How can you get your podcast indexed by search engines?
We all want to be found on Google. We do this by using SEO (Search Engine Optimization). For that purpose, we adjust our website, we ensure that we have enough texts for a search engine like Google to understand the context, but also not so much that we scare off visitors. But what if we could also have our podcasts indexed by search engines? We like to talk about our profession in podcasts. This can be with an expert or with one of our customers. It would be a shame if we didn't make this content, which is so important to our business, discoverable or searchable. After all, podcasts contain lengthy explanations that search engines love. Making this searchable is therefore certainly not a waste of your time and I am happy to explain how you do this.
Easy to find thanks to subtitles
You may have already seen it. You search for an answer to your question via Google and receive a video result that shows exactly at which time in the video the answer to your question can be found. Google really has no idea what is being said in that video, but it does have the metadata, such as the title, description, category and any tags. Why Google knows exactly when your question will be answered has to do with the subtitles. These captions, when created correctly, consist of SRT files in which timecodes indicate when which text should appear at the bottom of the screen. As a result, Google knows exactly when something is said and therefore also when your question comes up.
For podcasts, we can do exactly the same. You can upload an episode on YouTube with a logo of your company in the picture and add subtitles to it. However, as a podcast creator, I always discourage this idea as a primary listening option. You listen to podcasts in the background and you need a YouTube Premium subscription to lock your screen as a listener while listening. A run with an unlocked phone in your pocket is not a success, I can tell you from my own experience.
So what works for podcasts?
It is possible to provide podcasts with a transcript. It literally states who said what when in the episode. By adding a cross-reference to the description of your podcast and the transcript, search engines understand that they belong together and the content of your podcast can be searched and indexed.
Another advantage of a transcript over subtitles is that it is clearly indicated who is speaking. A detail that cannot be indexed by search engines with subtitles. So if you have a major customer in your podcast who talks full of praise about you and your company, this can literally be found in the search engines as a quote from that person.
Finally, a transcript also contributes to the accessibility of your podcast. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, listening to a podcast is very difficult. A transcript can still help someone who hears bad or nothing in getting the information discussed in your podcast.
Unfortunately, the search results for podcasts aren't quite as fancy as they are for videos, but I think it's only a matter of time before that changes. Podcasting is still growing and is becoming increasingly important as a marketing tool.
In short, a searchable podcasts for search engines should become the norm in my opinion. Having a transcript made is becoming cheaper and more accessible for small makers. In addition, as a maker, it is simply a shame to hide such a gold mine of SEO from search engines.
Do you want to have your podcast transcribed? Which can!
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