Google is making it easier to find new podcasts to listen to. While you have always been able to search Google for podcasts, you have previously then had to dig deeper into the results to find the podcasts and listen to them. Until now.

How to Sort Good Podcasts From Bad

Podcasting is coming of age. While many people are only now discovering the medium, podcasts have been around since the early 2000s. The earliest podcasters have released hundreds of podcasts, and there are new podcasts being released all of the time.

The one problem with the already-large and ever-growing number of podcasts available to listen to is sorting the wheat from the chaff. For every good podcast available there are a handful of bad podcasts. And the trick is to find the best podcasts.

How to Find the Best Podcasts on Google

Google is keen to help out by surfacing playable podcasts directly in Google Search results. All you need to do is search for a podcast about a certain topic, and Google will show playable episodes alongside the usual web pages, news items, images, and videos.

As explained on The Keyword, Google will surface podcasts based on what's being talked about, with the company transcribing episodes it finds to aid with indexing. In the future, podcasts will also show up in results for searches which don't include the word "podcasts".

Google is rolling out its efforts to help people discover new podcasts gradually, starting with people using English in the US. This is initially available in Google Search, but Google will be adding it to Google Assistant and Google Podcasts later this year.

You can rest assured that this won't replace publishers completely. While Google will now surface individual playable podcasts within Search results, these will sit alongside lists compiled by websites such as MakeUseOf. It just gives you extra options.

Podcasting Is a Growing Medium

Anything that makes podcasts easier to find and listen to is a good thing. Podcasting is a wonderful medium that's only growing in popularity. And with more podcasters jumping on the bandwagon, it's getting tougher to find the best podcasts for you.

As well as Google's efforts to simplify the process, we try to recommend the best podcasts about a particular topic or for a particular group of people. So here are our lists of the best podcasts for kids and the best true crime podcasts, as examples.