Now that you’ve successfully learned how to start a podcast, which is the first and most arduous task. You have also been able to host your podcast on a free podcast platform; what next?
The next stage is what worries a lot of podcasters; how they can optimize their podcast discoverability to gain active listeners to their podcast show.
This article will serve as a guide on leveraging podcast SEO to improve your podcast discoverability and visibility.
What is SEO
Everyone knows and relies on Search Engine Optimization to improve content performance online in the digital marketing space. SEO is relied on in driving organic traffic to content.
SEO is all about driving traffic to a website or platform and improving its ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs). You’ll be amazed to realize that, just as people use SEO tools to promote their website on search engines, it’s also possible to rank your podcast show on search engines.
Understanding Podcast SEO
Podcast SEO is a process of increasing the visibility of your podcast on search engine results pages. It is a subcategory of audio SEO. Google has recently incorporated a podcast section on its SERPs, and by optimizing your podcast keywords, your podcast will have a better chance of getting noticed.
Leveraging podcast SEO will increase the discoverability of your podcast. The primary goal of podcast SEO is to ensure that your podcast show and podcast episodes appear when your target listeners search specific keywords.
How to Carry Out Podcast Keyword Research
Podcast keyword research is a technique of researching specific phrases that people regularly enter on search engine sites and then employing these keywords in your podcast to generate more traffic and get your podcast on the top of the search results.
When conducting podcast keyword research, there are specific steps you can take to help you get through it efficiently. Google’s SERPs also have a podcast section, where you can conduct keyword research for podcasts.
The following are the steps you can take while carrying out podcast keyword research:
- Craft out topics related to your podcast – You can get ideas on these on different social media platforms.
- Develop and research keyword phrases you can think of that many customers would likely search for always. Google Autocomplete can also help you in keyword research.
- Check for the search volume (i.e., the number of searches each keyword phrase gets per month). – You can use Google Trends Homepage to get any keyword search volume.
- Also, check for the difficulty level and how competitive those key phrases are. It’s advisable to go for keywords with high search volumes and low difficulty.
- Experiment with all you’ve done and put it into use through your podcast description and title
How To Get Your Podcast Indexed by Google
Getting your podcast indexed on Google should be a priority for any podcaster. One of these advantages is that you will not only have your podcast discovered by your target listeners, but you will also have an improved user experience. Google has recently included spoken words in their SERPs, which means your podcast has a better chance of receiving traffic with many viewers and listeners.
To get your podcast indexed by Google, you need to begin with hosting your podcast on Google. The next step is to sync your podcast RSS feed with Google, after which you’ll get to see a preview of your feed before being issued a verification number to the email address linked with your podcast for confirmation.
Finally, before Google indexes your podcast entirely, you must authenticate that you are the genuine owner of the podcast. Once you’ve completed these steps successfully, you’ll be able to publish your podcast on Google and then search to confirm if it’s uploaded. Doing that is because Google might take up to five to six working days to examine and certify your podcast feed before it appears on the site.
How To Carryout Podcast Show Optimization
Many queries may be running through your thoughts right now, such as why you get to increase your podcast discoverability when you don’t even know how to carry out your podcast show optimization. To improve your podcast discoverability and get more active listeners and audiences to your podcast show, you need to optimize your podcast.
Let’s walk you through ways you can get to carry out your podcast show optimization.
- Create a well-branded podcast name for your podcast show using targeted keywords you’ve researched and found to have a high search volume and low difficulty range.
- Learn to write compelling podcast show descriptions with a strong keyword phrase to draw more listeners to your podcast. Your first 150-character contents are usually displayed when your podcast appears on Google SERPs. If you get this right, people will be eager to view and listen to your podcast.
- Have a personal website or webpage that people can visit after listening to your podcast.
Basics of Podcast Episode Optimization
While we’ve dwelt on the fundamentals of podcast show optimization, let’s shift attention to improving the SEO of individual podcast episodes. Here’s what we think you can put in place to enhance the visibility of your podcast episodes;
1. Meta Data
It’s an SEO best practice to ensure that your meta description is in place. Ensure that your keyword appears in the episode title, title tag, and image tags.
Optimizing each episode of your podcast is essential to increasing your podcast visibility. Once Google indexes your podcast episode, your podcast show is more likely to get more listeners and subscribers each day.
Your podcast page title represents the principal primary subject of your page and appears as the mainline of an inquiry things entry to convey to Google and searchers clearly what the page is. Optimizing the meta descriptions of your podcast also helps searchers decide whether to click through from the results to access the complete content on your site.
2. Transcripts and Episode Show Notes
Transcripts are one of the lifelines of podcast SEO. While search engines have significantly developed, they are not at the level where they can listen and understand your podcast. You need to give the search engines something to decode.
A transcript is a script of everything said, an entire rundown of everything in a podcast. While a show note is like a paraphrased version of everything said during the podcast.
Therefore, transcripts should be part of your podcast SEO process. It’s either you have a transcript or a show note.
3. Blog/Writing Content
Every podcast needs a blog. It’s an avenue to cross-promote your content and also for SEO. Blogs and websites usually have more authority than a new podcast.
You can repurpose your podcast episodes into a blog post. For every episode of your podcast, there should be a blog post that goes along with it. This can be an avenue to drive people to listen to your podcast.
Look at what established podcast shows are doing with their blogs and replicate this. You cannot succeed with podcast SEO without a corresponding podcast blog to help with SEO.
Final Thoughts on Podcast SEO
Suppose you’ve always struggled to get listeners or traffic to your podcast show. That’s likely because you’ve not taken advantage of podcast SEO.
While you are focusing on driving traffic, never let down your listeners. Make it a priority to consistently dish out quality, engaging and valuable content on your podcast show. It’s not just important to make it easy for your target listeners to locate your podcast show, but also do all within your ability to make them fall in love with it.
