Podcasting guesting is consistently the #1 way to grow your own podcast. This works because it gives you the opportunity to get in front of more ideal listeners, provide value and demonstrate your knowledge, and it's easy for them to follow you over to your podcast.
But how do you find the first shows you should try getting on?
/firstguesting
Understand how in-app podcast recommendations usually work
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and some other podcast apps have their own proprietary algorithms and tracking to see what podcasts are listened to by the same people. For example, Apple can see that Person1 listens to both your podcast and Podcast XYZ.
So if Podcast XYZ is in your podcast's recommendations, we'll call it an “outgoing” recommendation from your podcast. Then, if Podcast XYZ is also including your podcast in it's own outgoing recommendations, then from your perspective, that's an “incoming” recommendation. In other words, is your podcast pointing out to other podcasts, and are other podcasts pointing in to your podcast?
The incoming and outgoing lists are populated based on proprietary algorithms, but here's the simple way to understand it. If a significant portion of your audience also listens to Podcast XYZ, then Podcast XYZ will be in your podcast's outgoing recommendations. But for your podcast to appear in Podcast XYZ's recommendations, a significant portion of it's audience would have to also listen to you. Let's imagine that significant portion needs to be 25% or more. (I will update this if I get quotable information from the platforms.)
Thus, it's possible to see top podcasts, like The Joe Rogan Experience or The Mel Robbins Podcast in your outgoing recommendations, because it could be that 25% (our made up number) of your audience also listens to those shows. But the only way your show would be in their recommendations, is if 25% of their much bigger audience also listens to your show.
I built Podgagement to track this data for podcasters because finding this is cumbersome or essentially impossible because you would have to check all of the millions of other podcasts to see what is in their recommendations. In Podgagement, I call this “Networking” because the incoming and outgoing lists are networking opportunities for you and your podcast.
While these proprietary lists are driven by proprietary algorithms, Podcasting 2.0 offers a way for you and other podcasters to showcase your own recommendations with what's (badly) called the “podroll” feature. (Here's a general guide on adding podcast recommendations with podroll.)
Look at your podcast's “outgoing” recommendations section
Assuming you have your own podcast, open it in Apple Podcasts (through the app or a web browser), and scroll down to the list of other podcasts currently labeled “You Might Also Like.”
If you have a large enough following to share some crossover listeners with other podcasts, those other shows will be listed here, currently up to 15 other shows in Apple Podcasts.
This can be your first and ideal place to find other podcasts that you can know have some people already interested in your show, so it's likely you could appeal to even more of their audience, too!
Bonus: check Podgagement's “incoming” networking list
Although your outgoing list of recommendations is currently limited to 15 in Apple Podcasts, your show could be in the outgoing recommendations of hundreds of other podcasts! It's essentially impossible for you to check the millions of other podcasts out there to see which of them have your show in their own outgoing recommendations, so that's why I created the Networking feature in Podgagement to track this for you automatically and every day. I've seen podcasts with hundreds of incoming recommendations! Each one of those could be a potential guesting opportunity for you!
So if podcast-guesting is important to you, I highly recommend you sign up for Podgagement's “Constellation” tier so you can discover all these incoming and outgoing networking opportunities!
(And if you want to do even more digging or you don't even have your own podcast, then watch for Podgagement's upcoming “Pathfinder” tier that will be perfect for you, even if you don't have your own active podcast!)
Check the recommendations sections for other podcasts you think have your ideal audience
With or without Podgagement, you could also simply think of other podcasts similar to yours—especially if they're more popular than your own—and check their outgoing recommendations! Because if enough of those other listeners also like a podcast similar to yours, they might like yours, too—or even more!
You might not necessarily be pitching yourself to those podcasts similar to yours, but you can use this method to research their outgoing and incoming recommendations, which might be even better podcasts for you to pitch yourself!
How to approach these guest opportunities
Now that you probably have a list of other podcasts, here's how I suggest you try to get on them.
- Actually listen to the other podcasts! Understand their approach to their subjects and especially ensure they even ever have guests!
- Take notes on whom it seems their podcasts are trying to serve. You could use AI to help analyze this. (For example, I used Gemini 2.5 Flash and the “Assistant” persona in Magai to quickly analyze the Apple Podcasts URL for one of my own outgoing recommendations and you can see the results here.)
- Brainstorm what value you can provide to those podcasters so they can better serve their audience with the content you can offer. You can use AI for this if you really need to, but I highly recommend you do it yourself because no AI truly knows you, your knowledge, and your experience.
- If you followed Step 1, then you should also be familiar enough with the podcasts to know how to contact them. If they don't share a contact method in their podcast, check their episode notes and website first, then check the podcasts' and hosts' social-media accounts (ensuring they actually reply on social media), and look for an email address in the RSS feed as a last resort.
- With these crucial foundational steps done, now you can send the message to those podcasts.
Here's an example, but make sure you write it in your voice and you are absolutely sincere in everything you say!
Hi,
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
!I recently discovered your podcast because I found we already have some crossover audience. So I listened to [an episode / some episodes] and [prove you actually listened by praising something specific that only an actual listener would know]!
[Assume they get apathetic pitches all the time, so you could emphasize and further prove that you truly did listen.]
Since we have some similar listeners, I had an idea of some content I could help you share with your audience! [Give your ideas here.]
[If you have guests on your own podcast, also invite them to be a guest on your show, and maybe even suggest what subject might be a great fit for them to share with your own audience.]
I hope we can talk soon—on the mic or off!
Note how little that email looks like a template. I'm really just providing guidance for what you should write about! And I think it's crucial you do not use an AI/LLM here because this very email will be a demonstration of your respect for and potential value to the other podcaster and his or her audience. And since you wouldn't outsource your actual guest content to an AI, don't outsource your pitch message, either!
This is only the first place to look!
Your incoming and outgoing networking lists might be big enough to keep you busy for quite a while. But since you can know you already have crossover audience with these other podcasts, these pitches should be much easier for you compared to completely dissimilar podcasts—especially because it's highly possible the other podcasters on your list already know about you, too!
Be sure to join Podgagement to help you discover your podcast networking opportunities!
Community corner
- Thanks to Bryan Entzminger from Top Tier Audio for streaming 411 satoshis. I realized his numbers didn't actually mean anything because they were automatically streamed amounts! 🤦♂️
- Thanks to Cameron Stack from PodLabs.org for interviewing me for his upcoming miniseries on podcast awards!
If you love The Audacity to Podcast and value the podcasting inspiration and education I provide, would you please consider giving back what it's worth to you?
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Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
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