If you’ve ever launched a podcast, you’ve probably asked yourself: how will new listeners find my show? From word of mouth to paid ads, there are many ways to boost discovery for your show. However, these options are either hard to control or expensive. Podcast SEO (search engine optimization) is a great mix of both; more predictable than organic virality, and costs much less than Google ads.
Search engines and podcast platforms (Google, Spotify, YouTube, etc.) play an increasingly important role in how listeners stumble upon new content. But podcast SEO isn’t just about sprinkling in keywords or writing longer show notes. It’s about making sure your podcast is visible across multiple platforms and formats, from Apple Podcasts to blog posts.
When done well, SEO makes your show more discoverable, increases downloads, and ensures that, once someone searches for a topic you cover, your podcast is the one that surfaces. In this article, we’ll explain what podcast SEO is, break down where to focus your energy, and share actionable strategies to help your show grow. Whether you’re an independent creator or working with a network, these steps will help you grow your audience over time. And if you want a team with a proven track record helping you along, check out our podcast growth services.
What is Podcast SEO?
Podcast SEO, just like SEO for a blog or a website, is about making your content easier to find through search engines and podcast platforms. This matters because the way people search for information has shifted dramatically over recent years.
Have you ever heard a podcast ad or a trailer that includes the phrase “listen to us wherever you find your favorite shows”? People now have multiple ways to search for a podcast, whether that’s typing the show’s name directly into a search engine or podcast platform, searching the show’s name on YouTube, or even asking a voice assistant or AI tool for recommendations on podcasts of a specific topic. Making sure your podcast appears both where and how people are looking to find their favorite shows is important, and podcast SEO can provide a reliable system for making your show available for people no matter how they look for it.
Also, while podcast SEO is like traditional SEO for blogs and websites, there’s one main difference: podcasts (audio or video) aren’t naturally searchable like text is. A search engine can’t “listen” to an episode or “watch” a video like a human does, even with current cutting edge technology. They rely on titles, descriptions, transcripts, and other metadata to understand what your podcast is about. That context is the cornerstone of your podcast SEO strategy, so let’s talk about where you need to optimize your podcast in order to show up in those search results.
Where to Optimize Your Podcast
When you think about podcast SEO, you want to treat each platform where your show will appear as its own unique marketing channel. This is because those platforms have different rules and opportunities for visibility, and what works on one platform could be detrimental on another one. Knowing this, let’s focus on podcast SEO in two areas: inside podcast apps and the content beyond those apps.
Inside Your Podcast Apps
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube are three of the most popular podcast apps globally, and they each have their own algorithms for categorizing and recommending shows. That being said, there’s common metadata you can use as part of your podcast SEO strategy: show and episode titles, descriptions, and show notes.
The title for your podcast should be specific enough to give potential listeners an idea of what the show is about, but it also needs to be easily searchable. Here’s where you want to get detailed about the main keywords people will use to find your show. For example, a show with the title The Tea Podcast could mean many things, like tea as a drink, tea as gossip, or even the name of an app or service. But a title like The Tea Podcast: Green Tea, Black Tea, and More contains more relevant keywords and immediately tells the listener and the search engine what to expect.
Episode titles matter as well. Using our previous example, instead of an episode titled “Episode 12: Loose Leaf Tea”, something like “Episode 12: The History of Loose Leaf Tea – Types, Benefits, and How to Brew” gives the episode more context, increasing the chances of discoverability and sharing.
After titles, podcast descriptions are your next most important piece of metadata for your podcast SEO strategy. This is your opportunity to get extremely descriptive about what your show is about and what listeners can expect. Our Ultimate Guide to Podcast Marketing is full of comprehensive information on how to use basic keyword analysis with tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Ausha to help you write your podcast description. Overall, a great podcast description should not only define what the show’s core values are about, but also include terms people are actively searching for.
Lastly, let’s talk about show notes. Here’s where you can really go far and include as much information about your podcast’s episode as you can. Think about this as the landing page for that specific episode inside the podcast app, so longer content is best here. Detail any noteworthy topics that were discussed in the episode, list your guests, and include lots of relevant keywords. You can also add hyperlinks, though not every podcast platform may render them as live links. So when in doubt, write it out, including full URLs where necessary.
These tactics can help boost your podcast’s discoverability across the top podcast apps, but how about beyond these locations?
Beyond the Apps
Although podcast apps are important when it comes to distribution, search engines still reign supreme in terms of discoverability. Your podcast SEO strategy should also take into account the wider world of the web. Luckily, some of the same tactics for content displayed inside podcast apps also extend beyond that to any websites or other web pages that are associated with your show.
In a sea of podcast apps and directories, having a website for your podcast is about creating a homebase that directs listeners and search engines while establishing ownership and authority on your own domain. Of course, that content should include episode pages with well-structured show notes, subheadings, bullet points, and links to help your episode rank in search.
These episode pages should also include full transcripts of your episode. Transcripts can give you the foundation for different types of content, but the added benefit is that you’re converting the audio (or video) of your podcast into text search engines can crawl and index, which lets your show rank for highly specific keywords and phrases.
If you want to go deeper into this, The Podglomerate’s Ultimate Guide to Podcast Marketing is a resource worth checking out for more SEO tips and broader marketing tactics to grow your podcast audience.
Best Practices for Podcast SEO
Just like SEO for a website, podcast SEO is never a one-time task. As both your show and your audience grow, optimizing your podcast should be an ongoing process. Here are a few best practices to remember.
Be Consistent and Update Regularly
Search engines and podcast directories favor fresh content. If you’re not publishing episodes and updating your podcast’s website on a regular basis, this will make it difficult for listeners to trust your content and for algorithms to properly index it. This also includes any additional content for your podcast, like show notes and transcripts. No matter how frequently you publish new episodes, sticking to a predictable schedule makes a difference for your audience and to search engines.
Keep up with Keyword Research
Like we mentioned earlier, there are a variety of tools (including AI podcast marketing tools) that can help boost your podcast SEO strategy, including platforms like Ahrefs or Semrush or Ausha take the guesswork out of what your audience is searching for online. The key here is finding keywords that are what you want to talk about and what your audience is actively looking for information about. You can then use these keywords in episode titles and show notes to improve your visibility.
Promote your Podcast Strategically
As your back catalog of episodes grows for your podcast, look for opportunities to backlink or mention other episodes in related content, such as show notes or other owned media channels like newsletters or social media. And if you’re invited to be a guest on a podcast, use this as an opportunity for collaboration. When you appear on another show, and they link back to your podcast, that can help boost your authority in search rankings. You can even go a step further and create a profile on Podchaser to include your podcast and any appearances from other shows, further establishing you as an expert in your field.
Follow the Leaders
Spend some time looking at shows that top the charts in Apple Podcasts and Spotify for your show’s category, and observe their content. The Tim Ferriss Show has detailed episode titles, show notes with timestamps to relevant parts of the episodes, and dozens of relevant links to keep the conversation going. Crime Junkie uses their show notes to turn each episode into a mini dossier of pertinent information, including links to photos, a timeline and map of events, and detailed references to source material used for the episode. Including this type of additional information helps expand the breadth of your podcast’s content, further establishing your podcast as a credible media source.
Conclusion
Effective podcast SEO is a core part of growing your podcast audience. By understanding how search engines and podcast directories interpret your content both inside and outside of apps, along with following a few best practices, you can create a podcast SEO strategy that will attract a loyal audience and give your show the opportunity to truly stand out.
Have questions? Interested in having The Podglomerate market your podcast for audience growth? Email us to learn more about our podcast services, and make sure to sign up for our free newsletter.
