The Daily does it. Stuff You Should Know and My Favorite Murder do it. All the world’s most popular podcasts provide transcripts of their episodes. And if you ever want to gain a fraction of their listenership, you should, too.
A podcast transcript converts your audio into text format, making it more accessible and discoverable to a greater number of people.
You can generate this content on your own, with software, or by partnering with professional transcription services to produce this content. Whichever way you do it, it comes with significant advantages for your brand.
Why Do You Need a Podcast Transcript?
There are plenty of reasons why you need to post transcripts of your podcast episode. Here are some of them below:
1. Increase Your Show’s Accessibility
As a purely audio medium, podcasts on their own can be incredibly alienating to deaf and Hard of Hearing people. By posting transcribed content along with each episode, you give people with hearing impairments a way to tap into your show — whether they read it separately or use it to supplement their listening.
2. Improve Your SEO Ranking
With more than two million podcasts in circulation online, it might be hard to find new listeners without an SEO campaign. Short for Search Engine Optimization, this process increases your online visibility when people search for keywords related to your show.
Transcribed content is an important part of SEO, as it provides you with an easy way to create fresh content for your website. You can maximize your site’s impact by including relevant keywords to help you rank higher on Google.
3. Make Your Show Searchable
Apple and Spotify make it possible to search through transcribed content to find episodes and shows. You can only show up in these directories if you provide transcriptions.
How Can You Transcribe Your Podcast?
When you’re ready to convert your episodes into audio content, you have a few options.
1. DIY
For smaller podcasts just starting out, you might opt for a DIY approach to your transcriptions. This means you’ll have to sit down and listen to your past episodes while quickly typing out what you hear.
As you might imagine, it’s a time-consuming practice that may not suit your schedule, although it is entirely free.
2. Automated Transcription Services
Some podcast providers will provide automated transcription services by request for a fee. Earlier this year, Spotify announced it’s going to launch a limited beta that generates automatic transcripts for its exclusive podcasts, with a plan to provide transcripts for all shows published to its app.
These programs don’t always get it right, and the average automated Word Error Rate for most automated transcription services hover around 15%.
3. A Podcast Transcription Service
For a more conscientious transcription of your podcasts, you can work with a dedicated podcast transcription service that assigns a real-life transcriber to your project.
Unlike machines, humans can accommodate accents, industry-specific terminology, and sound interference. These professionals undergo special training to generate fast transcriptions with nearly 100% accuracy.
Podcast transcription services are ideal if you record a scientific or medical show and regularly discuss technical subjects. You can hire a transcriber with experience in your industry to eliminate errors.
Bottom Line
Transcriptions make you more accessible, boost your SEO campaign, and make you searchable on the biggest platforms. Together, these things can help your podcast soar to popularity.
