SEO for podcasting
Apr 6, 2018 — TrackFive

SEO for Podcasting | The Basics

The internet is a place where ideas are constantly flowing and evolving. If you’re an influencer or have a passion for a niche topic, podcasting is one of the best ways to generate traffic to a site! Of course, like most things in the digital world you’ll want to consider your search engine optimization techniques if you’re really going to make an impact. SEO for podcasting could be a podcast in and of itself, but before you steal my idea take a look at what you need to know first…

Developing a podcast can be as effortless or labor-intensive as you want, it all just depends on the goals you have in mind. While some people just upload a Voice Memo off their iPhone, the best podcasts put considerable time and effort into their production. Still, the even highest production value means nothing if you don’t have the marketing to reach your audience! While I could (and frequently do) go on about the intricacies of audio recording, our focus today is on SEO for podcasting and the basics you need to know:

SEO for Podcasting | The Basics

Plan Out Your Keywords

Just like you focus blogs and articles on ranking for a keyword or several, the same applies to podcasts. Each show should center around your distinct keyword phrase, specifically one that is long-tail and has a reasonable amount of search volume. Tools like Moz’s Keyword Explorer are great for this! In addition to your main keyword, you’ll also want to find related phrases or questions to include in the copy associated with your podcast.

The main places where your keyword should be found include:

  • Title of the Episode
  • Meta Description
  • Title Tags
  • Alt Text
  • Imagery For Specific Show
  • Names of Audio and Image File
  • URL of the Episode
  • Transcript of Show

Overall, these are the basic components that Google looks for when ranking content. However, the transcript of the show itself is something we’ve taken a particular interest in. For our brand AllTruckJobs.com, we’ve produced a show called BigRigBanter which discusses the commercial driving industry. Throughout the show, we discuss a central topic with professional guests from all over the country. After editing, a team member transcribes the audio into a document that is uploaded with each new episode.

Each time our keyword phrase is mentioned, along with the natural keyword variations that occur during discussions, our transcript becomes ripe with SEO for podcasting! Essentially, doing this provides several blogs worth of keyword-rich content that helps our show spread throughout the web.

Leverage Your Guests

One of the most important aspects of SEO for podcasting is finding and interviewing influential guests. To start, having real professionals talk about a subject is a sure-fire way to build credibility for your show. The phrases they use and the websites with which they’re associated provide some significant SEO boosts.

When it comes time to publish your latest episode, having your guests share the content they’ve contributed to is one way to ensure you gain some social media traction. One step further includes actually allowing guests to embed an episode on their websites. This can be done through a number of hosting services, including the one we use called Blubrry. In this way, visitors to these sites can trace the show back to your own pages and even subscribe on the spot!

Video SEO for Podcasting

Our final technique for boosting your SEO for podcasting includes making accompanying video content. It’s simple enough to create quick graphics for each episode and pair them with the audio. This provides easily uploads to YouTube which Google loves to rank relatively high. Just make sure you’ve included all the right tags, descriptions, titles, and categorized your video correctly!

Honestly, when it comes to clickbait YouTube is the place to try it out. Uploading interesting or provocative cover images to your video and giving it an eye-catching title often helps attract new listeners. Just be sure to strike the right balance with your existing branding and marketing efforts!

Overall, implementing this basic SEO for podcasting techniques can help podcasts of all levels. It definitely takes a little trial and error until you find out what your audience wants to hear and how you can deliver that content!

What experience do you have with SEO for podcasting? Let us know in the comments below!

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