A podcast can increase SEO by expanding your audience to a new type of content format, providing extra opportunities to bring keywords into your content strategy, and giving your users more opportunities to enjoy your content on the go. All of these things will increase your authority on your chosen subject matter and increase your SEO as a result.

Optimizing your podcasts by utilizing metadata, using appropriate podcast keywords, and staying consistent with your brand will help Google index your content and will help you rank.

Let’s look at some podcast SEO tips to learn more about how you can optimize your podcasts and increase your overall presence online.

12 Podcast SEO Best Practices

Creating a podcast is a great way for content creators, brands, businesses, and more to develop a loyal audience and create content in an interesting and digestible way. Let’s look at how SEO for podcasts can help optimize your episodes and get more eyes (and ears) on your work.

1. Make a Website For Your Podcast

Creating a website for your podcast not only gives you a dedicated hub to house your episodes, it also can help with your rankings. On your website, you can provide optimized episode descriptions, blog posts with episode transcripts, and more, creating authority for your podcast and giving people a place they can go to learn more.

‍Get started: Look for a website hosting service that can help you choose a template and get your website up and running easily.

2. Transcribe Your Episodes

Having transcriptions of your podcast episodes available helps Deaf or hard-of-hearing people be able to access your content, while also helping boost SEO by providing written summaries of your dialog. These written summaries give even more context to search engines about your podcast content so they can rank it accordingly.

Get started: Transcribing podcast episodes doesn’t have to be difficult; services like Rev can do so quickly and easily! Look into Rev’s VoiceHub feature to see how you can transcribe your podcast.

3. Tag Your Episodes

Tagging is hugely important for any SEO strategy. It lets users know exactly what your content is about and directs searches to your episode, blog, or photo. Tagging your podcast episodes with relevant keywords will help inform search engines about your episode content and boost your podcast.

Get started: When uploading your podcast episode, there should be a space to input content tags. Put in SEO keywords that are relevant to your episode, and make sure to use the same category tags per episode type so listeners can easily find more of your work.

4. Optimize Episode Titles

While you might not know the title of an episode of television, the titles of podcast episodes are extremely important. They help users scrolling through your episode catalog know what to expect in each installment so they can choose what to listen to. Optimizing these titles with SEO keywords can help accomplish the goal of helping your users choose the right episode while also giving search engines the ability to catalog your content.

Get started: Take the keyword most relevant to your episode and expand on it to create a natural-sounding podcast title.

5. Brainstorm and Optimize Your Name

Any written part of your podcast (no matter how small) is a great time to introduce keywords. With something as important as your podcast’s title, including the most relevant (and highest ranking) keyword can help boost your podcast by drawing people looking for that keyword to your episodes.

Get started: Decide what you want to focus on and conduct keyword research to pick the best keyword for your content. From there, integrate it into your title in a way that feels natural and not forced.

6. Optimize Metadata  

The metadata of your podcast includes things like: title, subtitle, authors, description, genre, podcast keywords, and tags. All of these features are great ways to insert relevant keywords and drive home your content strategy. Optimize all of these during the upload process where it feels appropriate.

Get started: When uploading your podcast, insert relevant keywords into every metadata field that works. All of these fields should be present while you are uploading your podcast to your hosting platform.

7. Conduct Keyword Research

Creating a well-researched and thorough podcast episode won’t do you much good if it isn’t actually what your audience is looking for. Conducting keyword research using SEO tools can help identify what your target audience is actually looking for so that you’ll get good engagement every time.

Get started: Log into an SEO tool like Semrush or ahrefs and look up a list of topics that are relevant to your audience or niche. See which ones have the most engagement and search volume, and make a list of which ones could work for your content, then input them into the Spotify keyword feature during podcast upload.

8. Post Your Episodes On YouTube

If you want eyes on your content, posting on YouTube is a great place to start. Many podcasts have a video component that pairs with the episode (whether it’s a video of the podcast hosts recording the episode or just a video of the audio). Since YouTube is a leading platform, establishing authority on it can help boost your rankings in general.

Get started: Film a video while you record your podcast, or overlay your audio with a photo of your logo and upload that to YouTube.

9. Utilize Timestamps

Some podcast episodes can get quite long, so users who are looking for a specific section might have to play the “fast forward, rewind, rinse, repeat” game until they find it. Eliminating this back and forth can make your podcast easier for your audience to listen to, and is also a great opportunity to insert your target keywords. Each timestamp — where applicable — can include one of these relevant keywords.

Get started: When uploading your podcast to your chosen hosting software, you will be able to add in timestamps. While recording and editing, write down moments where the subject changes or key topics are brought up and write it down so you can remember where to put one.

10. Create an Accompanying Blog Post

A good SEO strategy is all about nailing down what points you make, what topics you cover, and what keywords you mention so that search engines can index it accordingly. Creating a blog post that expands on or summarizes your podcast content (hint: a transcription is a great way to do this) can help nail down your message and is a great way to repurpose your podcast.

Get started: Using a transcription or just listening back to your podcast episode, write an outline for a short accompanying blog post and publish it on your website.

11. Build Backlinks

Backlinks are the, well, backbone of an SEO strategy. They can help your content rank on search engine results pages and get more eyes on your content. You build backlinks by getting authoritative websites to post a link to your content on their website, which will drive users to your content.

Get started: Once you’ve recorded your episode or filmed your video, reach out to the biggest thought leaders in your industry and see if they’d be willing to listen and potentially share on their sites.

12. Be Consistent

While some podcasts jump from topic to topic and succeed, most follow at least some sort of umbrella topic. Having a specific content niche or strategy can help you build a good reputation within your industry and become a trusted resource. So, being consistent with your messaging, podcast style, and keywords can help you build your brand over time and rank better.

Get started: As you brainstorm what you want to do for your podcast, make a comprehensive content strategy that you will follow as you continue to make episodes.

13. Optimize across platforms

Cross-promoting your podcast on social media platforms (like posting snippets to TikTok or Reels, posting a video on Youtube, etc.) is a great way to expand its reach. And making sure that these other platforms are optimized can expand it even further. Instead of just simply posting to different platforms, optimize each platform by making sure your tags, keywords, and meta descriptions are all published as well.

Get started: Though it might be more work, don’t just set your podcast to automatically upload to other platforms. Manually go through each one and add your keywords, tags, etc.

Why It Pays to Prioritize SEO

When you devote your life and work to creating your podcast, blog, or brand, you want to get as many eyes on it as possible. This is where SEO for podcasts comes in. Optimizing your episodes will help you accomplish your content goals and grow your audience.

Why SEO matters:

• Increased traffic to your content on podcast platforms, blogs, etc.
• Improved authority and good reputation for your brand, helping you become a thought leader within your niche.
• Heightened brand visibility and recognition.

Does Podcast Image Help With SEO?

Images don’t have a direct impact on boosting your SEO, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t necessary and don’t help move the needle at all. Google likes images, so having one is a bonus. And you can use image alt text to introduce some keywords, where applicable, and create even more authority.

Can a Video Podcast Help SEO?

Yes, video podcasts do help with SEO by continuing to build your brand, expanding your reach across various content platforms, and providing more backlink opportunities. While podcasts themselves may only be able to exist on podcast hosting platforms and social media, videos can also rank on Google’s video search and Youtube, which can increase their reach significantly. Adding a video to your podcast (especially if it comes with a video transcription) is a great way to get a quick SEO win.

Is This Thing On?

Podcasts are a great way to draw users into your content. And with services like our VoiceHub, it’s easier than ever to get your podcast out there. The VoiceHub AI takes some of the hard work out of podcasting — it can create a seamless transcript, highlight important moments, and more, making audio SEO a breeze.

‍See how Rev VoiceHub can assist your podcast.