Do Podcast Titles
Actually Matter?
An experiment in AI-generated content, search optimization, and what happens when you align titles with listener intent.
What If Discoverability Is the Whole Game?
Everyone obsesses over audio quality, guest bookings, and release schedules. But what if none of that matters as much as whether people can find you in the first place?
I had a theory: podcast apps have become search engines. People type questions, apps serve answers. If your title matches what someone is actively searching for, and your content delivers on that promise, you might not need much else.
It's not that content doesn't matter — it's that content only matters after someone finds you. So what happens if you optimize purely for discoverability?
The Hypothesis
If titles are optimized for search, and content delivers on the title's promise, downloads will happen organically — even without promotion.
Why "Moving to Canada"?
We wanted a topic that people don't just casually browse — something they actively search for because it matters to them. Immigration fit perfectly.
Moving to a new country isn't idle curiosity. It's tied to dreams, aspirations, sometimes necessity. People researching immigration are highly motivated listeners — they want to find good information and will engage deeply when they do.
So we created "Moving to Canada" — a podcast where every episode answered a specific question someone planning to immigrate might have.
Emotionally Driven
Tied to real hopes and life decisions
Highly Searchable
People actively look for this information
Motivated Listeners
They have a reason to listen to the end
How We Set It Up
Choose an Emotionally-Driven Topic
We wanted something people actively dream about — a topic tied to hopes and aspirations. Moving to a new country isn't just logistics; it's a life-changing decision people research deeply.
Generate Content with NotebookLM
We fed Canadian government immigration PDFs into NotebookLM and let it create audio episodes. Quick, minimal effort — focusing purely on clear, useful information.
Craft Search-Aligned Titles
Instead of generic names, we wrote titles that answered the exact questions people type into podcast apps. The title becomes the hook that matches their intent.
Upload with Zero Promotion
All 10 episodes went live in a couple hours. No social posts, no network support, no newsletter mentions. Just the podcast, the titles, and the search algorithms.
The Podcast
Moving to Canada
10 episodes • AI-generated • Zero promotion
Content Source
Official Canadian government PDF guides for newcomers, converted to audio using NotebookLM.
The Variable
Everything minimal except titles — those were carefully crafted to match search intent.
What Happened
Here's what we observed from a podcast with zero promotion and AI-generated content.
The Unexpected Part
The ~100% listen-through rate was higher than any other show on our network. This wasn't supposed to happen with AI-generated, minimal-effort content. Something else was going on.
Generic vs. Optimized
The difference comes down to search intent. Generic titles describe what you made. Optimized titles answer what they're looking for.
Generic Title
Episode 1: Getting Started
Optimized Title
How to Prepare to Move to Canada
Generic Title
Immigration Tips
Optimized Title
What To Do After You Arrive As A Newcomer in Canada
Generic Title
Chatting About Visas
Optimized Title
Step-by-Step Guide to Getting a Canadian Work Permit
Generic Title
Life in Canada
Optimized Title
Everything You Need to Know About Canadian Healthcare as an Immigrant
The pattern: Figure out what question your content answers → make that question (or its answer) your title. When the title matches the search, and the content matches the title, people stay.
Maybe "AI Slop" Isn't the Problem
The conventional wisdom is that AI-generated content is "slop" — low-quality filler people reject. Sometimes that's true. But I don't think that's what happened here.
These episodes weren't entertainment. They weren't trying to be. Someone searching "how to open a bank account in Canada as a newcomer" isn't looking for witty banter. They're looking for clear, accurate information — and that's exactly what the content delivered.
The listener had a purpose — a real problem to solve. The content served that purpose directly. No filler, no tangents. Just information they needed to make a big life decision.
The Alignment Theory
What if the magic is in the alignment between three things?
The Title
Matches what they're searching for
The Content
Delivers on the title's promise
The Listener
Has a real reason to engage
When all three align, downloads happen naturally — and people listen to the end.
Some Thoughts (Not Conclusions)
This was one experiment with one podcast. But some patterns emerged that feel worth sharing.
Podcast apps function as search engines — discoverability matters
Titles that answer questions seem to outperform descriptive titles
AI content that serves a clear purpose might not be "slop" after all
When title + content + listener intent align, retention is remarkably high
Try It Yourself
We took what we learned and built it into Showrunner — our podcast production app. Upload a transcript, get search-optimized titles and descriptions that align with listener intent.
Try ShowrunnerSo, Do Titles Matter?
Based on this experiment? They seem to matter more than we expected. But I think the real story is bigger than titles alone.
What we found suggests that when you align what people are searching for with content that genuinely serves their needs, the mechanics of growth might be simpler than we make them. No growth hacks, no paid promotion — just clear value delivered to people actively looking for it.
The "AI slop" question is interesting too. Maybe the issue isn't the AI — it's when AI content doesn't serve any real purpose. Content that helps someone accomplish something they care about might work regardless of how it was made.
Anyway, this was a fun experiment. Time to go re-title about 200 old podcast episodes.
Brian Stever