Episode Details

Podcast growth in 2026 means more than climbing the charts on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It means showing up as the answer when someone asks an AI platform a question in your niche. If your show isn't coming up in those answers, the listeners who need you most can't find you. And in every workshop Simona Costantini has led lately, podcasters say the same thing: they're struggling to connect with their audience and get in front of the right people.

In this episode of As It Relates to Podcasting, Simona Costantini, Founder and CEO of VOLT Productions and a judge for the Signal Awards, the International Podcast Awards, and the Women in Podcasting Awards, returns after six months away welcoming her daughter. She shares what she's seeing across the podcast industry, why VOLT Productions now optimizes every client show for SEO, AEO, and GEO, and how VOLT's new podcast guest pitching service is landing clients on the right shows. You'll also get a preview of her 10 podcast growth systems, the workshop framework she's delivered at events over the last six months, plus a simple AI search test you can run on your own show today. You deserve to be heard. Let's make sure you're found.

In this episode:

• Podcast growth in 2026 depends on visibility working in tandem: guest appearances, strong guests on your own show, niche solo episodes, and content built for how algorithms search today.
• AI search optimization for podcasts goes beyond SEO. Simona explains why AEO and GEO decide whether your show comes up as the answer when someone asks an AI platform a question.
• A simple AI search test you can run today: type your ideal listener's questions into your favorite AI platform, note which shows come up, then study their titles, descriptions, and show notes.
• Why your podcast title, show description, episode titles, and show notes all matter for discoverability, and how each one helps search engines match your show to the right listener.
• How podcast guest pitching builds visibility, and why VOLT Productions added a pitching service that books clients as guests on other shows and finds guests for their own podcasts.
• Why Simona called a full hiatus instead of publishing inconsistently, and why she chose to wait until she could deliver episodes that are truly worth your time.
• What's next on As It Relates to Podcasting: a weekly series on Simona's 10 podcast growth systems, plus the fall return of her Happiness Happens podcast.

Resources:

Podcast Success Vault Membership: https://www.voltproductions.co/podcast-success-vault-membership

Learn about:

00:00 After six months off the air, we're back

00:46 Why the show took a six month hiatus

02:35 Weekly episodes and a new podcast growth focus

03:06 Speaking, workshops, and judging podcast awards

03:46 The 10 podcast growth systems series

04:41 Inside the Podcast Success Vault membership

06:04 Why are podcasters struggling to reach their audience?

07:00 How do you get your podcast found in AI search?

07:48 Try this AI search test on your own show

08:34 VOLT's new podcast guest pitching service

09:48 How do you find and reach a new audience?

10:49 How to become the go-to voice in your niche

MORE RESOURCES:

• Try Descript here: https://get.descript.com/orsams0rrlfo
• Book a Call: https://www.voltproductions.co/contact

Connect with Simona here:

• Instag