Transcript
Hello there and welcome to Podcaster Plus the podcast offering tips and tricks, to simplify and automate your podcast. Find all the other episodes at podcasterplus.com/show.
If you’ve been hanging around in the podcasting world for any length of time, you’ve probably heard people whispering, or perhaps shouting, about something called Podcasting 2.0.
And if you’re anything like me, your first reaction might have been a bit of a sigh. Is this another tech update? Do I need to learn more code? And do I really need to care about any of this?
Well, the short answer is yes, you absolutely do. But not because it’s some shiny new toy for the tech geeks. It’s because podcasting 2.0 tags are quietly changing the game for how your show gets discovered, how your audience interacts with you, and how you can actually grow your listener base.
So today we’re going to break down exactly what these tags are, and more importantly, how they can help your podcasts to grow, minus the confusing jargon.
As is always the case, I’m going to divide the topic up into various different sections and section one is, what is Podcasting 2.0?
To understand why this matters, we have to look under the hood for just a second. Every single podcast on the planet runs on an RSS feed. It’s essentially a simple text file full of tags, a bit of code that tells apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify, your show’s name, who you are, and where your audio file lives.
For nearly two decades, that basic system hasn’t really changed. It’s been pretty rigid. If you wanted to add a transcript, or chapter markers, or a way for people to support you financially, the old RSS feed couldn’t handle it natively. You had to rely on third party workarounds, or hope a specific app built a custom feature.
That’s where Podcasting 2.0 comes in. Led by the open source community, it’s an initiative that adds new, smarter tags, to the standard RSS feed format. It gives our feeds a massive brain upgrade, allowing modern podcast apps to read rich data directly from your host. And when your feed is smarter, your growth opportunities tend to multiply.
So section two, the transcript tag for SEO and accessibility. Let’s start with the big one. As I’ve just mentioned, it’s called the transcript tag. Historically, if you wanted a transcript, you had to paste it into something like your WordPress website or blog, and hope that people stumbled across it via Google. With a new transcript tag, you can attach an open source transcript file directly to your audio feed.
Now, why does this help you grow? Because modern podcast apps can now index that text. When someone searches for a specific phrase or niche topic inside a podcast directory, your episode can show up because the app scanned your transcript, not just the title or the description of the episode. It makes your audio deeply searchable.
Plus it makes your show fully accessible to the heart of hearing community, expanding your potential audience from day one.
Okay, section three, the person tag. I really do love this one. Think of it like the IMDB credits for a movie. It allows you to explicitly tag who is on this episode. Defining who exactly is the host, who the co-hosts are, and critically who the guests are, complete with their roles and social links.
If you’ve ever had a guest on your show, you know how hard it can be to ride on their coattails for growth. With the person tag, when a listener searches for that guest name in a modern podcast directory, every single episode across the entire podcasting ecosystem that they’ve appeared on can pop up in a structured way. It makes cross discovery seamless and turns guest appearances into an automatic traffic driver.
Okay, section four, the Podroll tag, built in cross promotion. Let’s talk about the Podroll tag. We all know that one of the best ways to grow a podcast is by getting recommended by other podcasters. Usually that means doing a promo swap or begging a friend to mention your show. Well, the Podroll tag automates this beautifully. It lets you list a collection of podcasts you love directly inside your feed.
Supporting apps will display your recommendations right on your show’s profile page. It means you can partner with creators in adjacent niches, swap Podroll listings, and put your show directly in front of highly targeted active podcasts listeners, without having to do so much as lift a finger.
Okay, section five, the chapters tag for retention. Now keeping listeners engaged is just as important as finding new ones. If people switch off after two minutes, you aren’t growing. Chapters, let you split your audio into clear segments, complete with unique titles, images, and links that change as the episode plays.
If a listener is short of time, they can skip your chapters and jump straight to the segment that they most need, rather than hitting skip and leaving your show entirely. It respects their time and respected listeners tend to stick around.
Okay then, in conclusion. There are plenty of other tags like the locked tag to protect your content from piracy, and the funding tag which lets you put a direct donation link right into the apps interface. You can find out about these other tags by browsing around online, so definitely go back and check out those as well.
The beautiful thing about all of this is that it’s completely decentralised. You don’t have to wait for a massive tech giant to approve your features. If your hosting provider supports Podcasting 2.0 and many of them are beginning to do so, you can start using these tools right away.
At PodcasterPlus, we are massive fans of this because our whole mission can be summarised as giving you your time back. By leveraging automated native feed tech, like these tags, you are building a smarter, self-promoting show while focusing your energy where it belongs on the conversation.
There are some other resources at the PodcasterPlus blog as well. And also if you Google Podcasting 2.0, you will find some other bits and pieces as well.
So thank you very much for tuning into the PodcasterPlus Podcast. You can find it at podcastplus.com/show. And we will see you next time for some more tips and tricks to simplify and automate your podcast.
