In the past, I’ve been guilty of treating episode descriptions like an afterthought. I get caught up in the fun of production – writing, editing, sound designing – and then writing episode descriptions feels like a final task to rush through before publication. But that’s a big mistake.
Episode descriptions (also referred to as episode summaries, or show notes) are one of your best chances to draw the listener in. First a potential listener sees your beautiful artwork. They read your snappy title. Then the episode description can make or break whether they decide to click play.
So what do I put in my show notes?
You might include:
- A summary that teases the episode topic (we’ll get to best practices later on)
- Guest names (spelled correctly!) – so listeners can search your guests as they listen
- Bios – what do you want the potential listener to know about your wonderful guest?
- Credits – everyone in front of the mic or behind the scenes
- Links – those referenced in the episode, or just additional material that a curious listener might want to check out after
- Warnings – if you’re dealing with difficult material, the description is one place you can add a content warning, you could even include a timecode
- Disclaimers or legally required language
- Promotion for a book, a petition, a live show for your podcast!
- A Call to Action – what do you want listeners to do after they listen?
- Follow you on social media?
- Subscribe to your newsletter?
- Visit your website?
So how do I write it?
Get the best information above the fold
Put your best foot forward and grab the reader’s attention right away. On most podcatchers, only the first 20-40 words or so are previewed before the listener clicks to read more, or scrolls past. The job of the episode description is to get them to stop and hit play.
Here’s an example of this on Apple Podcasts, first on mobile, then on web view.
Then, Spotify. In each case, you only have a sentence or so to get your point across.
So start strong. Name-drop your big get guest (if they’re not in the title), start with a provocative question or quote, and be sure to hit the crucial keywords. Don’t waste that space on phrases like “In this week’s episode,” “our host, [insert name],” or the title of your podcast.
Then, the rest
In 2020, Dan Misener, wrote a blog post about show notes where he sampled 20,000 episode descriptions and found that the average episode description is only using 429 characters.
On Apple Podcasts and other podcast players, the episode description can be as long as 4000 characters long!
And all of those extra words that most podcasters are leaving blank are searchable. Here’s your chance to include search engine optimizing keywords so that listeners who are searching their podcast apps for episodes on a specific topic or guest find your show.
Other best practices
Match the tone of the show.
If your episode is formal, keep its description formal.
If your tone is chatty, keep the episode description chatty. Describe it how you would to a friend at a party. (When I’m finding this difficult, I’ll use Google Doc’s Voice Typing function and say the episode description out loud to myself – it helps.)
Get an AI assist.
My relationship with AI is a bit fraught, both for energy consumption and human creativity reasons. That said, it can be a great ally in getting show notes done when you can no longer see the forest for the trees.
My colleague, Pedro Mendes, says he starts from the AI summary from Descript, then tweaks it. Here’s an example from an episode he produced of What Should I Do with My Money? from Morgan Stanley.
| Descript AI summary:
Natalie and David, a couple preparing for marriage, reflect on their different financial backgrounds and concerns. They seek advice on merging finances, setting financial goals, and planning for contingencies from a financial advisor, Stacey. The discussion covers budgeting, financial planning, the importance of prenups, and considerations regarding children and evolving life circumstances. |
The human-written summary:
Natalie and David are just weeks from getting married but are worried about merging their finances. They come from different backgrounds so have their own, unique fears about financial instability and setting financial goals. They need clarity about their shared future, reassurance and guidance around budgeting, financial planning, and contingency planning. In this episode of What Should I Do With My Money? listen in as Natalie and David get advice on merging their marital finances from Stacey, a Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor. |
So remember:
- Put the best stuff up top in your episode description
- Optimize your episode description for searchability
- If you need as assist, pull in an AI tool and go from there
- And finally, don’t let episode descriptions fall to the bottom of the to do. Along with the title, they’re the first thing a potential listener encounters. So put your best foot forward.
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