Content Optimization
Brandon Leibowitz is a Search Engine Optimization expert and the founder of SEO Optimizers.
Listen in to learn about what SEO is all about (and why you can’t ignore it), common mistakes to avoid and what to consider and do to embrace content optimization, make SEO work for you, and tap into sources of free traffic for more listens, views, website visits, and overall visibility for your podcast and business.
What SEO is All About
- SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it means optimizing your content and website for search engines.
- SEO typically focuses on Google but it’s also something that can be done for other platforms as well, be it Amazon, Yelp, social media or something else.
- The main goal of SEO is to help content creators get more free traffic, views, listens and visits to their content and web pages.
Why Publishing on Your Website is Key
- One of the main reasons why content creators should publish on their website is because they own it and have more control over it compared to other platforms like social media.
- Sending people to your Spotify page means sending traffic to Spotify – including, potentially, to other people’s playlists, songs or pages – whereas sending traffic to your website means sending it to your online HQ.
- On third-party, social media, etc. you have the hope of sending people to your website… with your website you don’t hope, you just make it happen.
- Every podcast episode you publish should have its own show notes web page because Google likes new content.
- The more pages you have, the more keywords you’re targeting, and the more chances you have to rank higher and get more visibility.
What to Have on Your Podcast Show Notes Pages
- The more text you have on the post the happier Google will be.
- Brandon recommends having a summary with time stamps (if possible).
- Don’t optimize your content only for Google but optimize it for humans too. Is your show notes page easy to navigate? Is the text easy to scan and digest or is it one massive block of text?
“Even though your podcast is audio or video, you want to make sure that your show notes page has text because that’s the only medium Google can crawl. Embedding the audio or video of your episode is great but you have to have text supporting it.”
How to Approach Keywords
- You should think about what people use in their searches around a specific topic. What platform and which words would they be using?
- Enter a keyword on Google and look at what those on the first page of Google are doing (you can ignore the ads toward the top of the results page).
- Look at the keywords they’re using, try to figure out which are relevant and which aren’t, and then try to come up with ideas you can incorporate into your website. There are several keyword research tools – like the Google Keyword Planner – that you can use to simplify this process.
- One- or two-word keywords tend to be quite broad and generic, Brandon suggests opting for longer keywords because they tend to have intent behind them and they’re often less competitive (easier to rank for).
- Brandon typically goes for long-tail keywords that have a decent amount of search volume, though sometimes some tools show no searches for a keyword that actually does get some searches…so take everything with a grain of salt.
- After that, he goes on Google and carries out an actual search using that keyword. If the websites he sees on the first page – apart from the ads ones – seem to be owned by big corporations or A-level websites, he skips the keyword and focuses on a different one. Otherwise, he starts thinking about content ideas for it.
- Everything Brandon does is competitor analysis: he looks at keywords, backlinks, etc. As a podcaster, you could do this on Apple Podcasts: look at what other podcasters are using in their titles, descriptions, and so on.
The Thing About Backlinks
- A backlink is a clickable link that points to your website.
- The more backlinks you have, the more Google sees your website as trustworthy.
- When sharing a Call-to-Action on a podcast, try making that to visit a page on your website and not ‘Visit my Facebook page’ because otherwise you’re just going to help Facebook, and not your website, get a backlink and rank higher on Google.
- If you have quite a unique name, like Brandon Leibowitz, then it’s probably going to be relatively easy to rank for it compared to ranking for the keyword ‘John Smith’.
- When it comes to YouTube, one of the things the platform algorithm considers aren’t backlinks but video embeds. That’s why Brandon recommends embedding your YouTube videos in as many relevant places as possible.
Content Optimization for Better SEO
- Content optimization doesn’t mean worrying too much about keywords but focusing on writing for people. Your keywords will naturally come to you and will be part of your content as a result.
- Things have changed: 5-10 years ago you would write for Google… not anymore. Now, you should be writing for people.
- Try to keep your title to 60 characters or less because most platforms will cut it off after that.
- Use as many keywords as possible without repeating yourself all the time – think singular and plural, synonyms, etc.
- The SEO title tag, which is the blue clickable link, is the most important place you should put your keyword in.
- Brandon’s suggestion is to be consistent with your content, publish frequently – be it daily, weekly, or monthly – and make sure not only to cross-promote it on your social media channels but to drive traffic back to your website.
- Want people to listen to your podcast? Give them one link, and one link only, instead of a dozen options. Less is better.
ABOUT BRANDON
Brandon Leibowitz runs and operate SEO Optimizers since 2007. We are a digital marketing company that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses get more online traffic, which in turn converts into clients, sales, leads, etc.
Resources mentioned:
Get Brandon’s free resources over at www.seooptimizers.com/gift
Yoast SEO (WordPress plugin)
Grab Your Free Gift!
Launch, Produce Or Leverage YOUR Podcast With The Partnership of Smooth Business Podcasting
What if you could record a podcast and have a team of experts handle it ALL (and have less stress, and more time to focus on your business)?
What if you had a system that enabled you to produce and promote your podcasting content like clockwork without the headaches?
What if your podcast guesting/show brought you more leads and clients?
What if you had ONE company that did it all and you spent less time project managing team members and the moving parts that go with podcasting?
You CAN – We launch, produce, promote and leverage podcasts to help businesses like you gain more leads, increase visibility, boost authority and grow. Email us at info@smoothbusinessgrowth.com!
