Podcast Interview Questions 101

In my opinion, there are two types of podcast pitches involve podcast questions:

1. Many would-be podcast guests utilize email marketing to blast their podcast guest pitch to multiple podcast hosts simultaneously. Typically, they pitch a rags-to-riches story with the same questions to every podcast host in the email marketing campaign. This comes across as spam.
2. The other type of podcast pitch provides A topically relevant podcast pitch. These pitches are individual and not part of an email marketing campaign. They cater to the premise of the podcast show, the show’s audience, and even the podcast’s mission.

This post discusses how you can develop topically relevant podcast interview questions around your main overarching topic for your podcast pitches.

How to be a good podcast guest?

To be a good or great podcast guest, you should start by providing your podcast hosts with the best questions to interview with. This can also be part of the podcast pitch.

Podcast hosts want their guests to share unique information that helps educate the show’s audience. This is why option number one above is not a good option, as is sending the same information to every podcast host in an email outreach campaign.

What can you do to be a good podcast guest?

• Provide a responsive podcast one sheet when pitching
• Provide a topically relevant lead magnet on the web page, branded with the podcast host’s name.
• Provide web content that is topically relevant to your podcast questions.
• Provide 10+ questions on your topic, and make sure to get them approved by the podcast host via email,
• Your interview questions can be answered within your web copy.
• Use SEO tools to help you identify topically relevant questions.
• Practice answering your questions with a friend on Zoom.
• Make sure your phone’s tablet and computer notifications are turned off for the podcast interview.
• Make sure you are in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.
• Dress appropriately for the podcast interview.
• Before the recording of the episode, ensure you provide the podcast host with your headshot, social media URLs, a links to your URL assets.
• Make sure you provide value to the podcast host and the show’s audience.
• Educate, DO NOT SELL!

What not to say in a podcast interview

It is essential to understand that you are not on the podcast to promote your business!

You should let the podcast hosts take the lead in asking you the interview questions.

At the end of the podcast interview, the podcast host will ask you how the audience can contact you.

If you have a lead magnet, this is also the time to discuss it with the podcast audience and explain how they can grab a Free copy.

Finding The Podcast Premise, Audience, and Mission

Now, you need to find the podcast premise, podcast mission, and podcast topics.

Look to the podcast home page and the About Us page for the podcast premise and mission.

Example: The Focus Visibility Podcast

The Focus Visibility Podcast Mission can be found on our About Us page.

The podcast’s premise—what it will do and who it is for—is found on its Home page.

Identifying The Podcast Topics

This is by far one of the easiest things to do. Look at the categories and tags the podcast uses to find topics on which you are an expert.

Cannot find your topic?

Search more broadly.

Aligning Your Topic to the podcast premise and audience

The show’s audience must understand the topic you are teaching them through the lens of their experience.

Example:

My main area of expertise lies within SEO.

I received an interview invite for The Crushing Kitchen Remodeling Podcast.

I modified my topic tactics to discuss how podcast guest appearances can help with Local SEO, backlinks, and Google’s E-E-A-T Framework for kitchen remodelers.

You can check out the episode here if you like:

The Connection Between Podcast Guest Appearances and Off-Page SEO

Questions For a Podcast

To develop your podcast questions, make sure you have the following first:

• The podcast pitch topic
• The podcast premise
• The podcast’s target audience
• Your overarching area of expertise
• Your topic
• Your topically relevant web copy you will link back to.

Podcast Question Keyword Research

For this podcast keyword research, we define the podcast topic below, but in this instance, we target either digital marketing podcasts, SEO podcasts, or content marketing podcasts.

The target audience is people who work in those fields and business owners who depend on staying updated on these topics for their websites.

Use an SEO tool like alsoasked.com to help identify relevant questions:

Example:

Podcast Pitch Topic – Hypothetical – How AI is changing SEO.

• Log into your user profile on AlsoAsked.com
• Define your Geo Region – United States in our example.
• Enter your search query.

Download a CSV of the results and a PNG file that shows the relationship of the questions.

Example:

From this example, I have pulled the following questions:

Hypothetical Overarching Topic Example:

How AI is changing SEO:

10 Questions you could provide a Podcast Host – (remember this is part of our hypothetical podcast pitch).

1. How will generative AI change SEO?
2. Is AI going to change SEO?
3. Can AI replace SEO experts?
4. Is SEO becoming obsolete?
5. Is AI writing good for SEO?
6. How is AI helping in SEO?
7. Does Google penalize AI content?
8. What is the future of SEO with AI?
9. Can Google detect AI content for SEO?
10. Will AI replace SEO content writers?

Run your overarching podcast pitch topic through alsoasked.com. This site pulls Google’s People Also Asked questions in real-time, and you can then define your podcast pitch questions.

Updating Podcast Interview with podcast premise, mission, and audience

Tweak the questions to work with the premise of the podcast and the podcast’s mission.

Examples:

• If the podcast were a Local SEO podcast, you would update the questions to focus on Local SEO instead of SEO.
• If the podcast were about Law Firm Marketing, you would update the questions on how AI is changing SEO for Law Firm Marketing.

SEO content opportunities

While you are at it, write an in-depth blog post that covers all the questions, along with your experience and expertise, and topically link it with the rest of your website content.

Create a topical lead magnet.

Based on your experience, create a strategy users can use to help navigate this topic.

Hypothetical Lead Magnet Examples

AI SEO Possible Lead Magnets

1. A multi-step AI prompt for writing to the target avatar.
2. A multi-step AI prompt for SEO for AI content creation.
3. A human editing process to double-check for AI accuracy and AI hallucinations.
4. An editing process that refines AI content with additional writer content,
5. A framework for adding personal experiences into web copy for Google’s E-E-A-T Framework.
6. An edit process to use pronouns that show ownership of a topic and experience for Google’s E-E-A-T Framework.
7. An external link citation framework writers can use to help support facts within content.
8. A Chat GPT process to ideate an outline for human writers to execute.

Integrate your lead magnet into your email marketing software and create a NOINDEXED landing page on your website to incorporate it.

Differentiate Yourself as A Podcast Guest with Your Questions

When it comes to being a guest on podcasts, you have the attention of the podcast audience and host. The questions you provide the podcast host will dictate whether the podcast is exciting. Great questions help to hook and keep the audience.