How podcasters can use appearing on podcasts to grow their show

You have a podcast. And you want people to listen to it. There are a number of ways to go about building an audience, from sending out press releases to running social media ad campaigns to hiring a marketing consultant to promote your show.

Today we’re going to talk about an often underutilized way to promote your show — appearing on other podcasts!

Now that the idea has been presented, you’re likely experiencing a “DUH!” moment, like, ‘Why didn’t I think of that before!?’ 

(And you might be wondering how to find podcasts to guest on — check out Podcast Hawk to learn more about that).

This article outlines how podcasters can use appearing on podcasts to grow their own show, including some obvious ways like talking about it directly, to some less obvious ways like backlink building.

Let’s dive in! 

Get quick and easy subscribers

Appearing on podcasts is an easy way to grow your subscriber base for your own podcast because the listeners are already using whichever app or site they listen to podcasts on. When they hear your interview, they can very quickly find your show and click the “subscribe” button. 

Think of this like picking up something from the impulse decision bins located next to the grocery store checkout lanes. You didn’t come in planning to grab that pack of gum or copy of TIME magazine, but once you looked at it you understood that it offered immediate benefit.

The same is true here — the listener of the podcast you are appearing on likely didn’t tune in planning to subscribe to your show, but after they’ve been “wowed” by your incredible story, charismatic charm, and the unparalleled benefits of listening to your show, they subscribe impulsively and instantly.

Collaborating in quick and convenient ways like this is one of the easiest ways to grow your podcast. Check out this incredible study on digital collaboration from gmelius for more easy ways to collaborate with others online to grow your podcast or business.

Add to your media portfolio

Do you remember the last time you visited the website of an outdoors gear brand, an online course for business consultants, or even your favorite podcast? You may not realize that these very different industries have something in common, but at least their websites do. 

If they have received any media attention, they likely have either a banner on the site highlighting where they’ve been featured in the past, or possible even an entire page dedicated to media coverage and linking to all of the articles and shout-outs they’ve gathered.

You can do this do!

Guesting on podcasts gives you something to showcase on your own website, as an authority builder and proof that you are legit in what you talk about on your podcast. Each time you get press coverage or appear on podcasts, highlight this on your site, shamelessly and forever.

Build backlinks

Perhaps the biggest benefit of appearing on podcasts is that it does wonders for your website’s SEO. How? It works like this: you appear on the podcast. As noted above, you discuss your own show, and your business, along with whatever it is that you’re there to promote. 

Along the way, you note a number of things you are working on, and direct the listener to find those things online.

As a way to make that easier for their listeners, the podcast show host can add links to them in the show notes. Bam — easy backlinks for you that not only direct traffic to your site, but boost your SEO at the same time by adding another do-follow backlink.

And as a bonus, you’re likely to get many backlinks if the show is widely distributed. Most podcasts are hosted by one platform, like LibSyn or Transistor, which then distributes each episode to a variety of podcast publishers — like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more.

So, because the show notes for the podcast episode you guested on will appear on each of these networks, you’re going to get a backlink from each of the networks, as well as the original hosting platform where the show is hosted.

And, if the podcast has a website, you are likely to get a backlink to your website from there also!

A game of scaled multiplication

Let’s take what we just covered above and do a quick thought exercise. You guest on a podcast, your first appearance ever. Let’s say that podcast is distributed to eight podcast networks (and that’s a conservative estimate — many are distributed to far more). 

The host does you a solid and includes an active hyperlink to your website in the show notes. Those appear on all eight networks, plus her website, gaining you nine backlinks.

Now, in case you were wondering about the basic theory behind Podcast Hawk, you can likely guess the scale that podcast-based backlinking can reach for your website’s SEO. Through Podcast Hawk, you can outreach to hundreds, even thousands, of podcast hosts looking for guests. 

If you even land 1% of those inquiries — say, eight podcast interviews — in the first six months, that’s 72 backlinks to your podcast’s website.

Spread that out over the course of a couple years, and you could be looking at literally hundreds of backlinks. While many will be repetitive, you can still gain from them, and you’ll be sure of receiving at least one fresh site linking to yours each time — the show’s, or its hosting platform.

Now that’s an SEO hack if we’ve ever heard of one!