Google Podcasts Will Soon Show Individual Episodes In Search Results

Google Podcasts is about to receive an important new capability: finding specific episodes for search results rather than just shows. This search update has already rolled out to a small number of users, but it will be made available to everyone over coming days. The update brings Google's Podcasts app a bit closer to being a suitable option for diehard Stitcher and Pocket Casts fans.

Google Podcasts was heavily criticized upon launch for the lack of what many users considered basic, necessary features. The app was unable to compete with the many existing (and largely excellent) alternatives, such as Pocket Casts, leaving some users disappointed and vocal about the changes they wanted to see.

The company has slowly added new features in the months since the product's release. Google Podcasts gained Cast support back in September 2018, for example, and it can also now be used with Android Auto. Past updates also included a 'trim silence' feature that first appeared last summer and improvements to episode show notes released in January.

According to Google's Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Google Podcasts is receiving a new feature that brings specific, individual episodes up in search results. This better enables users to find content that provides what they're looking for rather than just surfacing shows that may be relevant to the topic.

The feature has already arrived for about 1-percent of Google Podcasts users, according to the tweet, but it will be making its way to everyone soon. Google Podcasts is free to download from the Google Play Store; the app hasn't been released for iOS devices, though Google has indicated that it may arrive on iPhone in the future.