SEO optimization for video in 5 easy steps
Globally, consumer internet video traffic will be 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic in 2019, up from 64 percent in 2014 according to this Cisco report. US households in 2014 had over 50% of their televisions connected to the internet. The point of these statistics is that if you are marketing a product or service in the near future, you will not be successful if you are using stock still images and graphics - you must incorporate video into your marketing strategy.
(source PalbergWERX Creative Direction)
Can you image being limited to reading text or watching still images on your big screen TV in the comfort of your living room? No? Neither can I.
The next issue is discovery, over one-third of all online content will be in the form of video. To rise above the clutter, you need better SEO for your videos. Here are 5 easy to remember tactics to ensure your content gets seen.
1) Use Great Key Words
Just as researching and using key words in your blog helps to raise your SEO there, the exact same principles apply to video. Your business should already have a clear understanding of which keywords you are using to raise your google search standings and these should also be incorporated into your video description. If you are building a new niche in your target demographic, then check your competitors short and long tail key words and how they rank with google. Be sure the description and key words do reflect the video content.
2) Add appropriate tags!
Tags, like key words, help search engine bots identify, categorize and rank your content for the targeted audience. However, tags don't necessarily need to be reflective of the content of the video like the description. Here you can add a variety of tags to describe your product, service or even short key words that were not appropriate in your description.
3) Create an effective title
Sure, we all want to write eye catching titles sparkling with wit and humor, however search engine bots don't have a funny bone. So, you must include your key word in the title - even better is to get it at the beginning. This article is a great example, I could have written '5 Easy steps to video SEO optimization', but my key word is 'SEO' and by flipping it to the front - bingo - a bot will rank this higher now!
4) Add a transcript
Ok, this one is a bit more work, but the results are worth it because you are providing search engines with more content to crawl through. Our ever friendly search bot will read your uploaded transcripts and you will get a significant SEO boost!
5) Create a site map
Now that you have your videos on YouTube, you will want to take advantage of directing that traffic to your website. Using a site map is the best way of doing that by informing bots that have ranked your YouTube video's that you are hosting them on your website. The result is the video links to your site from YouTube will now rank higher.
This is somewhat more difficult that uploading a video to YouTube and adding great keywords, you must follow your host specific instructions to upload your site map to google. If you are not comfortable with the tech, then get your webmaster to handle this.
Conclusion
Just remembering these 5 tactics will have your videos seen by your target audience and not get lost among all the video clutter out there.
If you want to further maximize your YouTube SEO and Marketing goal results, read this related article: 7 GOLD TIPS to maximize YouTube's SEO and increase video views!
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If you would like a video for your product or service,
call PalbergWERX Creative Direction
at 604-356-1144 or email me at PBWX@outlook.com
I can help you craft a video that will represent your company's brand and values
as well as resonate and engage your customers - and that is the recipe for increased sales.