Video optimisation for Google search marketing

With over two billion active monthly users, YouTube is the second most popular social media platform in the world. According to businessofapps.com, one billion hours of YouTube content is viewed per day, and 500 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every minute.

With video search on such a rise, the growing importance of Youtube Search and other Video Search Engines can no longer be denied. Infact, it’s imperative for any individual or business that wants to grow their brand to also consider using video search optimization as part of their brand awareness strategy and campaigns. 

However, with so many videos already available on the internet, and even more being uploaded at this minute, it takes more than just shooting a great quality video uploading it online and hoping it ranks on the result pages. 

To improve search video rankings and content awareness on video search engines, best practices for video search optimization must also be followed if you want to reach clients who primarily search videos..

So, what is Video Search Optimization? 

Simply put, Video Search Optimization is the process of improving the ranking or visibility of a video in video search engines such as YouTube, Vimeo, or Vevo. 

How should you optimize a video for search?

When optimizing for video search, one of the most important things to understand is that YouTube and Search Engines do not hear videos, so you need to help the search engines understand your content better. 

Here are our 3 Core Practices For Video Search Engine Optimization: 

1. Create Good Quality Video

After all has been said and done, video is still content, and in order to engage the user, it must be a good quality video with good quality sound and content. It’s bad exercise optimizing a bad video.

1. Keyword Strategy

Having a keyword strategy for your video is imperative. Identifying target keywords will help shape your content and other elements on the page. It can also help you understand your competitors better. For example, if competition is low for a given keyword, optimizing and ranking for the specific keyword would be easier to do than if highly competitive. 

1. Optimize Content For Keywords  

Title, tags, description, and other content on the video landing page should contain the target keywords. Be sure to use natural language and avoid keyword stuffing. 

The key thing to understand here is that including target keywords in each element for the page will reinforce the relevance of the page for that term.

The 9 best steps for Optimizing Video Content For Keywords.

1. Rename video file using a target keyword 

Your video file name is the first contact search engines will have with your page, so it is always advisable to include target keywords in the file name. It increases the chances of visibility,

1. Add appropriate video Meta Description

A full description is necessary to help viewers understand what the video is about, but the right keywords included in the description is what helps search engines understand your content better.

The more you tell the Search Engines about your website & rich content, the better.

1. Tag your video with popular semantic keywords relating to your topic.

Video tags can be useful in helping Search Engines and YouTube associate your video with text. The idea here is to keep tags at a minimum and to avoid irrelevant tags.

1.  Video Transcript

A video transcript serves as additional copy that is considered in Youtube’s ranking algorithm and also helps bots know what your video content is about. Transcripts help a video webpage increase the word count and act like a long form blog post, giving you a chance to include more target keywords on the page copy,  increasing keyword density without being repetitive.

1. Upload a custom thumbnail image for your video’s result link.

Thumbnail is the first visual reference your audience get of your video, which influences their decision to view it. 

Also, custom thumbnails that are consistent with your videos can help you create a memorable brand that your target audience can easily identify. So make them compelling enough to grab attention.

1. Add subtitles and closed captions 

Adding subtitles and closed captions can open up your content to a larger audience, including the deaf, people of a different language, and those in noisy places; but it can also help the video rank better.

1.  Add cards & end screens to increase YouTube channel’s viewership.

Channel cards can help encourage users to subscribe to your channel, like your video, watch more of your content. End screens can be used to either promote your content, channel, websites, or shopping page. 

1. Links 

Make sure you are linking to every platform that you want your potential fan base to go: social channels, website, App Store, etc. 

1.  Add a call to action

A CTA encourages users to like, subscribe or comment on your videos; or better to buy your product or service. It is advisable to add a call to action at the start or the end of the video.

If your business uses video as a form of marketing strategy, or intends on it, and would love to maximize your video content efforts, don’t hesitate to contact Algorithm.