You may or may not know this, but the SEO value of video is not inherently high. This is because search engines are not able to watch video, so the only information they are able to gather is the text associated with the video. Colin Osing over at iMedia Connection wrote this very helpful guide for increasing the SEO, and maximizing both exposure and engagement.
Here at Transformation Marketing, we implement a lot of these practices to buff the SEO of our own videos and our clients’ videos. Colin did such a great job compiling this comprehensive article, and is definitely worth reading through. Below I’ve pulled out the four most essential tips from Colin’s article:
- Make Your Video Title Catchy and Relevant
A catchy, accurate and optimized video title will make your video tick. It will persuade your audience to either click or click away, so has to be compelling. It should also contain relevant keywords that make sense to humans and engines and robots alike. Here are a few other tips:
- Keep it under 66 characters
- Place relevant keywords toward the beginning of your title
- Use the word ‘Video’ in the title
- Don’t mislead
- Be direct – communicate exactly what’s in the video
- Your brand should go last (or not be in there at all)
- Update over time so they stay relevant with your audience
- Don’t Forget to Tag Your Video
Tagging is crucial to describe your video’s content and make it easier for people to find and categorize your video. Make sure to pull words from your title and include phrases/keywords that describe your video.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to emulate what others are doing – especially competitors.
- Get Right to the Point in Your Video Descriptions
Video descriptions represent another opportunity to optimize your video for the search engines and provide more details to be crawled. They also appear as rich snippets in the SERPs (search engine results page) that can help drive more clicks to your video. 3 things to note here:
- Include relevant keywords (including the ones in the title)
- Keep your first sentence brief so it is represented well in the search snippet
- Add a link back to your website or blog
- Create and Submit a Video Sitemap to Google
A video sitemap is basically a text file packed full of useful data about the content of your video. By submitting it to Google, you are schooling them about your video’s title, content, target audience, and a ton of other detail that will influence when and how it is indexed. The better the sitemap, the more Google can do to ensure your video content reaches the intended audience.
Most online video platforms automatically create a sitemap for you – no hand coding involved! When you are done, be sure to submit to Google.
Be Patient, Get the Word Out & Have Fun!
Organic video SEO requires patience, just like any content marketing effort. It’s like a domino effect – the more popular your videos become, the more people will link to them, embed them, watch them, and share them, all of which will in turn help your rankings. So just get out there and have some fun.
For the rest of Colin’s articles and four more tips to increase your video SEO, check out his full article on iMedia Connection.
At Transformation Marketing in Lincoln, Nebraska, we strive to put our clients’ content in front of as many potential customers as possible. But it isn’t just about “the most” people seeing an ad, it is about finding the people who are most likely to buy from our clients. If you feel like a lot of people are seeing your ads, but that isn’t converting into sales… it might be that all the wrong people are seeing your ads. Talk to us! So we can start putting your ads in front of the people who should be seeing them.