Imagine youâre looking for a hilarious comedy podcast. You go to the comedy category on Apple Podcasts, click play on the first podcast you see, then suddenly youâre listening to a crime podcast... You wouldnât be too happy would you! Thatâs why Apple Podcast categories are ESSENTIAL!
3 (Apple Podcast Categories) Is the Magic Number
In Apple Podcasts, you can categorise your podcast under a grand total of 3 categories. Within each parent Apple Podcast categories you can give it a child category, which is just another way for you to get discovered by more people. Itâs important that you get these categories right or else you wonât be targeting the right people.
Every Category You Should Know
Choosing the right categories for your podcast can be the booster you need to getting discovered and growing your audience. Obviously, there are a lot more categories than the ones listed below, but these are the most popular:
Arts 🎨
- Design
- Fashion and beauty
- Food
- Literature
- Performing Arts
- Visual Arts
Business 💼
- Business news
- Careers
- Investing
- Management and marketing
- Shopping
Comedy 🤣
Education 👨🏽â🎓
- Educational technology
- Higher education
- K-12
- Language courses
- Training
Games and Hobbies 🎮
- Automotive
- Aviation
- Hobbies
- Other Games
- Video games
Government and Organisations 🏛
- Local
- National
- Non-profit
- Regional
Health 🏥
- Alternative health
- Fitness and nutrition
- Self-help
- Sexuality
- Kids and Family
Music 🎧
News and Politics 📰
Religion and Spirituality 👼🏻
- Buddhism
- Christianity
- Hinduism
- Islam
- Judaism
- Other
- Spirituality
Science and Medicine 👩🏾â🔬
- Medicine
- Natural sciences
- Social sciences
Society and Culture 🗺
- History
- Personal journals
- Philosophy
- Places and Travel
Sports and Recreation â˝ď¸
- Amateur
- College and high school
- Outdoor
- Professional
- TV and Film
Technology 📱
- Gadgets
- Podcasting
- Software how-to
- Tech news
Fun fact: The most popular categories on Apple Podcasts are christianity, music, and comedy!
Including Multiple Categories in Your RSS Feed
If youâre planning on embedding your podcast on your website, then itâs essential to get it right! To add an Apple Podcasts category with two subcategories to your RSS feed, it would need to look something like this:
<Apple Podcasts:category text="Education">
<Apple Podcasts:category text="Language courses" />
<Apple Podcasts:category text="Training" />
</Apple Podcasts:category>If youâre unsure how RSS feeds work and need a refresher, then check this out.
It's Not All About Apple Podcast Categories
Although categorising your podcast is a pretty big deal, itâs not the only thing that matters. You need to make sure your downloads, rankings and reviews are optimised for the intrinsic SEO that exists within Apple Podcasts.
Not that many people choose podcasts through browsing Apple Podcasts categories, itâs more common they use the search function. For example, searching for âComedy Podcastâ will bring up shows like The Ricky Gervais Podcast, My Dad Wrote a Porno, and so on. That means your podcast name and episode titles need to be on point otherwise youâll be going nowhere fast.
Choosing the Perfect Category
Take into consideration the content of your podcast when choosing a category, your target audience, and what your message is. Your primary category should be the one that most suits your podcast and your sub-categories should be about the more specific content. Your podcast can be removed from Apple Podcasts if you use the wrong category so get it right!
When all is said and done, choosing the best Apple Podcast categories for your show doesnât mean youâll hit the big time. It doesnât matter if theyâre super popular or really niche. Instead, being discoverable is the most important thing you can do to grow your podcast.
Download Your Podcast Blueprint
Discover industry-leading secrets and shortcuts to allow you to start a podcast FAST, with minimal fuss and no technical headaches. Enter your details to download the podcast blueprint to help you create a top-ranked podcast.
