One of the things I really like about my digital marketing job is how dynamic this field is. Something new comes up almost every day making it an exciting career. I like to keep an ear out for all kinds of new developments that can help my clients take their businesses to the next level.
One of the most exciting things to come out of Google I/O (Google’s annual developer conference) in 2019, is the announcement that they will start including podcasts in Google Search results.
Having podcasts in SERPs means that you’ll have the option of listening to podcasts directly from the search results page or even save an episode for later if you wish. Additionally, podcasts will also come up alongside tweets, articles, and videos when you search for news topics.
New Frontiers In SEO and Audio Content
This announcement by Google is essentially ushering us into a new era of audio SEO. Who knows, maybe audio SEO is the next frontier.
We’ll have to wait and see if Google will decide to return audio content directly or whether they’ll use transcribed text. Although if you think about it, returning an audio clip in response to a search could be a better way to match searcher intent. For instance, if you remember something you heard in a podcast then go search for it, having the original audio returned makes for a richer experience.
What does this mean for businesses and digital marketers?
Well, for starters, we need to be more aware of the kind of content that fits our target audience’s needs. Are your searchers more comfortable consuming your content in form of text, audio or video? Have you conducted research to find out? Furthermore, what kind of devices do they use to consume each of those different types of content? Some forms of content are more suited to some devices than others.
If you already have a business-oriented podcast, you need to consider some things as well to make it more accessible to Google Search. These include:
- Ensuring your podcast is part of Google Podcasts ecosystem and that you continuously enter and update your metadata.
- Making sure you have a clean audio format that Google can access and process.
- Taking care to structure your content. For instance, each podcast episode could have its own evident theme. It’s also a good idea to have concrete takeaways or a summary at the end of each episode. This will make it easy for search engines to find your content and rank you accordingly.
Wondering whether a podcast can help market your business to your target audience? Why not schedule a consultation with me and we can discuss how viable a podcast is for your business. Get in touch with me today and we’ll craft a digital marketing campaign designed to make your business successful.
