Search not returning podcast on title words

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Search not returning podcast on title words

I submitted a podcast which has since been accepted. What I can't figure out is why it isn't appearing in search results for words in the title.

When I originally submitted the title was simply "The BonesYard", figuring that (like most search engines) a search on the words Bones would hit. It didn't. I made sure that the word "bones" appeared in the description as a stand-alone word (I know from Apple Podcasts own search results that podcasts where a search term does not appear in the title and only appears in the description will return in a search). Still nothing. So...I expanded the title to be "The BonesYard: A Bones Podcast". Still nothing. It will appear when searching for the combined word (BonesYard) but even with the presence of the stand-alone "Bones" in the title doesn't seem to be enough to hit on the search 'Bones'

What am I missing here? TIA.

Posted on Dec 23, 2020 5:33 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 23, 2020 6:18 AM in response to TwyloZoneMedia

I suspect it's being pushed out by all the shows with 'Bones' in the title. Evidently Podcasts doesn't show absolutely everything. I searched for 'bones podcast' on google, specifying the domain as apple.com and omitting 'bespoken' because a podcast with that title was cluttering up the results. Your podcast did turn up - on page 14 of the results. I'm afraid this sort of thing is likely with common words. You may move up the results eventusallly if your podcast is popular enough: at the moment it's only got a trailer episode which won't get you much notice (particularly as the episode title poses a question which most people can't answer and so won't bother to listen to the trailer).

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Answer 2

Dec 23, 2020 8:26 AM in response to TwyloZoneMedia

I don't think there is anything you can do. Your title is quite clear, and the search for the basic title works well enough. Keywords aren't used any more, so really only the title is going to be searched. Apple don't publicize their search methods, of course, but I suspect part of the problem is the number of podcasts using that word.

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Answer 3

Dec 23, 2020 8:35 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

As a follow up:

1) "You can search for your show on Apple Podcasts using the show or episode title, author, or description metadata." (From Apple Podcast support).

2) "The term you are attempting to use is considered a generic term as it can be a common word in multiple titles, descriptions, and author names." (Also from Apple Podcast support).

Yet, a search for the term "Bones" still does not up my podcast (despite the search term being used both in the title and in the description, item #1 above), while other podcasts which not only do not include the term "Bones" in the title, but also do not include it in the description, do return for the term "Bones".

Sadly, my only conclusion is that the Apple Podcast search is severely broken but that no one at Apple believes it (even when confronted by the facts and evidence) and/or no one at Apple cares. ☹️

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Answer 4

Dec 23, 2020 8:16 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

The fact that it is showing up in Google — even if it is only on page 14 — it’s good. But I suspect that most Apple podcast users are searching within the app, and it’s failure to show up there, even for words that are in the title, is frustrating. I’m not sure if it points to an indexing problem or something more basic in the search mechanism. But either way it makes it tough to know how to fix it on my end.

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Search not returning podcast on title words

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