Statistics show that 17% of people spend less than four seconds on a website, but they are willing to spend approximately 2.7 minutes watching a video online. Quite the dichotomy, huh? Armed with the knowledge that the average television commercial is 15-30 seconds long, think of what you could do with the attention-span-eternity that is 2.7 minutes of video engagement gold. Web video has a solid place in creating concrete results with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your brand, so why not utilize this powerful medium?
Assuming you already know how to shoot and edit your videos yourself, or are having a professional do it for you, the following are some tips to help your videos receive those coveted human views while at the same time are being seen and indexed by the mechanized search engines such as Google and YouTube.
Tip #1: Quality
I have heard the phrase, “It’s just web video” too many times to count, but when creating video for SEO do not take the easy way out. Quality counts. In the end, you want your web video to have a professional look with good quality video and sound. Remember, you are representing your brand with your video and you want your viewers to stay engaged because of the top-notch quality … not because of the train wreck you have created. Ultimately you need to be proud of the content you are driving viewers to, not just a mechanized search engine.
This high-quality video content that keeps your viewers engaged means more likes, comments, and shares in the social media world. Therefore, more engagement means more people are seeing your content – not only through direct viral sharing, but also in the search results pages as both YouTube and Google use engagement to help them identify and deliver quality content.
Tip #2: Optimize the Language That You Use
Yes, I know we are talking moving images here, but we are also talking SEO. If you haven’t already started your SEO content plan, make sure to take the time and do the keyword research for the words that your audience will most likely be searching. Google reads words to discern what the content is about, so using exact query phrases to describe your content will go a long way in making sure you get placed on page one. But, make sure to not use complicated words or terminology that may not be common to the average person.
Then, once your keyword phrases have been identified, tag your video title, description and file name with those keywords to allow search engines to index it and rank it higher. But, remember to keep the title interesting, not just filled with keywords. Make sure to think in terms of what your targeted audience might be searching for when looking to find your brand or service. And while you’re at it, why not mention your keyword phrase somewhere in the video … Google will actually read the transcript of your video and use that for SEO purposes.
Tip #3: Use YouTube to Host and Embed Your Videos
Since Google is currently the king of the search engine world, why not use the Google product, YouTube, to host and embed your videos. Not to mention, it’s free! Interesting fact … YouTube also happens to be the second largest search engine out there with over 1 billion unique users every month. According to Nate Elliot at Forrester, videos are 50 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google results than other content.
So, if you want to rank well for a video in Google or YouTube it is well worth your time to create a rich-media content page on your website to support the embedded video. The content landing page should include your embedded video, as well as text and still images that describe or supplement it. Surrounding your video with on-page copy that can be indexed by search engines will help with your SEO. And remember to stay consistent with your keyword phrases. Diverse, rich-media landing pages are engaging, offer a strong user experience, and give Google a lot of extra context that helps improve your search engine rank.
Embedded YouTube videos can also help improve your YouTube search engine rank as “number of views” is a YouTube ranking factor and video views received on your landing page count toward your overall YouTube video view-count. In addition, you can help your video go viral by allowing other users access to the coding that will allow them to embed your video on their website or blog. This can help gain valuable back links and shares that will boost your rankings in search engines.
Tip #4: Share, Share, Share!
Utilize all of your social networks, look through your email contacts, write on your blogs, and get the hype going. Share your video with everyone, because if you have content worth sharing, it will continue to be shared to grow an expanding audience, and in turn develop more exposure for your brand or service.
I know this is a quick, down-and-dirty list to help you with your video SEO practices, but as you can see, video optimization can be a great way for you to expose your brand to users who may not otherwise be familiar with your services. If done correctly, video can be a great way to engage, entertain, and promote in a manner that will ultimately get you great results on search engines.
Tip #5: Don’t Do It Yourself; Trust a Professional!
We here at Imagine That are not only SEO experts, but have the expertise to create engaging videos to help your brand gain momentum. We are here to create your video content for you, but we don’t stop there. We will utilize this video content to create a customized SEO plan for your business … we approach every clients’ needs with a fresh and unique approach. So, if all of this information is a bit overwhelming, we are here to help. Give us a call at 970-224-1930 to get started today!