Video SEO

How To SEO Video Content

Just like your website it’s important to SEO your video content. Google loves video. According to research by next year 80% of all web traffic will be video. Video is sharable, it transcends language and brings your product or service visually to life. The say a picture is with 1,000 words and video is no different. From Google’s point of view video is the next frontier. As such it’s important to optimise your video as you would any other part of your website.

The indirect benefit of video on your website

One of the deciding factors of where you appear in the natural search engine listings is how long people i.e. visitors stay on your site. So if you’re a pedal bike shop and you have a page that’s ranking for motorbikes then when visitors go to that site and see there’s no motorbikes there they’ll instantly click away. This has a blanket effect on your whole site. Which means Google, or whatever search engine, may penalise your site by lowering it in the natural search results.

So Google’s algorithm calculates how long people stay on your site and weights that fact as to how relevant your site is. So if visitors spend a lot of time on your site then Google considers it more relevant  and should rank it higher than a competitor who may have great text SEO but no video. Therefore having a captivating video on your site means people stay longer to watch it.

Video is Shareable

When was the last time you forwarded a webpage for someone to read? When was the last time you forwarded a blog page with the word “LOL” attached? However I bet you’ve shared a video within the last week. I also guess you’ve had a phone shoved in your face and been forced to watch a video without a clue as to what was going to happen in it next. That’s the power of video.

These days though you’re not just making video for people. You’re producing video to get noticed by machines. I’m talking about the mysterious Google algorithm that decides where your site shows in the search results.

So how can you leverage your digital content to win not only viewers but the approval of search engines? Well with video SEO.

What is Video SEO?

Google is taking steps to understand the content of your videos. It’s transcription software improves everyday. It won’t be long before Google will be able to “listen” and “understand” your video and place it in the appropriate section of it’s algorithm.

Until that day comes you have to do it the hard way.  With text. So if you upload a video to YouTube don’t think that’s the end of it. Take time to use all the little tools it offers. Not only does this give your visitors a better user experience (UX) but those tools can help you rank.

Just as you would when writing website text make sure your title is relevant to your audience and the search engines.

Here’s some tips.

Title

If your Fred’s Bikes don’t’ call your video Fred’s Bikes. Add more data to that title. What phrase do your customers search? “Affordable Bikes” might be a good example. Yet that seems like a big market. Who doesn’t want an “affordable bike”? Therefore you should help your video SEO by doing the following.

Use Longtail Keywords

If your Bike shop is in Milton Keyenes then call it “affordable Bikes in Milton Keynes”. Your video and by extension your site will be indexed and show up in Google’s search results. The more specific you can be the better. You don’t need to name the video after your company because people are already on your site. You need to name the video something to encourage them to watch it. This is why “How To” videos are very popular for company’s. So Fred’s Bikes might benefit from a series of videos about changing tyres, repairing chains and modifying bikes. Each video is great content and makes them seem an expert to not only visitors but the God of Google.

Use The Description

Add phrases here that you know customers search for.  If you don’t know spend some time in the analytics section of your website or Google Analytics itself.

Use The Location Of Where The Video Was Filmed

Don’t ignore this it’s vital if you’re a local business wanting to attract local customers.

Use End cards and closed captions

All make your video accessible and help the UX of your visitors.

YouTube

In all these examples I’m really talking about YouTube. YouTube isn’t the best or most professional video platform just like Google isn’t the best search engine (Shhh!). Yet it’s something we’re all stuck with. So let’s look at YouTube.

Pros of YouTube:

• Google owns it.
• It’s the second largest search engine in the world (guess the first).
• Automatically indexed by the major search engines.
• Has the capability to add meta data just like your website.
• Has the capacity to add tags just like a blog

Cons of YouTube:

• Your video will always appear with the YouTube watermark
• “Suggested Videos” will often appear once your video has played
• It’s direct link to the YouTube platform sometimes encourages users to wander from your site and watch other content (like cat videos)

You Should Always Devote Time and Budget to Video SEO

You’ll see more and more that Google lists videos above the natural text results. This happens particularly on mobile as people (and Google!) give more attention to video content. Therefore it’s not just enough to create a great video you also need to make sure it’s optimised for your viewers and the major search engines.

Use a Video SEO Professional

At Galleon Productions we’re graduates of Google’s WeAreSquared marketing program. Therefore we are in a prime position to advise and optimise your video. The next battle with your competition will take place on with the analytics of your site visitors.  So make sure you arm yourself with a video production that not only looks great but also is custom built to attract and audience and the attention of Google’s algorithm. Speak to Kris or Les at Galleon Studios today.