The reason why you aren’t getting a lot of traffic on your website / podcast is because you haven’t put enough work into it….YET.
DON’T SCREAM AT ME!
It’s not under my scrutiny – it’s under Google’s. And with podcasts – your search engines are the platforms that you list your show. Audible, Apple Podcasts, Google podcasts, etc.
If you’ve just started out….you’re seen as a new entity – and there isn’t enough authority – well, there’s zero authority ratings telling search engines that you’re worth ranking for these topics.
I know it sounds harsh, but I promise- as soon as you understand where you’re ranking currently and how you’re viewed in Google’s eyes -then you get your chance to grow.
So let’s start building!
Here are some suggestions for how to grow your podcast’s audience with search engine optimization:
Do your research! Look up other Podcasts.
Unless you’re coming to the podcast market with some seriously FRESH ideas. Chances are, you are probably reiterating content that has already been created. If there’s a podcast with your same messaging and objective, make sure you study their moves – not to steal their ideas -but to improve upon them and offer better content for your listeners.
Build your Podcast’s Website + Develop Domain Authority
A domain‘s authority + backlinks tells search engines how “popular” you are – yeah, talk about a high school throwback- you gotta worry about how popular you are in other people’s …well, website crawler’s eyes, sorry ’bout it.
Building authority and acquiring backlinks is one of the largest reasons why the general public believe SEO to be so robust/confusing/obscure/etc. There are so many factors that need to be considered when growing your domain’s authority.
It’s not a race to the most links, it’s a dance concerning placement, context, who you’re dancing with, etc. etc. etc. It also takes a long time, or if you’re going against Google’s very specific rules to not purchase links not as long BUUUUT- you could be handed a manual action for obviously purchasing links. It’s Google’s game and we’re just playing it.
TL;DR – take the time to build your authority by acquiring links from a variety of other similar websites. Keep producing content – I know this is the most annoying suggestion. Because you’re like KEEP CALM AND KEEP ON?
That’s like going to the doctor when you clearly need antibiotics but they’re like naw fam you’re good – and they tell you to drink fluids and rest.
But alas, it’s true.
You gotta keep producing content that GIVES. Generous content is the hardest part for most to accept because why buy the milk when you can get the cow for free — BUT that’s where we develop a sales process that drives from the website/podcast traffic. Your advice is your service – yes – but getting the PREMIUM advice (whether it be in patreon content, coaching, lessons, courses, etc….) is where we monetize.
For now, we just keep shoving RELEVANT, INTERESTING, UNIQUE and GENEROUS content down the search engine’s throat.
Make your content accessible / Fix Technical SEO issues
This is hard to come to terms with, as the podcast host and the business owner as well. There’s a plethora of “built for you” websites that sell their users on the concept that their platform is build for every industry and there’s this really easy plug and play template for you to use – NO CODING INVOLVED, WOO.
and that’s how they get ya.
The way that they’re able to make it so accessible to non-coders – is exactly what makes it a bad resource for a SEO-friendly website.
Code bloat- think of it this way – SEO means efficiency. The smaller amount of coding on a site to get the job done, the faster the servers can produce the content on the frontend = better user experience.
Better user experience = higher rankings on search engines.
The higher you rank on search engines, the more expansive your podcast’s reach will be. Promise.