A podcast, whether you host it yourself or bring in outside help, can be a great way to educate and engage your audience. However, if you want your podcast to show up in search results on Google and other search engines, then you’ll need to build a podcast SEO strategy so it can be found by those searching the web and visiting podcasting directories such as Spotify.
Many people turn to podcasts nowadays to learn more about something they’re interested in. Creating a podcast for your business could attract potential clients or collaborators, but only if they find you first.
Statistics show that over 383.7 million people listen to podcasts globally. While some mainly play podcasts as a way of entertainment or to pass the time, others use podcasts as the means to learn something new or gain insight into something they’re already familiar with.
As the goal is for regular SEO, with podcast optimization we want to rank higher, so more people can find us and listen to us. Creating a podcast is a great way to educate your audience and share your expertise, just as you’ve been doing by writing articles or making webinars.
It may be uncharted territory, but optimizing your podcast isn’t that much different than optimizing your website or PPC Campaigns. There are a few key elements that could increase your visibility and in this post we’ll be covering them.
When talking about podcast SEO, we mainly focus on basic SEO principles, but we apply them to different platforms and elements. As we previously covered voice search optimization, another new growing area marketers start paying attention to, we started by emphasizing the importance of descriptions and basic search optimization. Without further due, what should you focus on when optimizing a podcast for SEO?
Every podcast should have a description, which sums up what the series is about. Similar to when a person sees an ad for the first time, your podcast’s description is what might influence people to open it and choose an episode. Furthermore, each podcast should list the main topics covered, key points, and other details which might be important for potential listeners.
It comes as almost no surprise that optimizing a podcast for SEO should also include keyword research and keyword integration. To be more specific, each episode of your podcast should focus on a defined topic.
Let’s say you’re the CEO of a marketing agency and you’re running a podcast about marketing insights. One of your episodes could focus on email marketing automation and be called Everything You Need To Know About Email Marketing Automation. Once your episodes are based on target keywords, it becomes easier to optimize your podcast.
Although most people prefer Spotify and Apple Music for listening to podcasts, you shouldn’t dismiss YouTube. A version of your podcast should be also published on YouTube, along with an attractive description and title.
When it comes to Spotify, however, it is advisable to pay attention to your podcast’s title, description and artwork. The artwork should make your podcast stand out, while its description should contain keywords and subtopic keywords. Furthermore, the first 20 words of your podcast’s episode attract the user by using the keywords well, Spotify says.
Another directory that should be on your list when publishing podcasts is Google. Apart from being a search engine, Google acts also as a directory that can crawl the page where your podcast is for the RSS Feed. Considering every optimization tip mentioned above, you could try uploading at least one episode on your website, submit the URL or wait for Google to crawl it. With the right optimization, your episode could show on the results page when someone searches a podcast with a similar topic.
Another way to optimize your podcast so it ranks higher is to research trending topics. This doesn’t necessarily mean to create episodes on those specific topics, but rather to integrate them in your podcast. A few places where you might wanna look for trending topics are Twitter, Google Trends, News, and its Trend Searches Page.
Podcast topics can be separated into three main categories: trending topics, or what the audience is interested in at a certain time, evergreen topics, or all year round relevant topics, and interviews. When creating and optimizing your podcast, you should find a balance between these three.
While evergreen topics such as Everything You Need To Know About Email Marketing Automation are extremely important, people might want to know more about, let’s say, ways to manage PPC campaigns during recession. It's critical to move quickly with the production of podcasts about current events since people are eager to learn more about significant events.
Since more and more people turn to podcasts as a tool for learning and entertainment, it becomes necessary for marketers to consider adding podcast optimization to their SEO strategy.
Although this area is yet to be more thoroughly explored, you should start considering the benefits of optimizing your podcast for your business. If you need help in adjusting your SEO strategy, feel free to contact one of our SEO specialists.