Want to put out better podcasts? YouTube’s got a guide for that

Back in August, YouTube quietly launched an official hub for all things podcast.

Now, it’s equally quietly dropped a 67-page “best practices” guide for creators looking to get into audio content.

We found out about the guide from Morning Brew writer Jack Appleby, who says he found out about it from a “social strategy TikToker.” As far as we can tell, YouTube hasn’t made a big deal—or any deal at all, really—about the guide, which is labeled as “confidential & proprietary.”

According to its opening page, the guide is based on internal YouTube data about “what has worked previously on the platform” for podcasters. But, YouTube warns, the tips “are not a guarantee for success.”

That being said, the guide gets into a lot of material that seems especially helpful to established YouTube creators who are podcast newbies. One of its standout sections is about whether creators should start podcasting on their existing channel, or if they should launch a brand-new channel dedicated to their show:

The guide is separated into three major sections: content strategy, channel strategy (where the bit about existing/new channels is located), and content creation. Each of those sections is further subdivided into things like how to package and promote podcasts, a not-so-subtle nudge to get creators into video podcasts (which both YouTube and competitor Spotify are very keen on), advice on “how to stand out” in the ever more crowded audio content arena, and general podcasting FAQs.

YouTube also encourages readers to use its platform as a testing ground for their podcast concepts:

You can read the complete guide here, and read more about YouTube’s podcasting ambitions here.