150. The One Podcasting Setting That's Killing Your Growth

Are you unknowingly sabotaging your podcast’s success with one overlooked setting? In this episode, I’m sharing why your podcasting category isn’t just a formality; it’s a powerful tool that can either boost or bury your show. You’ll learn how to strategically choose the right category, why subcategories give you a competitive edge, and the exact move that helped me hit #12 on the Apple Podcasts charts (with no paid ads and a small audience).

Resources Mentioned:

• The Most Crowded Categories in Apple Podcasts (April 2021 Edition): https://pacific-content.com/the-most-crowded-categories-in-apple-podcasts-april-2021-edition-273b3d59866e/ 

Take Your Next Step:

• Podcast Startup Academy: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/academy
• Podcast Growth Collective: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/collective
• A free consultation: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/consult

This episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Transcript

Are you unknowingly burying your podcast in a sea of 150,000 others just because of one simple setting? Most podcasters are making this mistake, and it's costing them chart rankings, visibility, and growth. Hey there, I'm Julia Levine, AKA the Podcast Teacher, and you're listening to Podcasting for Solopreneurs, the show that helps online business owners grow their podcast to get more listeners, leads and sales. Today, we're talking about something you probably haven't thought about very much, but that you absolutely should, and that is your podcasts category. Yep, it's that little dropdown that you selected when setting up your podcast. It might be one of the biggest factors that determine whether you rank on the charts or get completely ignored. So in this episode, you'll learn why your podcast category matters way more than you think. How to choose the Right one Strategically and the exact reason I hit number 12 on the Apple Podcast charts when I launched without a huge audience or paid ads, let's dive into the quote unquote small pond strategy that could change your entire podcasting game. Actually, before we talk strategy, let's quickly break down what podcast categories are and why they matter.

Podcast categories are like genres for your show. Think of them as the labels that Apple podcasts, Spotify, and other directories use in order to group similar content. So when you browse in the business section or health and fitness, those are categories. But here's where it gets interesting. Each of those broad categories also contains subcategories. So under business, you'll find things like entrepreneurship and investing. Under health and fitness, you can choose nutrition or mental health or something else. When you first set up your podcast, you choose one or more categories in the back end of your podcast hosting platform.

Somewhere like buzzsprout. Most platforms allow you to select up to three. Apple podcasts will only accept the first one that you choose, and so this is the most important one. But other directories will take more than one. Most podcasters just pick the most obvious one, choose only one, and move on. That is where they go wrong. Because where your show lands in these categories can directly impact how easily people find you and whether you ever show up in the rankings. And if you're trying to climb the charts, that category choice could make or break your momentum.

Here's where most podcasters go wrong, and it's so simple. It's easy, easy to miss. They simply choose a broad category without a second thought. They choose business or health or sports. These are all massive buckets. And that feels logical. It feels safe. But here's the problem.

When you choose a huge category, you are competing with hundreds or thousands of other shows. You might be incredible, but now you're a tiny fish in an ocean hoping to be noticed. But what if you didn't have to swim in that ocean? I'm getting a little carried away with the metaphors in this episode, but think of podcast categories like Ponds. If you want to rank higher and gain visibility faster, you. You want to be a big fish in a small pond. Choosing the right category, the one that fits your content but is the least crowded, will give you a real edge. And here's the best part. You don't need a huge audience in order to start climbing the charts.

You just need to be in the right place. This is a decision that most podcasters overlook because it seems so simple, but it's actually hurting their chances at discovery. So don't just settle for being buried in an overcrowded list. Be intentional and choose the pod that sets you up to stand out. Let me show you how this works in real life, using my own podcast as the example. Of course, my show is all about podcasting as a tool for business growth. Naturally, I could have placed it under the business category. That would have made sense, right? Business owners, entrepreneurs, they are my people.

But I dug deeper. The core content of my podcast is educational. My brand is the podcast teacher. I teach people how to podcast effectively with strategy tools, growth hacks, monetization tips, et cetera. That's not just business. That is instructional content. So instead of just defaulting to the category of business, I explored the how to category. This is still a great fit for me and what I do, but it has way less competition.

In 2021, the business category had about 150,000 podcasts. The how to category had around 13,000. That is a huge gap. Even though those numbers have changed by now, the difference in saturation is likely still pretty dramatic. So I chose the how to category. And that one decision played a major role in helping me hit number 12 on the US charts when I launched. Not because I gamed the system, but because I understood it. And I used that understanding to position my show where it could actually be found and seen and listened to.

So how do you choose the right category for your show? Start by doing your research. Take a few minutes to browse the podcast directories and explore. Explore the categories that might align with your content. Look at the top shows in each one and ask yourself, does my podcast belong here? Who am I competing with? What kinds of listeners are browsing in this space, there's a great article that I always recommend. It's called the Most Crowded Categories in Apple Podcasts, the April 2021 edition. I'll drop a link for you in the description now. Yes, it is from 2021 and yes, we're in 2025. But don't worry, while those exact numbers are outdated, the trends are still useful.

And this particular article has some really great visuals in it that are really helpful. When you're looking at this, you are not just looking for the smallest pond. You're looking for the right small pond, one where your content fits naturally and you have a chance to stand out. And here's my reminder that we're not trying to game the system here. If you run a general sports show, putting it into the volleyball category just because it's super tiny, that isn't going to help you. It's going to hurt your credibility and it's going to confuse listeners. You still need to play within the rules of the system, and the best part is that you can update your categories at any time inside your hosting platform. If you were someone who just chose one category because you didn't realize the importance of choosing all three, go in and choose the other two now.

These tiny tweaks could cause the boost that you've been waiting for. If you've been treating your podcast category like a checkbox, now you know better. This is not just a formality, it is a strategy and one of the few tools that you control that can actually move the needle on your podcast's growth. Your category decides who sees your show, where it ranks, and whether you show up at all. It's not about gaming the system. It's about working smarter, not harder, with the tools that are already in front of you. So here's what I want you to do next. Take a few minutes and review the category that you're currently in, that's currently selected in the backend of your podcast hosting platform and and ask yourself, is this the best pond for my podcast to grow in? And if it's not, go ahead and change it.

It's that simple, takes 10 seconds, and it could make a big difference. If you're feeling stuck or want more strategies like this, check out the Podcast growth collective@thepodcastteacher.com collective. This is where I teach strategies designed to help you grow your podcast and your business without burnout or overwhelm. Until next time, Happy podcasting.