Podcasts are a popular audio medium, with the number of podcast listeners increasing daily. According to Statista, the number of active podcast listeners is expected to reach 160 million in 2023. Data also shows that podcasts are a more credible source of information than television and newspapers.
In the US, the number of podcast listeners might surpass 100 million in 2024, making it an invaluable tool for advertisers. Even though listening seems like a more convenient way of consuming information, there is a need for transcription to improve indexing on search engines like Yahoo, Google, and Bing.
The Many Benefits of Podcast Transcription Services
Transcription simply means converting the speech from an audio or video recording into a written document. You can do this yourself or get in touch with a company providing podcast transcription services. Let’s explore some major reasons to transcribe your podcast.
Better Search Engine Rankings (SEO)
SEO is an important digital marketing practice because it helps attract more visitors to your website. Even though there are different search engines, SEO is all about Google since it runs over 99,000 search queries per second. Unfortunately, audio files are unsuitable for SEO campaigns because search engines cannot determine the keywords contained.
Converting your podcast episodes into written documents allows you to bank on SEO. If you transcribe the audio, people can easily search for your podcast content on Google. Consequently, you’ll realize increased organic traffic on your website. Learn to use the right keywords and smart podcast SEO tricks to enjoy high search engine rankings. Click https://gotranscript.com/transcription-services/podcast-transcription for the first step in building your podcast’s SEO agenda.
Increased Accessibility and Inclusivity
Even though podcasts are invaluable storytelling tools, many consider them an imperfect medium because they aren’t available for people with hearing problems. As people with hearing loss represent nearly 20% of the world’s population, transcripts are a must-have for podcasters. Making podcast transcripts available helps you reach a demographic you would otherwise not reach with audio content.
The deaf or hard of hearing is not the only demographic affected by a lack of podcast transcripts, as non-native English speakers also suffer. Transcription ensures inclusivity since non-native speakers can consume your content at their own pace and gain a better understanding of it.
More Backlink Opportunities
Backlinks can help increase a website’s ranking. Unfortunately, most blogs and sites avoid linking to podcast episodes unless there is a transcription. This is because podcast episodes don’t provide listeners with visual content to explore. Getting backlinks can help promote your podcast content and improve visibility. Regardless, ensure that the links come from authority sites to rank better on the SERP.
Multi-Platform Marketing
Content repurposing is an effective marketing strategy that involves reusing existing content to expand its reach. Transcribing your podcast lets you create other forms of content that you can use to attract a larger audience.
Podcasters commonly use their transcripts to create blog articles, long-form content, infographics, social media posts, and email marketing campaigns. The more people you reach will mean a higher return on investment. You’ve already recorded your podcast or used convert sms to voice feature; you might as well squeeze everything you can from it.
Managed Expectations
Transcribing your podcast audio content makes it possible for readers to explore without committing to listening to an entire episode. A transcript also allows people to scan the recording’s content and skip to the relevant parts.
Shareable Content
Podcasts are enjoyable to listen to while driving, exercising, or doing other tasks on the go because they aren’t visually engaging. Unfortunately, parts of recordings, like a funny anecdote or quote, are difficult to share. The solution is to transcribe your content. It’s easier to pick a sentence from a transcript and post it on social media.
Conclusion
Millions of people use podcasts to learn, relax, and entertain themselves. With the growing number of listeners in recent years and high credibility scores, podcasts are useful for sharing information. However, podcast audios alone aren’t enough to reach your visibility goal.
As a podcaster, you must invest in transcription services to create a text version of your content to ensure inclusivity and accessibility and maximize SEO. Qualified human transcriptionists can take the podcasting experience to a whole new level because your content will be available for everyone and can be easily repurposed.
