Do you have a podcast or radio website and need more web visitors?
Getting more traffic for your website means:
- More people listening to your podcasts or stream;
- Increased brand awareness and visibility;
- The chances of more people donating to your cause or purchasing your merchandise;
- Higher rankings on search engines;
- Enhanced web presence.
In this article, we want to introduce the concept of SEO for broadcasters. It's a means to get your website ranked higher up on search engines such as Google and for free.
Before we get started, I’ll let you in on a secret: Not many broadcasters or podcasters optimize their websites. Many just depend on Facebook and other social media sites for traffic.
So, why is this significant? It means that even with medium effort, you can have your website ranking in no time.
Now let's get started:
Quick Dirty Tips to Know About SEO as a NewBie
1. It’s all about driving traffic
Traffic is defined as the number of people visiting your website. More traffic = more eyeballs, and vise versa.
SEO just means Search Engine Optimization. It’s the art and science of optimizing your pages, so they show up on search engine results, and the goal is to rank preferably on the first page
2. We’re all out to impress Google, and we want to rank first
Google has an agenda. Millions flock to their website to perform search queries.
When someone searches for “Top Fantasy Podcasts ,” Google’s algorithm displays the most helpful, original, and informative result.
They don’t like to keep users waiting on slow-loading pages, so they also rank websites based on the performance.
Why Google, and not Bing?
Well, it accounts for over 92% of all searches on the web. They average over 63,000 searches every second and about 5.6 billion searches per day.
About 90% of searchers don't bother to check the second page, and so everyone competes to rank first, even if it means paying for it (Read more for paid traffic).
3. Fast loading website & user experience
The three web page experience metrics that Google considers important include the largest contentful paint, first input delay, and cumulative layout shift.
Don't worry if they sound complicated. Here is what each term means:
The Commutative layout shift just indicates the stability of the visual elements on a page.
Google announced that changing your website’s layout may have a positive effect on your ranking. They also penalize sites that are not mobile-friendly.
The largest contentful paint signifies the time the largest content on the screen takes to load and display.
The first input delay denotes the time taken for the user to first interact with your podcast or radio website page.
How does one keep up with the endless demands from the search giant?
Simple, just configure Google Search Console. It collects stats about your search traffic, tells you which issues to fix, and ensures you rank high in the search results.
Google Search Console
4. Content is still King, but page experience ranks the best
The sole purpose of search engines is returning relevant information for a search query. That's why content is still king.
Never will page experience surpass the importance of good content; however, if two pages have great content, Google ranks the page with the better performance first.
5. Organizing your content into sections, Google Passage Ranking
In the past, Google analyzed entire pages before ranking them.
Now, it has introduced Passage Ranking. You'll need to organize your content in the form of sections with subheadings.
It allows Google to view each subheading like a mini page, and it can use it to resolve a user's search query.
6. Keywords, beasty little things
Targetting specific keywords, and aiming to rank for them, is a core aspect of SEO. You may target keywords right from the titles you choose for your radio shows or podcasts as you upload them online.
Similarly, your webpages and blog posts must revolve around one main keyword.
For instance, for your Homepage, and if you run a hip-hop radio station, you can target the keyword: "Hip-hop radio in the USA." And use it several times on one page.
7. Free traffic vs. paid traffic, what is the difference?
Well, free traffic, also called organic traffic, refers to the traffic you can generate for your website without having to pay money.
Paid traffic refers to the traffic you pay for by advertising on search engines such as Google or Bing.
Paid traffic is expensive as brands often have to outbid each other to rank higher for certain keywords.
What's more, it's not sustainable.
Approaching SEO as a Broadcaster - With Examples
SEO can have great implications for the success of your podcast or radio station.
The approach you use to rank high on search engines may be a little different from what other websites may do.
For instance, most websites don't have online streams or audio files.
Your website will also require different website pages. So, here are specific tips you may use to optimize your SEO efforts as a broadcaster.
Unique SEO Tips for Radio & Podcast Websites
1. Fulfil a particular need
Dancing to the fiddle of search engines requires that you meet searchers at the crossroads. Giving them what they want.
Let's do this practically. If someone searches for "Top podcasts health," what are they looking for specifically. Their intent?
Well, they want a website that will maybe list some of the top 10 podcasts on health.
You may respond by publishing a blog post listing ten podcasts. At this point, you'll have to mention your competitors. But you can slot your show into the rankings, maybe even place it first.
You should not simply write on your homepage that you have the best podcast in the health niche. Well, you can also do that but also make sure that you have a long form piece of content that targets the keyword.
2. Writing about different topics
You'll have a lot of ground to cover, and there are many topics that you can attempt from politics, education, culture, arts, and more.
For example, Classic FM, a digital radio that ranks among the first page results for the keyword, classic radio stations in the US, has an actively updated website.
Their latest music news inform web visitors about musicians from the classic world. Here is an example of one of their blog posts.
If someone on the web, searces for Dame Fanny Waterman, Classic FM may rank with this blog post.
On their website, each page has the Listen Button, and once someone clicks it, they become listeners.
You can read the full blog post here.
KUSC, another radio website that performs well on search engine rankings, runs an active blog section.
This post feature is on Beethoven’s and tells the story behind the Emperor composed in 1809.
3. Optimizing your podcast and radio show descriptions
When publishing your podcast or radio show episodes online, it's important to spare sometime to write a description.
The description is where you tell listeners more about the context of the podcast episode. If you had a guest over, you can tell listeners more about them and what made the interview possible.
Can you use keywords in your descriptions?
Yes, at least target one main keyword. When publishing your podcast on platforms such as as Tune In or Apple Podcasts, it's still worth it to use main keywords and descriptions.
Radio stations should also optimize their descriptions when they add their station to radio directories.
Here is an example of a show description from the podcast Arm Chair Expert. You can check out this particular episode here.
You can consider turning podcast or radio episodes into blog posts. Titles must be optimized with relevant keywords too.
Google plans to listen to online audio files just as it scans website pages for content. It can then rank the episodes based on the relevance to user queries.
So, the current advice is to mention your keyword in the podcast audio.
4. Must have pages on your website
Radio and podcast websites are structured differently, and it's essential to have a properly structured website.
A well-organized site translates to a better user experience. If users are shown to enjoy your website by spending more time viewing pages, Google's algorithm will take this into account and propel your website to the top of its search results.
Here are some well-structured websites we found for your viewing pleasure:
You can take a leaf from WIOG. It has all the important pages that a typical radio station website should have: Shows, Features, Blog, Events, News, Contents, Sweet Deals, & Podcasts.
This American Life website is also well-structured and designed for the needs of users. You can visit various pages, such as the Archive for past episodes. The How To Listen page makes it easier for people to find the podcast on other platforms.
5. Your road map to the first page of Google
There is a lot you may still need to know about SEO. But what we have covered so far should get your website ranking in no time.
As we conclude this article, here is a roadmap you can use to get to the top of search engine rankings:
- Consider choosing a domain name that's descriptive and related to what you do. For instance, www.rockstation.com or www.radiohiphop.com.
- Host with a reputable provider with great uptimes.
- Gather a list of all the keywords you want to target. Check the difficult score of each keyword to know what it might take to rank for it.
- Structure your website well, and have all the essential pages
- Make sure you choose a theme or template that's ultra-fast
- The design should be mobile friendly too
- Each page should target one main keyword
- Consider using keywords in the title tags
- Images should have the alt tag and keywords
- Link to authority websites, and once you have grown your content, perform internal linking
- Promote your blog posts on social media
- Consider updating your guides regularly with fresh information
Do I have to do everything myself?
We get that you're a creative focused on entertaining listeners.
Plus, you may be running a radio or podcast as a hobby.
If you don’t have much time, you can hire freelancers that will help in writing some of the content.