“Long tail” is when a podcast episode has a long life of relevance and consumption. Learn what you can do to keep your old episodes alive and use them to grow your audience.

1. Create timeless content

If your older content doesn't have continuing relevance, there's not much sense in promoting it. By definition, timeless content doesn't refer to and is not restricted by any specific time. Timeless content from years ago could be equally helpful or entertaining today.

So if you want your episodes to live long and prosper, they must be designed as such.

Think about the movie industry. Old movies like It's a Wonderful Life are certainly “dated,” but the story of love, friendship, and hope will be forever relatable. That's why so many people continue watching it! (It's actually a Christmas Eve tradition in my parents' home!)

Instructional content can sometimes be difficult to make timeless, depending on the type of instruction. If it's technology based, you have to assume it will change someday. But if your instructions are based on principles, they can transcend technologies.

Unfortunately, not all content can be timeless. Podcasts about sports, news, politics, and other current events are inherently timely. Fan content, such as for movies, TV shows, music, and books are part timeless and part timely. If the content you base your show on has its own long tail, your podcast could, too. But the time of that content's release will usually be the best days for your episode about it.

As much as possible, try to keep the bulk of your podcast timeless and then it will actually make sense to promote old content later.

If your content can't be timeless, you might not benefit as much from this episode. But don't fret, because my next episode will be about better promoting timely podcasts!

2. Keep the information updated

As the world and your own perspective change, the information you shared may need to be updated. This form of maintenance is especially beneficial if your content attracts a lot of people from searches.

For example, I recently updated the show notes for episode 126, “How to Change Your Podcast Information in iTunes/Apple Podcasts (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/how-to-change-your-podcast-information-in-itunes-tap126/),” to include relevant information for the Libsyn (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/libsyn) RSS feed. I might also update the notes to reflect other changes in PowerPress and the podcast feeds in general.

Updating your show notes is easy, and that should be the first priority. Updating the podcast may be a little more difficult, because you may want to edit in the new information or re-record. But there's a simpler method!

First, as much as possible for instructional content, refer your audience to your show notes for the most updated information. If your instructions have changed enough that your recording may be overly outdated, you could simply prepend an announcement. For example, you could say, “Due to updates, the information in this episode has changed. So please [visit the show notes / visit this updated link] for the latest information.”

If you edit the episode, you'll need to re-upload it, with the same filename, to your media host. On Libsyn (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/libsyn) and most other monthly-upload-limited services, replacing an old file will probably use up some of this month's upload allotment. But Blubrry Media Hosting (https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/bhosting) offers “Long Tail Podcasting (https://create.blubrry.com/resources/podcast-media-hosting/long-tail/?code=noodle),” which allows you to replace any episode you've already uploaded with another by the same name and it won't count against your monthly limit. (The replacement must be within a 10% difference from the original file.)

If you decide the updated information is important enough to record a new episode, then consider redirecting or at least linking the old episode to the new one.

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