasting these days, whether for business or pleasure, have absolutely no clue about the opportunity they have to improve their visibility in search.
They focus on the fun part – the recording of their audio, and maybe the showbiz elements that make them feel like a bit of a celebrity. You know, like chatting with big guests, and having their cool theme tunes.
But like anything content related, as it’s become more mainstream, it’s also become more competitive. And now brands are investing in researching all the areas that give them a competitive edge.
One of the things they’ve uncovered is the ability to get your stuff surfacing above your competitors in search.
With millions of podcast episodes available, creators are constantly seeking ways to make their content stand out amidst the noise.
So read on to learn how to optimise your podcast for podcast app search engines like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Or if you’re a lazy reader and prefer to listen to my podcast episode which talks all about this, click through your favourite player below.
(Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all apps players provided for your ease of listening)
Here are the timestamps for the most interesting and relevant bits!
01:10 Apple Podcasts control search and prioritise relevance.
04:37 Keywords crucial for podcast ranking, metadata essential.
08:11 Podcast transcription helps improve podcast SEO accuracy.
11:51 To rank high in podcasting apps, hit some download goals.
14:34 Optimise show description, title, and artwork.
At the base level, the podcast apps are looking at two specific things in two different areas.
At the show level:
Your podcast’s title
Your podcast’s author (you)
At the episode level:
Your episode’s title
Your episode’s author (you)
This is what every podcasting expert understands are the specific areas where the metadata gets indexed.
But what if I told you that there’s more to it than that?
Let’s get into it.
Optimising Show Descriptions and Keywords to nail your SEO for podcasts
The show description offers a valuable opportunity to enhance your podcast’s SEO.
Wait, what?
You read that and thought to yourself “but…but.. everyone else has told me that nothing else is getting indexed by the Apple Podcasts search engines.”
Well, yes, that’s what everyone has been told. But Apple Podcasts lie.
Hate to say it, but they do.
And they’re not doing it in a malicious way. They’re doing it for reasons of quality control.
They don’t want you gaming their systems to artificially increase your lower quality podcast’s visibility over other better podcasts, just because you’ve sussed out the system.
By strategically integrating targeted keywords and providing a quick but clear overview of your podcast episode’s content, you can optimise your descriptions for search engines.
I’m telling you this because you and I are buds. You’ve come to my website and you’ve clearly realised I’m the real deal in this space. So trust deserves reciprocal trust, and I want you to win.
Moreover, conducting thorough keyword research to identify high-impact keywords that resonate with your podcast’s theme can further amplify its search visibility.
Even better podcast SEO strategy
The best thing you can do is sit down and write a list of relevant keywords for your thing.
Then, whenever it makes sense, use these keywords in your main podcast description, your episode descriptions, your titles and even in your author field.
Be careful to do it ethically and don’t keyword stuff.
Think about it selflessly, like you’re helping your ideal listeners to find your content. Don’t think about it from a vanity perspective.
Your podcast app will reward you for behaving like that, and punish you for keyword stuffing.
Leveraging Keyword Optimisation Tools
Here’s the tricky part. Asking you, the probably already out-of-pocket podcaster to investing in yet more stuff to make your podcast successful.
But this is the long and short of it my friend.
Your choice is you either invest your own time and money into learning to do all this stuff yourself, or you invest just the money and have someone like me do it for you.
Either way, if you want to mix it with the pros, you’re gonna have to step up into the pro game.
A reliable keyword optimisation tool can make a massive difference at the best of time for your search optimisation, but when it’s one that’s tailored for podcasts, such as Voxalyze, you’re going to be playing a very different game than your competitors.
This tool can provide invaluable insights into keyword performance and search volumes.
But you can achieve similar with other tools.
Utilising these SEO tools empowers podcasters who want to get on top of their podcast SEO to make data-driven decisions when optimising their podcast content for search engines.
Mastering SEO-Driven Content Creation
But why try and steer the horse with your cart?
That makes zero sense!
Creating content with SEO in mind involves meticulous planning and execution.
But it will pay dividends for your success.
When strategically planning SEO for podcasts, creators should be doing the thorough keyword research up front, and integrating targeted keywords into episode titles, descriptions, and episodes themselves.
IE – talk about the things you want to rank for.
By aligning content with high-impact keywords, creators can elevate their podcast’s search visibility and audience reach.
Mostly because they’re then tickling the right buttons in the platforms that are secretly indexing this stuff for search, behind the scenes.
Get more in depth insight from the episode of The Podmaster that's all about podcast SEO
Again, you’ll learn way more about this SEO for podcasts strategy from the episode I’ve published that’s all about it.
Need professional help with this?
Book yourself in for a chat, or drop me an email. I don’t bite!
Contact