Last Updated on October 20, 2022 by Arif Chowdhury
If you have a question like this: how do you get better SEO on podcasts? Then I have good news for you.
Do you know you can increase your Podcast traffic by at least 300% with SEO?
Podcasting is a great way to market your brand and products. It’s getting popular nowadays among the new generation. The audience loves to read as well as wants to listen when they are exhausted.
Thus, blogging and podcasting are both tremendously profitable in the long term. However, blogging is the oldest platform in the history of the internet, while podcasting is relatively new.
Your podcast may have great popularity among your audience. However, it didn’t appear in Google SERP (Search Engine Result Page). The reason Google didn’t index until the last year, 2019, with a recent update. It is an excellent opportunity for Podcasters to learn how to get most of it from Google by utilizing smart podcast SEO.
In this article, I will guide you on how to do search engine optimization for your high-quality and engaging podcast. So, it will appear like the usual website/blog content in SERP.
Why is podcast SEO necessary?
SEO will bring high-quality and targeted traffic to your podcast for free. Otherwise, you may need to invest thousands of dollars per month in receiving the same traffic. On the other hand, if you do the podcast for a private group and do not want to get in front of a global audience, then you do not need SEO.
However, if your target is a global audience or country-specific audience, then SEO is a must for you. Optimizing your podcast for search engines allows you to get millions of targeted traffic without spending a single dime. At the same time, the same amount of traffic would cost you thousands to millions of dollars if you do not optimize your podcast.
As you can see, SEO is a source of free traffic to your site. Unfortunately, though, it is not easy to achieve. Some people spend thousands of dollars year after year without achieving their desired success, while others may do it without spending a single penny.
How is it possible? Well, there are some secrets you need to learn to do that properly. So continue to read this guide, and I will tell you everything.
Recommended Reading: What is the Best Hosting Platform for Podcasts? (Best 10 Reviewed)
Secret 1: Keyword optimization for podcast title and description.
It is the very first step of SEO for your podcast. Generally, we consider several factors when we do SEO for a blog/website. The first is choosing a keyword/phrase that describes the content perfectly.
Second, how much search volume that keyword/phrase has, and finally, how difficult it is to rank the competition. Before you do anything, you must realize that – these factors are all connected. For example, if you chose a high search volume keyword, however it has increased competition in ranking, you will go nowhere if your podcast is new.
Therefore, you must do a perfect combination, like choosing a keyword phrase with low competition in ranking and high search volume that perfectly describes your podcast content.
I recommend you use Ubersuggest for free keyword research. It has a chrome extension, a handy tool for Google search box. Just type the keyword you want to analyze and hit the search button. That’s it; it will come up with keyword search volume, competition level, and CPC cost.
Think of yourself as an audience; what you would write in the Google search box to find a relevant podcast like yours. Then, try to match a keyword phrase that will describe your podcast content and has high search volume and low competition.
One quick piece of advice for keyword choosing – a long-tail keyword is more straightforward to rank than a short-tail keyword.
For example, “Keyword Optimization” is a short tail keyword while “How to Optimize Keyword” is a long tail. Therefore, target a long tail keyword phrase for a better ranking in Google.
Along with the title, add a high-quality, relevant description. Don’t forget to incorporate your focused keyword in the description as well. On average, 60 characters should be your title length, and 160 characters for the description. But, again, don’t cross this length.
Recommended Reading: How to Increase Rank in Google for Targeted Keywords (Complete Guide)
Secret 2: Focus on a unique keyword for every new podcast episode.
After you have done SEO for the title and description, it’s time to optimize every upcoming episode you will make. First, you have selected a keyword phrase for your homepage title and description.
Each episode you create should focus on different keywords that are relevant to that specific episode.
For example, your podcast is about “Ghost Stories in New York.” Your 1st episode is about a little girl who died seven years ago, and since then, that house has become haunted.
Here, you should choose a keyword that explicitly describes your first episode. For example, “Haunted house in New York” or “Ghost of a little girl,” one of these two keyword phrases, should be great. Add this keyword in your 1st episode title and description, just like the homepage.
Quick Note: Do not chase for a low-competition keyword irrelevant to your content. In that case, you should choose the most relevant keyword, even if it is highly competitive. Remember, Google does not like to be cheated by web admins. It’s better to get a small number of visitors instead of getting banned by search engines altogether.
Secret 3: Speak the keyword phrase in episodes very clearly.
If you only add a keyword in the title and description; however, never say it in your podcast, then it won’t work. Google has improved and become intelligent.
It can listen to your podcast and will search for keywords there. But, like a blog post, if you add a keyword in the title and description but nowhere in the article body, it won’t work.
And also don’t overdo it. We call it “keyword stuffing.” If you overuse keywords in a blog post, it will harm you rather than make any positive impact.
The same goes for your podcast. Don’t say it repeatedly. Instead, try to make it natural and use synonyms of focused keywords for maximum search engine optimization.
Secret 4: Build a blog post for every podcast episode.
Though Google can read your podcast media and automatically transcribe it, it is always better to stay ahead by writing a transcript and submitting it.
It will be easier for Google to scan text documents rather than read media files. Also, this will increase your chance of ranking. You could use various online tools to create a transcript from audio files.
After making a transcript, you must make a document, like a blog post, with your transcript’s title, description, and article body. If you mention an external source in your podcast, don’t forget to tag the link in the transcript document.
Use headings (H1, H2) to outline the whole document; thus, it will make it professional, improving your overall SEO.
Besides, even a 30 minutes podcast can convert to a 6,000 words blog post, which can be a massive boost in SEO. It’s better to create a podcast whose transcript will be no less than 300 words, but for safekeeping, a minimum of 500 words would be splendid.
Another factor is why you should build a blog post for every episode. According to WHO (World Health Organization), around 5% of people have some hearing disability which could be a problem for your audience if you do not have a written transcript along with your podcast.
Secret 5: Take advantage of the google podcast application.
It is an excellent opportunity for a podcaster to use the Google podcast application. It is a powerful tool to optimize not only your SEO but also your podcast itself.
You can analyze audience behavior to understand how they react to your media. It will show when your audience tunes in and drops off by deep scanning the podcast episodes.
Scan your audience using devices to ensure how your audience listens to your podcast. Which device do they use, a smartphone, laptop, or desktop? By utilizing this Google application, you can claim your podcast to access millions of podcast listeners around the globe.
Secret 6: Build your website with an eye-catching landing page.
Though you can publish your podcast to various well-known sites, having your podcast website can be tremendously effective. Just think this way, you have your showroom to sell your products rather than distribute to various 3rd party showrooms.
Having your website means you can quickly build your brand. If you want long-term success in podcasting, I strongly recommend developing your website.
Now, having a website to showcase all of your podcasts is an excellent idea; however, to catch the eye of your audience, you need to build a landing page as well, especially if you want to pay subscribers for your podcast.
A landing page can increase your conversion rate by at least 300% if you know how to do it correctly. I strongly recommend you read my below guide about building a one-page website. It’s free to start, so you shouldn’t have any issues.
Recommended Reading: How to Build a Simple One-Page Website (Mini-Handbook)
Conclusion.
Before you started to read this guide, you had a question like this, how do I optimize my podcast for SEO? I hope you get it.
However, do not forget to become socialized. You can drive massive traffic from social media marketing, especially from Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Getting social sharing can boost your SEO nowadays. Build a page on Facebook and Instagram and keep updating with the podcast.
Creating your community can be efficient if your podcast is entertaining enough. YouTube can also be a powerful platform, but you may have to make a visual presence. Only audio won’t become much popular on YouTube. Ultimately, all these efforts can boost your podcast SEO to get massive search traffic to the podcast.