Table of Contents
Search Engine Optimisation has become an essential strategy without which no website can sustain.
Afterall what’s the use of any website if it is not going to rank high in search engines and come to the notice of the consumers!
But with the passage of time the contents for SEO have also undergone significant changes and Video Content is not an exception to it.
Ever since the Google Penguin and Panda updates, we have realised that just building a large number of links is not going to improve the search rankings of the businesses. We also have to create high-quality content which will attract links in a natural manner.
But one content type that is still not utilised to the fullest is the online video which is a very powerful form of content for boosting the ranking. This contributes generously to your SEO strategy.
Though many businesses are now incorporating video contents in their marketing strategy it may not be still enough. In order to utilise the video content to the fullest you have to get an idea about how it has transformed in the past few years.
So How Has Video SEO Altered Over the Years?
SEO Video marketing has become more popular with businesses in the last few years. Once the marketers got their hands on the DSLR, creating videos became even simpler along with uploading them – Thanks to YouTube!
Without seeing a video now you cannot browse the internet. But you should keep it in mind that all websites can rank in the video tab but not all of them can achieve a high rank in the universal search engines.
For gaining a high rank on the universal search engines one has to keep a lot of things in mind that deals with website authority, its focus and much more. Here are some of the ways in which you can optimise the video for your search engines.
Select the Right Platform for Video Hosting
At the time of opting for the video hosting platform you must understand the purpose of your video. Determine whether you want the video for brand awareness or for gaining the new leads or site traffics!
Vimeo and YouTube are the best options if you are focussing on brand awareness. This is because when the video gets indexed in such sites as these, most of the traffic are attracted to these sites instead of your website.
Again if your motive is to gain more site traffic then you should try the alternate hosting platforms supporting this function. In this case you can try platforms like Wistia which uses and inserts the SEO metadata automatically.
Tailor the Video Content to Appeal to Your Audience
It is a must that you create your video content in a way that relates and resonates with your audience.
Although ranking high in search engines is what you want, it is essential that you remember that you are creating the video for real humans who are going to search and watch it.
This way when you are creating a video for digital techie, you can create a plethora of technical terms. But if you are creating a tutorial for the novice, you should adhere to the layman’s terms.
So knowing you target audience and using the video contents for the SEO is said to be more successful.
Insert Video Transcript
While scrolling through Facebook you can come across videos that contain captions with the same. This way you can watch the video without turning the sound on. The text that comes with the video is said to be the transcript of the video.
These transcripts do not just make it more convenient and accessible for your viewers but they also make the video more lucrative for the search engines as they have added text on page. This enables more ranking for the video for more queries.
If your video is longer, concentrating more on the transcripts is even more essential.
Make Video Titles and Descriptions SEO-friendly
Keyword Research is of utmost significance at the time of making video too if you want them to rank higher in search engines. You should try that at the time of writing the title and description of the video.
Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Keywords Everywhere can help you in such cases. You can type the keyword that you need, learn its value and get suggestions for related keyword in the process for ranking in the SERPs.
You should know that at times people search with different keywords at the time of searching for videos than what they do at the time of searching for other types of content on Google. If you are posting on YouTube, then Keyword Tool can provide YouTube keyword Search Option.
Include your main and related keywords at the time of writing the title and description for your video. For Example, if you writing on Social Media Posts, you can write “5 Easy Video Tutorials for Creating Smart Social Media Posts”.
Do the same for the descriptions as well. Make it appealing to the viewer while keeping in mind your keywords.
Apply an Appealing Thumbnail Image
Did you know that videos that have human thumbnails have 30% higher chances of being played?
The video thumbnail is the thing that the searcher sees when your video gets indexed. It acts like the cover of a book. So it must be exciting, compelling and beautiful. Most of the successful video thumbnails contain a human click.
In fact, your thumbnail for video is more important than the title as it decides whether or not a person will click or not.
Ensure your thumbnail apart from being high-quality and interesting must also be relevant and should be at par with what you are trying to rank for. Like a video that shares a sport like rock climbing must show a thumbnail of a person doing that instead of someone awaiting for the action or getting prepared.
These are just some of the suggestions made by the best SEO service specialists who have been in the industry for quite sometime and know exactly what it takes to rank high in search engine for any business!
