I’ll throw these brands at you: Nike… Saks Fifth Avenue… Harrods… ASOS… Pretty Little Thing… Marks & Spencer.
Do you know what they have in common? Ah… yes. The title. That’s right, they all publish podcasts. Salesforce, home of the world’s heavyweight ecommerce platform champion, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, also has a podcast, called Salesforce Developers Podcast.
We also have our very own podcast here at ArganoUV, called Recursive Business, where we forge pathways in the ecommerce jungle, sharing our experience and expertise in software development, and in particular SFCC and AEM.
“But why would a brand want to publish a podcast, anyway?”
Well, that’s actually an interesting question. For tech consultancies – like ourselves – it’s clearly advantageous to be able to share and spread the insight they have in their particular fields. But for brands and retailers, what do they get out of it?
Over half of the US population (55%) has listened to a podcast. And more than one in three listen to at least one podcast each and every month. That’s an audience of many millions. And it’s an ever-growing audience with an ever-growing supply of podcast content – whether it be audio only or with video.
Essentially, podcasts are just like any other type of content, which when jumbled together, is at its root a driver for SEO by publicizing and promoting your brand with quality info and insight.
Yet there’s such an overflow of content feeding us: from our laptops… and our phones… and our tablets… and our smartwatches… . The torrents of text and tides of video and images have reached such a level that there are dams of well-built SEO practices to make sure that certain content rises above the rest and meets you at eye-level at the top of – let’s face it – Google (other search engines are available. I’m looking at you DuckDuckGo.)
The problem, however, is that podcasts have been poorly optimized for search engines; neglected content that is poorly built to enable more accessible organic traffic to flow to your podcast.
We think that’s outrageous! And in an act of solidarity, we want to share with you podcasters top tips for best SEO practices.
Best practice one: domesticate your podcast
Be sure to host your podcast on your own website. Why is this so important? Because it ensures the potential for link authority – one of the most important parts of SEO. Afterall, “build it and they will come” is only true if you build a baseball field base for listeners to come. You don’t want outside links to head to external podcast directories like Apple Podcasts or Spotify – unless your Joe Rogan.
Best practice two: set the key terms
Ensure that before you click record, you’ve set out the keywords and terms that you’re going to discuss on each episode. Every brand has their own long list of keywords and terms that they want to rank high for. So make sure they’re baked into your podcast – in the title, the URL, the transcript…. (Oh! That reminds me…)
Best practice three: word friends
Transcribe your audio to make sure that it’s search engine friendly and can easily be indexed. Not only does transcriptions allow you to build links and include more keywords, but it also allows listeners and readers to quote an episode.
Best practice four: consistency, consistency, consistency
Be. consistent. Plan out your podcast schedule and stick with it as much as you can. Like everything in life, the more you do something the better the results. Publishing regular and consistent content will reward you with faster and better results.
Best practice five: turn the camera on
Supplement your audio with video. Capture those moving images. There’s a reason why YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, and the number one video-sharing platform. And for the exceedingly timid out there, even throwing up some images to back up the audio would be useful.
PS: ArganoUV is one of the world’s leading Salesforce Commerce Cloud (Demandware) development & strategy teams. Contact us to see how we can work together.
