How to Transcribe Podcast Audio – The Tools to Use, and Why You Should Do It

You’re a podcaster. You do audio, not the written word. Right?

While it may seem like you don’t need to provide a transcript for your listeners (they are listening, after all), transcribing your podcast audio should actually be a crucial part of your marketing strategy.

What Exactly Is a Podcast Transcription?

In a podcast transcription, the words you say during an episode are converted into a text document that can be read online.

The are multiple reasons why you want to create a transcription of your episodes including:

Transcriptions improve accessibility which means that people who are deaf and or hard of hearing will be able to follow along
Transcripts can also help with SEO. Search engines are always looking for text to index and including keywords in your transcripts can help your episodes get found in Google Search.
Transcripts are also helpful for listeners who want to take notes to help them remember important sections of your episode.

Transcribing podcast audio can be a lengthy and tedious process, but fortunately, there are a variety of tools to help simplify the process.

Transcription Tools for Podcasters

If you’re looking for automatic transcriptions, we recommend RSS.com that provides free automatic transcriptions for all of your podcast episodes.

To get started, simply log in to your RSS.com dashboard, or create a free RSS.com account here.

Find or upload an episode in your dashboard and select the transcription icon.

Once your transcription is generated you’ll receive an email and you’ll be able to review and edit directly in your RSS.com dashboard.

Other automatic transcription tools include:

You can also hire somebody to transcribe and edit your podcast episodes on one of these platforms:

And of course, if you have the time, you can always transcribe your own episodes. The benefit to this approach is you’ll be able to closely audit and identify any areas for improvement in your show!