Should You Include Guest Names in Your Podcast Episode Titles?




The Audacity to Podcast show

Summary: <br> If you ever have a guest on your podcast, you might be wondering where to put their name. Here are some things to consider for your own podcast.<br> <br> <br> <br> Is your guest well-known to your audience?<br> <br> <br> <br> “Celebrities” come in all sizes and niches. So consider whether they'll be known to a broad audience, or even to your own audience.<br> <br> <br> <br> For example, imagine you have a podcast about dogs and you invite me as a guest. Even though I've had a couple of dogs, I'm known for talking about podcasting and helping podcasters. So your audience wouldn't know me. And any “celebrity” or influencer status I might have is constrained to a couple of small niches, and “dogs” is not one of them.<br> <br> <br> <br> Since my name would not be known to your audience or niche in this case, you could deprioritize it in your episode title or remove it altogether.<br> <br> <br> <br> And if you have a guest whose celebrity status is mainstream—like Elon Musk, Michelle Obama, President Donald Trump, or Tim Cook—then definitely put their name prominently in your episode title!<br> <br> <br> <br> Consider your SEO<br> <br> <br> <br> Proper and ethical techniques for search engine optimization (SEO) can help your podcast be found for relevant searches. And one such relevant search might be your guest's name.<br> <br> <br> <br> This usually works better for names of people outside of mass popularity. For example, while Pat Flynn is not a mainstream celebrity, he's been a guest on so many podcasts and there's been so much content about him that you probably wouldn't receive much of an SEO boost by being yet another podcast that interviews Pat Flynn. Thus, there's not as much SEO value in his name alone anymore.<br> <br> <br> <br> However, if there's someone strongly associated with your own niche and known within it, then their name could provide huge SEO benefit to your podcast. For example, if you interview a cast member from a TV show you podcast about. They're probably a true celebrity, but there's not a flood of content about them and interviews with specifically that one person. So the associations with their name can help boost your SEO.<br> <br> <br> <br> Consider your guest's SEO<br> <br> <br> <br> Now flip this around and think about the value you offer to your guest.<br> <br> <br> <br> Sidenote: having guests on your podcast should be primarily about the value they bring to your audience and the value you can give them, and much less about the value they might give you.<br> <br> <br> <br> If you can focus your conversation around your guest's expertise (and I recommend that you do!), then having their name in your descriptive episode title will help boost their SEO, authority, and influence. This works by associating those special keywords in your title with their name.<br> <br> <br> <br> Let's go back to the example of having me on your podcast about dogs. Although I like dogs (and they're much better than cats!), that's not a subject for which I'm trying to build any authority or influence. Thus, I would be less interested in having my name associated with the subject. But if you have me on your podcast to talk about getting more podcast reviews, that is a subject I want to be known for and would appreciate having my name associated with those relevant keywords.<br> <br> <br> <br> (Speaking of podcast reviews! Are you still manually checking for all your reviews and giving complicated or alienating instructions to your audience? <a href="https://mypodcastreviews.com/">Check out My Podcast Reviews to save you tons of time tracking your reviews, and get awesome new tools to help you get and use more podcast reviews!</a>)<br> <br> <br> <br> Consider what's more important: the what, or the who?<br> <br> <br> <br> First,