SERPs and Podcasts – Audio SEO as the Breakthrough

Everyone in social media is aware of podcasts! It is a social media content online, and today, you can find millions of podcasts on multiple topics. Podcasts play a vital role in gaining more listeners. Also, it has made show producers gain more shows and episodes. You can have podcasts on various topics, such as comedy, news, politics, and music.

Irrespective of the prominence of podcasts, there’s one challenge that it encounters. It is a problem of using and promoting podcasts beyond a particular platform. Today, various fellow podcasts and videos help in promoting the content; there is a challenge in making podcasts available in search engines. Unlike the videos you see online, podcast episodes hardly appear with the shows associated with Google podcasts.

The good news

One of the essential news snippets of Google I/O 2019 suggests that Google will shortly start showcasing the podcasts in the search outcomes. And today, we can see visible results of this. The feature is fascinating. Google today is all set to index podcast content and also getting back audio-clips in the SERPs. Hence, it is essential that you build your SEO strategy around this update.

Along with your video content, you can also create podcasts for Google index and showcase the same. An expert SEO agency can guide you better and help you arrange SEO friendly podcasts and audio SEO as well. To know more about this, you can get in touch with Toronto SEO Digital Rocket Fuel.

That is not all. Let us have a look at the other essential aspects.

Can the search engine, i.e., Google, transcribe your audio content?

Many brands and SEO professionals have been asking this question! And the answer is, yes. We are aware that Google has its “speech-to-text” tool since 2017 in its Google Cloud Platform that has undergone a couple of upgrades and iterations. A year before, Android Police has detected the source code alterations that indicated Google was actively transcribing a few podcasts available on Google Podcast.

However, the feature needs more development to boost audio SEO. However, it is challenging to conjecture Google successfully executing this feature without setting up the audio transcript for the videos. The question is, why should Google start with a video? It makes complete sense for Google. YouTube is the platform for Google podcasts, and it is a robust infrastructure supporting it. So, if Google can return the outcomes depending on the video’s audio part, it indicates they can do it for the audio files as well.

How will any audio feature in search?

The instant starting points are the podcast engine extensions that comprise of full-text (audio) search and automatic transcription. And both these seem to work well. The moment you get to search in Google podcast, you can anticipate the search capacity to expand the usual Google searches.

Will Google return the audio content directly? Or will Google make use of transcribed text? There will be few instances, where returning the audio clips might seem an apt match to the user’s intent. For example, if a user is searching for a line heard in a podcast or movie clip, then highlighting the original is useful than highlighting the plain text.  Google Home and other voice devices, will benefit to a great extent. Returning audio will seal the content gap for these devices. It will create a bridge for non-text content and complete podcasts.

Audio SEO strategy – The number of podcasts to start with

If you have decided to use podcasts as a part of your SEO strategy, you need to decide on the count. Today, we are in the middle of a small podcast revival. And audio search might add the necessary mileage to it. You can always expect Google to come up with specific changes in some time and assess them for a few weeks and months. Are you already creating podcasts and wish to make it search friendly? If yes, ensure that you are using Google podcasts. It is also essential to enter and update the present Metadata.

You simply need to get clean audio that serves your purpose. Make the audio in a format that Google can process. Hence, as of now, you don’t need to do anything specific to get the content transcribed. Take some time out to think the way your audio content gets structured. Are you opting in for entirely free-from content? It’s interesting to note that this content has got its place, but it can get complicated for Google to assess the same.

It is also essential to make the podcast and episode theme evident! Do you have a format where a machine can parse the queries and answers? Do you have precise takeaways? Do you also have a summary to end your episode? You need to consider these critical questions when you want to include podcasts in your SEO mix.

Simply put, audio SEO indicates managing the audio content in a deliberate and structured way! As Google evolves in various devices, it suggests companies and SEO professionals should stay updated on the content type that caters best to an audience segment. Is an online user searching for audio, text, or video? Each mode caters to various requirements and in different equipment in the broad search ecosystem.

Today, podcasts have become very popular for multiple media uses, who access it daily. It is a robust platform that provides content in a crisp, compelling, and entertaining way. Much like videos and video blogs, podcasts can also address the audience pain points and answer the same in an organized manner. Hence, the forthcoming updates will prove to be a giant step and will propel companies and SEO experts to design the best Podcast SEO strategy. It will enable a brand to establish its online presence and also expand the audience base. And it also helps in getting more organic traffic.

Today, the digital world gets characterized by acute competition. Every brand wants to get the significant chunk of online visibility. With Podcast SEO, companies can give both their SEO strategy and brand a competitive edge and outshine other market players.