When creating content of any kind, you need to use SEO strategies if you want to attract a following. According to SEO Gold Coast, even though Google cannot index audio for marketing yet, there are still plenty of ways for you to use SEO to make sure your podcast reaches a wider audience.
From utilizing social media to choosing the right keywords, here are some easy ways to boost the SEO ranking of your podcast.
1) Identify Keywords
Identify the most relevant keywords related to your content and using these phrases to attract listeners from search engine results. Keywords help the search engine identify what topic(s) your content covers.
Each episode of your podcast should have its own keywords. For example, if your podcast is about animals and the latest episode is about elephants, then “elephant podcast” would be one of your ideal keywords.
2) Create a Blog Post for Each Episode
Google does not yet have the capabilities to index audio. However, you can use your written content to generate a higher search results ranking.
Creating a 300-500 word blog post to go along with each episode is a great way to make sure it ranks high in search engine results. Here are some tips for creating your blog posts for each episode:
The best way to go about this is by summarizing the content of the podcast without giving away any of the most interesting parts. Frame it in a way that teases the audience, making them want to press play and listen to the entire recording.
In this blog post, you should include keywords so that it has a density somewhere in between 1.5% and 3%, Make sure not to go over this bracket, as this risks over-saturating your content and penalties from Google. It’s also wise to include at least one image and use your chosen keyword in its title, caption, and alternative text.
The URL of your blog post needs to include a keyword as well. For example, yourpodcast.com/elephants-on-safari is perfect if your keyword is elephants or elephants on safari. An important note for this step is making sure to use hyphens rather than underscores, as this is how Google deciphers gaps between words.
3) Speed up your website
SEO isn’t all about the written content; it’s also about the user experience on a platform. Slower websites are dropping in Google’s rankings because the search engine would rather push higher speed pages.
If you are looking to speed up your website, try the following to speed up your site:
Lower the file size of your images
Move to a quicker server
Use Content Delivery Networks
The faster your website can operate, the more Google will push it, resulting in a much higher click rate.
4) Utilize social media and directories
Social media is a wasted effort if you’re not integrating SEO on each platform. Google uses the way people interact with content on social media (likes, retweets, shares, etc.) to determine the quality and relevance of content. This holds a massive baring on where your podcast will end up ranking.
Google+, unsurprisingly, is one of the most important channels to utilize for this reason. Maintaining consistently active social channels is a great way to up your SEO.
There are also many online directories that you can use to list your content. This create backlinks to your page(s), which is very helpful for high ranking. It also helps new people gain access to your content that they may have otherwise missed.
No matter who you are or what your podcast is about, there are plenty of SEO tactics you can use to optimize your content and ensure the best possible rankings for each episode.
