How to Optimise Your Podcast Discoverability with SEO
Search Engine Magic made (mostly) easy for listeners to find your podcast with these SEO tips, tricks, and guides.
Search Engine Optimisation is a long-standing joke played by Google.
This never ending puzzle to ultimately achieve the status that only few have truly come to appreciate.
Your podcast showing up on the first page of the Search Engine (the household staple lovingly known as Google). To many web-surfers and crawlers SEO is this dark mistress that challenges your inner confidence to the core.
SEO, to me, feels like when you play a board game with a ten year old who makes up the rules as you go.
I’m always confused and over-thinking my every move.
Fundamental SEO Tools
If you have a website, blog, or home for your content (such as substack) you may be familiar with Google Search Console. This tool will help you understand what website pages are recognized, indexed, and understood by Google. As well, you’ll be able to connect with Google Analytics to gain data based on where your audience is coming from.
Now that you have a few tools to help understand what information is gathered and searchable you can also utilize free SEO tools like Answer The Public to understand what keywords people are searching for. With a little research and finesse you’ll be able to ensure your podcast website appears on the first page of search results.
Backlinks are a great way to create a buzz about your podcast website. Think of backlinks like gossip. The more websites that are mentioning/linking to your podcast website the more interest, chatter, popularity, or importance that a Search Engine will place on your website. To understand how to create a buzz, gossip, or interest learn from Mailchimp on how to get Backlinks for your podcast website.
SEO Next Level
Ultimately, you want people who are searching for your podcast to find you. Through the power of storytelling, case studies, and getting down to basics, Brittany Herzberg is a delightful SEO expert in this space.
Her podcast, The Basic B, is jammed packed with examples, conversations, case studies, deep dives that is delivered in a very easy to consume manner. SEO + Blogs episode covers what to, and what not to do, in the SEO world of blogging. Have a listen!
You’re welcome to check out other amazing SEO-related episodes through The Basic B SEO Podcast website.
S is for .. SEO Strategy!
I learned about a free offering involving a free SEO Q&A come across my Threads feed. Brittany oozes a comfortable confidence as I imagine she floats casually instead of strutting to her favorite coffee shop.
With a free invite to her SEO Voxer Strategy session Brittany spent over a day responding to text messages and voice notes with questions about SEO formalities, insecurities, and blatant confusion. Allow me to summarize some of her valuable insights shared during this previous strategy session.
Podcast Title Length
Try writing your podcast title around 60 characters in length. Otherwise you may run the risk of your title getting cut off (truncated) and lost to those who are seeing your podcast for the first time.
Structure of a Podcast Title
Include your guests name as many podcast listeners will search for a specific guest to listen to on various podcasts — especially if this person you’re having on your podcast is established within their industry. For example:
[Engaging Episode Title] w/ [Name of Guest]
If you should include in your podcast [Episode] [number] that will take away from your ability to showcase what the podcast is about and why someone will want to listen.
Consider a brief hook as similar to how you may be writing on social media. Short, succinct, interesting, and exciting. If you’re stuck on what to write about hone in on one specific ah ha moment or topic discussed that you feel your audience will resonate with. Remember that if your podcast episode isn’t receiving the listener count you expected after 30 days consider changing up the title (this information will be updated within connected podcast apps in about a day or less).
Brittany has put in a great deal of effort to compile done-for-you and cost-effective resources to help you take Podcast SEO to the next level.
Give Brittany a follow on her SEO + Casestudy Instagram page for amazing tips, tricks, inspo!
This is SO informative! Thanks for sharing all of this, it's a great breakdown, Elijah.
Also, I didn't know you could insert podcast episodes like that here on Substack. Furthering my love of this platform!