Podcast Guesting for Backlinks: How to Find Shows and Get the Link

A podcast guest spot can earn you a backlink, and the one worth working for is on the show's own website, on the episode page or show notes. Rephonic, a podcast database, says Spotify and Apple Podcasts links are nofollow, so the work is in picking shows that publish episode pages and link to their guests, then making sure your link lands there. Here is how to find those shows, check them, pitch them, get the link into the notes and measure what you got.

Where podcast links come from

Rephonic's guide to podcast link building lists four places a guest appearance can produce a link: the podcast hosting site, the podcast directories such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts, the podcast's own website if it has one, and other sites and social accounts that link to you because of what you said. It says the directories have nofollow links, while "podcast websites and some hosting sites" give followed links.

That difference still matters. When Google changed how it treats nofollow in 2019, it said nofollow, sponsored and ugc links "are treated as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search." In its FAQ on comment and user-generated links, the same post says that in most cases Google will "generally treat them as we did with nofollow before and not consider them for ranking purposes." So a followed link from a show's own site is the one to aim for. The directory listings still help people find the episode, but do not count on them for rankings.

Rephonic's example is Alex Hormozi, who it says has been a guest on "well over 100 industry podcasts in the past nine years", with many of his referring domains coming from podcast platforms. That is one vendor's look at one well-known guest. It does not measure how much ranking value those links pass, so judge each show on the link it gives, the listeners it sends and the people you meet.

Find shows worth pitching

Start with shows your customers listen to, not the biggest shows in your field. For links, a small show with its own website beats a large show that lives only on Spotify, since a show's own site is where Rephonic says followed links come from.

• Search a podcast database by topic. Rephonic says it lets you search by topic and filter out solo shows and inactive shows with its Active and Guests filters. Listen Notes describes itself as a podcast search engine where listeners can "find ALL podcast episodes interviewing or talking about a person."
• Look up where competitors and peers have been guests. Search Listen Notes for their names, then pitch the shows that booked them, since those shows already host guests like you.
• Search Google. Put a peer's name in quotes with the word podcast, or use the site: operator from Google's search operators help to search one show's website for guest episodes.

Put every show in a spreadsheet with its website, host name, contact route and a note on why your topic fits its audience.

Check each show before you pitch

Spend five minutes on each show before you write to it. These checks decide whether the appearance can give you a link at all.

1. Does the show have its own website, or a section of its company's site, with one page per episode? If it only exists on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, a followed link is unlikely.
2. Open the last three or four episode pages. Do they link to the guests' sites? Rephonic's advice is to check the show notes for links before you pitch, and to pitch when they "include links in the show notes."
3. Are those links followed? Right-click a guest link and choose Inspect in your browser, and check whether the link's rel attribute says nofollow or sponsored. A show can link to guests and still mark every link nofollow.
4. Is the show still active and does it interview guests? Check the dates of recent episodes.
5. Does the show charge guests? If you pay for the appearance, the link is a paid link. Google's spam policies list "Exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links" as link spam, and Google's guide to qualifying outbound links says paid placements should be marked with the sponsored attribute. A paid show can still be worth it for the audience, but count it as advertising, not link building.

Drop any show that fails the first two checks if links are your main goal.

Pitch the host

Rephonic's guide recommends a short, personal pitch: say who you are and why your expertise fits their audience, suggest specific topics, and mention episodes of theirs you have listened to. Put those pieces in this order and keep the whole message short enough to read on a phone. Here is a template:

Hi [host name], I listened to your episode with [guest] on [topic], and the part about [specific point] matched what we see with [your audience]. I run [company], where we [one line on what you do]. I could talk about [topic idea one] or [topic idea two], with examples from [where your examples come from]. I have been on [past show, if any]. Would either of those fit an upcoming episode?

Pitch the topic, not your company, and leave the link request for after you are booked.

Make sure the link lands in the show notes

The link can still go missing at this stage: the episode airs and the notes link to your homepage, your social profile or nothing.

• Before recording, send a short guest sheet: your name and title, a two-line bio, a headshot and one link. Make that link a page that matches what you will talk about, such as a guide or a tool, not your homepage.
• Ask the host how they handle guest links, so you know whether to expect one.
• Mention the resource once during the conversation, if it fits naturally. Listeners then have a reason to look for it in the notes.
• After the episode is published, open the episode page and check the link is there and points to the right page. If it is missing, send the host a polite note with the exact URL.

Measure what you got

Three things are worth tracking for each appearance: whether the link is live, whether it is followed, and how many visits it sends.

For the link itself, keep a list of episode pages that link to you. SerpCrest's bulk DoFollow checker checks a list of URLs for live, dofollow and indexed status, which also catches links that disappear when a show redesigns its site.

For visits, Google Analytics' help on campaign URLs says that by adding utm campaign parameters to the links you hand out, "you can view which campaigns refer traffic". Give each show a tagged link for its episode description, with utm_source set to the show and utm_medium and utm_campaign set the same way every time in lowercase, and you can see which appearances sent people to your site. Our post on whether clicks make a backlink count shows how to use that traffic data to test whether clicked links do more for you.

Where podcast guesting fits

Podcast guesting sits next to journalist outreach. Both need a story a host or writer wants, and both produce links as a side effect of being useful. If you already pitch journalists, the post-HARO platforms and digital PR for editorial links cover the other side of that work.

Our advice: treat podcast links as a bonus on top of an audience you want to reach, and check the show's website before you pitch. Start by listing ten shows in your field, checking each one against the five checks above, and pitching the three that link to their guests.