Many of these podcasts also represent great link building opportunities.
In this guide, you will learn how to use podcasts to create multiple links to your website:
Podcast link building is where you show up as a guest on industry podcasts and get a link from an episode page.
For example, I was a guest on the Mastermind.fm podcast a while ago, and there is a link to Ahrefs on my episode page:
As long as you choose podcasts to propose to wisely, you’re pretty much guaranteed a link from them.
Creating podcast links has three main benefits:
- Each episode only lasts about 60 minutes.
- It’s a great way to link to the home page and increase site authority.
- You can promote your brand and content to new audiences.
Creating podcast links is pretty straightforward and involves four steps:
- Find industry podcasts
- Check out the shows
- Launch them
- Record your episode
Let’s go through them step by step.
1. Find industry podcasts
Your first point of reference is to build a large list of potential podcasts. There are a few ways to do this. I recommend that you create a blank spreadsheet, perform all of these tactics, and add podcasts to the sheet as you go.
Search on Google
Google is your best friend when it comes to finding podcasts in your niche. Search for the best podcasts in the business and you should see plenty of listings. You may also see a podcast carousel in the search results.
If you see a podcast that looks promising, add it to your sheet. Write down the podcast’s name and website.
Search for Apple podcasts
Open the Apple Podcasts app and search for your topic. Press “see all” on shows to see all podcasts related to your topic.
Write down all the promising podcasts in your sheet.
Prolific reverse engineer podcaster
If you know a prolific podcast host in your industry, link their website home page to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. Then choose the “exact URL” mode from the drop-down menu, go to Backlink report and filter the results with “episode” in the title of the referring page.
Review the results and add any relevant podcasts to your spreadsheet.
2. Check out the shows
Every podcast on your list won’t be worth submitting, and some will be higher priority than others. This is why control is so crucial, as you don’t want to waste time throwing the wrong shows.
Here is a simple procedure for checking:
It’s best to start with the link data, as you can automate that process using Ahrefs’ Batch Analysis tool. Just paste the websites from the list, export the data, then copy and paste the Domain Rating (DR) data and merge it into the existing list.
DR shows the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile compared to other sites in our database. As such, links from pages on high DR websites tend to pass more “authority”.
Podcasts with low DR websites don’t need to be excluded from the list, but it’s usually best to prioritize those with high DR websites if links are your priority. To do this, sort your list by DR from highest to lowest.
Now it’s a simple matter of browsing the list to see if the podcast:
- Links to guests.
- It is still running.
Side note.
You will already know the answer to the first podcast question you found using Ahrefs’ Site Explorer.
If both of these things are true, keep the podcast on your list. If not, remove it.
NOTE
Remember that links aren’t the only benefit of being a host on a podcast. If you find one that doesn’t connect with guests but has a large audience, it might be worth introducing, simply for the display.
3. Present the shows
Showing up to a show is simple enough. You can follow their application process or contact by email and introduce yourself as a guest.
Always follow the application process if the show has one, as anyone reading the presentation will likely ignore introductions from those who cannot follow simple instructions.
For example, the TechSEO podcast has a submission form for guests:
It won’t make much sense to contact Dan (the podcast co-host) by email here because he clearly doesn’t want to receive introductions that way and is unlikely to want a host who can’t follow basic instructions.
If the podcast doesn’t have an application process, you’ll need to hunt down the host’s email and contact them that way (here are six ways to find email addresses).
As for the camp itself, everyone’s recommendations here will be slightly different. But in general, you will want to cover the three Ws:
- Who? Explain who you are, who you work for, etc.
- Why? Explain why you would be a good podcast host. Sell yourself.
- What? Explain what you want to talk about.
Don’t tear your “thing” out of thin air. It should be something that is likely to appeal to show audiences, hasn’t been covered before, and aligns with your experience.
If possible, introduce something you’ve written or talked about before. You can then use it as notes for the podcast episode.
For example, if I were to contact the TechSEO podcast, it would make sense for me to present an episode about duplicate content. This is because the topic clearly appeals to the show’s audience and is something I’ve already written about.
And as I perused the story of the episodes, I realized that the show has apparently not yet addressed this topic:
PRO TIP
Send submissions in batches, as most hosts are unresponsive. If you can send five to 10 per week, you should be able to create a fairly consistent stream of podcast appearances.
4. Record the podcast
Registering your podcast is the easy part because the host typically handles most of the heavy lifting. You just have to show up on time and answer their questions.
Here are some tips to make sure things go well:
- Invest in a decent microphone
- Make sure you have a stable internet connection
- Find a quiet place (no cafes)
Usually, it will take a few weeks for your episode to be released. The host will likely notify you when she does.
Yes. Podcasts often attract links from listeners who reference guests in their content. This makes hosting a podcast another way to potentially attract backlinks.
For example, if we connect Authority Hackers to Site Explorer, go to Best from Link report and filter pages with “#” in the titles, we see that some of his podcast episodes have attracted backlinks.
Side note.
We are using “#” as a footprint because Authority Hacker uses the format # 000 for the episode number in the page title.
However, hosting a podcast takes a lot of work, so it’s not something we recommend doing purely for link building purposes. Links are more of an added benefit.
Final thoughts
Podcasts are a great way to get more links and exposure for your brand. You can also mention other relevant content during the podcast to expose it to a wider audience and that could lead to even more backlinks.
Do you have questions? ping me on Twitter.
