Google announced you can now play podcasts directly in the desktop and mobile search results. Google said “Starting today, when you’re searching for a podcast about a topic on Google, we’ll show you playable episodes in Search results alongside web pages, news, images and videos.”
What it looks like. Here are some screen shots of this in action, including a GIF:
How it works. Google said it will surface episodes based on Google’s understanding of what’s being talked about on a podcast. That means Google will some how index the words said in the podcasts and show you relevant podcasts based on those words. Google will expand this so that soon you won’t need to add the term “podcast” in your search to see episodes.
Coming to Google Assistant. Google said this feature will also come to the Google Assistant later this year. So when you ask the Google Assistant for podcasts on a topic, it will suggest relevant episodes for you.
US English today. This is launching today in the US for English language queries.
Expanding old podcasts in search. This expands how Google was showing podcasts in search previously only using the titles and meta data. Now Google will show podcasts that have the content within the actual episode, not just in the title or meta data of the podcast file.
Why we should care. If you are not thinking about audio and podcasts in your SEO strategy, you might want to begin looking into it. Google said in its blog post “As part of our work to help podcasters build audiences and grow their businesses, we’ll soon add the ability for publishers to specify where you can listen to their podcasts, such as other apps or websites. This means you’ll be able to discover podcasts that may be exclusively available by purchase or subscription.” Google is clearly looking for ways to promote podcasts in search and you might want to take advantage of these features for your marketing efforts.
About The Author
Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land’s News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.