How to Make Your Podcast Easier to Find Without Burning Out
If you’ve ever thought, “How do people even find my podcast?”—you’re not alone. I used to wonder the same thing! In this episode of Friendly Podcast Guide, I’m sharing the basics of podcast SEO—what it is, how to do it, and why it’s one of my favorite sustainable podcasting strategies.
You’ll learn how to think like your ideal listener, use Google like a pro, and start working smarter with your content (not harder). Plus, I’ll walk you through the four-step process I personally use and teach my podcast coaching clients.
Also, if you’ve been questioning whether Pinterest is worth your time, spoiler alert: it totally is. One pin I created months ago has over 6,000 views and is still sending listeners to my show. SEO and Pinterest are a dream team—and I’m breaking down why.
Topics covered in this podcast episode:
- What podcast SEO actually is (and why it matters)
- How to brainstorm searchable phrases your audience is using
- The magic of Google’s autofill feature
- Why using “keywords” is simpler than you think
- How to optimize your podcast title and description
- SEO tips for show notes, Pinterest, and social media
- A sustainable approach to podcast marketing strategies
- One small action step that makes a big impact this week
Links
Connect with me
Unedited transcript of the episode:
Hi, I’m Andy Smiley, your friendly podcast guide and the podcast coach For moms who want to grow a podcast without burning out, I share practical podcast tips stories from my own journey and wisdom from some of the smartest podcasters out there. If you’ve ever wondered how people actually find your podcast, today we’re covering the basics of podcast, SEO, the simple strategies that make your show discoverable in podcast apps
and on Google. And as always, at the end, I’ll wrap up the episode with one clear next step so you know exactly where to start without feeling overwhelmed. Before we dive in, let me tell you something that completely shifted how I market my own podcast. This summer I stopped chasing Instagram and leaned into Pinterest, and my show kept growing without me glued to my phone.
One pin I made months ago has more than 6,000 views and is still sending listeners my way. If you’re still not sure if Pinterest is right for you, grab my free two minute Is Pinterest right for me?
Checklist to help you figure out if Pinterest is a good fit for you and your show. Pinterest and podcast SEO are two of my very favorite podcast marketing strategies because they keep working for you even when you’re busy living your life. So let’s dig into SEO.
Now
There are four basic steps to figuring out your own podcast, SEO. The first step is to brainstorm search phrases. Start by thinking about what your ideal listener is typing into the search bar, when they’re looking for the content that you create. For example, if you have a parenting podcast, your listeners are probably not searching positive reinforcement strategies. They’re searching how to get my toddler to listen. So sit down, take about 10 minutes to write down as many of those phrases as you can think of that your listeners would be typing into Google or typing into the search bar of any podcast app. Next, step two, you’re going to use Google to expand your list.
Take, those phrases that you brainstormed and type them into Google, but don’t press enter yet. Look to see what pops up in the dropdown before you press enter. That’s Google showing you what real people are searching for that’s related to what you typed in. So if you typed in toddler sleep, you might see toddler sleep regression or toddler won’t nap. Make a list of 10 or so of these autopopulate phrases because these are the ones that you’re going to be actually using in all of your content. Because you wanna be using the phrases that your listeners are already using, so that when they find you, it’s a match made in heaven. And there’s no question that they’re going to listen to your episode.
Now step three is to sprinkle those phrases and words everywhere. SEO experts call these phrases and words, keywords. And honestly, I’m not really sure why they say keywords ’cause most of them are more than one word. But here we are. The best thing to do is to work these keywords into your podcast title, show description, episode titles, and show notes. And don’t worry, you don’t have to rename your podcast. You can add a keyword after a colon. For example, my podcast used to be just.
Friendly podcast guide. Now it’s friendly podcast guide colon teaching women how to grow a podcast without burning out. That little tweak makes my show significantly easier to find for my ideal. Listen. And step four is to repeat, repeat, repeat. Once you’ve got your list of keywords, use them everywhere.
Episode titles, blog posts, Pinterest pins, even your Instagram captions. Anywhere your show shows up online. You want those keywords to be in the mix.
And that’s it. That is how you start using podcast SEO for your podcast. It really isn’t as hard as you think it’s going to be. It does take a little bit of time, but it is totally worth it. If you only do one thing this week, take 10 minutes to brainstorm a list of possible keywords. Just starting to think about the different phrases that your listeners are using when they’re searching for you will make every piece of content that you create easier to find.
If you had an aha moment today, chances are your podcaster friend would love to have that same light bulb moment. The best way to share it. Take a quick screenshot of this episode and text it to them or post it in your stories.
I had love to help all of your friends figure out this podcast, SEO thing that everyone’s been talking about and don’t miss. Next week’s episode. I’m sitting down with one of my favorite Pinterest experts to talk about marketing your podcasts on Pinterest. It’s going to be packed with practical tips you can use right away.
Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next week.
