This week Google rolled out the ability to listen and subscribe to podcasts to Google Play Music. The Google Search app for Android has some new podcast-related features as well.
Now you can search for a podcast from the Google search bar, and a new podcast card will be displayed featuring the three latest episodes from that podcasts, complete with information such as episode length and description. There is also an option to expand the card into the full list of playable episodes.
Tapping to play a podcast episode will allow you to control it via a panel that pops up at the bottom of the screen, as well as within the notifications tab. Playing a podcast via Google search will still allow you to play it in the background as you would with a regular podcast.
A key difference between podcasts in Play Music and podcasts in Google search is that podcasts have to be submitted to Play Music in order to be indexed. Google search is able to pick up and play podcasts whether they have been submitted to Play Music.
This makes it easier than ever for listeners to find podcasts, and for podcasters to have their work discovered. If you haven’t yet, it’s still recommended to manually submit your podcast to Google Play Music, just as we have here at SEJ. That being said, we encourage you to subscribe to SEJ’s Marketing Nerds via Google Play for the latest marketing tips from renowned insiders.
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