Your video SEO strategy matters. But YouTube SEO, including video for YouTube, is a mystery for many digital marketers. What is the best way to create a YouTube SEO strategy? What is the best way to create a video? How do you make sure that your video satisfies the user experience? What about making sure that you syndicate your video properly, and get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible? How do you create a video promotion strategy?
The rise of social media has created new opportunities for businesses to reach their target audience. In addition to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, etc., video marketing is becoming a powerful tool for companies looking to connect with customers.
A well-planned video marketing campaign can increase brand awareness, boost traffic to your site, improve your user experience, and improve conversion rates. Video marketing can help drive traffic and get your videos promoted to a much wider audience.
What is Video SEO?
Video SEO (search engine optimization) is simply optimizing your videos to be indexed and rank well on the search engine results page for relevant keywords. This includes things like having high quality metadata, including tags, descriptions, and video thumbnails. You want to make sure you include keywords in those areas as well. A good rule of thumb is to optimize your meta data for the targeted keywords, while also making sure they sound natural and not keyword stuffed. Doing this also helps improve your SEO efforts, along with your user experience.
When you perform your video keyword research, you also want to make sure that you include research that dives into video keyword search volume. The higher your keyword’s search volume, the better the traffic you may receive for that video.
The second part of video SEO involves how people find it. If someone types in a specific keyword into YouTube, they will see the most popular videos related to that topic. These videos tend to be the ones that are optimized for SEO. So, it makes sense to optimize your videos for this type of search.
You can do this by making sure your video description is filled out completely, and that it contains keywords. Also, consider adding annotations to help increase the chances of getting found. Annotations allow you to add additional information to your video such as hashtags, locations, links, and social media handles.
How Has Video SEO Changed?
Video marketing has exploded over the last few years since the rise of smartphones and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. We now live in an age where everyone watches video every day, whether it’s watching TV, catching up on the latest news, or scrolling through Instagram stories.
Once marketers began to get their fingers on DSLR cameras in the early 2000s, it became easier to capture quality videos and upload them directly to YouTube without needing to know anything about videography. This led to people being able to post videos on the web without having a degree in video production.
Now it’s almost impossible to browse the Internet without seeing a video, thanks to sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc., and we carry cellphones in our pockets that are capable of shooting decent quality videos wherever we go. With the explosion of video came the fact that it got much harder to get ranked on the universal search results.
How to Create a Video SEO Strategy That Actually Works
Video SEO is one of the most exciting trends in digital marketing today because it allows brands to reach audiences where they already spend their time — online. However, many businesses still struggle to achieve success with video SEO. In fact, there are several common mistakes that prevent marketers from creating successful videos.
The good news is, once you understand the basics of video SEO, you can start building a solid strategy for your next campaign. Let’s dive into the steps you need to take to create a strong video SEO strategy for your business.
1. Choose a Platform
After you have identified your key objectives, it’s important to choose a platform that will best fit those needs. If you are looking to drive more traffic to your site, then you should probably stick with a platform like YouTube. But if you want to generate leads, you may want to look at other options including social networks like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
2. Plan Out Your Video Content
Next, you need to plan out how you will produce content. Will you be filming everything yourself? Are you going to hire someone to help you? Do you need to buy equipment? Once you have planned out your content creation process, you can begin planning your video SEO strategy.
3. Optimize Your Videos
Finally, you need to optimize your videos so that they rank well in search engines. You can optimize your videos by following the best practices below. In addition, you can also create a video page on your site. By having your video both on your site and YouTube, you can create additional ranking opportunities for both. This also creates better opportunities for people to convert when they land on your site and watch your video.
4. Create High-quality Videos
Use keywords strategically throughout your video optimization elements
When you create high-quality videos, you create impact throughout your audience, your social media channels, along with your YouTube channel. The creation of high quality videos can have significant impact on whether someone buys your product or service. In addition, more than 73 percent of consumers claim that they were influenced by a brand’s social media presence when they ended up purchasing something from them.
5. Promote Your Videos
You now have all the tools necessary to promote your videos effectively. The first step is to share them on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Then, you can also post links to your videos on blogs and websites that target similar audiences.
6. Measure Results
Now that you have created your video SEO strategy, you can measure its effectiveness by tracking metrics like views, shares, likes, comments, etc. This way, you can see which strategies work better than others.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #1: Create Videos Based on Your Audience and Goals
Before you do anything else, make sure you know exactly why you want to use video SEO. What are you trying to accomplish? Is it to increase traffic? To generate leads? Or maybe you just want to improve your social media presence. Whatever your goal is, you must define it clearly before beginning your video SEO journey.
Identify Key Objectives
Once you know what you want to accomplish with your video SEO strategy, it’s time to identify the specific goals you want to meet. For example, let’s say you want to increase conversions. You might set up three main objectives:
Objective 1: Increase Website Traffic
If you want to increase your website traffic, one of the best ways to do this is by ranking your videos on YouTube using YouTube SEO. By doing this, you will get more people to view your videos and learn about your brand.
Objective 2: Generate Leads
Another great way to increase your lead generation is through video SEO. People love watching videos, especially when they are educational. So, if you want to generate more leads, you should consider using video SEO to educate your audience.
Objective 3: Improve Social Media Presence
Lastly, if you want to improve your social media presence, you should create videos for your blog posts. This way, you will not only attract new readers but you will also give your existing followers something interesting to watch.
Objective 4: Improve Brand Awareness
In addition to increasing your social media presence, you should also think about creating videos that will help build your brand awareness. For instance, if you sell real estate online, you might create videos that show off your real estate listings and promote your real estate business online. If you are an attorney, you might create videos that talk about your legal services and the results you have achieved for your clients.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #2: Use the Right Video Hosting Platform
You can either choose to self host videos on your website or you can use a third-party platform like YouTube. Self hosting videos is obviously easier since it allows you to control everything about your videos. But, there are some drawbacks too. For instance, if you want to monetize your videos, you won’t be able to do that unless you’re willing to put in the extra effort. On the other hand, if you don’t care about monetizing your videos, you’ll have to pay for a premium account on YouTube.
There are also some advantages to choosing a third-party platform. First, you’ll be able to reach people who aren’t already part of your target audience. Second, you’ll be able to add features such as analytics, reporting, etc. Third, you’ll be able to offer your videos on different platforms so you could even expand into Facebook or Instagram.
In addition to selecting a video-hosting solution, you’ll also need to pick a video-platform. There are many out there, but here are three popular options: Vimeo, YouTube and Wistia.
Videos hosted on Vimeo tend to perform better (strictly from a hosting perspective; NOT from a rankings perspective) because they load faster and have fewer ads. They also allow you to customize your player, which makes it easy to add call-to-actions. In terms of analytics, Vimeo offers detailed reports that show how often someone watches your video, where they watched it, what device they used to watch it, and much more.
YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms. It’s free to upload videos, but you’ll have to pay $10 per month to keep your channel active and viewable to others. You can set up custom tags and descriptions, and Google Analytics provides comprehensive data on each video.
Wistia is another great option. It’s a paid option, but you can still manage your videos without paying anything extra. All you have to do is sign up for a free trial. Once you’ve done that, you can create unlimited videos and embed them anywhere on your site. You can also edit your videos, add text overlays and even record voiceovers. You can track views, likes, comments and shares, and you can even sell advertising space on your videos.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #3: Make Sure Your Promotional Strategy is Clear
Your video SEO strategy won’t be complete without a clear promotion strategy in place. This includes creating a plan to make sure your videos are distributed across multiple platforms, including your website, social networks, YouTube, etc.
You don’t want to just upload your video on your site and hope people find it. Instead, you must actively promote it on different platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., to increase exposure.
Also, keep in mind that while you’re uploading your video, you can use tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts on social media. These tools allow you to set up automatic tweets, Facebook posts, etc., so you don’t have to manually do it every day.
This way, you’ll be able to spend more time focusing on producing great content rather than promoting it.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #4: Create Amazingly Good Video Content
If you’re looking to build a brand around video, then you’ll need to make sure that every piece of content you produce stands out.
There’s tons of incredible video out there from brands as well as high profile influencers. But, when you look at some of the most popular YouTube channels today, you’ll notice that many of them are home to incredibly polished videos.
So, what makes those videos different from others? What separates them from the crowd? And how do they manage to consistently deliver great content?
The answer lies in three key areas:
1. Great Content
First and foremost, you’ve got to start with great content. This means taking the time to write unique, engaging copy that provides value to people. You don’t want to just rehash something else that someone else wrote about. Instead, you want to take that information and provide additional context.
For example, if you were selling an ebook, you might say things like “In this guide, I show you how to…” or “Here’s why you should buy my book.”
Then, you’d go into greater detail by explaining exactly what the reader will learn after reading your book.
Remember, people aren’t always going to read through your entire sales page. They’re only going to skim it. So, you need to make sure that each section has enough information to hold their attention long enough to get them interested in buying your product.
2. A Unique Voice
Next, you need to develop a distinct personality for your business. If you sound too much like everyone else, then no one is going to pay attention to what you have to say.
Instead, think about who you are and what sets you apart from other businesses. Then, try to incorporate that into your writing style. For example, if you’re a fitness instructor, you could talk about how hard it was to lose weight or how difficult it was to get fit.
Or, if you’re a personal trainer, you could talk about the struggles of working full-time and balancing family life.
3. Proven Systems
Finally, you need to create systems and processes that work. In fact, you may already have these in place. But, if not, then now is the time to implement them.
People love consistency. It gives them comfort and reassurance. So, if you can prove to people that you know what you’re doing, then they’ll feel comfortable following along behind you.
And, if you can show them that you’ve done all of this before, then they’ll trust you even more.
Now, you don’t necessarily need to become a master at all of these points right away. But, over time, you should strive to improve in each area.
Once you do, you’ll find that your audience will begin to recognize your voice and follow you because they know that you’re trustworthy.
And, once they see that you’re consistent, they’ll be able to count on you to deliver quality content every single time.
If you’re looking for ways to grow your online presence, then this is the kind of stuff that you need to keep in mind.
Because, without it, you won’t be able to build any real traction.
So, while there are many different strategies out there, you really need to focus on creating high-quality content that delivers value.
You also need to develop a distinct voice that stands out from the rest. And, finally, you need to establish proven systems so that you can continue delivering great content.
Without these three elements, you’ll never be able to generate traffic and convert visitors into customers.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #5: Choose the Right Video Format
How do you choose the best video format for your audience? Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your next video production project.
1. Make it Easy for Your Audience to Find
If your target audience doesn’t know where to find your content, they won’t come looking for you. So, make sure you’re providing clear calls to action in every piece of content you produce. If you want people to subscribe to your email list, include a call to action in your blog posts. If you want someone to buy something, put a “buy now” button in your product descriptions.
2. Choose the Right Length
The average attention span today is less than 10 seconds, according to Nielsen research. So, if you want your audience to pay attention to your video, keep it short. A good rule of thumb is to keep it under 30 seconds. But remember that shorter isn’t necessarily better. Some audiences prefer longer videos. They like to watch long videos because they feel like they’re getting more value out of them.
3. Use Visuals
People spend almost 80 percent of their brain power processing visual information, compared to 20 percent for audio. Visual elements such as images, graphics, photos, illustrations, charts and graphs can convey complex ideas quickly and effectively. In fact, studies show that people retain 57 percent more information when presented with pictures than text alone.
4. Keep it Simple
Don’t try to cram too much information into one video. Instead, create multiple videos that cover different topics or offer different perspectives on a topic. This way, you can give your viewers a variety of options to choose from.
For example, if you sell health products, you might have a video about how to use essential oils for healing purposes. Then, you could have another video about why certain essential oils work well for specific conditions. You could even have a third video explaining which essential oil blends are best for certain skin types. By offering your audience a wide range of choices, you increase the likelihood that they’ll choose what’s right for them.
5. Create Engaging Videos That Stand Apart
Once you’ve chosen the right video format for your audience, you still need to make sure your videos stand out from the crowd. To do this, you need to think about the following four things:
Be Authentic
Your videos should reflect who you are as a brand. Don’t pretend to be someone else. People will see through it immediately. Instead, be yourself. Show your personality and share your unique perspective on life, business and everything in between.
Offer Real Value
Your videos don’t have to be all talk. Give your audience useful information that helps them solve problems or achieve goals. For example, if you run an online store, you could provide helpful tutorials on how to use social media to promote your business. Or, if you’re a freelancer, you could explain how to get clients by using effective marketing strategies.
Make It Personal
You wouldn’t send generic emails to everyone on your mailing list, would you? Of course not! That’s why personalized videos work so well. When you speak directly to your audience, you connect with them emotionally and build trust. And, once you establish trust, you gain influence over your audience.
Include Links
When you include links within your videos, you help drive traffic back to your website. Plus, these links add credibility to your content since Google considers websites with internal linking higher up in search results.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #6: Make Your Videos Ten Times Better
The most important thing about creating a successful video marketing campaign is making sure that it stands apart from the crowd. You want to stand above the rest, so you must produce content that exceeds what others are doing. And how do you know whether your videos are even good enough to compete against those already on YouTube? Well, there’s no easy answer to that question, but one thing is certain: if your videos don’t rank well in search engines, then they won’t help you reach your goals.
So how do you go about producing a video that beats the competition? There are many ways to accomplish this goal, but there are a few things you can do to increase your success:
1. Do Your Research
Before you start shooting your video, you’ll want to conduct some research into the topic you’re covering. What questions do people ask themselves about your product or service? How often are they searching for information about it online? Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll be able to use that knowledge to inform your video creation. For example, if you sell lawn equipment, you might find that people are looking for “lawn mowers reviews,” so you could use that insight to create a video that compares different brands of lawn mowers. Or maybe you sell pet supplies, so you could focus on dog food reviews. Whatever your niche is, make sure that you know exactly what terms your audience uses to search for products like yours.
2. Choose Your Target Keywords
Once you’ve done your research, you’ll know exactly what words your customers are typing into the search box. Now you just need to figure out which ones are relevant to your brand. To do this, you’ll need to look up competitors’ keywords and see which ones are performing well. Then you can try to come up with unique phrases that include both your brand name and a few of your targeted keywords.
For example, let’s say you sell lawn care tools. You could create a video comparing three different types of weed trimmers. One of the key phrases you’d want to include in your video description is “weed trimmer comparison.” Another option would be “best weed trimmer review.” These two phrases are very similar, but they each contain a specific word that makes them distinct. A third option would be “weed trimmer reviews,” which doesn’t include any of the keywords you used in step #1.
3. Write Out Your Script
Now that you have all your keywords figured out, you’ll need to write out your script. This will give you an idea of what you want to cover in your video, as well as what order you should present your points. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, here are a couple of things to consider:
- Is there a particular feature or benefit of your product or service that you think potential customers may not realize exists?
- Are there any funny stories or anecdotes you can share about your company?
- Can you show off a recent success story where your product or service played a role?
- Have you ever had a customer who was really happy with your product or service? Why did he or she choose you over other companies?
- Does your industry have any interesting trends or statistics that you can talk about?
If you’re struggling to come up with video content, we recommend visually scanning YouTube by using your targeted keyword. This should help you identify where your industry is headed content-wise, and you can use the videos from other influencers to help build your content creation list.
4. Practice Makes Perfect
The last thing you’ll want to do before you shoot your video is practice! The more comfortable you feel with your camera, microphone, lighting setup, and acting skills, the better your final product will turn out. So don’t wait until the day of your shoot to get started. Instead, spend time practicing beforehand.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #7: Create Shorter Videos
YouTube is one of the most popular video platforms out there. But it doesn’t come without challenges. One of those challenges is keeping your audience engaged. A recent study found that people are now spending less time watching videos online. In fact, the average length of a video watched on YouTube dropped from 12 minutes in 2010 to 8 minutes today. This makes sense because the average amount of time spent watching a video has decreased over the years.
The reason why we’re seeing shorter videos is because consumers are getting bored. They’ve been conditioned to watch longer videos because that’s what they’re used to. So, how do you keep your audience interested? You need to make sure your videos are engaging and interesting enough to hold their attention. And the best way to do that is to edit your videos down to just the essentials.
In fact, according to a report by Adobe, the average viewer spends about eight seconds looking at a video before deciding whether or not to watch it. If you want to capture someone’s attention, you’ll need to keep your videos under four minutes. And remember, the shorter the better. People aren’t always willing to sit through a 10-minute video. Keep your videos short and sweet.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #8: The First 15 Seconds Matter
In today’s world, we are bombarded with too much information. People don’t want to waste their time reading long articles or watching videos. They just want to see something interesting and move on. This is why it is crucial to focus on the first 15 seconds of your video. If you do this correctly, you will hook your viewer and keep him/her engaged throughout the entire video.
The most effective way to accomplish this is by creating a compelling headline and subheading. You want to make sure that your headlines grab attention and tell your story quickly. Don’t try to cram too many words in there because people won’t read it. Keep it simple and straight to the point. Once you have captured someone’s interest, continue talking about what you want to convey. Make sure that your body copy is engaging and relevant. Don’t talk down to your audience. Talk to them like you would speak to a friend over coffee. Speak slowly and clearly. Let them know that you understand where they come from and you care about helping them solve their problem.
Once you have hooked your audience, keep them interested by providing useful information. Tell them exactly what they need to know. Give them tips and tricks. Show them how to use your product or service. Provide helpful resources. And finally, give them a call to action. Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter or sign up for your email list. These little things will help you build credibility and trust with your customers.
Video SEO Strategy Tip #9: Use Longer Videos As Well
Short videos are great for getting people to engage with your brand. But there are many different types of short videos, each with a purpose. Some are meant to inform, others entertain; some are designed to encourage action, while others simply give information. And then there are long form videos—the ones that are typically used in marketing campaigns. While it’s true that shorter videos tend to perform better in terms of views, likes, shares, comments, etc., it doesn’t mean that every type of video should be the same length. There are times when a 30-second video works just fine, and others where a 60-minute one might work better.
To figure out what format makes sense for your business and audience, try testing several lengths of video. You could start with something simple like a 10-second video promoting a product, or a 20-second video about why your audience should care about your brand. Once you know whether a particular length performs well, you can use that data to determine which formats make sense for future videos.
And remember, it doesn’t necessarily follow that longer videos always mean better engagement. If your goal is to build brand awareness, then shorter videos might be ideal.
Your YouTube SEO Strategy Can Be a Significant Driver of Your Success
How you execute your YouTube SEO strategy can be the difference between the success or failure of your videos.
Whether you utilize longer videos, shorter videos, or you create an entirely brand-new type of video strategy from scratch, you want to make sure that you stick to well-established YouTube SEO best practices.
These best practices are there for a reason. But, there is always room for testing and making changes based on real results.
If you find something else that works for you, you want to take advantage of that and make sure that you take it and run with it.
When do you plan on creating your next YouTube SEO strategy?
