April 8, 2025 • 9 mins
Why is it that some podcasts find overnight success, but some fade into obscurity? What’s the secret? How are shows getting found? The answer is working with the Algorithms.Platforms like YouTube and Spotify have changed the way that content is discovered, shared, and listened to. Their algorithms are powerful systems that can drive growth, but only when the content works with the algorithm, not against it.Organic reach generally means more dedicated listeners. Here’s how to tailor your podcast for each platform’s algorithm:
🔹 YouTube: Title, Thumbnail & Watch Time Matter Most
Hear CEO Ryan Tillotson break it down on Podcasting Tips Weekly!
🔹 YouTube: Title, Thumbnail & Watch Time Matter Most
- Use attention-grabbing titles with keywords that match search trends.
- Create custom thumbnails that stand out—faces, bold fonts, and high contrast work best.
- Encourage longer watch times. Hook viewers in the first 30 seconds and keep segments engaging to reduce drop-offs.
- Release episodes on a consistent schedule—Spotify boosts shows with regular drops.
- Keep listeners engaged beyond the first five minutes—completion rates impact recommendations.
- Optimize your show description and episode titles with relevant keywords for better search visibility.
Hear CEO Ryan Tillotson break it down on Podcasting Tips Weekly!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Podcast discovery is changing, and if you want your show
to grow, you need to understand the algorithm. Today we're
breaking down which platforms are using algorithms, what that means
for you, and how to make your show easier to find. Hello,
I'm Ryan Tillotson and welcome to another episode of pod
(00:30):
Tips Weekly. So today let's talk algorithms. If you've ever
uploaded a podcast and waited for new listeners just to
find it, you probably know by now at least that's
just not how it works, at least not anymore. More
and more podcast platforms are using algorithms to surface content,
(00:51):
and that's honestly a good thing, but only if you
know how to play the game. Apple Podcasts, for example,
the creator of podcasts, they had the iPod. They are
still primarily driven by editorial curation and search. That title
so important, so so so so important, The title of
(01:12):
your podcast so important, the title of your episode so important.
They've dipped into personalization a bit, but their algorithm, if
there is one, is nowhere near some other ones that
we're going to get into. So if you want to
get discovered on Apple, you really need strong SEO. That's
keywords in your title and description. You need listener reviews
(01:35):
very helpful for discoverability, and Apple and possibly you need
some editorial luck. Apple's featured placements really really matter and
really really help. Okay, but let's talk about YouTube. Yes,
it's a video platform, but it's also the largest podcast
platform in the world because it has the strongest discovery engine.
(02:00):
YouTube's algorithm we all know is incredible, right, we know it.
We've all gone down a YouTube rabbit hole. I think
there's a whole really incredible podcast called rabbit Hole, which
if you haven't listened to, I highly recommend that just
details how powerful YouTube's algorithm is and it changed people's
political views. If you listen to the podcasts, you'll understand
(02:22):
what I'm talking about. But YouTube's algorithm looks at watch history,
it looks at keywords and tags, It looks at viewer retention, thumbnails,
click through rate, engagement like likes, comments, and shares. The
algorithm is everything on YouTube. It doesn't matter if you
have no following. If your content hits the right signals,
(02:43):
it will get shown. That's why visual first podcasts do
so well there, and it's why smart creators design their titles,
thumbnails and hooks to get clicks and keep people watching.
I'm not saying just you know, record a crappy looking
video podcasts and put it on YouTube. There's a lot
(03:03):
of competition there, so just make sure it's good and
that it can compete. But if it is good and
it does compete, you have a great chance of it
getting seen by people not even looking for that specific content.
And that's the pleasure of an algorithm. Like when I
was talking before about Apple, When you don't have an algorithm,
(03:27):
you are not going to be discovered. You need to
create a whole marketing campaign to then be discovered. Whereas YouTube,
it did change the game. One platform though, that is
starting to compete a little bit with YouTube and definitely
is the best platform right now for discoverability for podcasts
(03:49):
outside of YouTube is Spotify. Spotify is no longer just
a library, It's a recommendation engine. They have an algorithm.
They now use listening history, completion rates, did people finish
your episode? Engagement follows, shares, saves similarity to other shows
(04:11):
user behavior across the app. You'll see it in things
like your daily podcasts. Listeners also follow personalized home pages,
curated charts. So yes, Spotify absolutely uses an algorithm. Now,
it's not as advance as Youtubes, but is getting much
more personalized all the time, and I have no doubt
(04:33):
that in a few years time it will be just
as great as Youtubes, and it will be a very
big game changer for podcasting for audio platforms, because no
other platform, no other audio platform out there, has this
kind of discoverability right now. So back to what I
was saying, if you're putting out a podcast and you
(04:54):
want it to just be huge immediately without running a
whole marketing campaign on social media to drive traffic, are
utilizing your newsletter, it's just not gonna get seen. It
just won't get seen because that's just not how the
podcast platforms have ever worked. But Spotify is changing that,
and YouTube has changed it. First. All those other platforms
(05:16):
like Audible, Overcast, pocket casts are still mostly search driven,
meaning people are searching for a guest or searching for
a particular topic and they choose your podcast to be
the source to get that information. It's not algorithmic, so
they're less powerful for new discovery unless someone actively is
(05:38):
looking for a show like yours, or a topic that
you're covering, or a guest that you have on. Okay,
so what does that mean for you? It means you
can't just post an episode at hope people find it
at least not now. You need to write compelling, keyword
rich titles, think about hooks, what's gonna make someone click,
(05:59):
Design great thumbnails, especially for YouTube but also Spotify. Encourage
follows and episode completions. You know, don't bury that lead. Essentially,
it's a lead to your podcast to become a subscriber.
And the more people subscribe, the more they're gonna get
a little notification when a new episode's up. It's going
to pop to the top of their feed, and that
(06:19):
will encourage more listening. And then always promote your show
across platforms that do have reach like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts.
These are really great platforms to help people discover your podcast,
even if it's just audio only. At least they are
aware of it. You know, that brand awareness is huge,
(06:39):
and then hopefully over time that awareness leads to a
subscriber on the audio platform. Because those platforms, like I said, Instagram, TikTok,
YouTube shorts, those are top of funnel platforms and they
feed the algorithm and funnels in terms of podcasting. That
is something that we are going to get into next week.
(07:01):
All right, here are your three takeaways. Number one, algorithms
are changing podcast discoverability and right now this is happening
only on Spotify and YouTube. And I say right now
because this is being recorded in early April of twenty
twenty five, but maybe you're listening to it in the future.
Number two, if you want to be recommended, design your
(07:24):
content with the algorithm in mind. Titles, thumbnails, and completion
rates do matter. And number three, especially for those non
algorithmic platforms, do not ignore search. Keywords and show notes
still play a huge role. If your show, your general
(07:46):
show title doesn't explain what your show is about, maybe reconsiderate.
If your title of your episode doesn't explain what it's about,
please definitely reconsider it. I would say the three big
things that are so important to people finding your podcast
are your show name, the general show name. Number two
(08:10):
is your general show description. That is very powerful. It
helps with search, it's very important. And number three, the
son will change every week is your episode titles. Just
consider all those three and if they are not explaining
your show very well, give them another pass rewrite them. Okay, Well,
(08:31):
that's it for today. If you want help optimizing your
show for discoverability, or if you have a question about
how your content is performing, shoot us a note at
tips at strawhatmedia dot com. And if this episode helped you,
share it with a podcaster who needs a visibility boost.
You know, share this, get it out there. And I
hope you already subscribe to this podcast. We are not
(08:54):
on YouTube, and that is on purpose, and it's something
that maybe I'll explain later, but for now, see you
next week.
Podcast discovery is changing, and if you want your show
to grow, you need to understand the algorithm. Today we're
breaking down which platforms are using algorithms, what that means
for you, and how to make your show easier to find. Hello,
I'm Ryan Tillotson and welcome to another episode of pod
(00:30):
Tips Weekly. So today let's talk algorithms. If you've ever
uploaded a podcast and waited for new listeners just to
find it, you probably know by now at least that's
just not how it works, at least not anymore. More
and more podcast platforms are using algorithms to surface content,
(00:51):
and that's honestly a good thing, but only if you
know how to play the game. Apple Podcasts, for example,
the creator of podcasts, they had the iPod. They are
still primarily driven by editorial curation and search. That title
so important, so so so so important, The title of
(01:12):
your podcast so important, the title of your episode so important.
They've dipped into personalization a bit, but their algorithm, if
there is one, is nowhere near some other ones that
we're going to get into. So if you want to
get discovered on Apple, you really need strong SEO. That's
keywords in your title and description. You need listener reviews
(01:35):
very helpful for discoverability, and Apple and possibly you need
some editorial luck. Apple's featured placements really really matter and
really really help. Okay, but let's talk about YouTube. Yes,
it's a video platform, but it's also the largest podcast
platform in the world because it has the strongest discovery engine.
(02:00):
YouTube's algorithm we all know is incredible, right, we know it.
We've all gone down a YouTube rabbit hole. I think
there's a whole really incredible podcast called rabbit Hole, which
if you haven't listened to, I highly recommend that just
details how powerful YouTube's algorithm is and it changed people's
political views. If you listen to the podcasts, you'll understand
(02:22):
what I'm talking about. But YouTube's algorithm looks at watch history,
it looks at keywords and tags, It looks at viewer retention, thumbnails,
click through rate, engagement like likes, comments, and shares. The
algorithm is everything on YouTube. It doesn't matter if you
have no following. If your content hits the right signals,
(02:43):
it will get shown. That's why visual first podcasts do
so well there, and it's why smart creators design their titles,
thumbnails and hooks to get clicks and keep people watching.
I'm not saying just you know, record a crappy looking
video podcasts and put it on YouTube. There's a lot
(03:03):
of competition there, so just make sure it's good and
that it can compete. But if it is good and
it does compete, you have a great chance of it
getting seen by people not even looking for that specific content.
And that's the pleasure of an algorithm. Like when I
was talking before about Apple, When you don't have an algorithm,
(03:27):
you are not going to be discovered. You need to
create a whole marketing campaign to then be discovered. Whereas YouTube,
it did change the game. One platform though, that is
starting to compete a little bit with YouTube and definitely
is the best platform right now for discoverability for podcasts
(03:49):
outside of YouTube is Spotify. Spotify is no longer just
a library, It's a recommendation engine. They have an algorithm.
They now use listening history, completion rates, did people finish
your episode? Engagement follows, shares, saves similarity to other shows
(04:11):
user behavior across the app. You'll see it in things
like your daily podcasts. Listeners also follow personalized home pages,
curated charts. So yes, Spotify absolutely uses an algorithm. Now,
it's not as advance as Youtubes, but is getting much
more personalized all the time, and I have no doubt
(04:33):
that in a few years time it will be just
as great as Youtubes, and it will be a very
big game changer for podcasting for audio platforms, because no
other platform, no other audio platform out there, has this
kind of discoverability right now. So back to what I
was saying, if you're putting out a podcast and you
(04:54):
want it to just be huge immediately without running a
whole marketing campaign on social media to drive traffic, are
utilizing your newsletter, it's just not gonna get seen. It
just won't get seen because that's just not how the
podcast platforms have ever worked. But Spotify is changing that,
and YouTube has changed it. First. All those other platforms
(05:16):
like Audible, Overcast, pocket casts are still mostly search driven,
meaning people are searching for a guest or searching for
a particular topic and they choose your podcast to be
the source to get that information. It's not algorithmic, so
they're less powerful for new discovery unless someone actively is
(05:38):
looking for a show like yours, or a topic that
you're covering, or a guest that you have on. Okay,
so what does that mean for you? It means you
can't just post an episode at hope people find it
at least not now. You need to write compelling, keyword
rich titles, think about hooks, what's gonna make someone click,
(05:59):
Design great thumbnails, especially for YouTube but also Spotify. Encourage
follows and episode completions. You know, don't bury that lead. Essentially,
it's a lead to your podcast to become a subscriber.
And the more people subscribe, the more they're gonna get
a little notification when a new episode's up. It's going
to pop to the top of their feed, and that
(06:19):
will encourage more listening. And then always promote your show
across platforms that do have reach like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts.
These are really great platforms to help people discover your podcast,
even if it's just audio only. At least they are
aware of it. You know, that brand awareness is huge,
(06:39):
and then hopefully over time that awareness leads to a
subscriber on the audio platform. Because those platforms, like I said, Instagram, TikTok,
YouTube shorts, those are top of funnel platforms and they
feed the algorithm and funnels in terms of podcasting. That
is something that we are going to get into next week.
(07:01):
All right, here are your three takeaways. Number one, algorithms
are changing podcast discoverability and right now this is happening
only on Spotify and YouTube. And I say right now
because this is being recorded in early April of twenty
twenty five, but maybe you're listening to it in the future.
Number two, if you want to be recommended, design your
(07:24):
content with the algorithm in mind. Titles, thumbnails, and completion
rates do matter. And number three, especially for those non
algorithmic platforms, do not ignore search. Keywords and show notes
still play a huge role. If your show, your general
(07:46):
show title doesn't explain what your show is about, maybe reconsiderate.
If your title of your episode doesn't explain what it's about,
please definitely reconsider it. I would say the three big
things that are so important to people finding your podcast
are your show name, the general show name. Number two
(08:10):
is your general show description. That is very powerful. It
helps with search, it's very important. And number three, the
son will change every week is your episode titles. Just
consider all those three and if they are not explaining
your show very well, give them another pass rewrite them. Okay, Well,
(08:31):
that's it for today. If you want help optimizing your
show for discoverability, or if you have a question about
how your content is performing, shoot us a note at
tips at strawhatmedia dot com. And if this episode helped you,
share it with a podcaster who needs a visibility boost.
You know, share this, get it out there. And I
hope you already subscribe to this podcast. We are not
(08:54):
on YouTube, and that is on purpose, and it's something
that maybe I'll explain later, but for now, see you
next week.
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