Don’t Be Clever With Your Podcast Title

Most creators want everything about the quality of their podcast to be perfect. The sound, the content, the video design, and everything else except the title. 


You could have the best podcast in the world, but no one will even click on it if your title isn't clear, direct, and intriguing. So don't waste vital screen space on titles like 


EP123: John Talks Growth


Who's John, and what growth is he talking about? Why should we care? Instead, it needs to be clear, interesting, and specific to the episode's core ideas. 
🔹 Clarity Over Cleverness

Don’t try to be cryptic. Be specific. Tell people exactly what they’ll get from the episode.
🔹 Optimize Your Title With Keywords

Podcast apps are search engines. If your episode is about launching a coaching business, say that—don’t hide it behind a vague title like “Big Changes.”
🔹 Build The Hook First 

Put the most interesting part first. A big guest name? A powerful takeaway? Lead with it. People skim fast, so grab attention early.


🎯 Bonus Insight: Episode numbers don’t help with discovery. Leave them out of the title. Instead, think like a headline writer. If your title isn’t clickable, it’s invisible.


Questions? Email [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You could have the best podcasts in the world, but
if your episode titles are boring, vague, or confusing, nobody
is clicking. Today we are talking about why the titles matter,
what most podcasters get wrong, and how to write titles
that actually get discovered. Hello, and welcome to pod Tips Weekly.

(00:35):
I am Ryan Tillotson. Okay, so let's be honest. Most
podcasters put way too much effort into recording and editing
and don't even really think about the title. And if
you're gonna put all that effort into making your sound
sound incredible, your video look incredible, what are you doing?
So here is the thing. Your episode title actually is

(00:58):
your first impression when trying to discover a podcast on
a podcast platform. Typically you're searching for a specific topic
or a specific guest, and the title is the first
thing you see. Now, obviously that is different if you
first find the podcast via social media, like there's a
clip or something like that. But generally speaking, when browsing

(01:22):
on a podcast platform, you're just seeing a butt load
of titles. It's what someone sees and search results, it's
what shows up in Spotify's recommendations, it's what makes someone
choose your episode over hundreds of others in their feed.
And yet it's crazy. So many podcasters out there basically

(01:42):
release episodes with titles like episode forty one my Chat
with Jane or Talking Creativity with John, and those titles
tell you nothing. I'm not going to click on that.
I don't care what episode number your chat with Jane was?
And wait, who's Jane? And talking creative with John? Talking
creativity about what about running about film? About driving cars,

(02:07):
about marketing. I mean, there's so many different things that
include creativity. It's so vague, So let's talk about what
actually works. I would say number one, clarity beats cleverness
hands down, no question. You do not need to be
cryptic or clever. You need to be clear. Instead of

(02:27):
titling your episode the Long Game, try something like how
playing the Long Game helped me build a six figure business.
That is like, oh shit, I want to know how
the hell he did this or how the hell she
did this. I will click that episode. I know what
I'm going to get out of it. And then from
that point, what my deciding factors if I continue listening

(02:48):
is if the quality in the video and the audio
is good, or if sometimes the host voice really bothers me,
so I have to I have to pass on certain
shows because of that. You may feel that way about me,
and I'm sorry. Okay, Number two, front load the good stuff.
Put the most interesting part of your title first. If

(03:09):
your guest is well known, put their name upfront. We
want that to be seen quickly. If the lesson is valuable,
start with that. Don't bury the lead. People skim quickly.
Ies go fast. You know you've got like half a
second to grab their attention with a title. The third
thing keywords, They matter. Keywords matter. Podcast platforms like Apple

(03:31):
and Spotify use your titles for search indexing. So if
your episode is about launching a coaching business, say that.
Don't say episode ten big changes, Say how I launch
my coaching business with no following? Which one are you
going to click? It's clear to me. Okay, number four,
which is already clear obviously, how I feel about this episode. Numbers, No,

(03:53):
don't include them. I would say, include them in your
internal file names for your team, for your own records,
but don't lead with them in the title. Nobody cares
what episode number it is. They care if the content
is good, They care if the conversation is valuable. They
do not care that this is episode one hundred and
fifty two. No, do not do that. It will not

(04:16):
help with search, It will not help with discoverability. Maybe
it gives you clout if that's what you think. The
reason I'm actually doing this episode is because a client
of mine wanted to include episode numbers. We had them
originally I had removed them, and she said, why do
we no longer have episode numbers? And I basically gave

(04:38):
her this spiel that I'm giving you right now. But basically,
you know, just episode twelve tells the algorithm absolutely nothing
that goes for YouTube and Spotify are the only two
platforms really that have an algorithm. But it definitely tells
nothing to Spotify, Apple overcast, pocket casts. You know that
just basically are search index episode numbers. Don't include it.

(05:00):
If you want to include it somewhere publicly, put it
in your show notes, but do not put it in
the title. Okay, and number five, study what's working? Look
at other top ranking shows in your category. How do
they title their episodes? Chances are I bet you they
are specific, They are keyword rich, and they are easy

(05:22):
to understand. So do the same let's not overcomplicate it.
I think if you follow those five steps before choosing
your title for your episode, you're gonna be in really
good shape. And just consider the title more. You know,
like people pay lots of money for YouTube thumbnail creators.

(05:42):
It seems ridiculous, but there's a lot of thought that
needs to go into a YouTube thumbnail because again, while scrolling,
that's what you see. Like the title, the YouTube thumbnail
is very important, so you should put just as much
thought and energy into the title. Very very very important.
Just to recap, here are three takeaways. Clarity wins. Don't

(06:04):
try to be mysterious. Just tell me what I'm gonna get.
Number two, use keywords. Think about what people are searching for.
What are you searching for? What did you search for
the last time you wanted to find a new podcast?
Think about it. Number three, design your titles for humans
and algorithms. If it's not clickable, it's invisible. That's it
for us today on this little episode of pod Tips Weekly.

(06:28):
If you need help rewriting your old episode titles, you know,
want a second opinion, you feel free to email us
at tips at strahutmedia dot com. We love to help
and if this episode helped you forward it to a
fellow podcaster someone else that might need it, share it.
Please see you next week. Buye