Video SEO 2017 may make or break some brands. Because video is the most highly consumed digital media, if your business has not yet introduced a video marketing campaign, you are falling behind. But producing videos is only the beginning. The next and quite possibly the most important step is optimizing that content for search engines.
Without video SEO for business, your videos will not rank as high on YouTube, Google, and similar search engines. If nobody can find your content, then you certainly won’t experience any conversions.
Although you may know video SEO basics like using keywords and optimizing the title tag, you’ll also need to follow these expert SEO tips for videos.
1. Optimize the Content
Don’t be so obsessed with SEO that it actually hurts your strategy. No matter how good you are at SEO, this is only part of the equation. If people are not watching your content, then what’s the point? Video content and SEO work together to give your brand more visibility.
To optimize your content, make sure it is “shareable” and “linkable.” In other words, provide relevant and informative content that gives people the impulse to share and encourages publishers to link to. Your video must be high-quality, engaging, and valuable to the reader to get the most organic growth.
By producing content optimized for sharing, you will have a greater chance of achieving such results, which will then give your video more authority on Google.
2. Focus on Mobile Optimization
Mobile optimization is no longer just a part of video SEO; it is the central focus. Two years ago, mobile video viewing surpassed desktop viewing, and the gap only continues to widen. Although desktop video remains a key aspect of driving traffic, your video SEO campaign will die without mobile optimization.
Optimizing your videos for mobile consumption isn’t as difficult as it used to be. Make sure your website and video player is responsive to mobile viewing. Many hosting services automatically offer mobile optimization for all your content. Also, publish your videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and similar platforms that are automatically optimized for mobile viewing.
Because over half of all digital video is viewed on mobile devices, optimizing your native video for mobile consumption will maximize traffic and search engine rankings.
3. Optimize Thumbnails
Although Google will not rank you higher because of the content in your thumbnail, thumbnails significantly affect your success with obtaining clicks. Make sure your thumbnail is eye-catching and predictive of the content in the video. An engaging thumbnail is one that leaves viewers wanting to know more about the video.
Some qualities that make an effective thumbnail include colorful, storytelling, exciting, branded, and not click-baity. A watermark or logo on your thumbnail also shows potential users that this is a professional video guaranteed to provide quality content.
Because the thumbnail is the first thing your potential audience sees, spending time to optimize it for clicking largely influences the amount of clicks your video receives.
4. Upload to Multiple Platforms
Do not resort to only self-hosting your videos. This is problematic for several reasons. If done properly, self-hosting can help with your website’s SEO, so including a video on your landing page is also highly effective in increasing conversions.
But all of your videos should be at the very least uploaded to YouTube. YouTube is the key to getting your videos to rank. Additionally, to maximize your exposure and improve your rankings, upload or post a link to your video on all your social networks. Other video hosting platforms like Vimeo and Dailymotion can also give your video more space to grow its rank.
The principle is simple: the more places you upload your video, the more times Google will recognize it and the more chances users will have to find it.
5. Diversify Your Text on Different Platforms
Once you publish your video on multiple platforms, don’t stop there. Instead of copying and pasting the same status update, video description, or even title tag, switch it up. Instead of placing all your eggs in one basket, improve your chances of ranking by including various keywords in all the different versions of your video’s description.
You do not have to type up an entirely new description for each platform, but you can alter the length, keywords, and calls-to-action of the text. Experiment with which titles and keywords work best. For example, “cooking tips video” may be more effective than “cooking tips” in getting your video to rank.
Creating various titles, descriptions, tags, thumbnails, and so on for your videos will give it a greater chance of ranking according to the keywords viewers use.
6. Add Captions
Because Google is a database of text, the more text you can attach to your video, the more recognition you will earn from search engines. Captions and video transcriptions will lend your video the substantial text it needs to do some real damage to your digital competitors.
You may even consider scripting your videos with keywords so your transcriptions will be optimized for search engines. These SEO tips for YouTube videos will help your video projects rank higher with any Google search.
Attaching as much text to your video as possible will convert it into the appropriate format to be detected by Google, which will in turn lead to added recognition.
7. Use the Right Format
Vidyard recommends using VideoObject Schema to optimize your video format. WordPress and Google tools allow you to embellish your video’s markup with as much relevant information as possible.
Video formats that provide the most contextual information are one of the best video SEO tools available. This is for the same reason why adding captions to your video is so important. The more content presented in a format that search engines can detect – essentially, text – the higher your potential is to rank.
Using a specific video format will give your video more authority on search engines, in addition to adding more context to your videos.
8. Use the Right Platform
As we discussed earlier, uploading to YouTube is a must. YouTube offers universal video playback, maximizing convenience for both you and the viewers. Additionally, YouTube’s mobile web playback and app provide for effective mobile optimization.
However, the platform you do not want to use for videos is Flash. Search engines cannot even identify your video if it plays on Flash. Additionally, Flash is an annoyance for many internet users. Beyond videos, you should try to get rid of Flash on your website entirely for a more user-friendly experience.
Using outdated platforms may make your videos invisible. Uploading your videos to third-party video-hosting platforms will maximize your video SEO ranking.
9. Do Your Research
That’s right. Splendid results come with hard work. You cannot slap together a video marketing campaign and expect it to be as successful as a thoroughly researched video SEO strategy. You’ve already started your research by reading this article, so kudos to you.
The next steps for learning more SEO tips for YouTube videos include reading up on video marketing and SEO blogs.
Check out forums and social media groups for fresh video SEO tips and marketing ideas. Even if you decide to let someone else take care of your video SEO, having a basic knowledge of what you’re getting into can still come in handy.
Obtaining an ample and diverse knowledge of video SEO is essential to achieve satisfactory results and provide authentic reliability for your viewers.
10. Collaborate
Did you think collaborations were only for other YouTubers?
No matter how many subscribers your YouTube channel has, collaborating with others is a must. Collaborations will not only increase your exposure to your target audience, but it will improve SEO with link building.
Link building applies as much to videos as it does to articles and blogs. All of your collaborative partners should agree to reciprocate a link in the description or give a social media share to one of your videos on their channel. Google will detect that your channel and videos are gaining more attention from other reputable YouTubers.
Collaborating gives your YouTube channel the links and promotion it needs to gain more authority and, in turn, rank higher on Google.
11. Don’t Try To Do It All Yourself
Yes, many marketers make this mistake. Burnout is a serious problem when all of the SEO, analytics, conversions, content, and everything in between is taken into consideration. If your strength lies in something other than SEO, then let someone else take care of your brand’s video SEO for YouTube.
This can mean recruiting an existing employee, hiring a new specialized freelancer, or choosing a video SEO service. Video distribution services such as TubeMogul or Traffic Geyser can optimize your videos and spread them quickly across the internet. Handing over your video SEO projects will save you valuable time while ensuring quality results.
Delegating video SEO tasks to more specialized individuals and companies will provide an efficient way for your brand to move up in Google rankings.
12. Prioritize Viewer Feedback
Achieving success is difficult, even impossible, for the self-absorbed businesses. The more you focus on your consumers – your audience – the better your video SEO will be in Google. Think about it: your search rankings have everything to do with your audience and whether they care enough to watch your video content.
YouTube’s ranking formula takes note of the number of likes, comments, and shares a video receives. No matter how good your video SEO on YouTube is, your videos cannot rank unless people enjoy watching them. Encourage viewers to leave positive feedback so YouTube and Google will value your content accordingly.
The more positive viewer feedback your videos receive, the more search engines will reward you with influence.
13. Be Trendy
Sticking with the trends is a double-edged sword when it comes to producing video content. While addressing trends will give you more relevance on search engines, it will also vastly increase your competition.
The best way to be trendy without mimicking the competition is to provide a new angle on a popular topic. This will make your videos a real player in the search engines. Viewers will be intrigued by your video because of the trendy topic and the interesting spin, and you will diminish your competition by presenting originality.
Google pays attention to trends, so giving your own original takes on popular topics in your niche will improve your relevance on Google.
Conclusion
If you take away only one thing from this article, I hope it’s that you must experiment with SEO to find the right “formula” for your business. SEO is greatly influenced by your niche and your brand, which is different for every business.
Additionally, search engines are always changing. Learn from the experts, but don’t be afraid to experiment with different SEO strategies and see what the results bring to your business.
Author: Brenna Clarine
Courtesy: www.advancedwebranking.com
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