Podcast Episode Titles : How to find the best episode names?

If selecting podcast show name was daunting and time consuming for you, then you should really pay attention to this topic. Finding good episode titles can be time consuming and frustrating sometimes. It can be made simpler if you follow some basic rules or guidelines.

If you are looking to find a good name for your podcast then you can read our article Podcast Names : How to find the right name for your podcast

Selecting the right podcast topic is crucial for your success , please read our article on PODCAST TOPICS to select the right one for you.

Why good episode titles or episode names are important?

You are putting a lot of time, money and energy behind producing your episodes, but you do not see the traffic growing? episodes on similar topics by other podcasters are doing well but why mine is not?

Well, there is a lot of competition for the same topics in the podcasting world. Listeners have a lot of choice to select from. Episode title and podcast artwork are two basic things that make a lot of impact on the decision the listener makes. Whether to download your episode or skip it!

A good episode title definitely affects the success of you show and a particular episode. A good podcast episode name or title will clearly communicate to the listener about the topic of the episode. It will grab listeners attention and make the listener download it.

A search friendly, catchy and precise episode title will make the job of listener a lot easier and chances of download are far more.

You can make the best content out there on a specific topic but if you do not have the right name, chances are your episode will be skipped over.

Guidelines for good episode titles

Popole discover your episodes through search engines and it is important for the episodes to be search engine friendly. They also need to be descriptive, catchy and should be able to communicate your episode content.

Let’s take a look at some basic rules or guidelines for episode titles.

Search engine optimized episode titles

Most of the listeners who have a topic in their mind will go to the podcast search engines such a iTunes library and search the topic. The search engines will present them with the matching episodes. This matching is done on the basis of the title tag of your episode.

A search engine friendly title needs to be descriptive in nature and should have in general the terms related to the topic. It should not be keyword stuffed. In fact, a keyword stuffed title gets negative score by the likes of Google or Apple search engines.

Most of the search engines follow semantic searches these days and filling your title with keywords does not make any sense anymore.

Name of the topic with some description is the ideal way to title your episodes. You can do some research by searching the topic yourself. Find out what is getting ranked and how the episode titles are structured. You need not copy but you can certainly get some inspirations.

For a podcast on topic of best lenses for flower photography.

 The title can be, Flower Photography: Best Macro Lenses to photograph the flowers.

Descriptive episode titles

The podcast episode title needs to be descriptive. Many people make mistake and give cryptic titles and use short forms in their titles. This will have negative impact on your download rate.

Listeners are looking for some specific information and if your title can hint to that information then listeners will download it. The chances of having this hint are more if you have a descriptive title rather than using just one or two words.

Catchy and compelling titles

If your episode title has a catchy or power word, then chances of download are more. Using word such as BEST, TOP, LEARN, GREAT, FIND OUT, BUDGET, HOW TO, HOW CAN I etc generally attracts the listeners.

You can google to find many such words and include it in your title to attract the listeners. The idea is to have a title compelling the users to click and listen.

Do not waste your title space

Many podcasters put the episode number or some other chronological information at the start of the episode title. This is a complete waste of your premium title real estate.

Putting things such as below, can occupy a lot of space at the start of your title. This does not help anybody as it wastes the premium real estate in your title tag. It makes your actual title invisible in many cases due to limited space available on the mobile screen for the title box.

• Episode No. 32 : Flower photography
• EP 32 : Flower photography
• Season 1 Episode 32 : Flower photography
• S1 E32 : Flower photography

You can put these things at the end of the title or avoid it completely. Giving preference to the actual title is more important that the episode and season number.

Podcast title examples:

Episodic Podcast Tittles:

There are many cases when the entire podcast show is designed and scripted upfront. It generally consists of a main topic and episodes are based on sub topics. In such cases keeping the main topic name constant at the start of the title makes sense followed by the sub topic description.

This keeps the theme of the topic going and gives listeners an idea about the episode content also.

Example of such episodic title will be,

1. Flower Photography: Best Macro Lenses to capture the flowers
2. Flower Photography: Best time to shoot flowers
3. Flower Photography: How to achieve the perfect lighting
4. Flower Photography: Capturing the inside details
5. Flower Photography: The right settings for sharp images

Interview podcast episode titles:

In case of an interview type podcast maximum focus should be on the guest and the topic of discussion. In many cases using a quote from the guest can also be a good option to entice the listeners to download the episode.

Listeners are searching for their favorite celebrity or personality and having their name in the episode title can score a lot of downloads.

Using some part of actual interview discussion in the title can get the listener excited and he/she may want to know more about what happened in the interview and will download it. This trick has been used in YouTube of even TV commercials successfully.

News podcast episode title:

News type podcast can create a nice episodic title by stating the event or incidence or product launch or any particular news they are covering. Again, using the power words in news titles has a lot of benefits as it attracts the listeners to download your episode over others.

News type podcasts are by far the easiest to title and getting a catchy descriptive title can be very easy.

Product review podcast titles:

Product review type podcasts have a real difficulty to get noticed as there are so many of them. Creating the right title is so very important in this niche of podcasting.

Name of the product followed by the most interesting feature you found about that product can be a goo way to title the episode.

Sometimes a make or buy advice embedded in the title can also be a good way to attract the listeners. Having a negative tone to the title suggesting not to buy the episode has also been a successful practice.

Examples of such titles:

1. One Plus 7 Review: The Lightning fast phone
2. One Plus 7 Review: The Best Display
3. One Plus 7 Review: The Flagship Killer
4. One Plus 7 Review: A Must Buy for 2019
5. One Plus 7 Review: Should you give it a pass?

What not to do in a podcast episode title

Following are some of the things that one must avoid in their episode title selection.

Keyword stuffing the title: Putting a lot of keywords in the title without having any synergy can be deterrent to your podcast and must be avoided. You can get blacklisted also for such practices.

Using Single or two word titles: Using a single or two word title gets you nowhere as the podcast search engines will never know what exactly your episode is about, and it will be too broad based a term.

Having episode number and name at the start of every show: This is just a waste of space and must be avoided.

Having too long description in the title: The title block space is very limited and the title that you use should justify the use of that space. A long description will not be visible, and listeners may not click on it to download.

Research before you finalize episode title

You should research on google and iTunes about what is working and what is getting clicked on the topic you are about to address.

Check out the most popular podcasts and how they have given their titles and descriptions can help a lot. Long time successful podcasters have this knack of coming up with good titles and no harm to learn from them.

Summery

Having a good descriptive, catchy and compelling podcast episode title is essential for the success of your podcast.

If you follow some basis rules such as having descriptive titles, using power words, doing keyword research, using celebrity names or their quotes etc., then you should be doing good.

Avoid common mistakes such one/two word titles, using episode name/number in all titles, keyword stuffing the title without making any sense of the title etc.

Do your research on google and iTunes before you finalize your episode title.

So, find a nice episode name and start podcasting!