Google recently made the announcement at I/0 2019 that they will start showing playable podcasts directly in the search results. Searchers will be able to listen to these right away, without the need for a standalone podcast app and it will be available on both Desktop and Mobile across Android, IOS and Desktop browsers.
Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash
Podcasting has seen a surge in interest in recent years with many calling it “the new blogging”. As website users read less and less and resort to skim reading headlines, bullet points and watching videos, podcasting requires less effort from the reader as it captures attention fairly quickly and allows the reader to multitask and do other things.
What’s New
When searching for a podcast, the 3 most recent episodes will come up and these can be played directly in the search results. Clicking on “more episodes” will take you to the Google Podcast interface. Another interesting note is that this new Podcasts experience can be accessed without signing into your Google account. When signed in you will be able to sync playback status across all of your devices. A deeper Podcast search functionality is also available and doesn’t only search for the title or meta- description of a given podcast, but can also search for the audio, directly in the podcast itself (as Google transcribes them).
Why should you care?
Zack Reneau-Wedeen, founder and head of product for Google Podcasts posted this tweet:
“Rolling out this week you’ll be able to search for and play podcasts directly in Google Search across Android, iOS, and desktop browsers, a step toward making audio a first-class citizen across Google.”
The emphasis here, as Zack Reneau- Wedeen has put it, is on making audio a first-class citizen across Google and it is a big leap forward for podcast owners and their opportunity to promote content to a wider audience. For those who already create or feature podcasts, Google has made special Podcast structured data available, which is a must for helping Google find and understand your content. Google says the following, “You can enable your podcast to appear in Google Search results and Google Podcasts, along with individual episode descriptions and an embedded player for each. This feature is available through the Google Search App for Android (requires v6.5 or higher of the Google Search App), Google Podcasts app, Chrome for Android , Google Home, and Google Assistant.”
Stay In The Know
Cut the clutter and stay on top of important news like this. We handpick the single most noteworthy news of the week and send it directly to subscribers. Join the club to stay in the know…