BETTER SHOWNOTES = MORE LISTENERS

Shownotes are a subject that seems to generate a lot of debate — some podcasters think they are the ‘be all and end all’, whilst others don’t even bother with them.

I tend to lean towards the ‘shownotes are important camp’ and here is why… whilst writing shownotes for a podcast can be a challenging task — and yet another addition to your ever-growing to-do list — it’s important to get them right. Well-crafted written copy that accompanies your podcast episodes can attract and engage your audience and, importantly, can help your show rank highly from an SEO perspective.

So, your next question might be, ‘what the hell is Podcast SEO’. Basically, it is the process of optimising a podcast’s content and metadata to make it more discoverable and visible on podcast directories and platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music, as well as helping you to show up within search engines like Google. Tactics for improving your SEO include optimising the podcast title, description, episode titles, and tags with relevant keywords and phrases that people are likely to search for when looking for content on a particular topic.

The ultimate goal of podcast SEO — like any other form of search engine optimisation — is to make it easier for people to find and discover your podcast, which can lead to increased listenership and engagement.

If you want to see this in action do a little test… go on to your podcast platform of choice and search for a keyword. Let’s take something really general like ‘motivation’.

The first thing you will see — unsurprisingly — is popular search terms for motivation.

Then, once you click search, you will see shows that have motivation in the title; makes sense, right?

But if you scroll through some of the shows that you are seeing from the ‘motivation’ search term you will soon find podcasts that don’t have motivation in the title or as part of their show name.

So, somewhere within the backend SEO of these shows, the search term motivation is being used.

Now, which part of the SEO is helping it to rank for this term? Who knows. It could be the show description on the RSS platform, it could be episode titles or it could be the shownotes. Apple, Spotify et al. have never come out and shared how the algorithm ranks shows for certain phrases and words, so it is a case of do it all basically!

One of the easiest ways we suggest podcasters make sure that they get lots of juicy, seo-friendly, keyword-rich search terms is to include a short show description at the bottom of the shownotes — here is an example for a recent episode of one of our shows Business Marriage… which you should definitely check out as a way of repaying the pure value of this blog article!

So, without labouring the point too much, shownotes are important right. Good, I am glad we are in agreement on that. This being the case, here are some tips on how to write effective show notes for your podcast:

• Start with a brief introduction: The first paragraph should provide an overview of the episode, including the topic and guests.
• Use bullet points: Use bullet points to break down the main points discussed in the episode. This makes it easier for your audience to quickly skim the show notes and find the information they are looking for.
• Provide links and resources: If there are any links or resources discussed in the episode, include them in the show notes. This can include books, websites, or any other relevant resources.
• Write in a conversational tone: Use a conversational tone when writing the show notes to make them more engaging and approachable.
• Highlight key takeaways: Summarize the key takeaways from the episode to help listeners remember the most important points.
• Include calls-to-action: Use the show notes to encourage listeners to engage with your podcast further, such as by subscribing or leaving a review.

I really hope this has proved to be a useful read for you and, if your brain is not blown with SEO opportunities then you can take a look at the next level of ensuring your show appears in all the right places, by taking a read of my blog on how Audio-SEO is also something you need to be thinking about as a content creator.