How to make sure Google Podcasts knows your show exists
When Google first decided to dip its toe into podcasting there wasn’t a way to submit your show like there was in podcast apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
But that’s no longer the case…
How Google used to find your podcast
When Google Podcasts first started, instead of submitting your RSS feed to the Google Podcasts portal, you had to wait until Google crawled the web and found you.
This could be a long wait and the things you needed to do to help your show get found quicker were a little too ‘codey’ for most people.
When the process with other apps was as simple as copying and pasting an RSS feed into a website it made you feel like you didn’t have much control (which is never a good feeling during a podcast launch) over when your show would be out into the world.
How Google finds your podcast now
With the introduction of Google Podcast Manager, the process of submitting your show to Google Podcasts is similar to submitting to platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
You claim your show by copying and pasting the RSS feed and entering a verification code that’s sent to your email address (so they can be sure you’re not trying to claim someone else’s show).
This process submits your show to Google’s index but it also gives you access to stats and consumption data for people listening in the Google Podcasts app, on desktop and on Google Home.
Why is this a good thing?
For a start, when you’re launching a podcast you want to know you’ve done all you can to get your show into the places people might want to listen to it.
It was frustrating to have to wait and see if your show had been ‘found’ (particularly when the instructions on how to make sure your show was optimised for that weren’t the easiest to understand).
With Google Podcasts Manager you know you’ve submitted your show and then, just like with other platforms, you need to wait.
I’ve had some shows pop up within hours and others take almost two weeks but at least you know you’ve delivered it to where it needs to be.
The time required for podcast apps to register your show is why I always give myself a two-week buffer between submitting my podcast to the directories and the date the first ep is supposed to go live.
That way I can make sure, when I start telling everyone about it, it’s in all the places they might want to find it.
The other reason the Google Podcast Manager portal is great is because of the access it gives you to additional podcast stats.
While your podcast host gives you an aggregate of your listening data across all platforms it’s a great idea to look at each platform to see how those users are behaving when they listen to your show.
Data is really important if you want to understand your audience and with stats like consumption data, you can see how long your audience is listening which is useful when you’re trying to work out what content listeners enjoy.
Just be aware that at the moment Google Podcasts registers a play as someone listening for five seconds which is much shorter than the IAB measurement of 60 seconds.
Your podcast host should be measuring downloads based on the IAB requirements so if it looks like Google is telling you you’ve got more listeners than your podcast host don’t go writing an angry letter because Google is technically over-reporting your numbers by not adhering to the 60 second IAB standard.
Even still, it’s great to have access to this data as well as a way to submit your podcast that’s as simple as pressing copy and paste.
Got a burning podcasting question you’d like answered? Send me an email.
Want to start your own podcast but need a little help? Download my “How To Start A Podcast” guide or sign up for my online podcasting course, PodSchool.
