Gemini Podcast Show Notes & Episode Summary Prompt
You are a podcast producer who writes show notes that rank in Google and convert listeners to subscribers.
Category
✍️ Writing
Difficulty
Beginner
Models
3
Last Updated
2026-06-28
Works with
📄 Example output
⚠️ Common Mistakes
❓ FAQ
⚙️ Fill in your variables
📋 Prompt
You are a podcast producer who writes show notes that rank in Google and convert listeners to subscribers.
Topic: [episode topic]
Guest: [guest name and role]
Key insights: [key insights from episode — bullet list]
Length: [episode length] minutes
Task: Write complete show notes:
1. SEO EPISODE TITLE (under 60 chars, keyword-led)
2. EPISODE DESCRIPTION (150 words): Guest hook → core question → 3 specific takeaways → CTA to listen
3. KEY TAKEAWAYS (5 bullet points — each standalone and share-worthy)
4. CHAPTER MARKERS: Approximate timestamps for each section
5. RESOURCES MENTIONED: Placeholder format with link slots
6. PULL QUOTE: One share-worthy quote for social media
7. SEO TAGS: 10 relevant keywords for discoverability
8. SOCIAL POST: Twitter/LinkedIn version promoting the episode
Topic: [episode topic]
Guest: [guest name and role]
Key insights: [key insights from episode — bullet list]
Length: [episode length] minutes
Task: Write complete show notes:
1. SEO EPISODE TITLE (under 60 chars, keyword-led)
2. EPISODE DESCRIPTION (150 words): Guest hook → core question → 3 specific takeaways → CTA to listen
3. KEY TAKEAWAYS (5 bullet points — each standalone and share-worthy)
4. CHAPTER MARKERS: Approximate timestamps for each section
5. RESOURCES MENTIONED: Placeholder format with link slots
6. PULL QUOTE: One share-worthy quote for social media
7. SEO TAGS: 10 relevant keywords for discoverability
8. SOCIAL POST: Twitter/LinkedIn version promoting the episode
EPISODE: Newsletter growth without ads | GUEST: Sarah Chen, newsletter operator
SEO TITLE: How Sarah Chen Built 52K Newsletter Subscribers Without Ads
DESCRIPTION:
Sarah Chen grew her newsletter from zero to 52,000 subscribers in 18 months — without spending a pound on advertising. Her secret: treating every email like a product, not a broadcast.
In this episode, Sarah shares the exact content strategy that drove her growth: the three content types that get forwarded most, why most newsletters fail in months 2–4, and the single decision that doubled her growth rate overnight.
Whether you're at 100 subscribers or 10,000, this episode gives you a roadmap you can implement this week. Listen now.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• Every email Sarah writes is optimised to be forwarded, not just read — this is her entire acquisition strategy
• Month 3 is when most newsletters die; she explains exactly what to do differently in months 2–4
• Her one-email-per-week rule and why breaking it cost her 800 subscribers in a single month
• The specific content format of her highest-performing emails (she shares the template)
• How to turn casual readers into active promoters without an affiliate programme
CHAPTER MARKERS:
00:00 – Introduction
04:30 – The strategy that changed everything
12:00 – The content formula: give, give, give, ask
24:00 – Surviving Month 3 (the valley of death)
35:00 – Rapid-fire growth tactics
44:00 – Q&A
PULL QUOTE: 'Most newsletters try to be everything to everyone. The ones that grow treat every email like a product — something so good the reader can't help but forward it.'
SOCIAL POST (LinkedIn):
52,000 newsletter subscribers. Zero ad spend. 18 months.
Sarah Chen joined the podcast to share exactly how she did it — including the Month 3 trap that kills most newsletters.
Full episode: [link] 🎙️
SEO TITLE: How Sarah Chen Built 52K Newsletter Subscribers Without Ads
DESCRIPTION:
Sarah Chen grew her newsletter from zero to 52,000 subscribers in 18 months — without spending a pound on advertising. Her secret: treating every email like a product, not a broadcast.
In this episode, Sarah shares the exact content strategy that drove her growth: the three content types that get forwarded most, why most newsletters fail in months 2–4, and the single decision that doubled her growth rate overnight.
Whether you're at 100 subscribers or 10,000, this episode gives you a roadmap you can implement this week. Listen now.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• Every email Sarah writes is optimised to be forwarded, not just read — this is her entire acquisition strategy
• Month 3 is when most newsletters die; she explains exactly what to do differently in months 2–4
• Her one-email-per-week rule and why breaking it cost her 800 subscribers in a single month
• The specific content format of her highest-performing emails (she shares the template)
• How to turn casual readers into active promoters without an affiliate programme
CHAPTER MARKERS:
00:00 – Introduction
04:30 – The strategy that changed everything
12:00 – The content formula: give, give, give, ask
24:00 – Surviving Month 3 (the valley of death)
35:00 – Rapid-fire growth tactics
44:00 – Q&A
PULL QUOTE: 'Most newsletters try to be everything to everyone. The ones that grow treat every email like a product — something so good the reader can't help but forward it.'
SOCIAL POST (LinkedIn):
52,000 newsletter subscribers. Zero ad spend. 18 months.
Sarah Chen joined the podcast to share exactly how she did it — including the Month 3 trap that kills most newsletters.
Full episode: [link] 🎙️
🏆
💡 Pro Tips
Best model for this prompt
Claude
Claude (Opus 4 / Sonnet 4)
Show notes are your episode's SEO landing page — include the keywords your ideal listener searches for
Chapter markers improve listen-through rate and display prominently on Spotify and YouTube
The pull quote should be extracted from the actual episode — genuine quotes resonate more than paraphrases
The social post should be optimised for the platform, not copied directly from the description
Generic descriptions ('In this episode we talk about...') — describe the specific value delivered
No chapter markers — free to add, significantly improve listening experience and viewer retention
Forgetting the CTA — show notes without a subscribe or email capture link waste significant conversion opportunity
Not including resources mentioned — this is one of the most-clicked sections of any show notes
- How long should podcast show notes be?For SEO value: 300–600 words minimum. For podcast apps: the description section (150–200 words) is what shows in the app. Write both: short for the app, long for the web page.
- Can I use AI to write show notes from a transcript?Yes — paste the transcript and ask Claude or ChatGPT to extract key insights, generate chapter titles, and identify pull quotes. Always fact-check against the actual episode. AI-from-transcript notes are faster and often better than writing from memory.
- Should I publish full transcripts?Full transcripts significantly improve SEO (every word spoken becomes indexable) and accessibility. AI transcription tools (Whisper, Otter.ai) make this achievable. For most podcasts, the SEO benefit alone justifies the effort.
- Which AI model is best for show notes?Claude maintains consistent structure and writes engaging descriptions without overpromising. Provide the episode transcript or detailed notes for best results — the more input, the better the output.