9 Ways To Increase Video Visibility With Seo
You’re probably tired of hearing about the great things about video marketing and its ability to generate and convert leads. Therefore, we do not blame you for wanting to create your own corporate video and show it to everyone.
But did you know that creating a video is just the first step of a successful video marketing strategy?
Once you’ve completed your video, you’ll need to distribute it effectively. After all, the marketing potential of a video can only be unlocked if people can find it!
Realize that the audience is not ready to go the extra mile to find your commercial or explainer video. People are more likely to focus on the first page of search results or individual landing pages, ignoring everything else. With this in mind, to get the most out of your video, you must develop an effective SEO strategy that will ensure that potential customers see it.
That is why we are here today and gathered! In this article, you will find useful SEO tips that will help you get your video to the top of the search results. Let’s get down to business!
1) CHOOSE THE RIGHT HOSTING PLATFORM
This is probably the easiest but most important step to increase the visibility of your video: determine where to place it.
Of course, the most obvious option is YouTube. Speaking of SEO and video, we just can’t help but mention the second largest search engine in the world. In addition, it is dedicated exclusively to video content.
But there is another good reason for posting videos on YouTube.
We are talking about the impact of this platform on the issuance of Google. The search giant owns YouTube, so it makes sense that it would prioritize its own platform when ranking videos.
However, there are still a number of other video hosting sites. Like YouTube, they can become a place to host your video. Most of them target a specific niche. Some of them may be more relevant to your audience than others. For example, Vimeo is an ideal choice for those whose potential customers are made up entirely of movie lovers. At the same time, Behive is good if your audience is primarily engaged in design.
Social video platforms like IGTV are also a viable alternative for video sharing if you’re targeting young people.
2) OPTIMIZE YOUR VIDEO TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
Optimizing your video title and description is killing two SEO birds with one stone.
On the one hand, attractive titles and descriptions attract more organic clicks and views. This increases the reputation of your video in the eyes of search engine algorithms, helping you rank higher in the SERPs.
On the other hand, titles and descriptions are a goldmine for keywords. You can add relevant keywords there so that your video is easily found by people (and search engines) who enter relevant queries.
To get the most out of this strategy, try to use the master key at the very beginning of the title, and include other relevant words in the video description.
This is easier said than done. The keywords will definitely be similar to each other. Your job is to make the title and description sound natural, not like automatically generated lists. Pay special attention to this and enter keywords as organically as possible.
3) CREATE AN IRRESISTIBLE PREVIEW
Creating an attractive thumbnail image for a video can lead to a higher click-through rate and therefore better positions in the SERPs.
To take full advantage of this tiny but powerful tool, always use your own sketches.
Freeze-frame images offered by YouTube and other video hosting platforms often do not appeal to viewers. On the other hand, custom thumbnails allow you to add all sorts of useful elements to your image, including:
- Intriguing or descriptive text. It is better to use a large, noticeable font.
- Expressive faces that remarkably attract viewers.
- Bright colors that will help make your preview more visible.
- Your brand logo or color palette. This will make your content more recognizable to viewers.
By choosing the right image and adding some of these elements to it, you can get a thumbnail that can capture the attention of viewers.
4) DON’T FORGET TO ADD DECRYPTION
Search robots can only envy Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and the like. The fact is that the former is still not able to distinguish between audio content, not to mention audiovisual content. As a result, the keywords mentioned in your video will not be SEO-optimized unless you include a transcript.
The transcript is a text file containing all the words from the video. In fact, this is what video subtitles are made of.
The process of translating a video into words can be done manually or using an automated program. The latter method is usually much faster, but also less accurate – especially if the subjects of the video have a strong accent. Therefore, it is always useful to have a person who writes or at least proofreads the transcripts.
5) PLACE YOUR VIDEO ON A SEPARATE LANDING PAGE
We have already discussed placing the video on a suitable hosting platform. But what about creating a landing page exclusively for your video? It’s impossible to go wrong with this tactic.
For starters, video helps increase time spent on your site, as people prefer to stay on your site by watching a video rather than reading text. For the same reason, audiovisual content contributes to lower bounce rates.
In addition, the Google algorithm prioritizes individual pages with videos, which allows them to rank higher in the SERPs.
Still not enough reason to add a video to your landing page? Well, here’s another one, even though it’s not related to SEO: Videos convert leads better than text and images. Is this not enough?
6) PRIORITIZE VIDEOS
We suggested creating a landing page exclusively for your video since Google crawlers only index one video per page. Therefore, if you post multiple videos, only the first one will be marked by the search engine.
Keep this in mind, because your site visitors are unlikely to start scrolling down the page in search of a hidden video. They will simply choose the video that is most accessible to them!
With this in mind, it’s worth prioritizing video content. We recommend that you keep only one video per page, but even if you don’t want to follow this advice, remember to post the most important video first. In the end, it is he who will attract the attention of visitors and search robots.
7) DRAW ATTENTION TO YOUR VIDEO
Your video, without a doubt, should be the centerpiece of the page so that visitors can see it as soon as the site loads. This implies the rejection of unnecessary details and the creation of an element that is noticeable at first sight.
It also helps to tweak the aesthetics of the landing page to match the content. It will be better if both the landing page and the video carry the same message about your brand and its products or services.
To sum it up, the landing page should be entirely dedicated to your video. Everything is extremely simple.
8) EMBED YOUR VIDEO ON ONE PAGE
It is quite normal to upload your material to video hosting and landing, but it is usually not worth going beyond these limits.
It may seem that placing videos on different pages will allow you to target different keywords, but in fact, this way you risk worse SEO.
Basically, writing multiple pages for the same video will create more search engine competition for your main landing page with that video. And what is the most paradoxical, you will compete with yourself!
This tactic can be detrimental to your website traffic and SEO, so try to focus your efforts on one page.
9) IMPROVE YOUR SEO STRATEGY WITH QUALITY CONTENT
This is probably the top tip for today: When it comes to video SEO, quality content is your best ally.
The reason is simple: it introduces specific elements that can significantly impact your SEO strategy. These include:
- more views;
- increase in shares;
- more backlinks to your site.
Yes. People are more likely to watch, share, and link to quality and relevant content. And it directly benefits your SEO!
As you create your video and develop your SEO strategy, keep in mind that high-quality content is one of the best ways to increase your video’s rankings.
CONCLUSION
Distributing the video correctly is just as important as creating great audiovisual material. By “the right way” we mean “taking care of your video’s SEO”.
Because potential customers can only find a video if it ranks high enough in the SERPs, you need to optimize your SEO strategy to make it as visible as possible. The tips on this page will help you with this, but you need to apply them on a regular basis.
The Internet is constantly changing, and with it, people’s interests and search queries. It is unlikely that you want the video to go unnoticed. Adjust your SEO strategy from time to time to adapt to changes.
Now you know how to properly promote videos with search engine optimization. We hope this article will help your video get to the top of the search results!
