In order to gain listeners, you need your podcast to be easily discoverable on directories as well as on Google. Now, it may seem like a conundrum to get Google to rank you highly enough in order to gain listeners. However, with search engine optimization (SEO), you can help Google and other search engines rank your podcast highly so that you appear at the top of various search results. Although it may still be a slow process despite your best SEO efforts, focusing on your titles, keywords, and website, among a few other things, will really make a big difference with your rankings on search engines. Below, we have compiled 10 of the best SEO tips for your podcast to help you get started with improving your rankings.
10. Submit Your Podcast to Directories.
This one may seem obvious, but the more directories that you submit your podcast to, the more likely it is that your podcast will be easily discoverable online. After all, one of the biggest parts of achieving a high ranking on Google is being mentioned a lot online in hopes of gaining a high click-through rate (the number of people who click your link against the total number of people who had the opportunity to do so). Not only do you want to submit your podcast to podcast directories though, there are also various blog directories out there that you should consider promoting your new blog posts for each podcast episode on. This promotion helps to create a backlink to your content that will help you achieve a higher page rank.
9. Pay Attention to Categories and Tags.
When you submit your podcast and blog to directories, pay close attention to categories and tags that are available to you. Tagging your podcast and blog appropriately is incredibly important and can be very helpful with getting your content to appear for people browsing within certain topics. Also, although categories and tags vary from directory to directory, they often serve as valuable shortcuts to rank for certain keyword searches.
8. Ask for Ratings and Reviews.
Podcasts with a lot of high ratings and positive reviews rank higher than their competitors. So, ensure that you frequently ask for ratings and reviews from your listeners. Be careful with asking for reviews too often or running contests around reviews though. Not only can a heavy focus on reviews become annoying for listeners, but Google monitors when reviews are submitted and doesn't show reviews if many are submitted in a short amount of time.
7. Utilize Your Social Media Accounts.
You've heard it before, but utilizing your social media accounts is important for improving your rankings on Google. Post often, especially posts highlighting your content. Search engines all use Facebook likes, retweets, and other social media data to determine the relevance and quality of content. If you have highly active social media accounts, this will help you raise your social media profiles to the top of Google rankings as well as your website and other content.
6. Add Strong Meta Descriptions.
Every page on your website should have a strong meta description. Meta descriptions are short though, so simply ensure that you include your keyword at least once and a sentence or 2 that nicely explains what the page is. The point of a meta description is to attract people to your website through what they see about your website in their search results. Good meta descriptions can also help with building good links on search engines.
5. Research Your Keywords.
While keywords are slowly becoming less important on search engines, you should research the keywords that you want to use for your titles and episodes. Doing so helps you to ensure that the keywords that you do use are truly worthwhile. Researching those keywords can help you see what kind of results you are up against and can give you insight into other keywords you should be using, whether a keyword is worthwhile, and so on.
4. Create a Page or Blog Post for Each Episode.
It is essential that you create a new page or blog post for each podcast episode. The page's URL needs to have the episode title that includes your main keyword for the episode. These pages will advertise your podcast episodes and be a location for listeners to find your podcast on various directories or download them directly from your site.
3. Put Content on Your Website Regularly.
Putting new content on your website regularly is important. Not only is it important for listeners to actively engage with your website, but Google will not rank you highly if you don't update your website often. Repurpose your podcast through blog posts and other forms, post transcripts and shownotes, add relevant images and captions, add your episode descriptions and recaps, and so on.
2. Perfect Your Titles.
Ensuring that both your podcast title and individual episode titles really describe your podcast perfectly is important. You don't want them to be too wordy, but you want them to embody your podcast and episodes. Titles should tell listeners why they should listen and they should be descriptive, short, compelling, keyword-focused, and unique. Your podcast title should include the main keyword of your whole podcast, so generally speaking, that would be your topic. As for your podcast episode titles, they should include the main keyword of each individual episode.
1. Focus on a Keyword for Each Episode.
Trying to focus on too many keywords for a singular episode dilutes the point of focusing on keywords. Pick one short keyword as your main focus and potentially 2-3 more that are vital to that podcast episode. Your episode title and blog post title should also include the main keyword. In your blog posts on your website, ensure that you mention those keywords a few times.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of factors for improving your Google and other search engine rankings. While you cannot directly control your rankings, you can help improve them by directing some of your efforts to SEO. These 10 tips will definitely help you to optimize your content for discoverability by listeners as well as Google to hopefully improve those rankings. It may take awhile to see results from your SEO efforts, but as with anything regarding your podcast, it takes some persistence and patience. And, remember that these efforts will not only help with your search engine rankings, but also your rankings within directories, such as Apple Podcasts (iTunes). Happy podcasting!
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