Podcast Marketing

Boost Your Podcast’s SEO

Last updated on: 
July 18, 2023

Learn how to improve your podcast's SEO. The better your SEO, the more likely you’ll grow your listeners.

Search engine optimization, or SEO as many of us refer to it, is the process of improving your visibility through relevant searches. The better your SEO, the more likely you’ll grow your listeners. 

If your podcast has awesome SEO, when people are searching for your podcast, specific episodes, or even general topics that your series covers, you’ll be near the top of the search results on Google. One thing that to note is that achieving great SEO can take some time. Even if you implement all the tactics we list below, it will still take Google a while to index all of your content. The key to great SEO is consistency and patience. 

Boosting Your SEO

When it comes to SEO for your podcast, there are multiple things you can be doing to help improve your search results. We’re going to dive into each one and break down how you can implement it into your podcast strategy. 

Google Feature Snippet

While podcast discoverability can tough, there are usually a good number of people searching for specific podcast niches in Google. 

Ideally, you’ll want your podcast to be included in the feature snippet for terms like "Best [Category] Podcast." For example, The Long Game works into a few categories like "content marketing podcasts," "marketing podcasts," and "SEO podcasts." So they used the Surround Sound Strategy to get listed in as many listicles ranking for these terms as possible all while creating their own content for target keywords.

Podcast Descriptions

The first tactic we’ll look at is podcast descriptions. You can have both a series description as well as episode descriptions. 

Series Description

A series description is a short paragraph that breaks down what your podcast is about, who it’s hosted by, and when listeners can tune in. These descriptions are what will be paired with your podcast icon on all listening platforms. Here’s an example of a series description for Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel

“Listen to the incomparable therapist Esther Perel counsel real couples as they reveal the most intimate, personal, and complicated details of the conflicts that have brought them to her door. This season, she takes on open marriage, racism inside an extended family, coming out in a religious home, and chronic infidelity, among other delicate dynamics. Esther creates a space for us to hear our own lives and struggles articulated in the stories of others. So....where should we begin?”

Episode Descriptions 

An episode description is pretty self explanatory. It’s a short paragraph that describes what a specific episode is about and who listeners will be hearing from. Make sure these are informative but also catchy for listeners! Here’s an example of an episode description from Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel:  

“They've been on and off for almost 20 years. While she takes care of his and their child, she wants to know that he's also there for her. He's been battling depression for years. And the shame that comes with it.”

Podcast Descriptions for SEO

SEO efforts for podcast descriptions all come down to the keywords. For the series description, identify a couple of keywords that relate to the overall topic of the podcast. For episode descriptions, do the same thing but for the specific topics of the episode. 

We recommend only using a few keywords in your descriptions since you don’t want to “keyword stuff”, which is when you stuff your copy with a massive amount of keywords to try to boost your SEO. Google doesn’t appreciate keyword stuffing, and it can actually end up having the opposite effect for searchability.

Podcast Show Notes 

Next up are your podcast show notes. Podcast show notes give you the opportunity to add more in-depth information about a podcast episode. This can include things like guest information, time codes, resources mentioned in the episode, CTAs, etc. 

SEO for your show notes comes down to keywords and formatting. Similar to descriptions, identify high-performing keywords to add to your podcast show notes and format the content with headers, bullet points, and different font options (bolding, italizing, underlining, etc.). All of this will contribute to boosting your SEO. 

Get a full breakdown of podcast show notes. 

Podcast Transcriptions 

Podcast transcriptions aren’t only more inclusive for those who are hard of hearing but they’re also great for SEO. Podcast transcriptions are a fully written out version of your podcast, split up into headers, speakers, sections, etc. Add transcriptions to your website and label them with each episode. They can also be linked in your podcast show notes. 

We’re not going to lie, transcribing can take a lot of time. Below we’ve listed a couple of transcription services you can use. We still recommend reading through the final documents though to ensure there aren’t any final edits! 

  1. Trint 
  2. Scribie 
  3. TranscribeMe 

Blogs 

Now let’s get into blog writing. We all know that blogs are great for SEO through content focus, keywords, formatting, headers, etc. Your blog posts should serve as additional content pieces focused on topics covered in the podcast, possibly even a deep-dive into conversations that you’ve already had. 

We recommend having one blog accompany each episode you release. This means you’ll have three content pieces with every episode: Podcast, transcription, and a blog. 

Podcast Websites 

Let’s take a look at podcast websites. Having a website for your series is super valuable for a number of reasons. Not only is it a place for all of your content to live, it’s also great for SEO. You can buy the domain of your podcast and optimize the web pages for SEO.

Some distribution platforms create a podcast website for you but we also recommend looking into creating your own website on the Wordpresses and Squarespaces of the world for greater flexibility. If you want a full breakdown of why your podcast needs a website, check out our article here

Podcast SEO 

Throughout this article we broke down a few tactics that you can use to boost your podcast’s SEO. As we mentioned, remember that SEO is a long game (similar to podcasting in general), and make sure you’re consistent with the content you’re putting out. 

If you have any questions about your podcast’s SEO, get in touch with us here!

Alison Osborne

Director of Growth Marketing

A passionate storyteller, Ali is Quill’s Director of Growth Marketing, previously the co-founder and CMO of the branded podcast agency, Origins Media Haus (acquired by Quill). She excels in merging creativity with data in order to successfully build and grow a brand.

Platform
Price
Pro’s
Con's
Anchor

Free

  • Easy to use
  • Automatically distributes your podcast to major platforms.
  • Embed media player.
  • Great if podcasting is a
    side hobby
  • Very basic editing
  • Since it’s a free tool, you don’t have full control over the monetization of your podcast.
  • Not the right platform for people taking podcasting seriously
Buzzsprout

Free for 2 hours of content per month

$12 for 3 hours per month

$18+ for 6 hours and up

  • Very user-friendly
  • Caters to both long term and beginner podcasters
  • Advanced analytics
  • Easy distribution of your episodes
  • They measure their size requirements to hours not megabytes
  • Bonus: get a free $20 Amazon gift card when you sign up for any paid hosting plan!
  • Advanced features like dynamic ad insertion need some work
Libsyn

$5/month for Monthly Storage 50mb

  • Oldest podcast hosting site.
  • Easy distribution to major platforms and great for scaling once your podcast gets bigger.
  • Hosted over 35,000 podcasts.
  • An iTunes Podcast partner.
  • Allows you to publish your podcast to specific directories.
  • Embed media player.
  • Price is based on storage
  • 50mb storage for $5 won’t be enough if you are publishing weekly so you’ll end up with a higher price point
Podbean

Unlimited audio package: $9/month

Storage space:

Unlimited

  • Great support & customer service features
  • Unlimited audio.
  • Pages are easy to customize
  • Can schedule podcast release dates.
  • Easy to use.
  • Uploads and changes to podcast titles and/or descriptions are automatic to Spotify.
  • Embed media player.
  • Simple Analytics
  • Analytics aren’t as advanced as other platforms
  • Upload and changes to podcast titles and/or descriptions take a day to change on iTunes.
  • Not an iTunes podcast partner.
  • The process to send a podcast to iTunes is more tedious. But, you will still be able to get on the platform.
Blubrry

Classic

$5/month

Monthly Storage

50mb

  • Podcast Wordpress plugin and management.
  • If you want to record a new introduction or conclusion, add in a sponsored ad or upload a new version of a podcast, it doesn't count towards your storage usage per month.
  • Blubrry allows a 25% storage overage each month
  • Prices are based on storage.
  • Usability is okay.
SimpleCast

Starting: $15/month

Recommendation: $35/month

Monthly Storage: Unlimited

  • Hosts your audio files no matter what the size!
  • Dynamic insertion for podcast ads or edits.
  • Incredibly detailed analytics including number of episodes completed and listener location tracking.
  • Embed media player.
  • Easy to use.
  • Great distribution! Easy access to all major podcast platforms.
  • Customizable podcast
    website.
  • Prices are slightly higher than other platforms, but well worth it especially if you have a branded company podcast!

Looking to generate reach, leads, and measurable results?

Chat with our experts about your podcast

chat with ouR team

Related Posts