What Is Answer Engine Optimization and Why Podcasters Need It | 019

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Podcast

Playbook. I'm your host, Troy Lacher, and I'm here today

because I want to talk to you about how podcast discovery is

changing today. We're all used to using SEO search engine

optimization, ensuring we know our keywords, that our images

are labeled and have alt text behind them, and all the vast

other things that we need to do for SEO. But now we have a new

player on board, and that's AEO. If you haven't heard of it,

don't worry, by the end of this episode, you'll not only know

what it is, but how to use it to grow your podcast audience. This

is a growing trend, and although I am far from an expert on this,

it is something that you need to be aware of, both as a podcaster

and an entrepreneur. Today, we're going to focus mainly on

how ao affects the you as a podcaster, but a lot of the

tactics that we're going to be talking about today, you'll be

able to use for your business websites and that type of stuff

as well. So yeah, here we go.

So what is AEO? AEO stands for answer engine optimization. So

think of this as like SEO, younger, more direct cousin. We

all use SEO in about ranking our websites on Google. AEO is about

making sure your content shows up as the answer to someone's

question, and where did these answers pop up everywhere Google

features snippets. You guys have probably noticed on your Google

searches that they are now doing AI answers, and they actually

tell you where they get their answers from, as well the you

have voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, and if you're using

chat GPT, they go out and search for your queries as well. So

other AI driven search tools, we're using them more and more

every day. So instead of fighting for spot number three

or four on the search results page, AEO is about becoming the

answer, the clearest, most direct response to what your

audience is asking, and here's why it's such a big deal for us

podcasters, people aren't just searching for shows anymore.

They're asking questions. How do I grow a business without

burning out? How do I become a better leader for my team? How

do I stay motivated when business feels slow? If your

content is structured as an answer to those questions,

you're not just discoverable in Apple podcasts or Spotify,

you're going to suddenly show up in Google results, in AI chats

and in people's living rooms when they ask their smart

speaker a question. This is a huge opportunity for us all.

So how do you take advantage of AEO for your podcast? So first

up your titles. Craft your episode titles like answers

instead of calling episode generically. Marketing Tips with

Jane Doe, go with something like how to use social media

marketing to attract more clients. That's the phrase that

people are going to ask their phone or type in their Google

search. So think about what you're answering and use that as

your titles. So next is your show notes. Write them like

they're answering a question. So instead of just summarizing

phrase them around, what people search for like, what's the best

way to monetize a podcast in 2025 then lay out your answer

clearly. So part of this I just want to highlight is when Google

and other sites are doing searches, they are like YouTube,

for example, they're looking at the first couple of lines of

your summaries as well. So if your title doesn't actually

answer a question, but you've made it more SEO friendly than

AEO friendly. Use a hook in your show notes at the very

beginning. That is like answering the question, alright,

that way when AI, because we're talking AI, no matter what,

whether it's Google Chat, GPT, Alexa, Siri, whoever they're

going to be looking at those first few sentences. So that's

where we want to make sure that we are highlighting where they

can answer the or where you're answering the question, or what

the question is that you're going to answer. So your whole

summary doesn't need to be around like it's answering a

question. Make sure those first few. Lines are okay.

Number three highlight key takeaways in bullet or question

and answer format. So this question answers more for your

blogs, that kind of stuff, than we're going to use inside

podcasts, but it is good for having bullets. So search

engines love structure. So if you can format your insights as

short, scannable answers, you increase your chance of being

pulled into those snippets that the AI are grabbing.

Here's another one. Repurpose your transcripts. We all put

them on with our podcasts, or if you're not, you should be, but

don't just stick them on your site, pull out the key points

and turn them into mini FAQ blogs. If you have an FAQ page

on your website, as you're doing these episodes, add to it. Just

keep building on it from what you're answering inside your

episodes, each question and answer becomes another piece of

content that can rank all right. And don't forget about voice

search. People don't talk to Alexa the way they type into

Google. They use full sentences such as, what's the best podcast

for leadership tips. That means your descriptions should sound

conversational, not robotic. So you definitely want to keep a

more casual tone to your episodes talking like real

people talk, alright.

And finally, Episode recaps, so post them on your site as

episode highlights, make them short, clear and answer

orientated. The more you do this, the more your site becomes

a go to resource that AI and search engines trust and with

those if you're doing blog posts with your episodes and you're

publishing on YouTube as well, and highly recommend that you're

doing on YouTube, because Google and YouTube are owned by the

same company. So when Google's doing searches, it's going to

search YouTube as well, embed those YouTube videos into your

blog as well. It just helps bring everything back together

and creates bat links and that type of thing.

So here's the big takeaway from all this. AEO makes your podcast

discoverable in a whole new way by shaping your content as

answers to your audience's real questions. You're not just

producing episodes. You're building a resource that Google,

Siri, Alexa and all the other AI tools want to use to recommend

you. So let's step back. I want you to stop and think about

this. What's one small tweak you could make to your next episode?

Could you rephrase your title as an answer to a question or as

the question itself? Could you add bullet point takeaways to

your show notes? Every step puts you ahead of most podcasters out

there, so even one, you're further than a lot of people.

And hey, if this has got you thinking, share it with another

podcaster. You know, because the more of us using AEO, the more

discoverable our shows will become. All right, this is a

short and sweet one, so until next time happy podcasting you.