SEO Guidelines for Podcasts

Podcasts are an excellent and unique way to communicate with your audience. They’re popular enough that Google began to index them in search results at the end of 2019:

Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind as you develop your podcast strategy that will help your episodes and content appear in organic search results. 

Claim Your Podcast on Google Podcasts Manager

Google Podcasts Manager is the quickest way to get your podcast on Google’s radar. This will provide you with control over your content, and also gives you access to user metrics. 

We’d also recommend doing the same on Spotify and Apple if you’d like your Podcast to be included on those platforms. 

Writing descriptions for each episode will be crucial, here, as it’s important to use keywords when describing what each episode is about. Remember—your written copy should read like it’s for real humans, i.e. don’t stuff keywords in there for the sake of keywords. Write it in a way that explains what the episode is about, while bearing in mind the key topics that you’re aiming to rank for/want to show up in search for. If your episodes include any guests, be sure to include their name and information in your description to capitalize on any search related to that individual.

Create a Killer “Home” Page for Your Podcast on Your Website

There should be a key landing page on your site that is THE place to be for all info related to your podcast. Think of this as the “About” page for everything related to your Podcast. 

• Use header tags (h1, h2, h3, etc.) and visual formatting to organize a page that really grabs the user’s attention. 

• Keep “Above the Fold” content in mind—what information/actions do you want users to take right away? This should be at the top portion of the screen (and remember, mobile & desktop may render slightly differently). Typical things to include Above the Fold:

  • Who You Are/Name of Podcast

  • Visual elements/photos that include logo

  • How to listen to it/find it (i.e. links to Apple, Spotify, etc.)

• Each episode should have its own page (i.e. like a blog post). These pages will be valuable for ranking for specific keyword phrases related to each episode that users may be typing into search engines. 

Episode Pages

• Include a summary of what’s included in this episode. Just as you write content on other areas of the site, keep your keywords and topics in mind. Remember - keep it contextual and organic (i.e. reads like it’s written for a Real Human, not a bot or Google). You can get creative with this, too. Think of including show notes:

  • Brief summaries in bulletpoint form

  • Include any images, charts, videos or links you refer to in the podcast

  • Point out any timestamps of sections users might find particularly relevant (i.e. chapters, etc. Example: “01:45 - Joe talks about his struggle with XX; 04:32 - How This School Program Came To Be” etc.) 

• Include a transcript 

• Link to other episodes or content users may find relevant 

• Optimize meta data

  • The title tag may be fine as-is, i.e. Name/site title; For some, it may be better to customize it, like “Name of Episode - Joe’s School Podcast - Joe’s School ”

  • Write a custom meta description. Meta descriptions don’t factor into search results, but they do play a big role in how the user decides if a search result is relevant to what they’re searching for. When writing the meta description, think of it almost as a tweet - writing catchy yet informative info that tells the user what the page is about and hooks them to click on it. 

  • Incorporate keywords into the URL of the post, if possible

  • Write image alt (img alt) tags that accurately describe any photos on the page

Other SEO Considerations

• Are there any blog posts or events that are relevant to the podcast content? If so, be sure to link to each from one another! 

• Future blog content may bloom out of a great podcast session. As you monitor podcast listening metrics, see if any particular episodes get more traction than others. Do you have content on your site that speaks to these topics? It could be worth writing additional blog posts. 

• Backlinks Are King! Getting links from other websites remains as a prime way of communicating to Google that your site has good, authoritative content. A few ways to win backlinks: (via The Drum)

  • Get expert guests on your podcasts. When guests appear on your podcast, ask them to link to the episode and your site on their own site(s). 

  • Appear as guests on other podcasts. 

  • Be newsworthy by covering the latest developments in your niche, which relevant sites are likely to talk about and link to.

  • Offer unique insights that aren’t available elsewhere so that your episode stands out as a resource.

  • Promote your podcast to leading sites in your niche to make sure they’re aware of your content and give them reason to talk about it, for example ask them to review it in a blog post.

  • Reference other content producers in your episodes for stats and other perspectives to grab their attention and give them reason to talk about you too.

  • Engage with other podcasts to create back-and-forths (maybe even a little friendly beef) to get people talking and strike up loyalty among respective audiences.

Further Reading

If you’re looking for more information on this topic, check out these additional resources:

• Search Engine Journal: How to Make Your Podcast Rank

• Neil Patel: How to Make Your Podcast SEO Friendly