30-second summary:
- Did you know that, as of 2020, upwards of 68 million people listen to a weekly podcast?
- Your podcast can easily reach more subscribers if you take some time to do some off-page SEO tactics and a few other best practices along the way.
- Check out these seven podcast SEO tips to help you get in front of more people and get more subscribers.
If you have a podcast for your business, you’ve probably thought about how to get more subscribers to tune in to future episodes. After all, unlike traditional blogging, where you have a dedicated space for your content, your listeners access your podcast episodes through a third-party streaming service or podcast directory. And these services often carry hundreds of thousands of other podcasts in their network. So how can you get your podcast discovered by more of the right leads and future customers?
The answer is simple: podcast SEO. Blog posts aren’t the only thing that stands to benefit from search engine optimization techniques. Your podcast can easily reach more subscribers if you take some time to do some off-page SEO tactics and a few other best practices along the way. Are you wondering how to get started and get that podcast out there? Check out these seven podcast SEO tips to help you get in front of more people and get more subscribers.
Seven ways to get more podcast subscribers using SEO
1. Have a clear persona for your podcast
Did you know that, as of 2020, upwards of 68 million people listen to a weekly podcast? Given the year-on-year growth of podcasts, you’re bound to have a dedicated audience in that vast market. But the growing number of podcast listeners is also a sign of the increasing number ofonline podcastse. To stand out, you’ll have to speak to a specific set of podcast listeners instead of trying to reach just anyone. This is where having an audience persona is helpful. The persona not only tells you what kind of podcast content your ideal subscribers want to see — but it also shows you their lifestyle, beliefs, and goals.
Your audience persona doesn’t have to be complex. If your podcast listeners are interested in sales, for instance, then use keywords that reflect actual searches they may make. Example episode titles that practice proper podcast SEO for this niche include “How to train your sales team” or “How to master video sales calls”. When you have a clear picture of these things, you can optimize your podcast and each episode according to the search terms your subscribers might be looking for.
2. Choose the right platform
In technical SEO, uptime and loading speeds are important ranking factors. If your website loads slowly, too, your page is less likely to rank higher on search. The same applies to your podcast. Podcast ranking may be influenced by how quickly your platform loads. The less optimally it performs, the less likely people will subscribe. Many podcasters choose to host their podcast episodes on their website and then create dedicated episode pages to increase their chances of getting in front of their ideal subscribers using typical on-page SEO. You must ensure your platform is up to speed when going this route.
Educate yourself on different podcast hosting platformsprioritizinge site performance for podcast hosting. Not every web host may be well-optimized for podcasts, causing your site to perform slower or have issues loading audio files. Fortunately, as the podcasting industry grows, more and more web hosts are making a point to add seamless support for podcast episodes and files.
3. Interview industry leaders
One great way to get in front of your audience and get more podcast subscribers is by inviting well-known thought leaders and influencers in your niche onto your show. Their supporters and followers are likelier to listen to your podcast if they know somebody they trust who shares valuable information on your platform. Having those essential guests gets your ideal subscriber’s foot in the door — they may discover your podcast for the first time and subscribe for more related content.
If you’re a relatively small podcast, build your way up the ladder before reaching out to considerable leaders in your industry. Don’t be afraid to reach for low-hanging fruit and ask industry experts to your podcast with a slightly smaller following. Use this as an opportunity to showcase your interviewing skills and grow your current listenership before getting in front of more prominent names in your niche.
4. Incorporate your podcast into your blog posts
We mentioned briefly that some podcasters host their episodes as dedicated pages on a website. Why not level up your podcast SEO by attaching podcast episodestoo SEO-friendly blog posts? While Google has been making an effort to include multimedia results in search — including, yes, even podcasts and YouTube videos — the reality is that most of the search query results still pull up blog posts and pages the majority of the time.
Stay ahead of the competition by combining your blog and podcast efforts. There are a couple of options to go about this. First, you can create a blog post around a podcast episode. So after recording your episode, repurpose it into a high-value blog post that you can then optimize with the best SEO practices. Another way to do this is to audit your existing blog posts and insert podcast episodes. This lets you make the most of your blog’s on-page SEO and get your podcast ahead of more visitors and potential subscribers.
Check out this example on the FreshBooks blog that inserts a podcast episode inside a blog post. They went with the first route, where they created a dedicated blog post around the main topics that emerged in this specific podcast episode. You can tease the content through questions or highlight what to expect to encourage people to listen to the attack. Mention key phrases and SEO-friendly search terms to maximize on-page SEO.
5. Submit your podcast to reputable directories
Another way to get more podcast subscribers? Get yourself listed in the top podcast directories online. Getting on these podcast directories is often straightforward enough, especially if your podcast is already up and running on one platform. You can submit your podcast to directories like Apple Podcasts or Spotify one at a time, while another option is using services like Anchor. Fm to submit your podcast to multiple directories all at once.
A comparison of the top podcast directories and apps among US listeners between 2019 to 2020, according to Statista. With dozens of available options, choose the top-performing apps and services first, then slowly trickle down the rest of the market. These top directories are most likely where listeners search for new podcasts, so you stand a chance to get more subscribers using this method.
Also, be aware of any new players that might emerge in the podcast app industry to be at the forefront of their growth. Or, if there are niche podcast directories that your specific audience might be on, that can be a fantastic way to reach the right audience without the steep competition.
6. Incorporate this as part of your customer support
Suppose your business has a podcast that creates short, high-value episodes that walk people through your product or service or answer their commonly asked questions. Why not incorporate said episodes into your customer support knowledge base? Users might have frequently asked questions about your product or app, for example. In your FAQs pages and knowledge bases, embed your episodes in relevant pages to help answer your customers’ queries.
This can also be a way to humanize and personalize your email ticketing system. Because email ticket support software allows your team to upload files to customers, why not send these helpful podcast episodes in response to their questions or concerns? Of course, ensure that the links you send to your customers through support channels are always relevant to their problems.
7. Cut it up into micro-content
To drum up your podcast SEO, repurpose your episodes and turn them into micro-content you can share across other platforms. For example, choose a segment with a big takeaway or story that you can post on your Instagram feed in under one minute. Or cut an engaging exchange between guests and then post the excerpt on Facebook or YouTube. The beauty of this tactic is that you can create multiple pieces of micro content from just a single podcast episode, so you’ll be able to make endless content for social media.
Use soundbites as excerpts, create graphics based on quotes from the episode, and turn your main topics into viral-worthy infographics — either way, it’s a great way to create content for other platforms and especially grab attention and bring awareness to your podcast. The podcast Happier in Hollywood makes micro-content by taking excerpts from their historical episodes and turning them into videos with subtitles for Instagram.
Key takeaways
Getting more podcast subscribers can seem like an uphill climb, but remember that a solid promotion strategy must also punctuate your content creation efforts. Podcast SEO ensures that your podcast is seen by the people who’d love to follow your podcast the most. Aside from basic podcast SEO, use the tips in this blog post to help you boost those search results and get your podcast heard. Kevin Payne is a content marketing consultant that helps software companies build marketing funnels and implement content marketing campaigns to increase their inbound leads.
