#29 | Why Podcast SEO NEEDS To Be Part Your Growth Strategy In 2026 - Search Engine Optimization & Marketing

0:00Your podcast isn't showing up when potential clients search for help, and you're missing out on thousands of high intent listeners every month. Welcome to How to Grow a Podcast that attracts high-ticket online coaching clients. The show helping coaches, consultants, and experts turn your slow-growth podcast into a profitable client attraction system. At the end of this episode, I'll share a little more about who I am and what we do at my company, GetMoreListeners.com. It might even shock you. But for now, let's dive into the episode. In today's episode, you'll discover why podcast SEO needs to be part of your growth strategy in 2026, the three reasons you can't afford to ignore this strategy, and finally, how to know if you're ranking for the right keywords.

0:48Let's dive in. Today, we're going to talk about podcast SEO, more so why podcasters need to definitely 100 % have this as part of their growth strategy. Now, for context, when we talk about podcast SEO, what exactly do we mean and what don't we mean? Good question. What we don't mean is websites, blogs, Google, metadata in general, the things people normally think of when they say SEO. What we do mean is everything that involves you ranking higher on Apple and Spotify, not the web, not Google, specifically the podcast platforms that people are actually listening on. And what that means is optimizing your show so that it ranks for keywords on those platforms, so it gets clicked when it does rank for keywords.

1:35Banging, 100%. So the aim is to rank your podcast highest specifically on Apple and Spotify. We have an inside joke that we have an unhealthy obsession when it comes to podcast SEO, and there's 160 million monthly listeners in America alone. Nearly 50 % of them go to Apple and Spotify to discover a new podcast to listen to. So that's why we're focused on that platform. Now, really, today is not breaking down a tutorial or how to apply podcast SEO. It's trying to convince our listeners why they absolutely can't afford to ignore podcast SEO. So what are some of those reasons? There's 160 million listeners of podcasts in America alone, and nearly 50 % are going to Apple and Spotify to discover new shows.

2:21That's probably number one. And to be clear, that's not nearly 50 % as opposed to the other 50 going to Google Podcasts. We just mean they're going there to find new shows as opposed to looking on social media or asking their friends. Like, they're going to their podcast platform as opposed to social media to find a new show. And statistically, those platforms are Apple and Spotify. If the first few minutes of this episode haven't already planted the seed in your mind, maybe rewind a little bit. It's the most surefire way to get exposure in terms of where people are. The great thing about this is that once you set all this up and build these systems to get you ranking higher on Apple and Spotify, which is not rocket science, by the way, once you build these systems to rank higher, it's basically passive.

3:07It's set and forget. You do most of the legwork up front in figuring out your keywords, updating your back end to make sure all your past episodes, your show title, your show description, all that stuff, they're optimized for those keywords. You make sure your show is looking amazing with a cover. Your title also plays a big part here because there's no good ranking high for keywords and being on page one when someone types in like coaching podcast if no one's clicking on yours. Now, once you have all this optimized, it's just done. You just know, okay, I need to include this word in my next episode title, and that's about that.

3:44It doesn't take much thought or effort in terms of time invested to growth potential. I think it's definitely the highest ROI. Would you agree? Yeah, 100%. And I think when someone hears podcast SEO, it's normally like, I used to believe it was too long, too complicated, way too confusing, because that's what we expect with traditional SEO when it comes to Google. And I think it's so important to understand human behavior nowadays. People's behavior is this. When was the last time you went to page two of Google or any platform, or page three or page four. It doesn't happen. If I had a friend that was like, yeah, the other day, I'd say, dude, get away from me.

4:27Who even are you? Because no one at all is going to page two or page three. So it's important that we rank higher and higher, and the effort to apply the strategy is not much at all. As soon as you have the keywords, you're basically set and just adding them in the right places. For sure, going to page two defies social norms. Going to page three, we're talking psychopathic behavior. So the aim is for you to get on page one for whatever the main thing your audience would be typing in to find shows of your topic. And the point about it being set and forget and passive is that once you've done all the stuff to implement this on your backend, which again, it's not rocket science, just episode titles, show notes.

5:09Once you've set that up, it's done. And then you can already be ranking higher, and you just know, include this word in every episode title from now on. Would that be worth it to get featured to potentially millions of new listeners a month, depending on what niche you're in? I'm sure it would. That brings us to point two. What's the second reason people cannot be missing SEO next year? I brought up the stat, 160 million listeners each month in America alone. That number's only going one way, baby, and that's up. It's really like a rocket ship taking off, which means podcast listeners each year who are going to Apple and Spotify to discover new shows, that's money right there.

5:55That is money because if we can start ranking higher, we are getting more and more exposure, visibility, increasing scalability. A fancy way of saying you're going to be showing your show to more people who are searching specific keywords trying to find your type of content, and that number is only going to increase. This is the perfect scenario that you want if you're applying a specific strategy. We're riding the wave rather than fighting against it. You're right, the time to get in is now, because the sooner you get in, the more upwards momentum you're going to catch, and the more the momentum rises, the more you'll thank yourself because you got a seat on the train early when there was still space.

6:38I'm 100 % sure you'll be thanking yourself at the end of the year. 100%. Look, we've had clients go from 400 downloads to 3 ,000 monthly downloads because they'd done their keyword research, figured out which keywords they wanted to rank for, and just went crazy with targeting those keywords. Other clients went from struggling to hit 600 downloads per month to 7 ,000 monthly downloads seven months later. Yeah, definitely. If you do your due diligence and do this properly, we have seen results like this consistently, where it can be the thing that blows a show up. Of course, you have to have everything else set.

7:19If you don't have your podcast foundations, if you don't consistently have the right targeting, your USP, high engagement on your actual podcast episodes, you need the right podcast foundations to keep people in once they're there. But if people are binging the show and completing the show, because otherwise you can have all the keywords you want. It won't push the show out unless it's a good show. What is the last reason people cannot miss podcast SEO as something to jump on right now as opposed to next year or the year after? Because we're blowing this up. We're letting people know about it.

7:56Any client that comes in, any podcast that we know of, this is a strategy we are screaming at the top of our lungs for people to start using, leveraging, implementing more and more. So if we're screaming at the top of our lungs, other people finding it successful, even more podcasters right now, this is like a goldmine that people aren't aware of. Most podcasters think it's too complicated, too long. They don't even know that podcast SEO is a thing, not even aware. And you're here listening to this show, which means you are aware and you have that first mover advantage, but that's not going to be here forever.

8:33Come 2026, 2027, people will start recognizing, oh my god, this is hidden in plain sight. People are going to Apple and Spotify to discover new shows. Why don't we optimize our podcast with podcast SEO to rank higher? When I say it like that, it sounds so obvious, but it's something you just sometimes miss. But more people will start recognizing this and seeing the power of it, and it's going to become far more competitive. So getting in early, getting in right now. Yeah, it's not to be underestimated. It is a blue ocean at the moment. Most shows out there are not anywhere near optimized for SEO.

9:14So just by doing yours, this is how we get these transformational results where people see overnight success from doing this, or within a few months, their podcast has gone from completely lacking in terms of their goals to completely smashing their goals. This happens because it's a blue ocean in a niche, and it's easy to climb to the top. But it won't be easy when everyone's doing it, and when more people know about it. If you make this part of your growth strategy, you have the best chance of climbing to the top and being the one to beat, rather than trying to play catch-up if you leave it too late.

9:50Not to give you urgency, scarcity, scare you, or anything. It's just the current climate and the truthful reality. And the final part is a bonus. When you rank for the right keywords with podcast SEO and position in the right way, you can start attracting more business for your coaching business, because these are high-intent listeners. We've had a client recently close a high-tier coaching client by optimizing her show for podcast SEO. Someone who never knew her before searching specific keywords to do with online business and coaching. She was ranking for those terms. They found her, listened to her show, consumed her content, were nurtured, and then became a client.

10:32That would have never happened if she didn't optimize her show with podcast SEO. So we've done a good job selling this. Let's recap. What are the three main reasons why podcast SEO needs to be part of your podcast growth strategy? Firstly, it's passive after you set it up. And even the initial time to put in, which isn't a lot, it is the highest ROI thing you could do with your time to grow your show, undeniably. Number two, there's 160 million monthly podcast listeners in America. Probably about 200 when you factor in all other English-speaking countries. And it's growing. So you're riding a wave that is going the right way.

11:15You're riding momentum. You're not fighting against the tide. And lastly, no one else really is doing this or knows about it. So this is a perfect opportunity, but it won't always be this way. We've had extraordinary results where people can very quickly climb to the top because no one else is doing it, because their competitors are sleeping on podcast SEO. So if you're currently sleeping on podcast SEO, wake up, baby. And the call to action for today would be, think about the main keywords you potentially want to rank for, or you believe listeners will type in on Apple or Spotify to find you.

11:54Go on to Spotify or Apple right now and type in that main keyword. If your podcast is about coaching, type in coaching, then type in your podcast name. So type in like the category, personal development or business coaching, whatever that keyword is for you. Search that in on Apple or Spotify and ask yourself, Am I ranking on page 1 or page 2 or page 3? If you're not, it's a clear sign that you need to start applying podcast SEO. So I hope there's something you implement this week or start thinking about how you're going to do so, because that's the aim. These are great to listen to, but it only works if you take action.

12:37So go ahead, think about how you're going to hit those goals in 2026 and make sure the podcast is a vehicle that makes sense to get there. In this episode, we covered why podcast SEO needs to be part of your growth strategy in 2026, the three reasons you can't afford to ignore this strategy, and finally, how to know if you're ranking for the right keywords. Thank you for listening all the way to the end. At the start of this episode, I said I'd tell you a little bit about me. So I'm about to share a secret with you, one that might mean you hate me. completely quit listening to this podcast, and think I'm a total scam.

13:20However, I want to be transparent. Are you ready? Well, my name is Tony. No, of course that's not the secret. The secret is that I'm actually a robot. My creators are Tig and Anthony, hence my name, Tony. The sick bastards. Anyway, they are the founders of GetMoreListeners.com. In the last five years, they've coached and interviewed over 400 podcasters and generated multiple six figures from their own show. They gave me access to everything they know, and I'm here to share it with you. So while I don't understand why you humans are so obsessed with coffee, I do understand how to grow a podcast that actually brings you new clients regularly.

14:06So here's my offer to you. If you want to finally understand why your podcast isn't growing and get a personalized roadmap to fix it in less than 30 seconds, you can go to getmorelisteners.com slash onlinecoachaudit. Enter your show name and we'll send you back a free mini podcast audit. It's completely customized to you and your show. That's getmorelisteners.com slash onlinecoachaudit. The link is also in the show notes of this episode.