Is the Itunes Podcast database exposed to Google search engines?
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M$2 Answers
A good way to get an indication of whether you own podcast is getting any notice is to set up a Google Alerts account. For my own show, The BeanCast, I have a range of alerts and periodically will get notices that show an iTunes link string. However, the content itself is not optimized nor accessible to the engines, so all Google is really seeing are the link pointers that launch iTunes.
The long and the short is that there is no way to manipulate or enhance exposure on iTunes, whether internally or externally. Their choices of who to feature and promote are based solely on internal preferences and proprietary traffic algorithms that they do not share publicly. Because of this, the Google rank for any link they generate is essentially meaningless since it is tied to nothing but the file name. All we know about it is that apparently subscription numbers matter, you can game that system by clicking on the subscription link repeatedly (until they catch you and kick you out) and number/quality of reviews matter. Beyond that, we're in the dark
Having said this, all Google juice is good Google juice, so make sure that the file you feed to iTunes is a long file name that includes your keywords. For instance, my latest show was a file that ran:
051_The_BeanCast_Marketing_Podcast_Some_Delicious_Dominos.mp3
Since I've started this name structure, I've found the iTunes listing popping up more on the alerts and it serves as another online reference to pump the importance of my primary website listing at http://beancast.us
Hope this helps. I've included a link to Google Alerts and a link to a good iTunes promotion blog post. I've also included a link to my own site. Since it deals with marketing issues like this you might find it helpful.
Bob
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For example, if you want to find one of the most popular ones, This Week in Tech, you can do a google search for "this week in tech podcast." The link to the iTunes store is the 7th link listed on the results page. You can a link goes to the iTunes store because it starts with http://phobos.apple.com
So although it can find podcasts for you, you're often better off going through iTunes instead.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
