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Visibility Rank Explained
What is the Visibility Rank?
The Visibility Rank is a proprietary metric that measures the relative visibility of a podcast compared to all other podcasts indexed by PodSEO. It reflects how discoverable your podcast is across major listening platforms—taking into account rankings, keywords, and visibility signals. A lower number means higher visibility: a podcast ranked #25 is generally more prominent than one ranked #250.
Rank vs. Score: What’s the Difference?
A score is a raw value representing how well your podcast performs in terms of visibility, keyword rankings, and other signals. A rank, on the other hand, is your position relative to all other podcasts. For example, your podcast might have a score of 78.4, which puts it at rank #120, while another show with a score of 80.1 might be ranked #95.
Key difference:
- Score = Your own visibility performance
- Rank = How that performance compares to others
How is the Visibility Score Calculated?
The Visibility Score is a composite metric that combines multiple factors to measure your overall podcast discoverability. It's calculated based on four key components:
Chart Rankings (Heavily Weighted)
- Global chart positions across all major platforms
- Chart impact and ranking performance in platform-specific charts
- High Impact: Charts represent content actively "pushed" to users by platforms
Editorial Features (Heavily Weighted)
- Curated collections and editorial recommendations
- Quality signal amplification from platform editorial teams
- High Impact: Editorial features are actively promoted and "pushed" to users by platforms
Search Score (Primary Component)
- Total Keywords Ranked: The complete number of keywords your podcast ranks for across Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music
- Ranking Positions: Your specific position for each keyword (lower numbers = better rankings)
- Keyword Weight Factors: Each keyword is weighted based on:
- Keyword popularity and search volume
- Notable podcasts that also rank for those keywords
- Platform-specific ranking algorithms and competitive landscape
Content Optimization
- Episode Recency: How recently you've published new episodes
- Publication Consistency: Regular publishing patterns that platforms favor
- Overall content optimization signals
Important Note: Chart Rankings and Editorial Features are heavily weighted because they represent content actively "pushed" to users by platforms. Search Score and Content Optimization are also primary factors. When your visibility rank declines, it could be due to changes in any of these four components, with chart and editorial performance often having the highest impact.
The combined score is then normalized and used to compute your rank compared to other shows.
Why Is My Visibility Rank Going Down Even Though My Downloads Are Increasing?
This is a common and understandable question. Downloads measure audience size, but Visibility Rank measures search ranking performance.
Here are the main reasons your search score and visibility rank can decline:
- Lost keyword rankings: Your podcast stopped ranking for keywords it previously ranked for
- Ranking position drops: You still rank for the same keywords but at lower positions (e.g., from #15 to #35)
- Competitor improvements: Other podcasts improved their rankings for keywords you compete for, pushing you down relatively
- Chart ranking declines: Dropped out of or fell in platform-specific charts
- Editorial feature loss: No longer featured in curated collections or editorial recommendations
- Content optimization issues: Publishing inconsistency or reduced episode recency
Key Insight: Your visibility rank combines all four factors, with Chart Rankings and Editorial Features often having the highest impact because they represent content actively "pushed" to users by platforms. Search Score and Content Optimization are also important primary factors. It's not affected by download numbers or audience engagement metrics.
Remember: More downloads do not always mean better SEO ranking performance.
So, How Do I Improve My Visibility Rank?
Here are actionable steps:
- Optimize your titles and descriptions using relevant, high-volume keywords.
- Refresh older episode metadata to include trending terms and related topics.
- Maintain a consistent publishing cadence—search platforms favor active shows.
- Improve feed health by reducing RSS errors, boosting speed, and standardizing formats.
- Track what works: Use PodSEO's keyword insights to double down on winning topics.
How Do I Find Relevant Competitors?
PodSEO makes this easy:
- On your Podcast Details Page, use the “Add Competitor” button.
- You can search Apple Podcasts and add direct competitors manually.
- Alternatively, PodSEO auto-suggests podcasts that rank for the same keywords as you, even if they cover different topics.
This helps you understand what successful shows in your keyword space are doing—so you can learn, adapt, and improve.