Can SEO have an impact on your podcast success? In today’s episode, I’m sharing how to optimize both your website and your podcast players for better SEO and greater results for your podcast.
Clocking In with Haylee Gaffin is produced by Gaffin Creative, a podcast production company for creative entrepreneurs. Learn more about our services at Gaffincreative.com, plus you’ll also find resources, show notes, and more for the Clocking In Podcast.
Find on Your Favorite Podcast Player
Have you heard of Mic Check Society? It’s our community for podcasters who are looking to take their podcast from good to great. Come join us for educational trainings, a private member’s only community, and monthly calls! Get $10 off per month with code PODCAST at micchecksociety.com.
The Value of Podcasting
Let’s talk about the value of a podcast. Understanding the value a podcast holds will illuminate why optimizing your podcast through SEO is powerful.
- Authority and Expertise: A podcast helps establish your authority and expertise in your field.
- Audience Reach: It expands your audience reach.
- Community Building: It builds a loyal community.
- Monetization Opportunities: It offers opportunities for monetization. Stay tuned for next month’s episodes, which will focus entirely on monetization.
SEO: Amplifying Your Podcast’s Reach & Value
Search Engine Optimization enhances your reach and value by boosting your visibility. Here are are couple of reasons why you should consider prioritizing SEO for your podcast:
- Increasing your discoverability, allowing you to reach a broader audience.
- Supporting your audio content with key summaries, timestamps, talking points, resources, links, and more.
Understanding Website SEO vs. Podcast Player SEO
Now, when we hear people talk about SEO, there are a few things to consider. While they’re not identical approaches with the same benefits, they do have similarities. Let’s discuss the why behind optimizing for search on both platforms:
- Website SEO:
- Drives traffic and encourages exploration of your site.
- Helps gain new listeners and potential clients.
- Supports content repurposing.
- Podcast Player SEO:
- Enhances discoverability on platforms like Apple and Spotify.
- Focuses on the text-based keywords in your content.
Definitions for Clarity
To clarify our terminology for this topic (oftentimes these can be used interchangeably):
- Description: A short summary (2-5 sentences) used in podcast player descriptions or as an introductory paragraph on a website or blog post.
- Show Notes: Comprehensive content, including descriptions, timestamps, CTAs, advertisement links, and resources placed in the podcast player.
- Blog Post: A full written description on your website that stands alone, even without the episode audio, but includes it for added value.
Optimizing Your Podcast for Podcast Players
Podcast player SEO is a newer strategy. Platforms like Apple and Spotify now consider more than just your title and podcast description—they look at your text-based keywords in your , episode titles and descriptions as well. Tools like Asha (PSO tool) can help you explore your podcast’s visibility and discoverability. Use these tools to update titles and descriptions based on relevant keywords.
Optimizing Your Podcast on Your Website
I don’t think every single podcaster needs to post their podcast content on their blog—it may not be of value for their strategy or budget. I do believe that business owners who are creating content for their websites and trying to optimize for search should. Here are a few things you need to consider for the website side of SEO:
- Keyword Research: Identify the keywords you want to target.
- Header Tags: Organize your content effectively.
- Supporting Copy: Ensure your copy supports your optimization goals.
- Internal Linking: Use internal links to tell Google about the connected content on your site.
- Relevant Outbound Links: Use outbound links to enhance your content’s value.
Using Transcripts vs. Blog Posts
Transcripts alone are not enough—they don’t replace the value of a well-crafted blog post. A transcript is important for accessibility, but a blog post should be easy to read and relevant.
Maximizing Blog Content
One of the most underrated strategies in podcast marketing is repurposing your blog post for other content. Consider how easy an outlined and thoughtful blog post could help in creating additional content:
- Generate social media content.
- Create LinkedIn posts, thread content, and carousel posts.
- Develop a comprehensive marketing strategy.
Enroll Now in Mic Check Society
Ready to optimize your podcast for SEO? We’ve released a new training on SEO for your podcast to help you develop a comprehensive plan for both podcast players and your website. Use code PODCAST to get $10 off per month.
Time-stamps:
How SEO enhances your podcast (2:30)
Your description, show notes, and blog post (4:37)
Podcast players (7:18)
Website SEO (11:39)
Optimizing your blog posts (14:01)
SEO tools (18:34)
Common misconceptions around SEO (20:00)
Podcast Resources:
Ausha: https://www.ausha.co/
Women In Podcasting Awards: gaffincreative.com/wip
