Welcome to The Podcasting Problem Solver
Leah Bryant [00:00:02 - 00:00:53]:
[00:00:02] Welcome back to The Podcasting Problem Solver. [00:00:04] I'm Leah Bryant, your go-to podcast growth strategist, and I'm here to help you stop treating your podcast like a hobby and start using it as the strategic lead gen tool it should be. [00:00:15] Here's a question. [00:00:16] How many episodes have you published in the last year? [00:00:20] Now, here's a follow-up. [00:00:22] How many of those episodes are really working for you right now? [00:00:28] Well, most podcasters are stuck on this hamster wheel thinking they need to keep pumping out new content to keep growing. [00:00:35] And yes, consistency does matter. [00:00:37] Obviously, I've talked about this before, but what if I told you that sustainable growth comes from making what you've already created easier to find over time? [00:00:49] That's what we're talking about today. [00:00:51] How to build visibility that multiplies.
Why Your Podcast Back Catalog is a Hidden Marketing Powerhouse
Leah Bryant [00:00:54 - 00:01:28]:
[00:00:54] How your back catalog can become your best marketing team, and why the pressure to constantly produce might be keeping you from the momentum you actually want. [00:01:05] So let's talk about what this really feels like. [00:01:07] You're publishing every week, maybe every other week. [00:01:11] You're batching, you're planning, you're showing up. [00:01:13] And when a new episode drops, you see that little spike in downloads, maybe a share or two, and it feels really good for a minute. [00:01:20] And then nothing. [00:01:23] The episode just kind of sits there. [00:01:26] It's not getting discovered by new people.
Leah Bryant [00:01:28 - 00:01:57]:
[00:01:28] It's not pulling its weight. [00:01:30] And so you think, okay, I just need to publish the next one and maybe that one will hit. [00:01:35] So you do. [00:01:37] And the cycle repeats. [00:01:40] Meanwhile, you've got this entire library of episodes just sitting there. [00:01:44] 20 episodes, 50, maybe it's 100. [00:01:48] All that work you put in, the research, the recording, the editing, and they're just basically collecting dust. [00:01:54] I want to share a painful truth with you.
Why Most Podcast Episodes Go Unnoticed After Launch
Leah Bryant [00:01:58 - 00:02:39]:
[00:01:58] If your episodes are not optimized for discoverability, they're only really working during the week that they're published. [00:02:06] And that means you're constantly starting from zero. [00:02:10] So let's talk about stacking visibility. [00:02:13] Because this is where things get really interesting. [00:02:16] So you know how compound interest works, right? [00:02:19] You put money in, it earns interest, and then that interest starts earning more interest. [00:02:24] So over time, the growth accelerates without you doing more work. [00:02:28] Well, podcast SEO works the same way, if you set it up right. [00:02:33] So when you optimize an episode for discoverability, it doesn't just work during the week it's published.
What is Compounding Visibility in Podcasting?
Leah Bryant [00:02:40 - 00:03:38]:
[00:02:40] No friend. [00:02:41] It keeps getting found in search results, in platform recommendations, in the quote unquote related episode feeds. [00:02:47] Every listen it gets tells the algorithm, AKA those robots, hey, this is relevant for this topic, which means it's more likely to get shown to the next person searching for the same thing. [00:03:00] So what does that mean? [00:03:02] Well, one well-optimized episode from 6 months ago can keep bringing in new listeners today. [00:03:09] And those listeners might just go back and listen to other episodes, which signals to the algorithm, those lovely robots, that your entire catalog is valuable, which makes your next episode easier to discover. [00:03:24] That's compounding. [00:03:26] And the problem is that most podcasters don't really optimize, and then they just move on. [00:03:32] They're not thinking about how that episode will continue to work for them in 3, 6, or 12 months from now.
Should You Optimize Old Podcast Episodes or Focus on New Content?
Leah Bryant [00:03:39 - 00:04:19]:
[00:03:39] And that's where the momentum gets lost. [00:03:42] All right. [00:03:42] So here's a question I get all the time. [00:03:46] Leah, should I be going back and fixing old episodes or should I focus on making new ones better? [00:03:52] And my answer is both, but always a but. [00:03:59] Strategically. [00:04:00] And here's what I mean. [00:04:02] If you've got episodes that are already performing well, as in they are getting steady listens, showing up in your analytics consistently, those are your compounders. [00:04:14] Those are the ones worth optimizing further, right? [00:04:17] So we want to update the title if it's too big.
How to Analyze Your Podcast Back Catalog for Optimization
Leah Bryant [00:04:19 - 00:05:16]:
[00:04:19] We want to make sure the description is on point with SEO. [00:04:23] All the good things, right? [00:04:24] The hook at the beginning. [00:04:26] Because every small tweak to an episode that's already working, well, that is only going to double or triple its reach without you recording a single new minute of content. [00:04:36] Great, right? [00:04:38] On the flip side, if you've got an episode that maybe never really landed, you have to ask yourself, is the topic still relevant? [00:04:46] Is there a search demand for it? [00:04:48] Because if the answer is no, your time is better spent creating something new that will actually fill that gap. [00:04:56] Now, here's the tricky part about analyzing your own catalog. [00:05:00] You don't have that pattern recognition yet. [00:05:03] Okay. [00:05:04] You're looking at your dashboard thinking every episode should perform the same way, or you're anchoring to the episodes you personally loved recording, but the algorithm doesn't really care about our feelings.
Leah Bryant [00:05:16 - 00:05:59]:
[00:05:16] I know it should, but it doesn't. [00:05:18] It cares about structure. [00:05:21] Clarity, and search demand. [00:05:23] I can't tell you how many times I've run a Get Found audit and discovered that the episode of a podcaster thought was a dud is actually their best performer for bringing in cold traffic. [00:05:35] Or the opposite, the episode they're most proud of has a title so clever that no one's really searching for it. [00:05:42] You need outside eyes, someone who can read that data without the emotional attachment. [00:05:48] So here's the lens I used. [00:05:50] Would this episode answer a question someone is actively searching for right now? [00:05:56] If it's yes, then I want you to optimize it.
The Truth About Podcast Download Spikes (and What Actually Grows Your Show)
Leah Bryant [00:05:59 - 00:06:42]:
[00:05:59] If it's no, let it rest and create something that will. [00:06:03] And I get it. [00:06:04] Download spikes, they feel good. [00:06:07] You publish an episode, you promote it, you see that little bump in your dashboard. [00:06:11] Hello, dopamine hit, right? [00:06:13] Check, check. [00:06:15] But what most podcasters don't realize is that that spike doesn't mean anything if the episode stops working after one week. [00:06:23] What builds a sustainable show is when episodes keep getting discovered months after you publish them. [00:06:30] When someone finds episode 47 because they search for a specific problem, and then they listen to episode 12, and then they listen to episode 31, and then listen to episode 62 because the algorithm served them up as related content.
Backlog Visibility: Your Key to Consistent Podcast Growth
Leah Bryant [00:06:43 - 00:07:35]:
[00:06:43] That's backlog visibility, and it's the difference between a podcast that requires constant hustle to maintain and one that grows while you're off living your life. [00:06:54] So think about it this way. [00:06:56] Would you rather have 100 episodes that each got a spike and then went quiet, or 50 episodes that keep bringing in new listeners every single week? [00:07:07] I mean, I know which one I would go with. [00:07:09] And that math is pretty clear, right? [00:07:11] I want to tell you about a client I worked with last year. [00:07:14] Jen is a business coach and she'd been podcasting for about 2 years when she came to me. [00:07:19] She had over 90 episodes published. [00:07:22] She was showing up every week like clockwork and she was exhausted because even though she had this massive library of content, her downloads were plateaued. [00:07:31] She'd get a little bump when a new episode went live and then nothing.
Leah Bryant [00:07:36 - 00:08:03]:
[00:07:36] She felt like she was running in place and going nowhere. [00:07:39] So when I pulled her analytics, here's what I found. [00:07:42] About 70% of her listeners were happening in that first week. [00:07:46] And after that, the episodes just basically disappeared. [00:07:49] People weren't finding them and the algorithm wasn't recommending them. [00:07:53] They were just sitting there collecting dust. [00:07:56] So I didn't want her to create more content. [00:07:59] Instead, I went back and I optimized her top 20 episodes.
Leah Bryant [00:08:03 - 00:09:02]:
[00:08:03] The ones that had performed the best during the weeks that they went live. [00:08:07] We clarified her titles, rewrote those descriptions to match what people were actually searching for, and made sure that the structure communicated relevance to the platforms. [00:08:17] And within 60 days, those 20 episodes were accounting for more than half of her total monthly downloads. [00:08:24] Episodes she'd published 8, 10, 12 months earlier were suddenly getting discovered by new listeners every single day. [00:08:32] Here's the thing that I want to share. [00:08:34] Jenna stopped feeling like she had to publish every single week to keep the momentum because her catalog was finally doing the work for her. [00:08:42] And that's what compounding visibility looks like in practice. [00:08:45] That kind of catalog analysis, figuring out which episodes to optimize, which ones to let rest, where the actual opportunities are hiding, that's the foundation of every Get Found audit that I run because Most podcasters can't see their own patterns.
Leah Bryant [00:09:02 - 00:09:38]:
[00:09:02] You're too close. [00:09:03] You remember the episodes that felt good to record or got nice comments, but you can't always see which ones the algorithm is really trying to work with. [00:09:13] Anyway, more on that in a minute. [00:09:14] Let's talk about what sustainable momentum actually looks like, because I think there's some confusion here. [00:09:21] A lot of podcasters think momentum means more downloads every single week. [00:09:25] And sure, that's one measure, but real momentum, it looks like this. [00:09:31] Your podcast keeps attracting new listeners, even when you take a break. [00:09:36] Your back catalog becomes a referral engine.
What Does True Podcast Momentum Look Like?
Leah Bryant [00:09:39 - 00:10:13]:
[00:09:39] You start seeing listeners convert to leads from episodes you published months ago. [00:09:44] And people are finding you through search instead of just through social media hustle, okay? [00:09:49] And that, my friends, is momentum phase of my Seamless Podcast Framework. [00:09:53] Is when your podcast starts generating growth on its own because the foundation is built for discoverability. [00:09:59] The structure is clear and the visibility is stacking over time. [00:10:04] For an example, I will use my own podcast. [00:10:06] The beginning of January, my grandmother had passed away. [00:10:09] I had taken some weeks off of my podcast suddenly. [00:10:12] I didn't have anything prerecorded.
Leah Bryant [00:10:14 - 00:10:55]:
[00:10:14] I just didn't publish anything. [00:10:15] And you know what? [00:10:16] January was my highest month of downloads since my podcast has been in existence, even with taking a break. [00:10:23] Because you know why? [00:10:24] Because my old episodes are optimized and they were pulling the weight. [00:10:28] They were doing the work for me. [00:10:30] And the beautiful thing is, once you've got that kind of momentum, you can actually ease up on publishing pressure, right? [00:10:37] Without losing ground. [00:10:38] If you skip a week, totally fine. [00:10:41] Not saying that you should, but if you wanted to, you can focus on creating fewer, better episodes because you know your catalog is working for you in the background. [00:10:50] That's sustainability and strategy, and that's what makes podcasting worth the effort.
The SEAMless Podcast Framework: Attraction and Momentum
Leah Bryant [00:10:55 - 00:11:42]:
[00:10:55] So let's bring this back to the Seamless Podcast Framework for a second. [00:10:59] We're really talking about two phases here, attraction and momentum. [00:11:04] So attraction is about making sure your episodes are discoverable, that the algorithm, those lovely robots, can understand what you're about and who you're for. [00:11:13] That's the visibility piece where optimization happens. [00:11:17] Now, momentum is what happens when that visibility compounds, right? [00:11:22] When your catalog starts working together to pull in new listeners, build that authority, and create consistent growth without the constant hustle. [00:11:30] So most podcasters are stuck in execution mode. [00:11:33] They're just cranking out content all the time, right? [00:11:36] Without building the attraction layer underneath. [00:11:39] And that's why they never get momentum.
Leah Bryant [00:11:43 - 00:12:26]:
[00:11:43] But when you optimize strategically, when you think about your podcast as a library that grows in value over time instead of a constant treadmill, that's when everything shifts. [00:11:57] And if you're listening to this and thinking, okay, I have no idea if my back catalog is working for me or just sitting there collecting dust. [00:12:04] Well, that's exactly what I do. [00:12:05] And that's exactly what I help you figure out. [00:12:08] When I run a Get Found Audit, here's what you get. [00:12:11] First, I review your entire podcast SEO hierarchy. [00:12:15] That's your show-level metadata and how it connects to your episode-level optimization. [00:12:20] Because if your foundation is not clear, even great episodes will not be discovered the way they should.
How a Podcast Get Found Audit Works
Leah Bryant [00:12:27 - 00:13:22]:
[00:12:27] Then I go through your episode metadata one by one. [00:12:31] Titles, descriptions, all the stuff that the algorithm actually reads to decide who to show your podcast to. [00:12:39] What I do is I go through and I show you exactly which episodes are sending those signals and which ones are basically invisible. [00:12:46] From there, we'll pull your analytics and I'll show you which episodes are compounding, right? [00:12:52] Stacking all those wins and which ones are kind of meh, flatlined after that publish week. [00:12:59] And you'll see exactly where visibility is working and where it's missing. [00:13:04] And then you get a prioritized action plan specifically for you. [00:13:08] I'm talking episode by episode recommendations up to 10. [00:13:12] I will give you titles to update with the descriptions, and then I'll also give you episodes to promote and the ones to kind of let rest and maybe record something new.
Leah Bryant [00:13:22 - 00:14:13]:
[00:13:22] We also identify your quick wins, and these are episodes that are this close to breaking through but need maybe 1 or 2 tweaks to start that compounding visibility. [00:13:32] I'll show you the gaps in your catalog, the topics people are actively searching for that maybe you haven't covered yet, so your next episodes can fill that real demand instead of just adding to the pile, right, and collecting dust. [00:13:45] Because you've already done the work to create episodes. [00:13:48] The question is whether they're set up to keep working for you between busy seasons, between life happening, between launches. [00:13:58] If you want your podcast to grow without constant pressure to produce, visibility has to compound. [00:14:04] And that's exactly the lens I use inside the Get Found Audit. [00:14:07] You can book yours at leahbryantco.com/getfound. [00:14:11] I'll drop the link in the description below.
Make Your Podcast Work Harder (Not You!)
Leah Bryant [00:14:13 - 00:14:50]:
[00:14:13] And don't forget to use the code PODCAST for a special thank you. [00:14:18] All right, so here's what I want you to walk away with today. [00:14:21] Sustainable podcast growth. [00:14:23] Comes from making what you've already created easier to find over time. [00:14:29] Your back catalog isn't just old content. [00:14:32] Do not record it and just let it sit there. [00:14:35] No, it's a compounding asset if you treat it that way. [00:14:38] Okay, so stop thinking you have to publish every week to keep momentum and start thinking about how every single episode you create can keep working for you long after you hit publish.
Leah Bryant [00:14:51 - 00:15:15]:
[00:14:51] That's the shift and your strategy. [00:14:54] And that's how you build a podcast that really supports your business instead of draining your energy. [00:14:59] If this episode hit home, send it to a podcaster friend who needs to hear it. [00:15:03] And if you're not already subscribed, go ahead and hit that button so you don't miss the next one. [00:15:07] And remember, keep your podcast purposeful, keep that back catalog working for you, and keep your growth seamless. [00:15:14] And I'll see you next time.
