You’d have to be living under a rock or in a deep woods hide-out to be unaware of the phenomenal growth of online video.

According the Pew Internet Project, 48% of Internet users say they have been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube. In a separate study, nearly 40% of the respondents say they use search engines to find online videos (eMarketer).prodcut video

While videos can increase traffic and engage site visitors, they are not easily indexed by search engines. To be found by your audience, you’ll need to get out a can of SEO tactics to whip that video into shape!

Listen and learn below:

Optimization in the Video File

Video Branding: It may seem basic, but don’t forget to include your logo and any general information in the video so viewers know how to get more information or contact you.

Optimize Filenames:

  1. The name of the video file should be descriptive yet entice visitors to view.
  2. Include keywords closely related to your company, products, or brand.
  3. Include the keyword “video” in the filename.
  4. Example: “how-to-paint-garage-video.mov” instead of “garage01.mov”.

Video File Metadata:

  1. This information can be controlled at the time the video is created, saved, or encoded, and may be found in the”properties” if this feature is available.
  2. Include keyword rich description and comments.

Video Page Optimization

  1. Creating a new web page for each video helps to make your search optimization efforts even more effective.
  2. Use SEO best practices to focus on the web page content that contains your video.
    • Meta Tags: Page URL, title, descriptions, headings, etc.
    • Add text paragraphs with a description, video transcription, or combination to tell both human visitors and search engines more about the video on the page.

Links

  1. Where the content is relevant, link from other pages on the web site to the special video web pages .
  2. Request links from external sites with news, reviews, blogs, etc.

Video sharing websitesyoutube-video

  1. When submitting to video sharing sites, take advantage of all opportunities to provide information about your video and company.
  2. Create a username on the site that is descriptive of your company or brand.
  3. Complete the user “profile” or “channel” page with links back to your company site, blog, or web site you want to spread the word on.
  4. Include the keywords, descriptions, tags, and make sure to make the video viewable to everyone.
  5. Allow users to comment, rate, and embed the video.
  6. Some popular video sharing sites to explore:

Bottom Line

Try to create an experience with video that provides useful content and information and encourages visitors to return for more.