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At Google I/O Tuesday CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Google will soon be indexing podcasts so the engine can surface relevant episodes of a given program, based on the content, not just the title. Podcasting executives have said in the past the industry will take a big step forward if Google ever decides to give podcasts a very visible location on Google’s main search page. We reached out to several industry experts to get their take on Google’s announcement this week.
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Dave Jackson[/caption]
Hall of Famer Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting: “For the last few months, as more people complain about not being found in apps, I’ve been reminding people that there IS another search that they should focus on (Google). This is exciting news. I will be interested to see this in real life. SEO may be another skill that podcasters may need a better understanding of to have their podcasts be found. I will admit that I had been somewhat disappointed with Google and their Google Podcasts app. This shows they are taking their claim of doubling the number of podcasts listeners seriously.”
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Elsie Escobar[/caption]
She Podcast Co-Host Elsie Escobar: “Any podcaster that is truly interested in audience growth *must* make sure that they mention Google Podcasts as a call to action in the show, social media and any other front facing marketing and promotional outreach with the *same* consistency and devotion that they mention Apple Podcasts/iTunes.”
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Rob Greenlee[/caption]
VP of Podcaster Relations at Voxnest Rob Greenlee: This is great news for the podcasting space and Google Podcasts. This is one more piece added to the puzzle that is growing global Android podcast listening.
Blubbry’s Todd Cochrane: Google has reportedly been indexing audio for some time, but it is very exciting that they are going to treat audio as a first class citizen in Google search. My overall hope continues that “audio” will appear as an option in Google search the same way Video and Images are today. If they do this then those shows that are SEO optimized for Google search on their own .com should reap a windfall of content. I have been a big proponent over the years that you record your show for your audience and write your show notes for Google. But now I will be taking additional considerations in my show content to give Apple indexing engine the queues it needs to be able to determine new segments of content.
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Rob Walch[/caption]
Libsyn’s Rob Walch: It seems like every time Apple or Google or Microsoft have a keynote - the Podcast industry holds its breath to see if anyone on stage will mention the word Podcast. Back in the fall of 2005 when Steve Jobs mentioned Podcasts from a Keynote - the community was ecstatic. It is no secret that on he Google / Android side of the mobile space Podcasting has not been as successful as it is on the Apple / iOS side. Most consider it to be where future growth will come from. The higher up in the company it is for the person that mentions podcasts - the better. And yesterday the CEO of Google mentioned Podcasts and once again the community is ecstatic. Having the CEO of Google specifically call out podcasts can only be seen as good thing for the space overall.