How to Use Podcasts for Link Building

You can earn quality links by hosting your own podcast or participating in other podcasts. Check out these podcast link-building tips.

Less than a decade ago, podcasting was regarded as relatively obscure. Today, podcasts are among the fastest-growing marketing platforms. Podcasts have the power to reach more than just the listeners. Using podcast links effectively can have a profound impact on organic search, too.

There are two primary reasons for this.

1. The name of a person or company can be searched for as a result of listening to podcasts. It is believed that this type of branded search can influence search suggestions and improve overall ranking by sending positive signals to Google.

2. Most of the podcasting links can take you outside the aggregators like iTunes and Stitcher – typically to someone’s website and directory submission sites. 

Usually, this results in podcast links going both ways. On the post for the episode, the podcast host usually uses these podcast links to their guest’s website. Likewise,  link to that episode will be provided on the podcast website by the guest, and even by their fans in some cases.

In simpler words, you can earn quality links from both podcasts and from being a guest on other podcasts. Referral traffic is also often generated by these podcasting links.

How to Start a Podcast

Getting your name out there and establishing a loyal following is easy with a podcast.

Furthermore, it’s great for building lasting relationships with peers in your field. I know this from personal experience. In the year since I launched my podcast, I realized how much easier and more effective it was to reach out to strangers.

We are not going to discuss how to start a podcast. We can’t expect to be an expert on this topic and most of the podcasters might have not launched their podcasts on their own, so it is far beyond the scope of this article.

Throughout this article, we will focus on how to earn high-quality links (AKA podcast links) through your own podcast. The first and primary step is to create something that people actually want to listen to, something most of the podcast directories fail to provide once all the technical details have been sorted out. Instead of gushing about how great you are, you should share useful information. If you are making a monologue, you may use that format, or if you are conducting an interview, you may use an entirely different format.

You can choose to interview others, as it is usually more effective to interview others.

Additionally, it is a lot easier and more engaging. Let’s assume that you are doing a monologue in your first podcast. Chances are there it might be very informative and interesting but to the listener it might sound very boring and single person oriented as there is practically no engagement going on. 

Conversely, having a co-host or interviewing someone makes it much easier. Rather than a weirdo talking to themselves in a room by himself, it’s just a conversation and conversations always gain attention, more chances of being accepted by the audience and more chances of getting quality podcast links which will eventually result in a higher social bookmarking or blog commenting.

Regardless of what format you use, the key is to consistently produce original as well as valuable content. Though attaining quality podcasting links might be your primary goal, you should not sound like desperately tying to achieve it. 

Reaching out to potential interview candidates is also a relatively simpler process from this point on. These are people who have valuable information to share with others. Many times, if you are interviewing someone, they’ll do a podcast linking to their episode immediately after it is published. By asking them directly, though, you can avoid any uncertainty, that too soon after they’ve completed the interview, when they’re still on an emotional high, is a good time to do this.

Obviously they won’t be able to do podcast linking until the campaign is live, but you’d already set the seed, so when the campaign goes live it’ll be more likely to be accomplished. They can also be encouraged to link to it from their audience.

Join Other Podcasts as a Guest

Appearing on other podcasts is a great way to earn podcast links to your site in addition to generating publicity for yourself and your company. Typically, your website link is included in the episode post. Activities like image submission, article submission or video submission you would have already done in your website will receive more attention and your website is more likely to be introduced to a lot of new audience.

The search for knowledgeable and interesting guests is not uncommon for podcasters that follow an interview format. Due to the same, you should have little trouble appearing on relevant podcasts if you have the knowledge, unique skills, or an interesting viewpoint to share with the audience. The assumption is that you can make the host care about what you’ve got to say if you pitch your story well.

In most cases, podcasters are bombarded with requests to interview people. Emails that are merely self-serving are ignored in most cases. Instead of pitching based on your own interests and viewpoints, try to view the situation from their perspective. To pitch your story, you need to understand what their audience truly cares about, and then explain why your story will appeal to them. If you’re going to be trying hard over this podcast, skip the fake compliments and fluff about how you stumbled across it. It doesn’t matter how you found their podcast or how the compliments are fake, because everyone knows they’re fake.

While sending a request, your requesting pitch should instead be short and to the point. Don’t waste your time with follow-up emails all the time. They will respond if they are interested. If you harass them, you will only succeed in getting them to never interview you. Especially if you’re aggressive, they might tell others about you, hurting your chances of being invited to other podcasts.

There is nothing wrong with mentioning your own audience, whether it’s through social media, a column at a large publication, or a podcast, but don’t go overboard. Just mention it briefly.

Your chances of getting on the podcast will be halved if you keep talking about yourself endlessly.

What are the best podcasts to target?

Creating a list of podcasts and sorting their websites according to one of the myriad SEO metrics may seem tempting.

But you shouldn’t.

Targeting high traffic websites may have its advantages, but you will have a better chance of being interviewed if you sort them by relevance. Additionally, you might want to group them according to engagement, which can be measured through reviews and social media activity.

Their audiences are also more likely to be interested in what you have to say because of this. Your products and services will have a greater chance of being heard, and your podcast links are more likely to be clicked through to, linked to, and bought if they are created by a local business.

While choosing a podcast, consider the following points:

Timeframe:

Creating a list of relevant podcasts and pitching you or your client as a guest is a simple and straightforward process. If you want to pitch a few podcasts, it could take you less than an hour. In some niches, there may not be many podcasts

Results of the Previous podcasts: 

It may take a few weeks to start earning links, but some podcasts book out months in advance, so it can take longer still. If the links are from relevant and high authority websites, they may begin impacting your ranking just as quickly, but in most cases, you should expect to see several months’ lag.

Amount of podcasting links sent per month: 

It will be entirely dependent on the number of podcasts in your niche, and how many you can fit into your schedule. You cannot spend all your time on podcasts since there are only a limited number of hours in the day. In most niches, there are dozens or even hundreds of podcasts, but some, like marketing or business, may have hundreds. You’ll need tools like Bing or Google along with Gmail or any other mailing service and most probably a thick skin as you will have to face quite a lot of nos. 

Benefits of Podcasting Links

● Getting high-quality, relevant links can have a significant impact on rankings. You may be able to take advantage of these links that your competitors are unlikely to have considered, giving you an advantage in search.

● These links tend to generate more referral traffic since podcasts tend to have highly engaged audiences.

● By creating positive publicity, this approach goes beyond SEO. Additionally, as more people become aware of your brand, branded search is also likely to increase, which is positive for Google.