Coax Over Clickbait: Writing Better Episode Titles

Episode titles are vital to your podcast. They help with organic growth of your show, structuring, and branding as a first touch point. A searching listener will see your show name first and then probably will scroll through the episode list to see what interests them. A long time listener will see the title first as it pops in their new releases feed or just up next if they auto-queue. Even before a description, the podcast episode title sets the stage for the listener. How do you write a good title for your episodes?

First, you have to understand who your listener is. Have you written out a profile for them? Maybe you’re trying to reach your own congregation or a specific denomination. Maybe you’re trying to reach moms or youth. You have to figure out what language they are using when they search the internet. This will develop over time so don’t think you need an exhaustive list right away. Ask your current listeners how they found you. Go to AnswerThePublic.com or Google Search console and see what searches are more popular regarding your episode’s topic.

Once you’ve got your head wrapped around that, time to actually write your title. Your goal is to coax browsers into listening. You can use AI but here are three guiding principles to write by:

• Keep it around 60 characters – This is to avoid the title from scrolling on a mobile phone screen. It’s not the end of the world but it is annoying to listeners (myself included). Sometimes it is inevitable though with long guest names or detailed topics. Don’t sweat those.
• Avoid episode numbers – We’ve got metadata people! The season and the episode are stuffed in the hidden stuff on the back end. You don’t need to take up the space. Not to mention Apple has explicitly said they don’t want episode titles to have the episode number. Nowadays most players should be in the same boat (I hope).
• Don’t keyword stuff – This is like when you see that Amazon product with a bajillion adjectives in the title. That may work in Amazon but it does the opposite for podcasts. Pick one or two of the most efficient keywords for the episode and use them. You can use a few more in the description if you really want to.

Ultimately I see two camps for episode titles: books or blogs. Book titles are punny, curious and memorable. They spark a little intrigue but don’t try and lay out the whole picture for you. An example would be “The Lowly Sparrow” or “Sparrows & Lilies” when talking about Matthew 10:29 and how we can know God is watching over and caring for us.

Blogs titles lean on clout, search language, and are highly emotional to entice clicking. The example for the Matthew verses would be “What does Jesus say about worry?” Or “Does God Really Care About Me?” Or “You’re Worth More Than Birds” We don’t want to deceive people and not deliver what we say cause then we turn into clickbait. And a click baiter is no friend of mine. Either camp is valid but you will have better organic traction with the article version.

I like the book title one more myself but what do you think? What types of episodes titles make you click every time? Let me know by messaging me on Instagram or Discord.