I’m a little obsessed with listening to podcasts and probably subscribe to way too many ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And despite not having a podcast of my own, I love being on podcasts (let me know if you’re looking for someone to talk about SEO or Pinterest!) and have helped quite a few businesses with optimizing their podcasts for SEO.
I hate to break it to you, but just adding your show notes or podcast transcript to your website (and yes, I highly recommend having a website if you don’t already) is not benefiting you or most of your audience. And it’s not helping your podcast be found by new people on Google.
Repurposing your podcast as blog posts is going to be the best podcast SEO strategy to extend the life of your content, reach a broader audience, and get more of your content ranking on Google. So here are my top tips on why you should repurpose your podcast episodes and how you can use your podcast show notes and transcript into blog posts your audience will love!
Benefits of Repurposing Podcast Content
Before we get into the podcast SEO tips, I just want to expand on some of the benefits of using your episodes as blog posts in case I haven’t sold you yet.
Google can’t listen to your podcast episodes (at least not yet)
So your individual episodes published on your site or podcast players aren’t going to help Google understand what the episode actually contains. Taking the audio content and repurposing it in written form gives Google information to know what the content is about in order to rank it. And for anyone with hearing impairments who can’t listen to podcasts, having it in written form helps your podcast be more accessible.
Blog posts have a nice, long shelf life on search engines
Oftentimes with podcast episodes, people will listen to the latest episode soon after it comes out, but not many people are going to search back at your episodes from two years ago. But if someone searches a topic on a blog post you wrote two years ago on Google or Pinterest and your post is ranking well, you’ll be able to get more traffic to it.
Blog posts are able to be updated!
If you’re publishing podcasts on topics that change over time (like anything social media related), you can’t really go back and edit a podcast episode with new information. But you can update a blog post easily whenever you want.
It’s easy to direct people to your products/services
When someone is listening to a podcast episode on something like the Apple podcast app and want to visit your website, they have to open the individual episode up, scroll down to the show notes, hope there’s a link to your website, have it open in the podcast app, and then select to have it open on their browser. When someone reads your blog post and wants to check out your services, they have to click over to your services page… and that’s it. So it’s way easier to get people to check out what you have to offer and contact you when they’re already on your site!
You have access to more analytics
With Google Analytics or any of the plethora of analytics programs you can connect to your site, you can see how much traffic your blog posts are getting, how long people are staying on a post, if they leave the post quickly or take another action, etc. Plus, you can also claim your website on platforms like Pinterest so you can access analytics there to see which pins to your blog post podcast episodes are performing the best.
Alright, have I convinced you about the benefits of repurposing your podcast content into blog posts to help your podcast SEO and convert more people? Now let’s dig into how to actually do it!
Repurpose Your Podcast Transcript
With all the free AI tools out there now, it is so much easier to repurpose content! I recommend downloading the episode transcript and asking an AI tool to write a blog post from it. Obviously it’s going to need some editing and optimization (we’ll get into that), but it can be such a time saver for you so you don’t have to write the blog post completely from scratch.
And if you share a lot of short podcast episodes, you can take the transcripts from a few related ones to create longer blog posts!
Embed or Link the Podcast Episode
This isn’t necessarily an SEO tip, but one of the main purposes of focusing on podcast SEO is to help your podcast get new listeners. So make sure somewhere near the top of the post (and at the end, too, if you want) you make it clear that the blog post is from your podcast and embed the episode or link to the episode on the different platforms. That way if people find your blog post valuable and are podcast lovers like me, they’re more likely to tune into the podcast and become subscribers.
Simple Pin Media does a great job of repurposing their podcast episodes and encouraging subscribers!
Optimize for SEO
If you’re new to writing blog posts, I have an entire blog post optimization guide for you! But these are some quick tips to get you going:
Do keyword research
Finding the right keywords to target is the first step in getting your content to rank on Google. Use keyword research tools like Keysearch, Google Keyword Planner, or Ubersuggest to find relevant keywords with good search volume and low competition.
Write high-quality, lengthy posts
Focus on writing in-depth, high-quality content, which shouldn’t be hard if you’re already repurposing your transcript! Longer posts (around 1,000 words or more) generally rank higher because they provide comprehensive answers to search queries.
Use headings to structure your post
Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) help organize content’s topics and make it easier for readers to digest. They also help Google understand your post’s main points (make sure you only have one H1 for each post, and it should be the title).
Incorporate keywords naturally
Use your keywords (and keyword variations) throughout the post, including in the title, headings, and content, to reinforce to Google what the post should be ranking for. Aim for a keyword density of 1-5% to make sure your writing remains natural and not robotic!
Optimize title tags and meta descriptions
The title tags and meta descriptions are what people see in search engines when they search for keywords. Title tags are a ranking factor (so make sure you include your keyword), and both help you make a good first impression to entice people to click over to your site.
Use internal links
Just like with linking to your podcast episodes, you want to make sure you link to other blog posts or relevant services/products to keep people engaged and leader them through your site. Use descriptive anchor text (please don’t just link to the word “here”) for better user experience and more podcast SEO benefits!
Share Your Blog Post
Once your blog post is published, don’t forget to promote it! Share it on your social media channels, in your email newsletter, on Google Business Profile, and any other platforms you’re active on. The more traffic and engagement your post gets, the more it will help your rankings on Google. And the more potential podcast listeners you’ll be reaching!
Bonus tip: not every podcast episode needs to be turned into a blog post to help your podcast SEO. If you have episodes on things like personal life updates or about a course or product you have that isn’t evergreen, I wouldn’t worry about repurposing those episodes. Focus on the ones that have the best opportunity of ranking well on Google.
If you need help repurposing your podcast episodes into blog posts or even just editing and optimizing them, I offer content optimization services to help your blog posts rank on Google! And I would love to be a guest on your podcast if you want to chat more about SEO 🙂
