SEO or search engine optimization is as important for video as it is for websites.
An hour of video is uploaded to YouTube a second and more than four billion videos are viewed a day on YouTube (here’s a nice little animation that puts theses statistics into perspective www.onehourpersecond.com). So follow these 10 tips and watch your views rise.
1. Firstly it’s important to make sure your video is precise, full of interesting content and expresses some opinions so the video becomes more personal.
2. Upload your video(s) to YouTube and Vimeo. YouTube is the second biggest search engine to Google and as it’s owned by Google it will get indexed more easily. Vimeo is a premium service so it’s great for reaching a different type of customer.
3. Whatever you do don’t leave the title as the default file name. Be creative with it as this will help your video get indexed and therefore found in relevant searches.
4. Give the video a good description and use key phrases. This is also a great chance to get some valuable back links as both YouTube and Vimeo allow this, if for example the video is about Tax returns add a link to the tax return section of your website.
5. Tag your video with the relevant key words and phrases. You need to give your videos the best chance of being found because no matter how good the video is if people can’t find it then it’s as good as useless.
6. Embed the videos in your website and surround them with good quality content. This allows search engines to index the text as well as the videos so they have a better chance of appearing in searches.
7. Allow other users to embed your videos in their websites/blogs etc. This gives your video a chance of going viral and it will further help it to be found in searches.
8. Generate a video sitemap, the easiest way to do this is with Google and their Webmaster Tools. This helps the Google bots/spiders find the videos on your site and index them accordingly.
9. Once your video is online be proud of it and share it through all your social media accounts. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to see it as the majority of us are lazy when it comes to searching for things online.
10. Use the video to help bolster your brand. Any good video production company should do this but its worth pointing out. Incorporate your logo(s) in the video and any graphics/title cards should be produced using your colours and fonts.
If you have found this interesting and you would like to find out more about video SEO or video production give Will or Andy a call on 01273 911345.