Successful YouTube and Video Search Engine Optimization
One way to get noticed on the Internet is through video. A video that is informative, entertaining and/or creative can help connect you with new clients, subscribers or customers. But there are a lot of videos on the web. YouTube alone has 20 hours worth of video uploaded every minute. It would take someone four years to watch every piece that is uploaded onto that site in one day. The question becomes how can you get your video seen?
The answer is by making sure you use titles, tags and descriptions that are keyword rich. In order for people to locate your video, it must be optimized for a YouTube search and for search engines. It can’t be optimized for one or the other. If you want to give your video every chance to be seen and succeed, it has to be optimized for both.
Goals of Video Optimization
There are three primary goals related to video optimization. You want people to:
- Find your video
- Watch it
- Share it
When all three things occur, you’ll find your popularity growing. Thus, it is important that people first find your video because if they can’t do that the other two objectives will never be met.
Optimization for Search Engines
If you are hosting a video on your own site, there are a few steps that you must take to make sure that search engines will connect with it. The site and the page on which the video is located must both be optimized. In order to do this, you’ll need to use appropriate keywords that pertain to your business and video.
As an example, if you sell pizzas that people make at home, some of your keywords would be “pizza,” “bake at home pizza,” “fresh pizza dough,” “homemade pizza,” etc. Your keywords will then need to be used on the page on which the video is located:
- File name
- Tags
- URL
- Link text
- Description of the video
The keywords should be incorporated naturally due to the fact that search engines can recognize keyword stuffing, which can hamper your chances of being picked up by those search engines. Sites such as Google offer tools to help you determine which keywords to utilize.
YouTube Optimization
If you are optimizing your video for video sharing sites such as YouTube, you will need to do so when you upload the file onto the site. When you upload your file onto YouTube, you’ll want to determine what keywords might work best. YouTube offers free keyword suggestion and keyword autodiscovery tools. Use these to pinpoint the exact terms you want to utilize.
You’ll then have to incorporate the keywords into three areas—the title of your video, the description and tags. It is very important that you put your keyword into all three because not doing so will greatly hurt your efforts of being seen.
The Video Connection
Once you’re done optimizing and have it posted, you’ll be able to get the most out of it by linking it externally and internally. Link to your video via the following sources:
- If you have more than one, cross-link opportunities are available
- Create a link in your press releases
- When you have articles posted in free directories link to it
- Use newsletters to connect to your video
- Always link your blog posts to your videos
- Link to other appropriate web pages
- Use Twitter to Tweet the video and link to it
- Link to it through your Facebook Fan Page
- Connect to your video from other social media pages
By using the links above suddenly you’ve created nine new connections directly to your video that did not previously exist. That’s marketing power.
What Does Video Linking Do?
When you link to one of your videos, this can have a major effect on your search engine rankings, driving them up. Remember to optimize them for host sites and search engines and link to it both externally and internally. Your search engine rankings, hits and customers will all increase.
