15 Best Podcast SEO Tips

A podcast is an audio episode series focused on a particular topic in discussion. It can be heard anytime, reaching potential audiences while providing them with a more personalized experience.

As per Forbes, the global market was $14.25 billion in 2021, rising by more than 70% that year. 

With growing listeners, optimizing podcast content to make it more discoverable on search engines is crucial.

In this article, I am going to share the top tips to enhance your SEO strategy to help you surface your podcast on the search engine result page.

Also read: 10 Best Startup Podcasts

Let’s begin!

Why Are Podcasts Popular?

Here are the top reasons why podcasts are popular among its listeners:

• They are readily available through apps on devices like smartphones, computers, and tablets.
• Podcasts are a great choice to listen to while driving, cooking, exercising, or working, making it efficient to consume.
• They are great for hosts looking to establish relationships and build intimacy with their listeners.
• Attracts people to build a community and grow engagement, making it unique from other entertainment mediums.
• Many podcasts are educational, entertaining, and inspirational, allowing listeners to learn, motivate or expand their knowledge on various topics.

Also read: 11 Best Growth Hacking Podcasts To Listen

Does SEO Help Podcasts?

With an increase in the number of listeners and their variety of choices, it is essential to have a targeted demographic for businesses to reach their audience. 

Apart from ranking, Google transcribes them through its speech-to-text feature to find the information without knowing about the product.

Here are the ways in which SEO can help a podcast:

• Improves the visibility of your podcast, making it easy to find relevant topics.
• Increases subscribers and grows your listener base.
• Enhances engagement of your content with listeners.
• Boosts website traffic and drives people to your podcast.
• Establishes your podcast as an authority making it more likely for websites to link to your content.

Incorporating podcast SEO can help leverage the power of audio SEO to rank the content higher while following its best practices.

Also read: How to Do Content Marketing in 2015? Will Videos and Podcasts Replace Text Content?

Best Podcast SEO Tips

Here are the top search engine optimization tips to improve your podcast’s visibility and discoverability in search results and attract more listeners to your content.

1- Create A Website

A dedicated podcast website can help you boost your SEO and organic traffic. That way, you have a service to host your podcasts like Castor, Sounder, or Blubrry and launch new ones.

Owning a site offers a window to optimize it better for searches. It also helps enhance the UX of finding the podcast.

You can also use your existing website rather than creating another one and dedicate an individual page to your podcast.

Here is an example of a website, I am Azeem Digital, where they have a separate page dedicated to podcasts. It is genuinely an SEO treasure trove with solid SEO podcast content.

Also read: How to Create A Website With WordPress

2- Plan Your Keywords

Keywords are an essential part of your SEO strategy. Podcasts should also be built around your targeted keywords. 

You can optimize your episodes and use keywords in the headlines of your podcast episode. It is essential for a niche market or if there are many podcasts on similar topics. By incorporating relevant keywords into your podcast episode, you can make it easier for listeners to find your podcast.

When you have a list of keywords to include in your episode, it can also help you stay focused and ensure you cover the topics your audience is interested in.

Here is how you can utilize keywords in your podcast:

• Use keyword research tools like SEMrush or Google Keyword Planner to find relevant keywords related to your podcast topic. 
•  Use the keywords you have identified in your episode titles to make them more searchable and appealing to potential listeners.
• Add keywords to your show notes to make them descriptive and help your podcast appear in search results.

Here is an example of a popular podcast that features interviews with successful entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs on Fire.

In the podcast, How to Become a Successful Author & Scale Your Business Online with Tyler Wagner, Host John Lee Dumas uses the keywords “business” and “successful author” in the title and show notes. The episode targets listeners interested in becoming successful authors and scaling their businesses online, which makes it more discoverable and relevant. 

Also read: 5 Brilliant Keywords Research Strategies You Should Try Out

3- Use Timestamps For Important Topics

You should use timestamps to make it easier for listeners to find the information they are interested in. It helps people to get to the topic they are most interested in rather than listening to the entire episode.

It can lead to longer listening times and better engagement metrics, improving your podcast’s ranking in search results.

Including timestamps in the show, notes can also make your podcast more accessible to those with disabilities. For example, a listener with hearing loss may not be able to listen to the entire episode, but by including timestamps, they can read the notes and still access the information they need.

Here is an example of The Tim Ferriss Show. In one episode, the show notes included timestamps for the topic- In Case You Missed It: January 2023 Recap of “The Tim Ferriss Show.”

• Introduction and recap of top episodes from 2022 (00:00 – 07:30)
• Interview with bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell on his new book (07:30 – 32:00)
• Tim’s discussion on his recent trip to Japan and his learnings from Japanese culture (32:00 – 47:00)
• Tim’s conversation with billionaire investor Peter Thiel on his investment strategy (47:00 – 1:12:00)
• Tim’s thoughts on the importance of sleep and his new sleep experiment (1:12:00 – 1:28:00)
• Interview with meditation expert Tara Brach on mindfulness practices (1:28:00 – 1:50:00)
• Listener Q&A on productivity and time management (1:50:00 – 2:05:00)
• Conclusion and preview of upcoming episodes (2:05:00 – 2:10:00)

Also read: How to Create a Blog: Complete Guide for 2023

4- Associate With Google Podcast  

Associating your podcast with Google Podcasts can be a valuable SEO strategy for your website, helping you attract more traffic, increase engagement, and establish your business as an authority.

Google indexes and includes podcast episodes in its search results. If someone searches for a particular topic related to your podcast, they may see your podcast episodes listed among the search results, increasing your visibility and potential for discovery.

Here is an example of associating with Google Podcasts The Pitch, a podcast that helps startups and entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of investors. The Pitch’s website includes an “Episodes” section listing all their podcast episodes. Each episode has a brief description, and visitors can listen to the episodes directly on the website or follow a link to listen on Google Podcasts.

By syndicating their podcast to Google Podcasts, The Pitch can reach a wider audience and increase their visibility on Google search results. It can help them attract more listeners, subscribers, and potential investors. Additionally, by embedding their podcast episodes on their website, The Pitch can improve engagement metrics and keep visitors on their site longer.

Also read: 5 SEO Strategies You Need To Master in 2023

5- Create Shorter Podcasts  

Using shorter podcast episodes for SEO can help you attract more listeners, improve your visibility on search engines, and ultimately drive more traffic to your website.

Here are the top benefits of using a shorter podcast:

• Targeting specific keywords: You can improve your SERPs’ visibility and attract more organic traffic. It helps you rank higher for relevant keywords and topics, which leads to more traffic and better SEO.

• Increased engagement: Shorter episodes are often easier to consume and help keep listeners engaged. When your content is seen as valuable and engaging, it can help improve your SEO rankings. It can result in higher completion rates, signaling Google that your content is high-quality and relevant.

• Higher frequency: Creating shorter episodes can allow you to produce more content, which can help you attract more listeners and improve your search engine rankings. 

• Improved shareability: Shorter episodes can be more shareable than longer ones, making them easier for listeners to consume and share with others. It can attract more listeners and improve your social media visibility, leading to better SEO.

The “Online Marketing Made Easy” podcast, hosted by marketing expert Amy Porterfield, features episodes that typically range from 30-60 minutes in length. However, Porterfield also creates shorter episodes that are focused on specific topics.

Here is an example of an episode titled “The Gratitude Series: Jasmine Star” that is only 10 minutes long. By creating shorter episodes around specific keywords and topics, Porterfield was able to improve her visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more organic traffic. 

Each episode was optimized for a specific keyword or topic, which helped her rank higher for those search terms. Additionally, the shorter format of the episodes may have helped keep listeners engaged and increase completion rates, which could further improve the SEO rankings.

Also read: Use Synonyms For the Keywords For Which You Want to Rank

6- Utilize Social Media For Promotion

You should use your podcast content to create social media posts to enhance exposure. Here are the top social media you can make:

• Instagram Reel
• Facebook Video
• LinkedIn Carousel
• Audiogram
• Tweet

One popular podcast that effectively uses social media to promote its content is “The Daily” by The New York Times. They have a solid social media presence across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

On Twitter, The Daily posts short snippets from each episode, an eye-catching graphic, and a link to the full episode. They also use hashtags such as #TheDaily and #NYTPodcast to make their content more discoverable.

On Facebook, The Daily shares longer clips from each episode and additional context and background information about the topic. They also engage with their audience by responding to comments and answering questions.

Using social media to promote their podcast, The Daily can reach a wider audience and engage meaningfully with their listeners. It has helped them to become one of the most popular news podcasts in the world, with millions of downloads per month.

Also read: Level Up Your Social Media Content With These 4 Tips

7- Get Shares From Guests

Getting guests to share your podcast show can help increase the visibility and reach of your podcast. By having guests share your show with their followers and fans, you’re tapping into their network and expanding your reach beyond your audience.

For example, if you have a guest who is a well-known figure in your industry who shares your podcast episode with their followers on social media, it can lead to an influx of new listeners interested in what you have to say. It can help you build your audience and establish your podcast as a credible source of information and entertainment within your niche.

Also read: 7 Tricks to Build Audience (And Get More Engagement)

8- Optimize Podcast Notes

Optimizing your podcast notes can have significant benefits on your engagement. Using relevant keywords, descriptive titles, and timestamps can help your podcast rank higher in search engine results, making it easier for potential listeners to discover your content. 

Additionally, well-organized and easy-to-read show notes can improve the overall listening experience and encourage listeners to share your podcast with others.

To optimize your podcast notes, you can use formatting techniques such as subheadings and bullet points to make the content more digestible.

By using descriptive titles and incorporating relevant keywords throughout the notes, you can improve the visibility of your podcast and attract a larger audience.

For example, a podcast episode titled “How to Build a Successful E-commerce Business” could include timestamps for different tips on building a successful e-commerce business, a summary of the episode, and links to relevant e-commerce platforms, analytics tools, and email marketing services. 

Optimizing your podcast notes in this way can provide value to your listeners and improve your podcast’s overall reach and success.

Also read: Local SEO Tips For Beginners

9- Write Blog Posts Based on Episodes

Writing blog posts according to your podcast episodes can be a great way to boost SEO and attract more listeners to your podcast. Here are some ways how a podcast can boost its SEO with the help of writing blog posts based on episodes:

• Target long-tail keywords: When you write a blog post based on an episode, you can target long-tail keywords relevant to the episode’s content. It can help improve your SEO by ranking for more specific search queries.
• Increase visibility: Posting your blog on your website and sharing it on social media can increase visibility and drive traffic to your podcast. It can also help attract new listeners who may not have discovered your podcast.
• Improve content relevance: Blog posts can help improve the relevance of your podcast’s content by providing additional information and context about the topics covered in the episode. It can help listeners better understand and engage with your content.
• Encourage engagement: By including a call-to-action in your blog post, you can encourage listeners to engage with your podcast by leaving comments or subscribing.
• Expand your reach: By repurposing your podcast content into blog posts, you can expand your reach beyond the podcasting platform and reach a wider audience.

Incorporating relevant keywords and linking to your podcast episode can improve your SEO and drive more traffic to your podcast. For example, if your podcast episode is “Top 10 Tips for Running a Successful Online Business,” you can write a blog post on “10 Proven Strategies for Running a Successful Online Business.” The blog post can include additional information, resources, and examples to provide more value to your audience.

Also read: How to Find Long Tail Keywords For Free and Increase Your Organic Traffic

10- Write A Transcript

Using transcripts for your podcast can be a valuable SEO strategy. By providing a text-based version of your podcast content, transcripts allow search engines to crawl and index your content more efficiently, leading to improved visibility in search results.

Transcripts also allow you to incorporate relevant keywords and phrases to help your content rank higher for specific search queries. It can attract more traffic to your podcast and increase the likelihood of reaching new listeners.

Transcripts can make your content more accessible to a broader audience, including those with hearing impairments or those who may prefer to read rather than listen. It can also improve the user experience of your podcast and encourage listeners to engage with your content more frequently.

Here is an example of a podcast, The Growth Show, by HubSpot, that focuses on interviews with successful business leaders.

You can find A Story On How To Create Influence podcast and its transcript in the image below.

By transcribing each episode of The Growth Show, HubSpot has improved the discoverability of its podcast in search engines. They have also been able to incorporate relevant keywords into their transcripts, which has helped them rank higher for specific search queries related to their podcast topics.

Also read: 22 Best Startup Business Ideas

11- Optimize The Transcript

Optimizing the transcript for a podcast can help improve its visibility, accessibility, and user experience. By making your podcast more accessible and easier to understand, you can attract a wider audience and develop more chances of your content being discovered by search engines.

Here are the top benefits of optimizing the transcript:

• Increased visibility: By optimizing your transcript with relevant keywords and phrases, you can improve the visibility of your podcast in search engine results. It can increase the chances of your podcast being discovered by new listeners and can help you build your audience.
• Higher rankings: Optimizing your transcript can also help improve your podcast’s ranking in search engine results. By providing search engines with more text-based content to crawl and index, you increase the chances of your podcast appearing higher in search results.
• Improved accessibility: Providing a transcript alongside your podcast can make your content more accessible to a broader audience, including those with hearing impairments or those who may prefer to read rather than listen. It can increase the reach of your podcast and attract new listeners.
• Better user experience: Optimizing your transcript with clear headings, bullet points, and other formatting techniques can make it easy to follow along for listeners and find specific information. It can enhance the user experience of your podcast and make it more engaging for your audience.

Here is an example of optimizing the transcript for a podcast for SEO, the “Smart Passive Income” podcast by Pat Flynn. Pat Flynn is a well-known online entrepreneur who hosts a podcast sharing his insights and strategies for building a successful online business.

Pat Flynn and his team have optimized the transcripts of each podcast episode with relevant keywords likely to be searched by his target audience. They also ensure clear headings, bullet points, and other formatting techniques to make the transcript easy to read and follow.

As a result of this optimization, the Smart Passive Income podcast appears high in search engine results for relevant keywords, such as “online business tips” or “passive income strategies.” It has helped attract new listeners to the podcast and increase its overall visibility and reach.

The optimized transcripts have made the podcast more accessible to a broader audience, including those with hearing impairments or those who prefer to read rather than listen. It has helped to enhance the user experience of the podcast and make it more engaging for listeners.

Also read: Use Synonyms For the Keywords For Which You Want to Rank

12- Use Internal Linking

Internal links can help search engines like Google understand your website and understand the relationships between different pages and content. They can also help to keep users engaged and spending more time on your website.

Here are the top benefits of using internal linking for your podcast SEO:

• Improved navigation for users.
• Increased pageviews and time spent on site.
• Better indexing and crawling of your website by search engines.
• Improved ranking potential for specific keywords and phrases.
• Enhanced user experience and engagement with your podcast content.

Here is an example of an internal linking podcast, “Marketing School,” by Neil Patel and Eric Siu. The hosts use internal linking to guide users to other relevant episodes and resources within their website.

For example, in their show notes for an episode about content marketing, they include links to other relevant episodes on the same topic and links to blog posts and other resources on their website.

It makes it easy for users to access additional content related to what they are listening to, increasing the likelihood that users will spend more time on their site and engage with their content.

Using internal linking can also help improve the search engine optimization of your podcast and website. 

Also read: The Ultimate Guide to On-Page Local SEO in 2023

13- Submit Your Podcast To Directories

Submitting your podcast to directories can offer several benefits for your podcast SEO. One of the main advantages of submitting your podcast to directories is increased visibility. Podcast directories are frequently used by people looking for new podcasts to listen to, so being listed in these directories can help to increase your reach and attract new listeners.

Another benefit of submitting your podcast to directories is improved discoverability. Many directories allow users to search for podcasts by topic or category, making it easier for people to find your podcast if it is relevant to their interests.

Submitting your podcast to directories helps establish your podcast’s credibility and authority within your niche or industry. Being listed in reputable directories can signal potential listeners that your podcast is high-quality and worth their time.

Here is an example of a popular true-crime podcast, “Serial.” It was first released in 2014 and quickly became one of the most popular podcasts ever. One reason for its success was its distribution strategy, which included submitting the podcast to various directories and platforms.

By submitting “Serial” to directories like iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher, the podcast was able to reach a wider audience and attract new listeners who were interested in true crime stories. The podcast’s listing on these directories also made it easier for fans to find and subscribe to the podcast on their preferred platform.

As “Serial” gained popularity, it also secured sponsorship deals and partnerships with other media outlets. Being listed in directories helped to establish “Serial” as an authoritative voice in the true crime genre, which made it an attractive partner for other organizations.

Also read: Marketing Agency Directories To Get You The Best Leads

14- Encourage Reviews And Ratings

Encouraging reviews and ratings is essential for improving your podcast’s SEO. When your podcast receives positive reviews and high ratings, it can increase its visibility and attract new listeners. Reviews and ratings can also help your podcast rank higher in search results on directories like iTunes and Google Podcasts.

One way to encourage reviews and ratings is to make it easy for listeners to leave them. At the end of each episode, you can ask listeners to leave a review or rating and provide clear instructions on how to do so. You can also include a call-to-action in your show notes or social media posts, encouraging listeners to leave a review or rating.

Another way to encourage reviews and ratings is to incentivize them. You can offer a prize or giveaway to listeners who leave a review or rating or include a discount code for your products or services.

It can help you get valuable feedback from your audience, which can help you improve your podcast and create content that resonates with your listeners.

Here is an example of how favorable reviews and ratings can improve podcast SEO: “The Joe Rogan Experience.” It is one of the most popular podcasts in the world. The host, Joe Rogan, frequently asks his listeners to leave reviews and ratings on Apple Podcasts and other platforms.

As a result of this active encouragement, the podcast has amassed over 270,000 five-star ratings on Apple Podcasts alone, making it one of the highest-rated podcasts on the platform. This high volume of positive reviews and ratings has helped the podcast to rank highly in search results consistently and has contributed to its widespread popularity and success.

Also read: 11 Best Ways to Improve Customer Satisfaction Rating (CSAT)

15- Monitor Your Metrics

Monitoring the metrics allows you to track and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) related to your podcast’s visibility, engagement, and growth. By monitoring these metrics, you can gain insights into your podcast’s performance and identify improvement areas.

Here are the top reasons to monitor your metrics:

• Identify popular episodes: Monitoring metrics can help you identify the most popular episodes among your audience. This information can help you create more content that resonates with your listeners and attracts new ones.
• Analyze listener behavior: Metrics can give you insights into listener behavior, such as how long they listen to your episodes when they drop off and what devices they use to listen. This information can help you optimize your podcast for better engagement and retention.
• Optimize metadata: Metrics can also help you optimize your metadata, such as your episode titles, descriptions, and tags. By analyzing which keywords drive traffic to your podcast, you can improve your metadata to make it more relevant and attractive to search engines.
• Track backlinks: Metrics can help you track backlinks to your podcast, which are links from other websites that point to your podcast. Backlinks can boost your SEO by indicating that your content is high-quality and authoritative to search engines.
• Measure audience growth: Metrics can help you track the growth of your audience over time. By monitoring your audience size and engagement, you can identify areas where you need to improve your podcast and measure the impact of your SEO efforts.

Also read: 7 Ways To Boost SEO With Brand Metrics

Conclusion

A good podcast strategy includes a lot of methods. Above, we have gone through some tips to help you improve your podcast SEO and start building your market. 

You can start building your podcast using these tips today and generate more traffic.