One of Google’s Developer Advocates, Martin Splitt, recently gave some insight into audio blog posts. Martin was asked whether adding an audio version of a blog post could have an impact on Google’s search rankings. The short answer? Probably not.
However, Splitt still gave us some interesting information that we can put to good use for future blog pieces. Splitt went on to elaborate further: “I don’t think it will… I think it is a good thing for the user, though, so I would definitely do it — but not for SEO reasons.”
So even though adding audio versions of blog posts likely won’t make your site rank higher in and of itself, it can still help your readers navigate your site better. It’s well known by now that Google is all about creating helpful, useful and people-first content – adding audio versions of your blogs to your site may help people with vision issues and disabilities to access your content, fitting well with Google’s helpful ethos. Audio content can also make your site more accessible and engaging for those people who prefer to listen than read, even if they do not have any vision issues.
It’s not just about impressing Google with your skills either. It’s also important to consider the fact that the more helpful your content is, the more likely it is that it will be shared and distributed with other people, gaining more views, links and interactions overall.
See for yourself below!
Read the full report on SearchEngineLand here.
