With its recently announced podcasting app, Google is placing greater emphasis on podcasts and intends to double the number of podcast listeners within two years.
Google Podcasts offers advanced features, including “device interoperability.” Listeners can hear podcasts across all their devices and locations – for instance, listen to a few minutes of a podcast on an Android phone, and then ask Google Home to play the episode from the same spot later. The app will recommend podcasts based on the listener’s history.
Google plans to add more features to the app with artificial intelligence in the coming months. One feature will add closed captions, allowing you to read along as you listen. That will greatly appeal to many people – like me – who prefer to learn through their eyes, not their ears, and who can read much faster than any speaker can talk. Overall comprehension and retention is also better from text than audio for most people. Many people reserve podcast listening to times when they can’t read – while driving, for instance. Podcasts, then, transform downtime into productive time.
Perhaps, most importantly, Google’s is improving search results for podcasts. Podcasts appear next to results for articles and videos. That may overcome one of podcasts’ biggest problems: the difficulty to discover them.
“Right now Google is really good at giving you text and video related to your search query,” said Google Podcasts Product Manager Zack Reneau-Wedeenin told Pacific Content. “With all the amazing work podcasters are publishing each day, there’s no good reason why audio isn’t a first-class citizen in the same way.”
Google intends to challenge Apple’s podcast dominance. Most smartphone owners have Android phones, but most podcast listeners hear the programs on iPhones. “It’s actually so egregious that on a device-by-device basis, the average iPhone listens to over ten times more podcasting than the average Android,” Reneau-Wedeen said.
What This Means for PR & Marketing
Podcasting will undoubtedly accelerate as Google moves into the space. Marketing and PR professionals will need to pay attention. More businesses will consider launching podcasts, and PR pros will have more opportunities to schedule company representatives as guest speakers. PR will also be called on to promote company podcasts.
Brands considering creating the audio programs will need to consider their format, topics, hosts, available resources, and other questions. The most successful branded podcasts deliver entertaining, valuable content to the company’s target audience rather than obvious sales pitches. Even small and medium-size companies can produce the programs in-house, though they might not be as slick as those produced by podcasting specialists. Successful podcasting will require engaging, well-prepared and well-edited content that meets the audience’s needs. Many current podcasts fail to meet those criteria.
To plan your podcast, make audience needs your top requirement and make sure your website follows Google’s official guidelines for podcasts so your podcast can appear in search results, along with episode descriptions and an embedded player.
More podcasting will also accelerate changes in SEO practices. With the rise of voice search, many text-based SEO practices have become outdated. In creating your episode descriptions, be aware of how people speak when addressing their voice assistants.
Answer Your Audience’s Questions
“Podcast episodes may soon be built around answering common questions that people might ask their voice assistants, with episode titles designed for a spoken-word search request,” predicts Adam Rowe at Tech.co.
Rowe suggests pondering these questions:
- What questions does my audience want answered?
- Does my planned podcast answer them?
- Does a Google audience want an hour-long, in-depth podcast or a short-form version?
- What would make them want to subscribe rather than stop after hearing one episode?
Bottom Line: Google’s effort to improve podcast services and challenge Apple’s dominance will likely invigorate podcasting. With improved search results, people will be able to find podcasts, including branded podcasts, more easily. Canny PR and marketing departments will seize the new opportunities to promote their organizations and products through podcasts that entertain and educate.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
