Podcast & SEO: 4 Ways to Include Podcasting in Your SEO Strategy

Podcasts have seen a surge in popularity over the past few years. Podcasts were a very outdated trend a few years back. I wouldn’t have said so if you had asked me about them. Things have changed. Numerous celebrities and influential people have their Podcasts on various topics. 

Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular and a huge opportunity for brands to incorporate Podcasts into their digital marketing strategies. 

Before we get to why Podcasts should be part of your business’s digital marketing strategy, let’s first define a Podcast. Visit our digital marketing training.

What’s a Podcast?

A Podcast is a series of episodes that are digitally programmed and formatted. Each episode focuses on a particular topic or topic, such as technology, start-ups or any other. 

It is a digital radio. The majority of platforms offer free podcasts. You only need an internet connection and a device to listen to podcasts.

Podcasting was started by Dave Winer (a Software Developer) and Adam Curry (MTV Video Jockey). Ben Hammersley gave the term podcast to popularize the idea. 

This journey began in 2004 and gained popularity when Apple Inc. announced they had reached 1 billion podcast subscribers in 2013.

In January 2020, more than 90,00,000 podcasts were streaming and millions of people listening to them at least once per month. Podcasts have seen a tremendous increase in popularity since then.

It was estimated that only 9% of US adults between 18 and 49 listened to podcasts in 2009. This number rose to over 20% in 2016.

BBC reported in 2014 that the podcast had been downloaded more than 1.1 billion times in the United Kingdom.

Amazingly, 55% of Americans are familiar with Podcasts. A terrific way to interact with others is through podcasts.

Why podcasts should be part of your digital marketing strategy

Podcasts can be enlightening, informative and overwhelming. Marketers should never overlook this medium’s potential. Around 3% make podcasts.

Advertisers spent almost $90 million on In-Podcast Ads in 2014. This grew to $190 billion in 2016. Now, Podcast ads are expected to take a huge leap in 2021.

Podcasting can be a powerful way to promote your business. Here are some reasons to include a podcast in your marketing strategy.

1. Podcasts Engage

Podcasts, unlike other content forms, are highly engaging. Podcasts are easy to listen to while you’re driving, cooking, or walking. Podcasts don’t require your full attention. 

While engaging in other activities, you can listen to them. Podcasts are easy for people to follow, and this is why they are becoming more popular.

Brands don’t need to continue trying to reach their target audience. Subscribers will automatically receive the latest episodes when they are released on their preferred device. 

Podcasts encourage active engagement, as podcast listeners spend more than 25% time listening to Podcasts. Podcasts are becoming more popular than we think.

2. Entry requirements are low.

Podcasts can be created from any location. Some podcasts are made in studios, others prefer to work from home, and many others do it on the streets. Podcasting is easy to do and requires very little investment. 

You don’t need a script. Suppose you don’t have a script; you can still do the conversational Podcasts. Podcasts are much cheaper than creating video or photo content.

3. Increases website traffic and improves SEO strategy

Podcasts have significant SEO benefits. How do you define SEO?

As the best SEO company in Mumbai, we suggest that one makes sure that you have a transcript for every podcast episode. This will allow you to use more keywords and increase your chances of driving traffic to your website. 

You can add the links back to your website. This will drive traffic to your website. You can manage keywords with Podcast titles and descriptions. The transcript can be published on your blog so people can find your site.

4. Podcasts are more efficient.

Podcasts work better because the podcast influences listeners. 63% said they purchased the product promoted by the podcast host in a survey of 3000000 podcast listeners. 

When asked if Podcasts affect their buying behaviour, 71% answered that they had visited the website of sponsor after hearing about it on the podcast.

5. Podcasts can be more creative.

Podcasts, unlike radio shows, are free to be more creative than radio programs. They don’t have to adhere strictly to federal laws regarding their content. Podcasts can be more creative in their content and advertising. 

Podcast ads are distinctive. Podcast ads are unique because the hosts read them in the same tone as the show. This is not a typical promotional message.

6. Podcasts are more visible for brands.

Podcasts are becoming mainstream. The brand’s name is now online and available on many platforms. This increases brand visibility. You can find many hacks and tricks to increase your brand’s visibility via Podcasts. 

Having guests on other Podcasts is one of the best strategies. Partnering with other platforms, such as blogs or Instagram Live, can be a great way to promote your podcast topic. Podcasts are a great way to discuss key topics within your niche and show the depth of your topic. 

You can build a connection with listeners around the globe who are interested in your topic. This can increase brand visibility and build trust.

7. Reach a new audience

Podcasts are a great way to share your knowledge with the right audience. A brand can post the podcast on many platforms, including Apple Podcasts, iTunes and Spotify. This allows you to reach your targeted audience who are interested in your content. 

This is how you can create a new market. This new audience will listen to your message and be interested in your products.

8. Niche targeting

Podcasts tend to be focused on a particular topic. Businesses can use podcasts to talk about their products and reach a targeted audience. Sephora, a brand of beauty products, created a podcast about a line of lipsticks. Girlboss Radio was the partner. 

Each episode featured a #LIPSTORIES from an influential woman. This podcast was created to inspire other female leaders. This podcast shows how the brand used Podcasts to promote its content marketing. It targeted a specific segment of female leaders with its strategy.

9. Establish deeper relationships with your audience

Podcasts can sound almost like conversations. Podcasts are most commonly listened to while driving, running, and walking. Many people also listen to Podcasts when they are not around others. 

Podcasts can have an immediate effect since they are broadcast directly to someone’s ears. Podcasts are conversations, stories, and experiences that make them familiar. Podcasts are able to build deeper relationships with their listeners.

10. Podcasts can be used in many ways.

It is evident that digital marketing podcasts are versatile after learning so much about them. A digital marketing podcast will often include new topics and themes in order to stay relevant and consistent with its audience. 

Podcasts can be launched with topics such as news, sports, health, reviews, and news. You can also convert podcasts into blogs and vice versa. You can also convert videos into podcasts. Each podcast can be shared via social media to reach different audiences and turn them into customers.

 

4 WAYS PODCASTING CAN BE PART OF YOUR SEO STRATEGY

1. PODCASTING FOR LINK BUILDING

Podcasts that are entertaining and interesting enough to get people talking about them can attract links. There are many other things you can do in order to maximize the results of your podcast’s search engine optimization and backlink strategy.

Podcasting is a great way of getting links. Podcast conversations can serve as a starting point for social media. Many guests will promote your show via their social channels or on their website.

You will need a landing page for each episode to ensure that the link is going back to your website. Including a summary, introduction to the guest and key highlights on landing pages is a good idea.

Talking about the topic with your guest in person is a great way to establish a connection. You are already helping your guest by establishing a relationship. You can increase your chances of receiving a link back from your site by simply asking your guest to promote the episode.

Your podcast will likely be available on several audio platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. You’ll want your guests to know that the landing page on your website is the best place to link — both for them and your audience.

2. PODCAST GUEST EXISTS AS A BACKLINK STRATEGY

To build links, you don’t need to have a podcast. It’s a great way of getting backlinks to your website by appearing as a guest on podcasts.

The podcast host will include a link back to your website in the show notes. It is best to have a landing page for each podcast episode that contains a summary and highlights.

Leading SEO Digital Marketing Agencies explain that this is your chance to combine SEO strategy with backlink outreach efforts and the network you’ve built through podcasts.

Here’s how:

• Let someone on your team take charge of podcast outreach.
• Make a list of all relevant content on your website so podcast listeners can learn more about the topics being discussed.
• To find keywords, you wish to rank for, look through the show notes.
• These keywords can be used as anchor text to link to your website’s page relevant to the host’s target audience.
• Send an email thanking the host for inviting you or someone from you to their podcast. Ask them to link to your website with the anchor text you have identified.
• Be sure to give value in return and finish by saying, “Thank you for considering me!”

3. MORE CONTENT FOR YOUR WEBSITE

Podcast episodes can be used to convert podcast episodes into crawlable content that you can use on your website and increase your SEO.

You guessed it. I want to create a landing page with a summary, guest bio and bulleted highlights of each podcast episode. Additionally, I want you to go beyond that.

Your goal is to make more content available for search engine robots to index and crawl from your site. You’ll need a transcript that has been time stamped on your website. This will allow search engines to index each podcast episode.

You can also use this section to add internal links to key pages of your website. This will allow your content to be repurposed on other pages and channels.

Over the years, Google has spoken several times about making audio searchable. Google revealed at I/O 2019 that podcasts would be indexed. We’ve already seen them integrated into search results.

According to the announcement made at Google, I/O transcriptions appear to be the main method to pick out episodes that match a search query.

4. INCREASED ORGANIC RANKING KEYWORDS

This is a key point that goes hand in hand with creating more searchable content for your site. As the best SEO company, we describe SEO to be all about keyword research and creating keyword-based content.

You can double the work you have done by simply posting the complete transcript of a podcast episode.

Huckaby tried it out for ourselves. For each podcast episode, Geoff Atkinson was the Founder-CEO. We found that these landing pages helped us increase our organic search keywords.

We didn’t rank for these keywords in the first few months of creating the landing pages. You’ll need to be patient and keep track of the results.

This keyword ranking strategy has another great advantage: you get a better idea of the keywords you are organically linking to any keywords you could target.

Use podcast content to promote other channels.

Last but not least, podcast content can be repurposed into blog material and divided into micro-content to share on social media.

How to do it:

• Make the podcast episode, and distribute it to different podcast channels (Sticher Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
• Upload a YouTube recording of the interview.
• You can create a Show Notes landing page on your website.
• Transcript with all-time stamps
• Highlights and key quotes from the episode.
• Upload video snippets and audio snippets to your social media channels.

Popular Podcasts Platforms

Podcast platforms allow Podcasts to be hosted on the same platform as video and picture platforms. These are some of the most popular and well-known Podcast platforms:

• iTunes has more than 1,000,000 subscribers around the world.
• Radio Addict has more than 10,000,000 Android app downloads.
• Castbox has more than 5,000,000 app downloads.
• Podbean now has almost 1 million subscribers.

 

Common Podcast Ad formats

Podcasts can be divided into four formats: Pre-roll ads (mid-roll ads), Mid-roll ads (outro ads), and Native ads.

• Preroll ads: This advertisement appears before the show begins. The sponsor’s name, for example, brings the show to your attention.
• Midroll ads: When there is an interruption, this ad will appear in the middle. The host takes a break to thank the sponsors for the episode.
• Outro ads: This advertisement appears at the end. This episode, for example, is brought to your attention by the “Sponsor’s” name.
• Native ads These ads come in the form of a script that the Show host can use during the podcast. These ads can be organic for the audience.

Conclusion

Building sincere connections and working together to produce top-notch material are both fantastic goals of podcasting. It’s not too late to start using podcasts in your SEO and marketing strategy if you haven’t yet.

If you like this blog, check out our previous blog 7 digital marketing strategies for your business.