Ask questions via twitter! Message any question to @answers on twitter. We'll publish the question and send you a reply each time there's a new answer.
Next Question

Answered Question

 
M$1 April 20, 2009 03:58 PM

Is the Itunes Podcast database exposed to Google search engines?

Does Itunes expose this data to the Google search engine?
Interesting Question?  Yes (0)   No (0)   
RSS
 
 

Best Answer  Decided by Votes

 
April 20, 2009 09:05 PM
It is, but the previous poster is correct and it isn't the best resource.

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
Source(s):
http://alerts.google.com

http://podcasting.seocompany.ca/episode-22-podcast-promotion-feedforall/

http://beancast.us



Helpful Answer?  (0)   (0)    Tip west43rd for this answer
Permalink | Report
Voted as best: easyeboy
   Reply  
 
 

Other Answers (1)

Sort By
 
April 20, 2009 05:03 PM
You can find iTunes podcasts on google, though it's not the easiest way to go about doing so.

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.

Helpful Answer?  (0)   (0)    Tip dcanswerer for this answer
Permalink | Report
   Reply  
 
 

Answer this Question

How tips and payments work

This question has already been resolved. You may add an answer to it but you will not be eligible to win best answer or any associated tips.

Ask a Question


140 characters left
Top of Page
Buy Mahalo Dollars with Credit Card or PayPal

Top Members

This Week All Time
  • cfinke
    cfinke
    2nd Degree Black Belt
    26761 Points
    M$29.75 Earned
  • bunnyphuph...
    bunnyphuph...
    2nd Degree Black Belt
    20771 Points
    M$756.54 Earned
  • thisjustme
    thisjustme
    Green Belt
    1145 Points
    M$76.05 Earned
   See All
 

Most Popular Tags

mahalo(1752)
music(492)
iphone(481)
google(380)
online(343)
food(335)
beer(284)
money(281)
movies(276)
apple(257)
aotd(235)
health(227)
free(225)
video(221)
dog(210)
   See All
 

Categories

Welcome New Members


 
 
Mahalo Dollars are the currency of Mahalo Answers.

Each Mahalo Dollar costs $1.

Once you earn more than 40 Mahalo Dollars, you can request to be paid via PayPal. Each Mahalo Dollar is currently worth $0.75 when paid out via PayPal. Learn More

 
 

Please log in to use this function.