Boost Your Podcasts Organic Discoverability with These 7 SEO Tips

[00:00:00] SEO is a bitch, but you can implement these things to help your podcast appear more frequently

[00:00:08] in Apple Podcasts and Spotify when people type in search terms related to your show

[00:00:13] or related to specific episodes of your show as well as come up on Google when people

[00:00:18] type in keywords related to your podcast.

[00:00:32] Haha, what up potty people and welcome back to Clipped.

[00:00:36] As always I'm Eric your host and Clipped brings you podcast production tips, resources,

[00:00:41] education and industry insights all aimed to help you become a better more efficient

[00:00:45] podcast.

[00:00:46] I'm on a mission to help you start growth and monetize your show and this week I'm

[00:00:52] replaying an episode about podcast SEO.

[00:00:56] It was episode 54 of this show, obviously of this show.

[00:01:00] So if you want to go back and listen to that please do in that episode I give you five

[00:01:04] tips on ways to boost your podcast SEO and I'm actually going to add to that list

[00:01:10] today with two new SEO tips that I think you can add to this that are just going to

[00:01:16] benefit you SEO is a bitch, but you can implement these things to help your podcast appear

[00:01:25] more frequently in Apple Podcasts and Spotify when people type in search terms related

[00:01:29] to your show or related to specific episodes of your show as well as come up on Google

[00:01:35] when people type in keywords related to your podcast.

[00:01:40] If you just want to jump right to these two tips I'm going to put them at time code 1543

[00:01:48] that's 1543 to hear the new content for this episode.

[00:01:53] It's two new tips on how to boost your podcast SEO footprint, but before you even listen

[00:01:59] to this episode if you're brand new I want you to go to Riverside.fm.

[00:02:04] Riverside is a sponsor of this podcast and it's a great place to record online

[00:02:08] podcasts you can record remotely and or just looking at your computer by yourself

[00:02:13] recording solo cast get 4k video high fidelity audio and take advantage of all

[00:02:18] their AI tools that will write your show notes for you they will produce your

[00:02:21] transcript they will even cut clips together with AI with like the click of

[00:02:26] a button lot of great stuff going on over there tons of features that

[00:02:30] benefit podcasters that's Riverside.fm enter promo code clipped at check out

[00:02:34] and get 20% off now seven SEO tips to boost your podcast online footprint.

[00:02:41] Let's give it a go.

[00:02:56] Alrighty, so search engine optimization what the hell is that?

[00:03:00] Well, SEO or search engine optimization.

[00:03:03] It's really about like enhancing the visibility of your content on the

[00:03:06] internet, making it easier for your target audience to find.

[00:03:09] So in essence, it's a science, but there's also a little bit of an art to it.

[00:03:14] Number one turning your podcast into blog posts.

[00:03:17] This is a no brainer and it's kind of like killing two birds with one stone,

[00:03:22] although it does take a little bit of work.

[00:03:24] So you're going to get your podcast transcribed doesn't matter where you

[00:03:27] do that then you're going to go through the transcription and highlight

[00:03:31] the episodes main talking points and turn that into a standalone article.

[00:03:35] And you're going to want to reformat the copy or reformat the transcription rather

[00:03:40] make some tweaks and some edits and really put it in a readable format.

[00:03:43] This is great for accessibility people that are hard of hearing or people

[00:03:47] that just prefer to read.

[00:03:48] And basically it gives Google more text to crawl and improves your chance

[00:03:52] of showing up in search results.

[00:03:54] Really, it makes it like a one stop hub for your audience.

[00:03:58] So you're going to have the podcast and then the blog post.

[00:04:00] I'm honestly a big fan of this and I know this podcast is all about podcasting,

[00:04:04] but I think written content is an important component to your podcast

[00:04:10] that a lot of people forego or just don't really know or don't want to deal with.

[00:04:14] Yes, it's going to take a little bit more time,

[00:04:16] but Google does a better job of indexing written content than it does audio.

[00:04:21] So the more written content that you have on the web, on your website,

[00:04:25] the better chance you're going to have of Google pulling that in

[00:04:28] and when people are searching for keywords that are in your blog post,

[00:04:32] that are in your content, you're going to have a better chance

[00:04:34] of showing up as a top search result.

[00:04:38] It might not necessarily lead to a ton of more podcast listeners

[00:04:42] and subscribers and followers, but you're going to start driving

[00:04:46] more traffic to your website, driving more traffic to your ecosystem,

[00:04:49] to your brand, and that's going to generate more awareness.

[00:04:53] And it's going to start getting people familiar with who you are.

[00:04:56] And it's just another touchpoint.

[00:04:58] People are going to start to recognize you and eventually the goal

[00:05:02] is that they're going to follow the podcast or the goal is that

[00:05:05] you're going to get more people to your website

[00:05:07] and maybe you have other products and services that you sell on your website

[00:05:11] and the podcast is kind of like lead gen for that stuff.

[00:05:14] Or maybe you're a coach, you're just going to build traffic to your website

[00:05:17] and the more traffic you get,

[00:05:19] the more you're going to be able to monetize your offerings.

[00:05:21] So what I do is I'll record my podcast

[00:05:25] and then I'll transcribe it in Descript and I'll put a link.

[00:05:28] By now, a lot of you are probably familiar with Descript.

[00:05:30] If you're not, I'll put a link in the show notes.

[00:05:32] You upload your audio file, it'll automatically transcribe it.

[00:05:35] And this is AI, mind you, so it's about 85 percent accurate.

[00:05:39] Then I'll copy paste that into a Google Doc or directly into WordPress

[00:05:44] and I'll start to craft a blog post from it.

[00:05:46] All right, number two, the art of titling.

[00:05:49] So titling your episodes is more important than you might think.

[00:05:52] For one, it's the first thing that potential listeners

[00:05:55] are going to see and it's your first chance to hook them

[00:05:57] with something compelling or something that represents

[00:06:01] so what you're going to be talking about in the episode.

[00:06:03] Honestly, even the podcast that I follow that I'm like a regular listener of

[00:06:08] I'll read the title and if it's something that I think I'm going to like,

[00:06:12] I'll definitely listen to it if it's about a topic

[00:06:16] that maybe already know about that or I just am not interested in that at the moment.

[00:06:21] I'll skip it.

[00:06:22] And so that's coming for me as someone who listens to these podcasts.

[00:06:26] I see the title and I make that decision.

[00:06:28] So I think of someone that's not already a fan of the show.

[00:06:31] The title is going to be really important for drawing them in

[00:06:34] and getting that attention and making it relevant.

[00:06:37] So titling is important.

[00:06:40] Here are a couple tips you're going to want to include relevant keywords

[00:06:44] in your episode title that can boost your podcast SEO.

[00:06:47] This makes it easier for listeners to discover your podcast

[00:06:50] when they're searching for certain topics or keywords.

[00:06:53] So, for instance, this podcast, it's all about podcast SEO.

[00:06:58] So when someone types into Google, how to improve my podcast SEO

[00:07:02] or how to boost my podcast SEO or tips for improving podcast SEO, whatever it is.

[00:07:08] My goal is to have this episode, whether it's the blog

[00:07:12] or whether it's the actual audio show up in Google.

[00:07:16] And so I'm going to put literally I haven't titled this yet,

[00:07:20] but I'm definitely going to include the key phrase podcast SEO in the title.

[00:07:25] Also, when people are searching in podcast apps,

[00:07:27] maybe they're not searching in Google, maybe they're searching on Spotify

[00:07:31] because they want to listen to a podcast about how to improve podcast SEO.

[00:07:37] The goal is to craft this content in this episode and this title

[00:07:41] so that it comes up in as many places as possible

[00:07:44] when people type in a key phrase related to this episode.

[00:07:50] In this case, which is how to improve your podcast SEO.

[00:07:53] So yeah, that's key.

[00:07:55] And like I said, making it accurate to what the episode's about.

[00:07:58] Don't get too clickbaity with it.

[00:08:00] I mean, you can use a couple hook words in there

[00:08:02] or like fun, silly words that might like lure people in.

[00:08:07] But just be honest, be accurate and use chat GPT if you need something that I do.

[00:08:13] This is a trick that I do that you guys can do.

[00:08:15] So after the episodes recorded, like I said, get it transcribed.

[00:08:18] And then I will copy paste that transcription into chat GPT.

[00:08:23] I'll be like, hey, chat GPT, I need five titles for this podcast episode.

[00:08:28] And they must think that the five titles must include the keywords podcast SEO.

[00:08:33] And all this is just going to help the listener decide if they want to listen.

[00:08:37] And it's also going to improve your chances of the episode being seen.

[00:08:41] It really is like an important strategy that people don't spend enough time doing.

[00:08:51] Where do you get these keywords?

[00:08:53] How do you know what people are searching for, what people want,

[00:08:55] what kind of episodes or blog posts they want to hear and learn about?

[00:08:59] You're going to use keyword research tools.

[00:09:02] And there's two that I use.

[00:09:05] One of these is free.

[00:09:05] It's called Google Trends.

[00:09:07] So just go to Google Trends and then you can type in

[00:09:11] whatever you could type in like golden retrievers.

[00:09:14] So you could type in podcast SEO, how to grow a podcast, podcast equipment.

[00:09:19] You could type in golf.

[00:09:22] You could type in how to get better at golf, whatever it is,

[00:09:25] you're going to see how those words are trending,

[00:09:28] how many people are searching for those words.

[00:09:30] So you're going to have an idea of if the topic that you want to do

[00:09:34] a podcast about is something that people are interested in

[00:09:37] and something that people are searching for.

[00:09:40] That's a free one, Google Trends.

[00:09:41] The other one that I use, it's paid.

[00:09:43] It's a little bit pricey.

[00:09:44] It's called Ahrefs.

[00:09:45] A-H-R-E-F-S and I'll put a link in the description.

[00:09:49] But this gives you way more in depth information about,

[00:09:54] you know, who is already writing about these keywords,

[00:09:59] what content is ranking for these keywords,

[00:10:01] how many people are searching for these keywords,

[00:10:03] what competitors are doing,

[00:10:05] how competitors have used these keywords in their content.

[00:10:09] And so it's just a lot more information

[00:10:12] and you can use this to craft podcast topics.

[00:10:15] I'm not saying that you necessarily need to make every episode

[00:10:19] that you podcast about based on like keywords that are trending

[00:10:23] or keywords that are popular,

[00:10:25] that people are looking for information or answers for.

[00:10:28] But I do think it should be part of your strategy.

[00:10:31] I think if you're like a solopaneur or a business or a brand

[00:10:35] and you're kind of doing this for leads or to get more people,

[00:10:39] to get more eyes and ears,

[00:10:40] then it is critical to do some kind of keyword research

[00:10:44] around an episode concept that you're thinking of creating.

[00:10:46] And then you can craft the episode more granularly

[00:10:50] about what people are actually looking for.

[00:10:53] And I don't know, again,

[00:10:54] that you need to do this for every single episode.

[00:10:57] But I think it can help boost your numbers

[00:11:01] and it can help more people find your podcast

[00:11:04] when you're podcasting about things that they're looking for.

[00:11:07] All right, so the fourth tip is show notes

[00:11:10] and show notes are obviously a part of the podcasting process.

[00:11:14] The show notes are similar to the blog post.

[00:11:17] They're a more summarized version of what was talked about in the episode

[00:11:21] and in order for show notes to rank on Google,

[00:11:25] it's my understanding that you need to write a minimum of 300 words.

[00:11:29] So this gives search engines more data to crawl and to rank.

[00:11:33] But it also is beneficial for listeners who might refer back

[00:11:36] to things that you talked about in the episode.

[00:11:38] Or if you have a promo code,

[00:11:40] it's hard for listeners to like memorize that on the fly.

[00:11:43] You can put that in your show notes.

[00:11:45] And it's really just kind of like having a home base on one end.

[00:11:48] And then the other end, again,

[00:11:50] more written content that you have about an episode.

[00:11:52] Let's say you have a podcast.

[00:11:54] Well, if you're listening to this,

[00:11:55] it's probably definitely have a podcast

[00:11:57] or you want to have a podcast.

[00:11:58] So you release the audio.

[00:11:59] Then you create a blog from the transcription.

[00:12:04] Boom, that's two pieces of content.

[00:12:05] Then let's say you also actually post the transcript,

[00:12:08] which is going to be full of all the keywords

[00:12:10] that you talked about in the episode.

[00:12:11] That's three.

[00:12:12] Then you have your show notes.

[00:12:14] That's four.

[00:12:14] So that's four pieces of content for one episode

[00:12:18] that can all be made by getting that episode transcribed.

[00:12:21] Then crafting show notes from the transcription,

[00:12:23] crafting that blog post from the transcription.

[00:12:26] And when you put the episode, the show notes,

[00:12:28] the transcript and the blog post on your website,

[00:12:30] that's a ton of information about one topic.

[00:12:35] And the more you crank this out over time

[00:12:38] and really optimize each individual piece of content,

[00:12:42] the better chance you're going to have of growing your podcast,

[00:12:46] growing your ecosystem, getting more traffic to your website

[00:12:50] to then sell whatever you're offering

[00:12:53] to get people more involved with who you are,

[00:12:55] what you do and convince people that they want what you're selling.

[00:13:01] Number five, let's not forget YouTube,

[00:13:03] the world's second largest search engine behind Google.

[00:13:06] So you're going to want to upload your podcast to YouTube.

[00:13:08] People are constantly going to YouTube

[00:13:10] to figure out how to do something

[00:13:13] or for an answer about something specific.

[00:13:16] And even if you don't have a video podcast,

[00:13:18] which is a whole nother topic,

[00:13:20] you got to at least put the audio up with like a static image.

[00:13:24] Then you can in the YouTube description,

[00:13:26] paste those show notes, put links,

[00:13:29] those titles of those episodes.

[00:13:31] People are going to be searching YouTube

[00:13:33] for something similar to the way that you titled your podcast.

[00:13:36] And so YouTube, I don't really need to say too much,

[00:13:39] but world's second largest search engine

[00:13:41] and Google actually prioritizes a lot of YouTube stuff

[00:13:45] in search results.

[00:13:46] So if you go to YouTube and type in something,

[00:13:48] how to train a dog, let's say,

[00:13:50] there's going to be people's videos

[00:13:53] that come up that answer questions

[00:13:55] or provide more information in video format.

[00:13:58] Below that is usually all the written content,

[00:14:01] but having that video podcast is key

[00:14:04] for coming up in searches.

[00:14:05] Cause a lot of times I have pretty good articles

[00:14:07] that rank, but there'll be videos ahead of me.

[00:14:10] And I'm like, damn, someone did a video on that.

[00:14:12] That video's ranking in like the top five of Google

[00:14:16] for that key phrase or those search terms.

[00:14:18] And I'm like, damn, I need to do more videos

[00:14:20] because Google's prioritizing that.

[00:14:24] People love watching stuff.

[00:14:25] Maybe they're more of like a visual learner

[00:14:28] than maybe they don't want to read like a long blog post.

[00:14:31] But anyway, you gotta be on YouTube.

[00:14:33] If you're not start today,

[00:14:35] at least just put the audio up with like a static image,

[00:14:38] copy paste your show notes

[00:14:39] that you've already written into the YouTube description,

[00:14:42] put your links.

[00:14:43] Oh, and when you tag things,

[00:14:45] so you can YouTube tags,

[00:14:47] you can tag up to 500 characters worth of stuff.

[00:14:50] I believe, don't quote me on that.

[00:14:52] I'll have to double check,

[00:14:54] but put some of those keywords in those tags.

[00:14:56] Again, you could also use chat GPT for this.

[00:15:00] What I do is I'll put the transcript into chat GPT

[00:15:04] and I'll say chat GPT,

[00:15:05] I need relevant hashtags for YouTube.

[00:15:09] I want them in a format that I can copy paste

[00:15:11] and it'll give me tons of tags.

[00:15:14] And then I just copy paste those

[00:15:16] into the YouTube tag box.

[00:15:18] So the way you title it,

[00:15:20] the way you write your show notes,

[00:15:22] the video you create,

[00:15:24] all of these things,

[00:15:25] so let's break it down.

[00:15:26] That's five things that's your audio podcast, show notes,

[00:15:29] transcript, blog, that's for YouTube.

[00:15:32] That's five things you could be doing

[00:15:33] to optimizing every episode that you create

[00:15:36] and getting in front of people's eyeballs

[00:15:39] when they're putting in search terms.

[00:15:40] So number six is guest networking

[00:15:44] and the way you want to look at this

[00:15:46] in terms of like an SEO boost is

[00:15:50] when you guest on somebody's podcast,

[00:15:52] chances are if they know what they're doing

[00:15:55] and they're legit

[00:15:56] and they have a website for their show,

[00:15:59] they're gonna put your episode on their website

[00:16:01] and they're gonna link to you,

[00:16:05] to your website, to your socials,

[00:16:07] if you're an author, to your book

[00:16:08] or to whatever products or services you offer.

[00:16:11] And it's beneficial because

[00:16:14] when they link back to your podcast

[00:16:16] or back to your website from their own website,

[00:16:19] that's gonna improve your SEO

[00:16:21] because you're gonna get that backlink.

[00:16:24] And what a backlink is is basically

[00:16:26] when someone links back to your website

[00:16:29] and Google sees that as like link juice

[00:16:32] and it shows Google that like you're reputable,

[00:16:36] that people wanna drive traffic to your site

[00:16:40] and that's gonna help in the long term

[00:16:43] with your SEO obviously, like a one backlink

[00:16:45] isn't gonna do it, but the more backlinks you get

[00:16:48] and the more other reputable sites

[00:16:50] and reputable people that are linking back to your website,

[00:16:55] it just shows Google that you're legitimate

[00:16:58] and that people trust you, build your authority.

[00:17:03] In turn, that's gonna help grow your podcast

[00:17:05] and or your website,

[00:17:07] which will in turn help grow your business,

[00:17:10] get more leads, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:17:12] So the more you guess on other people's shows,

[00:17:15] the more likely that is to happen.

[00:17:17] It's gonna encourage people to check out your podcast as well

[00:17:20] because if you're on a podcast,

[00:17:23] they link back to your podcast,

[00:17:25] it's gonna tell the viewers or the listeners of that show

[00:17:28] that you are on, that that host trusts you

[00:17:31] and that that host is telling their listeners,

[00:17:34] hey, check out my friend over here,

[00:17:37] click this link and go check out his stuff

[00:17:40] because I like him, I trust him,

[00:17:41] we had a good conversation.

[00:17:43] Think listeners when they see that,

[00:17:46] they're more apt to check it out

[00:17:47] because they trust that host

[00:17:48] and they're kind of in that ecosystem

[00:17:50] and they're like, oh, I'll go over here,

[00:17:52] I'll check out Eric's show

[00:17:53] because John Smith linked to it.

[00:17:55] And so number seven is user engagement encouragement.

[00:17:59] So when you encourage your listeners

[00:18:00] to leave reviews or ratings on Apple and Spotify,

[00:18:04] those positive reviews and ratings

[00:18:06] can improve your podcast visibility

[00:18:09] within the search results of those apps

[00:18:11] and those algorithms are more likely to recommend

[00:18:15] or to push forward your show or an episode of your show

[00:18:19] when people are typing in search terms

[00:18:22] related to the stuff that you're putting out.

[00:18:25] And additionally, when you engage with your audience

[00:18:27] through comments or social media

[00:18:30] outside of just like the podcast listening apps,

[00:18:33] you're gonna foster community around your podcast

[00:18:35] and that engagement we know

[00:18:38] or at least we think we know helps the presence

[00:18:41] of your social media accounts come up

[00:18:43] in the algorithms as well and higher retention rates

[00:18:47] and engagement and the sharing of stuff.

[00:18:50] It just helps boost your SEO

[00:18:52] within those social media platforms

[00:18:56] but also within the podcast listening apps.

[00:18:59] So honestly, you just wanna encourage user engagement

[00:19:02] in everything that you do

[00:19:04] if you're trying to build a brand or build a community.

[00:19:07] Engagement is key.

[00:19:08] I mean, you don't have a community if you don't engage.

[00:19:11] Well, there you have it.

[00:19:11] That's seven SEO tips to boost your podcast visibility

[00:19:15] and keep in mind guys, SEO is a long game.

[00:19:18] You know, you've gotta do this over and over.

[00:19:21] Take these tips, keep implementing them

[00:19:23] and you have to be like aggressively patient.

[00:19:27] Aggressively patient is actually a term

[00:19:29] I heard about investing in the stock market

[00:19:31] or investing like in your business growing a business.

[00:19:35] So keep doing these things.

[00:19:37] And I think in the long run,

[00:19:38] you'll start to see some results.

[00:19:40] You'll start to boost that organic traffic

[00:19:44] and those organic downloads

[00:19:46] and that's really what we want

[00:19:48] because it is difficult to grow a podcast.

[00:19:50] Yes, there are paid strategies

[00:19:53] but the organic reach and the organic growth is best

[00:19:57] but it does take time

[00:19:59] and hopefully these tips will help you get there

[00:20:02] slowly but surely keep at it.

[00:20:04] And if you're looking for more tips

[00:20:06] head on over to thepodcasthaven.com slash blog

[00:20:08] where I write about everything podcasts related,

[00:20:11] equipment, monetization, growth, networking,

[00:20:15] all types of good stuff that can help you

[00:20:17] on your podcast journey

[00:20:19] and chances are some of these articles

[00:20:20] can answer a lot of questions you have.

[00:20:22] So that's thepodcasthaven.com slash blog.

[00:20:26] Until next time, keep listening, keep engaging,

[00:20:29] keep creating, I'm out.