There are a number of ways to find podcasts. Let’s start with a search engine that you probably know: Google. In the last section, I suggested that considering who makes podcasts will help us find them. For example, does NASA have a podcast?
Search for podcasts using Google
- Go to Google.com
- Enter “NASA, podcast” in the search field
- View results
- Check to see if other institutions have a podcast. For example, the University of Minnesota, The Wall Street Journal, Library of Congress…
Finding Random Podcasts Using a Generic Search Engine
Let’s say that we want to find a podcast that isn’t necessarily associated with an institution. For example, maybe I want to hear an independent podcast about knitting, hunting, or traveling. You can still use Google to search for these. You’ll get better results if you consider these tips.
- In Google or whatever other search engine you like to use, enter keywords as you normally would, (example, history, Athens, government, democracy)
- Add “podcast” to your search terms.
- Include “rss” in your search terms. The reason for this is that podcasts have RSS feeds. These “feeds” are files that contain information about the podcast (e.g., show title, audio file location).
- Also include “episode” in your search terms. Podcasts are typically distributed as episodes, just like television episodes. So you will typically find references to them on any podcast website.
Search for podcasts using Google
- Go to Google.com
- Enter “[Your Search Terms]” + “podcast, episode, rss” in the search field. For example: “Knitting, podcast, episode, rss”.
- View results
Podcast Directories
There are also specialized search engines that you can use to find podcasts. Let’s take a look at some of those.
Next