Why Podcast Ratings Matter
If you're serious about growing your podcast, there's one underutilized growth lever that takes less than 30 seconds for your listeners to pull: leaving a rating.
You’ve probably heard that ratings are important. But why are they important? And how can you actually get more of them — consistently?
Let’s break it down.
📈 Apple Podcasts Favors Shows With More Ratings
Apple Podcasts doesn’t explicitly reveal its ranking algorithm, but long-time podcasters and industry experts have consistently observed a pattern: shows with higher ratings and more reviews tend to rank better in the charts and show up more frequently in search.
Ratings are also a trust signal. When a new listener sees that a show has hundreds of glowing reviews, they’re far more likely to give it a listen. That leads to more downloads, more completions, and more subscribers — all of which are known factors in Apple’s ranking algorithm.
It’s a feedback loop: more ratings → more listeners → more visibility.
🎧 Spotify Uses Ratings to Drive Discovery
Spotify doesn’t surface written reviews like Apple does, but it uses star ratings as an internal signal to assess a show's quality and relevance.
Here’s what that means for you: if you have a highly rated show, you're more likely to show up in Spotify’s "Related Podcasts," editorial playlists, and algorithmic recommendations.
Spotify has also added prompts inside its app to encourage rating shows — so getting more of your listeners to take that extra step could compound your discoverability over time.
🧠 All Podcast Platforms Use Ratings as a Popularity Shortcut
Even platforms that don’t publicly rank or promote podcasts based on reviews still use them behind the scenes.
Why? Because ratings are a fast, scalable proxy for popularity and audience satisfaction. They help directories determine which shows deserve to be featured or recommended to new users.
And more importantly: ratings help convert new listeners. A first-time visitor deciding whether to commit 30–60 minutes to your content is far more likely to hit play if they see a sea of 5-star feedback.
🌟 Parla Makes It Incredibly Easy to Get More Ratings
If you're using Parla to power your podcast website, you already have a growth edge built in.
Every site comes with a dedicated “Rate This Show” page — smart enough to detect whether the visitor is on iPhone, Android, or desktop. It then shows them the exact steps to leave a rating on their device, including direct deep links to Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
You can even point to it in your episodes. Just say:
“If you’ve been enjoying the show, it’d mean the world if you left us a quick rating. Just head to parla.fm/yourshow/rate to get started — it works on any device.”
No more explaining how to find the show in Apple Podcasts. No more losing listeners in the friction. Just a clean, personalized page that gets results.
🚀 Ready to Start Collecting More Ratings?
Ratings are one of the simplest, highest-leverage ways to grow your show — but only if you make it easy for your listeners to act.
That’s exactly what Parla is built for.
👉 Claim your link at link.parla.fm and start turning listeners into advocates today.