Turn every article into a first-person audio asset

Host: Alright, so let's talk about this article on text-to-podcast generators—specifically the "Listen to this Article" player and how it fits into publishing workflows. The first thing that stands out to me is how it's not just reading articles verbatim, but actually creating a conversational, two-voice podcast based on the content. Guest: Right, I noticed that too. It's an interesting shift from the typical "listen to this article" feature that just reads the text out loud. Here, the idea is to make the audio feel more like a natural discussion, which seems like it could make the content more approachable. Do you think that actually changes how readers engage with the material? Host: I think so, yeah. When audio feels more like a conversation, people might pay closer attention. The article points out that these podcasts are designed to sound like the author explaining the key ideas, not just reciting the text. That could help with retention, and maybe even time-on-page metrics. Plus, with the engagement analytics—like tracking plays, pauses, completions—you get a fairly nuanced picture of how people interact with the audio. Guest: That's helpful. Um, something I was wondering about is the SEO side. Does adding this kind of audio actually help with search rankings, or is it just an accessibility feature? Host: Good question. The piece goes into some detail there. Basically, they’re including a full, server-rendered transcript as HTML on the page, so search engines can crawl it easily. They also add structured data like AudioObject and PodcastEpisode in JSON-LD, which helps search engines and answer engines understand what's on the page. So, it's not just for accessibility; it’s also giving search systems more signals about content quality and usefulness. Guest: Huh, so it's addressing both user experience and technical SEO. I noticed they mention E-E-A-T language and conversational phrasing, like "I learned" or "here’s what we found." That seems like it could help with Google's emphasis on expertise and authenticity. Does the audio always match the tone of the original article? Host: From what I gather, the script is generated to reflect the author’s perspective, but in a conversational format. It's not a direct copy, so you avoid duplicate content issues. The transcript on the page is also rewritten, which should further help with originality. Plus, the generator lets you pick between short and long cuts, different voices, and even languages—so there’s some customization depending on what fits your site. Guest: Speaking of customization, do you know how difficult it is to actually add this to a site? Like, for someone using WordPress or Webflow? Host: It seems pretty straightforward. For WordPress, there's a dedicated plugin. For Webflow or most other CMSs, you just paste in a code snippet. The player is described as lightweight and uses caching, which should help with performance and Core Web Vitals. Also, the transcript is tucked into a collapsible element, so it doesn’t impact the initial page load too much. Guest: That’s practical. I also saw that analytics are privacy-friendly—no personally identifiable information is collected. They just log things like play, pause, and completion. That’s reassuring, especially with increasing privacy regulations. And you can see engagement patterns, which could help optimize content strategy. Host: Exactly. And another point is ownership. As long as you own the article, you also retain ownership of the audio and transcript generated from your content. If you ever stop using their service, you can download your audio and host it elsewhere. That’s actually pretty important for publishers who are cautious about platform lock-in. Guest: Absolutely. Um, one thing I’m curious about is editing. Can you tweak the script if you need to before publishing? Host: So, direct manual editing isn't available, but you can regenerate the script and provide more detailed instructions to guide the output. That could be a limitation for some, but for others, it might keep the workflow simpler. Guest: Makes sense. And on the technical side, it supports 24 languages and offers 30 voice styles, which is helpful for global publishers. Plus, the analytics are handled at the player level, not through third-party trackers. Host: Yeah, and you can choose exactly which articles get audio—nothing is added automatically. Also, teams can collaborate within one account, so it scales for larger organizations. Guest: So, overall, it’s really about making content more accessible and engaging without adding a ton of maintenance overhead. The ability to regenerate audio when you update an article is nice, too—it keeps things current without rewriting everything. Host: Right, and since the transcript is conversational, it doesn’t just duplicate your article. That helps with both SEO and user experience. Well, I think that covers the main points. Thanks for listening, and hopefully this helped clarify how the text-to-podcast generator works for publishers. Guest: Yeah, thanks for joining us. If you’re considering adding on-page audio to your site, this seems like a pretty practical approach. Until next time.