Audio SEO Presents a New Marketing Opportunity

In an age where over 500 million hours of video are watched on Youtube alone each day, it can be a bit surprising to find that over 67 million Americans listen to audio-only podcasts monthly, with the number of Americans listening to podcasts increasing year-over-year (10-20% increases yearly). Google sees this as a huge opportunity and has a dedicated a podcasting team to take advantage of this growth.

Their plan: double podcast audiences by focusing on audio search.

A New Search Engine Results Page

Perform a Google search for anything right now and you’re met with text links, images, and video, amongst other results. The future results page could include links to audio content (podcasts) in exactly the same way text, image and video results appear, paving the way for audio to become a first-class search result citizen. One of the methods Google plans to employ for this audio search functionality is through podcast metadata, just as they currently do with links, images, and video.

A Marketing Opportunity

Many businesses currently use podcasting as a branding/exposure method with great results, and Google’s new audio search plans will make that content searchable as well. In the same manner that marketers optimize for keywords and tweak metadata to give users relevant search results for links, the same opportunity will soon be available for audio content. In fact, Google already provides technical guidance on enabling your podcast to appear in search results. Audio SEO will become a hot topic in marketing as Google’s podcasting team implements their strategy.

The Role of Voice-Enabled Devices

Traditionally, search has happened on desktops and laptops, with the past decade seeing an increase (and potential takeover) of mobile device use. New devices with voice-activated assistants, such as Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa, play a key role in Google’s podcast strategy. Search can now be activated in different contexts with these devices, such as while driving or in a kitchen. In these situations, there are opportunities on the content creator’s side to provide solutions based on these contexts, within reason, and employ Audio SEO to enable discovery of their content.

The SEO Landscape is Always Changing

Here at Exults, we’re constantly on top of the changing SEO landscape, whether search algorithms are changing, or new features, such as the ability to search a podcast will be introduced in the future. Contact us at Exults today to produce digital marketing results now and in the future.