Do episode keywords (tags) help people discover my podcast?

The short answer is no, at least not the way most people expect. The keywords you add to an episode are saved with it, but they aren't passed to the podcast directories (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music) and aren't used as a search signal. A long keyword list won't help listeners find your episodes today. For more on the field itself, see What's the purpose of the "Keywords" field?

Why keywords are capped at 10

We plan to make more use of keywords in the future, but mainly to help us understand what an episode is about, not as a direct search term. That's why episodes are capped at 10: a short, deliberate set describes an episode better than a long list, both for you and for the systems that will read them later.

What actually drives discovery

Two things carry real weight: your transcripts and your episode descriptions.

• Transcripts turn your full spoken content into searchable, indexable text, far more than a few tags ever could. RSS.com can generate them automatically. See How do I add an episode transcript? and the benefits of adding a transcript.
• Descriptions are one of the main things directories and listeners read to understand an episode. Write specific, natural-language descriptions using the words people would search for. See Formatting Episode Descriptions for Different Apps.

A note on Apple Podcasts

On Apple Podcasts, keyword tags have essentially no influence on how episodes surface. Apple uses your titles, descriptions, and show metadata instead. More on this in How transcripts work on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Organizing episodes by topic on your own website

If you want episodes grouped by topic on your own site, such as a WordPress site, set that up within that platform. For example, publish each episode as a post and use its own categories or tags. RSS.com keywords don't flow out to do this automatically. Each episode does have its own shareable page on your free RSS.com podcast site, plus an embeddable player you can drop into a post.

Need a hand with transcripts or descriptions? Just reach out.