#31 | Exposing Podcast SEO Myths You Have To Avoid If You Want Faster Growth In 2026 - SEO Marketing Strategies

0:00You think you understand podcast SEO, but you're probably following myths that are holding you back. 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 the reality behind common myths that hold podcasters back when it comes to podcast SEO, how podcast SEO isn't as complicated as it seems, and finally, why simply adding keywords to your episode title isn't enough.

0:50Let's dive in. In this episode, you will discover the reality behind common myths that hold podcasters back when it comes to podcast SEO, how podcast SEO isn't as complicated as it seems, and why simply adding keywords to your episode title isn't enough to rank your podcast higher on Apple and Spotify. Now look, podcast SEO for us is a massive part of our strategy that we help our clients implement. We help them with keyword research, help them implement it, and help them rank tons higher for the right keywords their listeners are searching on Apple and Spotify. If you're just joining us, Podcast SEO is about prioritizing ranking high on Apple and Spotify.

1:33Not Google, not blogs, not your website, Apple and Spotify. Now, within this, there are tons of myths we want to absolutely eradicate and annihilate. Because we're sick and tired of hearing nonsense from random gurus giving podcasters advice that sounds smart but doesn't work. So, we're going to bust these myths and give you clarity on what to ignore and what to focus on instead. What is myth number one? Myth number one is that podcast SEO involves things like blogs and websites and long transcripts. Now the reason this myth exists is because that is how Google SEO works. If you're trying to rank a website on Google, then yeah, blogs probably matter.

2:19Your website content matters. Google crawls text. That's their game. But the myth is thinking this correlates to Apple and Spotify. And it doesn't. Why would it? They're completely different platforms with different ranking systems. If you're optimizing your website, where do people go to find websites? They go to Google. So if you're optimizing your podcast, where do people go to find podcasts? Not Google, Apple, and Spotify. There are 160 million active podcast listeners in America alone, and nearly 50 % of them discover new shows inside podcast apps. The other portion? Social media, word of mouth, recommendations.

3:05But they're not Googling best podcasts the way gurus make it sound. So the things that work for Google SEO are not the same things that work for Apple and Spotify. If you've been confused about what podcast SEO is, let's get it out in the open. It's definitely not blogs. It's definitely not websites. Completely two different games. And this leads to another myth we hear. Podcast SEO doesn't work. And we think that's because people are barking up the wrong tree. They write loads of blogs. They put every episode on a separate page of their website. They spend hours on transcripts. Then they look at Apple and Spotify and nothing changes.

3:50So they say it doesn't work. But it does work if you focus on the right things. We realized this with one of our very first clients who had a whiskey distillery podcast. His website was optimized for Google SEO, ranking for keywords around whiskey, distilleries, the whole thing. So he had loads of traffic going to his website and blogs. We looked in his back-end analytics and asked, what percentage of podcast listeners are coming from the website? How many do you think? Dude, it was 3%. 3%. That was the big opener. He'd been putting so much effort into blogs, making them great. And it worked for Google.

4:35But the content was attracting readers, not listeners. That was the oh-my-God moment. No wonder he wasn't growing inside Apple and Spotify, because he was playing the wrong game. So to round off myth number one, most people assume podcast SEO is blogs, websites, transcripts. It's not. Podcast SEO is what exists inside Apple and Spotify. Your show title, your show description, your episode titles, your keyword strategy, your positioning. Blogs and websites are not on Apple and Spotify. Therefore, they do not help you rank on those platforms. Now let's move to myth number two. Podcast SEO is too complicated and takes way too long to implement.

5:27To be fair, we resonate with this one. When we first discovered podcast SEO, it took trial and error. We had to figure out what actually moves the needle and what's a waste of time. So yeah, it can feel intimidating. Technical, like something you push to the back. And again, this overlaps with myth one. People hear S-E-O and think Google. And Google SEO can be complicated. So that complexity gets projected onto podcast SEO. But from our end, we've simplified this into something way easier. Because most of the time, the most basic things are what actually create the biggest results. So, we built a four-part framework.

6:13Number one, discoverability. This is knowing which keywords to add into your episode titles so you can show up when people search. That's it. If your audience searches anxiety, business, gut health, whiskey tasting, dating, whatever it is, your episode titles need to match real searches. Number two, visibility. Great, you're showing up. But how do we make sure you get clicked over the competition? Because it's never just you showing up alone. It's you versus everyone else ranking for that keyword. Visibility is your cover catching someone's eye, your titles creating intrigue, your show notes selling the click.

6:55Number three, user engagement. This is completion rate. How long are people listening through each episode? because Apple and Spotify are incentivized to keep people on their platforms. So if your episodes hold attention and people listen deep into them, that sends a signal. This show is engaging. And when your retention is high, let's say above 70%, platforms are far more likely to rank you higher. But if your show is getting 20 % retention, that tells the platforms your content isn't keeping listeners engaged, so they're not going to promote it. And number four, relevancy. This is being intentional, asking what three or four keywords do we want to be known for?

7:41What do we want to rank for consistently? Then building your content strategy around those keywords. So again, discoverability, keywords. Visibility, getting clicked. User engagement, keeping listeners listening. Relevancy, choosing what you want to rank for on purpose. We call this our holistic approach. Now let's go to our last myth, and this one follows perfectly. Myth number three, just adding keywords to my episode titles will help me rank higher. People who know podcast SEO isn't blogs often swing too far the other way. They learn about keywords and assume that's the whole thing. And to be fair, keywords are the start.

8:29That's how someone discovers you. But the myth is thinking keywords alone will fix your show and create overnight growth. So why isn't that the case? Reason number one. You can add keywords and show up on page one, but there are still other shows on that page with you. So if you don't stand out visually, you don't get clicked. If your title is just a boring keyword sentence, you don't get clicked. If your cover doesn't stop the scroll, they won't even read your title. So you get stuck at discoverability. You're discoverable, but you have no visibility. Reason number two. Apple and Spotify don't get duped.

9:11They don't just look at keywords. They look at user behavior. How long are people listening? Are they finishing episodes? Are they coming back? So if retention is low, let's say 50 % average, you can plug keywords into titles all day. You're not staying on page one. You may not even get there. And even if you do get there for a moment, maybe you have a newer show. Maybe the platforms test you and you get a bit of exposure. If listeners click and bounce, you're dropping. Because the platforms interpret that as, this show isn't engaging. That's why we call it holistic. Keywords start the process.

9:52But visibility and engagement determine whether you actually grow and actually stay ranked. Boom. So to recap the three myths. Number one, podcast SEO is Google, blogs, and websites. No, that attracts readers, not podcast listeners. Number two, podcast SEO is complicated and takes too long. It can feel intimidating, but it's not complicated when you have a framework. Discoverability, visibility, user engagement, relevancy. And myth number three, adding keywords to your title will magically help you rank higher. It's not enough, because Apple and Spotify look at the whole picture, especially whether listeners actually stay and listen.

10:40And there you have it. So in this episode, we covered the reality behind common myths that hold podcasters back when it comes to podcast SEO, how podcast SEO isn't as complicated as it seems, And finally, why simply adding keywords to your episode title isn't enough. 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. However, I want to be transparent. Are you ready? Well, my name is Tony.

11:25No, 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. So here's my offer to you.

12:04If 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.