07 Aug Google Makes Podcasts Playable in Search Results via @MattGSouthern
Google is now surfacing podcast episodes that can be played directly in search results.
Playable podcast episodes will be displayed in addition to regular search results when users are specifically searching for podcasts.
“Starting today, when you’re searching for a podcast about a topic on Google, such as “podcasts about Awkwafina” or “Instant Pot recipe podcasts,” we’ll show you playable episodes in Search results alongside web pages, news, images and videos.”
Google says it will surface podcasts based on its understanding what what’s being discussed in an episode.
Earlier this year, we reported that Google was automatically transcribing podcast episodes, which made them searchable in the Google Podcasts app.
That explains how Google can understand what is being talked about in individual episodes.
Eventually, Google says,users won’t need to use the term “podcast” to see episodes in search results. That means podcasts will soon be surfaced like any other content when a topic is searched for.
This functionality will also be coming to Google Assistant and Google Podcasts for the web later this year.
As part of this update, Google will soon give publishers the ability to specify where people can listen to their podcasts, such as other apps or websites.
So if a publisher has certain episodes that are available by subscription only, they can ensure those episodes are not surfaced in web searches.
These new features are available starting today, beginning with people using English in the U.S.
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