Originally published in June 2021, last updated in July 2026
Here’s something that’s stayed true since 2021 even as almost everything else about SEO changed underneath it: podcasts are one of the few places where old-school keyword matching still works the way it used to.
Not on Google. Not in AI search. But inside Apple Podcasts specifically — its internal search still runs substantially on keyword matching in your episode titles and descriptions, the same way search worked a decade ago. I’ve written about why this platform-by-platform difference matters more broadly — different systems are reading your content for different reasons, and Apple Podcasts hasn’t caught up to synthesis-style search the way Google and AI tools have.
So keyword research isn’t dead for podcasters. It’s scoped. It’s still worth thinking about what someone would actually type into Apple’s search bar when you’re titling an episode — that’s a real, specific job, distinct from writing show notes for a listener or a blog post for an AI system to cite.
Writing “AI discoverability” three extra times because you read somewhere that keyword density matters → noise, and every system reading it now knows the difference.
Writing “AI discoverability” in your title because that’s genuinely what the episode is about → a real semantic signal, useful to a listener, Apple Podcasts, Google, and an AI system alike.
Benefits of podcast keyword research
Keyword research has two benefits for podcasters:
- Create content people want to hear, and
- Gain new curious listeners, and
- Establish your authority by showing up in Google
Business owners can use podcasts to build trust with their audiences. By adding an extra layer of SEO to their plan, they also establish their authority and earn new listeners.
Unfortunately, podcasting tools (like Apple podcasts or Spotify) aren’t transparent with their data. There isn’t a keyword research software that provides specific podcast search terms.
But we can assume that if people are searching for it on Google, they might listen to a podcast about it. And they could find your show notes, listen to your podcast on that page and become a subscriber. So it is possible to expand your audience by using Google. So how does this work exactly?
Keyword research for aspiring podcasters
If you’re validating topics & audience interest, use a tool like Google Trends.
Most tools share what people have searched over some unknown period of time.
Google Trends shows with you whether more people are looking for it now than they were five years ago. So you can confirm that your topic will hopefully be interesting to people for the long term.
Keyword research for solo podcasts
If you speak solo to your podcast audience, coming up with new ideas can be difficult.When you started you may had plenty of ideas … but eventually you might run out. If that sounds like you, then I would suggest you check out Google Search Console.
Google Search Console displays all ranking search terms for your website, including podcast show notes. There may be sneaky clues that are tangentially related to content that you’ve already created, but you haven’t specifically done a podcast episode about it. So that can be a great place to get new content ideas. And your rank can climb quickly, because you’re already showing up in those search results
Keyword research for interview podcasts
If you’re interviewing a guest, it can be hard to predict exactly what you’re going to be talking about. You’re leaning on their expertise instead of coming into it with a full agenda.
So instead of using keyword research to validate your ideas, or come up with new episode ideas … do the keyword research after you’ve recorded the episode!
Review what you’ve talked about with that guest and then go do some keyword research on those topics. Now your podcast can rank for a greater breadth of topics.
I know sometimes when I’m a guest on podcast, people expect me to talk only about SEO … then we talk about content strategy and conversion rate optimization and chocolate. (I will always talk about chocolate.)
So the interviewer will tie in different keywords than they expected! Now they can include keywords about content strategy that they wouldn’t have expected.
Integrating keywords into your podcast episodes & show notes
Note: This video was recorded in 2021. Some of the keyword-placement advice here — especially around show notes — reflects an older, more literal approach to SEO than I recommend now. See [current post link] for where my thinking has landed since.
Strong show notes structure was never just about ranking in Google. The same signals — your title, your meta description, your headings — also help AI systems understand what the episode is actually about. A keyword can go into any of those slots as a semantic clue, a plain-language signal of the topic. It doesn’t need to be forced or stuffed in to “count.”
Keyword placement in your podcast title
The first is the way that the episode shows up in the podcast recording devices. Every single place where people can listen to podcasts is a search engine. So Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, they are all search engines.
By including keywords in your episode title, individual episodes can show up for people looking for a topic.
When you’re writing your episode title, write something catchy that people want to open … but also clear about what’s discussed.That way if people are looking through iTunes for a specific topic, they can find one episode and then subscribe to hear more.
If you do interviews, include the name of your guest in the episode title. People searching your guests name can find your podcast episode. Then they can listen to back episodes and subscribe!
Keywords in your show notes
The next place I want you to think about including your keywords is your show notes on your website. The primary audience for your podcast show notes are your listeners! Include information for listeners who want to go deeper.
But your show notes also can show up in search results for the topics that you’re talking about in the episode. Optimizing your show notes follows the same process as your blog posts — consider specifically using keywords whenever it’s relevant in your page heading, subheadings, body text, image alt text, and transcript.
Keywords in your search engine results
Your results on the search page has three parts — SEO Title, permalink, and meta description — and your keyword can go into all three of them:
SEO Title: When you’re building out your show notes, include your keyword in the SEO title. (On WordPress, this is in your SEO plugin. In Squarespace, Shopify, etc there’s an SEO tab on the page settings.)
Permalink: Ideally, include your keyword in the permalink slug (like youramazingpodcast.com/keyword). I know some podcasters like to be able to say, “youramazingpodcast.com/62” in the recording. If that’s your format, that’s okay. But ideally, I’d like to see your keyword in there.
Meta description: Include a little preview of your podcast in that meta description. Uou can include a keyword in there too.
