How to Get Podcast Transcripts & Search for Keywords
Accessing podcast transcripts gives you a competitive advantage. Why?
Short answer: transcripts turn every episode into searchable, skimmable data. With podcast transcriptions at your fingertips you can research faster and make better, more accurate decisions than anyone working with audio files only.
The most common use cases for searching podcast transcripts include:
- Market intelligence
- Podcast guesting
- Podcast advertising
- Podcast production
Rephonic lets you search across episodes and shows and then drill into an episode’s transcript to find keywords fast, taking your research capabilities beyond the current offerings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Key Takeaways
- There are many ways to leverage podcast transcripts as part of your podcast research.
- The easiest way to get podcast transcripts and search for keywords is with Rephonic.
- Episode transcripts power additional insights on Rephonic, including topics covered and overall tone.
Table of Contents
Four simple steps to get podcast transcripts
Step 1: Sign up to Rephonic
Hopefully, you're already a Rephonic user. If so, you know how it makes in-depth podcast research so much quicker and easier. If not, now's the time to sign up for a free trial for access to Rephonic's premium features for seven days.
Step 2: Search for a show
Open your Home Page to find Rephonic's search bar. Search by title, topic, publisher or episode. When you're searching by topic or episode, Rephonic scans the transcripts as well as titles and show notes so you'll get a comprehensive snapshot of what's out there for your particular search.
Step 3: Open a podcast page
Select a podcast link to open its Rephonic page. Then scroll down and click the More Episodes button to open a complete list of episodes. Now, browse the archive or use the top search bar to find the name or episode title you want.
Step 4: Tap the transcript button
Tap on the Transcript button to read or search through the text.
What you'll find in Rephonic's transcriptions
Transcripts on Rephonic are more than just text. They also include:
📝 Timestamps
Click on any timestamp to hear the audio files from that moment on.
📝 Speaker labels
Some podcast transcripts label each speaker; others just use the timestamps.
📝 The "Copy" button
This is super useful if you want AI to analyze the full transcript. Just tap Copy, paste the text into your favorite AI model and give it your analysis criteria.
Top tip
Rephonic uses the transcript to provide at-a-glance useful information about each episode. Open the episode link and you’ll see the topics covered, an episode summary, links to key moments, the episode’s overall tone, format and if it’s considered evergreen content.
Top 4 ways to leverage podcast transcripts with Rephonic
#1. Research for market intelligence
Podcast transcripts can help you collect and analyze market info, trends and competitor strategies to help your company make the right decisions.
How Rephonic can help
- Search trending topics to see what hosts and guests are saying on your industry's top podcasts.
- Use Rephonic's Alerts feature to get an email notification every time a keyword, name, brand or competitor is mentioned to keep on top of thousands of conversations released every day. (You couldn't possibly generate that manually!)
- Check transcripts for competitor mentions, what they said and how they were positioned in the conversation.
- Detect emerging topics—what are other thought leaders in your niche talking about?
- Detect gaps—what do your company thought leaders know that others haven't mentioned yet?
#2. Drill down into podcast guesting
Podcast interviews get you in front of listeners already tuned into your niche. What's more, guest appearances compound: each interview builds discoverability (including by AI), generates backlinks and social proof.
How Rephonic can help
Use our transcripts and search engines to:
- See what a podcast host or previous guest is discussing.
- If you have a specific topic in mind, research keywords to see if anyone else is talking about it, and what they're saying.
- Evaluate the content guests use in other episodes. For example, do they often reference data, give frameworks, use stories & anecdotes or offer step-by-step playbooks?
- Prep for an upcoming interview by mapping recurring segments to choose stories and examples that fit.
- Help validate audience fit.
- Search for calls to action to check if and how the host offers them.
- Spot content gaps and see what angles to pitch.
"Pitching an angle that builds on previous conversations can make your pitch even more relevant."
#3. Choose the right podcast to sponsor
Sponsoring a podcast (or placing an ad) lets you tap into a loyal audience. Not only are listeners primed to be interested, they're also more likely to pay attention when a host they know, like and trust aligns themselves with your brand.
How Rephonic can help
Each podcast includes a Sponsor Tab. Here, Rephonic and search transcripts of specific episodes to provide data on their sponsors and links to the ads they used.
- Compare the content, format and offers of a competitor’s ad. Understanding what's working and what's not can help you design better ads and decide on the best placements.
- Find podcasts whose listeners match your target audience.
#4. Level up podcast production
Producing brand podcasts for clients? Transcripts can help you spot winning themes, tighten formats, find examples or soundbites, and help your clients stay true to their podcasting vision.
How Rephonic can help
- Research similar shows when your client wants to start their own podcast. Use the 3D graph to discover who else has podcasts in their niche.
- Turn transcripts into social media posts and soundbites to improve discoverability and engagement.
Final thoughts
The best podcast outreach doesn’t guess—it checks, first. Transcripts let you confirm tone, depth and topics in minutes so your pitches, interviews and placements feel tailor-made.
Get episode transcripts alongside audience demographics, estimated listeners, guest history and podcast contact details in Rephonic.
Start your free 7-day trial and turn research into results.
Article credits
Written by Lyn McNamee, podcast-PR writer with years of experience transforming podcast insights into practical, results-focused playbooks.
Edited by Becca Butcher, marketing specialist who frequently analyzes Rephonic’s data across 3 million podcasts.
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