Pages with online video stand “a 50-times better chance of appearing on the first page of search results,” according to a Forrester Research study.
Since that study, online video has continued to explode:
- Online video advertising (pre-rolls) experienced nearly 55% growth in 2011 (eMarketer, Jan/12).
- 52% of consumers say online video makes them more confident in their purchases (Internet Retailer, 2012).
- Living Direct reports online videos caused a 9x increase in visitor time on their site (Internet Retailer, Oct/10).
But, online video alone won’t draw eyeballs to your site without search optimization. Fortunately, increasing your video’s search visibility doesn’t require SEO-ninja skills. All it takes is a few extra steps and a little common sense.
Step One: Make video content visible to Google
Your online video embed is nothing more than code to Google, Bing and the rest; they are essentially blind (and deaf) when it comes to video content. Since they can’t scan and index video content, they have to rely on text.
So STEP 1 is to include a transcript of your video on the same page where you embed it. That makes every word of your video searchable which, in turn improves your whole site’s search visibility. (See an example of one with an interactive transcript.)
And here’s an extra tip: give your transcripts more juice by adding branded links anywhere you happen to mention keywords.
Step 2: Use video’s three basic tools of optimization
Now that you’ve improved your site’s visibility, focus on improving the video’s search standing. Whether you’re using YouTube, Vimeo, or paid video hosting, optimizing video for search starts with 3 Basic Tools:
- Video Title,
- Video Description, and
- Keywords.
TITLE: Include your company or product name in the title. Sound basic? Go look how many fail to do so, thereby hobbling search results. Add your top keywords and marketplace (city, state, region)
DESCRIPTION: In under 150 characters, summarize your video using keywords and company/product name again. Your description can be longer, but put the good stuff is up front. (YouTube users: include a link that leads to your site.)
KEYWORDS: Not just your standard keywords, but ones that describe the video. Useful ones to remember: Demo, How-to, your marketplace, and category. Complete the trifecta with your company/product name.
Step 3: Corralling traffic where you want it
After placing videos on pages with relevant content, you should also create a video page featuring all your videos in one place. This is helpful because:
- Video pages attract visitors who might skip more detailed pages.
- It also adds the word “Video” to your site map.
Once you’ve embedded the videos on your Video page, make sure to add links under each video leading visitors to relevant pages, so you can move them into your persuasive funnel.
If you’ve set up your site properly, creating this Videos page will increase your chances of showing up in an organic search for a video about your product.
These are basic and easy steps, but surprisingly few people do them — putting you miles ahead of the competition for video search results.
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