How to Grow a Podcast Audience in 2026

Links

• Get on the waitlist for Pinterest Magic for Podcasters⁠
• Episode with Brittany Herzberg on SEO⁠
• ⁠Apple Podcast Connect⁠
• Create Pins with Canva⁠
• Follow me on Pinterest

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Unedited transcript of the episode:

Hi, I’m Andy Smiley, your friendly podcast guide and the podcast coach. For moms who wanna grow their podcast without burning out, I share practical podcast tips. Stories from my own journey and wisdom from some of the smartest podcasters out there. Today I’m sharing the four things you can do to level up your podcast in 2026, and I know that this can feel like a lot all at once, so don’t worry.

At the end of the episode, I’ll wrap things up by pointing you to just one next step so you can feel clear and confident about where to start.

Before I tell you about the four things you can do to level up your podcast in 2026, I have to tell you about the big aha moment I had this summer around podcast marketing. This summer I realized I could go Instagram optional just by leaning into Pinterest and it was a game changer.

I wasn’t stressed about posting and Mom podcasters, were still finding my podcast. One Pin has more than six. Thousand views and listeners are still finding my podcast every single week. From that one pin,  I saw how powerful this was in my own podcasting, so I turned it into a system, Pinterest magic for podcasters.

I’ll tell you more about that later in the episode, but the key thing here. Is I finally felt free from the daily posting grind. Now let’s dive into the four things you can do to level up your podcast in 2026. The first thing is to make sure your SEO strategy is watertight. SEO used to scare me. It felt overwhelming and complicated, but it really isn’t. It’s just making sure that the words you use in your podcast name. Show description, episode titles, and episode show notes are the words that people are actually searching for.

For example, let’s say you host a parenting podcast and you call it messy moments. That’s fun. But if your ideal listener is searching mom, life hacks, they’ll never find you adding a tagline like Messy Moments. Simple Mom Life hacks makes your show way more findable without giving up your fun name.

And you don’t need fancy tools to get started. Just type something into Google that you think your ideal listener would search for. And before you press enter, look at the words that drop down. Those are the phrases real people are using. Try sprinkling them into your episode titles and show notes.

With AI changing how people search podcasts that use clear SEO will stand out even more in 2026. And if you want more of a deep dive on SEO, I interviewed Brittany Herzberg last season and we went into way more detail. I’ll link that episode in the show notes. The second thing that you should be doing in 2026 to level up your podcast is to use Pinterest to market your show. When I went to podcast movement last month, I was flabbergasted that no one was talking about using Pinterest to grow your podcast. I assumed it would come up at least once, but no. Here’s why.

I think Pinterest is one of the smartest ways to grow your podcast in 2026.

People go to Pinterest to take action, like pressing play on an episode, not just to scroll and be entertained like Instagram or TikTok. Also, pins have a long shelf life. I’ve had pins keep working for me for months and even years.

And the other really nice thing about Pinterest is you can batch and schedule your marketing in less than an hour a week. Hello? Amazing. I get to interview Megan Williamson. She is a Pinterest expert. My episode with her comes out in a few weeks and in that episode she shares strategies that you can put into practice right away for your podcast.

She is a more general Pinterest expert, and so I was able to ask her specific questions about podcasting and how to use Pinterest for your podcast

and it was really fun to hear her advice because she has been using Pinterest for her own business as well as helping clients for more than 10 years. I’m so excited for you to hear that episode. Well, everyone else is chasing the Instagram algorithm.

Pinterest will keep quietly compounding your reach in 2026, and that is why it’s so amazing. And yes, this is why I built my Pinterest Magic for podcasters course. If you wanna get on the wait list, the link is in the show notes. Being on that list also gets you $10 off

when the course launches in a couple of weeks. The third thing you can do to level up your podcast in 2026 is look at your average consumption rates. Everyone knows about their download stats, but did you know there are other stats that are available to you as well?

One of the most powerful ones is average consumption rate. The percentage of your episode people actually listen to. You can find the stat inside Apple Podcast Connect. Spotify for podcasters or sometimes your hosting platform can provide that information as well. 

And here’s why it matters if an episode gets a bunch of downloads, but people only listen to the first five minutes. Maybe that topic isn’t right for your show or you need to talk about it in a different way. Or if your audience consistently drops off at the 15 minute mark, maybe that’s when you usually start to ramble as more podcasters flood into this space, understanding how long people listen will matter even more than how many people press play.

And don’t forget, almost all listeners will listen to the first five minutes of your show. That’s the perfect spot for your most important call to action, whether that’s your freebie, a product mention, or reminding them about paid subscription bonuses.

My fourth tip for how to level up your podcast in 2026 is to take intentional breaks. I will never stop talking about taking intentional breaks. For me, that looks like having a three month season and then taking three months off. But for you, it could mean releasing weekly episodes during the school year and taking summers off when your kids are home. With podcast burnout rates skyrocketing, more podcasters will shift to seasonal formats in 2026. You’ll be ahead of the curve if you start now, but here’s the important part, don’t just vanish. Tell your audience what to expect and when you’ll be back, drop a short season break trailer into your feed or point them to your email list or Pinterest so they don’t miss the start of your next season.

Okay. Podcasting is a marathon, not a sprint. Taking intentional breaks helps you come back with energy and excitement, and honestly, that is what makes your podcast better than if you were forcing yourself to publish just because you felt like you were supposed to.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and you don’t know where to start, here’s the one thing to try. First. Log into that Pinterest account you haven’t touched in five years, and poke around. Create one pin in Canva just to see how it feels. Pinterest has been a game changer for me, and I think it could be for you too. If this episode helped you, would you mind sharing it with your mom, podcaster friends who are gearing up for growth in 2026?  In next week’s episode, I’m trying out a new format. I gathered a bunch of amazing advice from mom podcasters and compiled it into one episode.

It’s bursting with good ideas, and I can’t wait to share it with you. Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next week. You can find that stat Inside Podcast. Apple Podcast Apple. You can find the stat inside Apple Podcast Connect.