So, you’ve started creating podcasts, pulling in interesting guests, and have been chatting up a storm. Now you want more people to listen in and are wondering how to increase your organic podcast ranking.
Well, wonder no longer! We’ve got a few tips that will help you get your amazing new podcast onto the phones, and into the ears, of more listeners than ever.
Don’t Let Organic Do All The Work
Before we dive into some specifics, we want to stress how important it is to put in some legwork in promoting your podcast yourself. Yes, having someone stumble on your podcast on Spotify, Apple Music, and more is nice, but it won’t happen overnight. Just like regular search engine optimization for websites, it’s all about the long game.
Use Your Social Media Presence
Make sure to utilize whatever platform you already occupy, whether that’s LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. You can promote each episode as they debut, share quotes or interesting talking points from the episode, highlight the guest, and more. Try to entice people into wanting to listen to the full episode.
Alternatively, if you don’t have much of a social media presence, use your podcasts as a jumping-off point to start! You don’t need to be on every single platform, but no business should be without at least one or two!
Get Reviews and Subscribers
If the platform you host on offers some way for listeners to rate or review your episodes, get as many as you can to do so! Not only will this increase your credibility when someone new finds your podcast, but most algorithms like seeing user reviews and ratings.
Also, one-time listeners are nice, but you always want to try to build a long-term audience. Never be afraid to encourage listeners to subscribe wherever they prefer to listen.
Check Out Another Blog: You Don’t Need Referrals… You Need Brand Evangelism!
Branch Out
Once you have your podcast on a hosting platform like PodBean, don’t limit yourself to just one place! Post it everywhere you can, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Audible, Pandora, and more.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the big dogs for top listening platforms (This data is for U.S. listeners):
- Spotify holds the biggest chuck at 25%
- Apple Podcasts come in a close second at 20%
- Google Podcasts aren’t too far behind at 16%
- Pandora is just inched out of a podium finish at 15%
- Surprising, website streaming comes in at 11%
- Wrapping out the double digits is Audible at 10%
Dedicate A Page
Whether that’s on your existing site, creating a new one, or just a simpler landing page, many people are searching for podcasts on Google and not through a streaming service. This comes with the added benefit of giving you stronger analytics, as well as giving you the ability to control what else the person might see while they listen.
Keep It Up
Releasing episodes on a consistent basis is incredibly important. It lets people know they can be confident in dedicating their time to your podcast.
Did you know: 90% of podcasts don’t make it further than episode 3. Of the ones that do, 90% don’t make it to episode 20. That means if you can be consistent enough to make it to episode 21, you’ll be in the 1%!
Give Them A Reason To Listen!
At the end of the day, if the content sucks, no one will want to listen to it!
This doesn’t mean it has to be perfect right out of the gate but don’t just invite a guest onto your podcast with no direction or talking points. Be ready to adapt and change the format and flow to make it better and better every single episode!
