It’s 2022 and video is bigger than ever. It has become the go-to marketing medium for communicating and reaching audiences across multiple platforms.
However, with so many businesses leveraging the digital space to capture people’s attention, it’s easy for your content to get lost in all the noise. To ensure that your videos are easy to find for your target audience, they must be optimized to rank well in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
In this piece, we’ll focus on 7 key optimization areas you can work on to improve the discoverability of your video content and bring more attention to your online presence.
Establish a solid foundation
Before we delve into the video SEO process, there are two fundamental aspects of optimization that we’ll look at first: video quality and keyword research.
Make your video worth finding
The ultimate goal is to make sure your videos are easy to find, but you need to start by creating great visual content that grabs your viewer’s attention. Otherwise, all the effort you are about to put in will be for nothing.
You can start by researching the type of video content your audience likes, then use that as a template for creating quality video that your audience will find engaging until you develop an original formula that works for your Mark.
A good strategy for YouTube is to work on videos that teach your audience something relevant to their interest and also related to you and what you offer. A high-quality educational video like this is a powerful tool for people to find and engage with the rest of your content.
Approach keyword research effectively
While businesses must keep up with ever-changing algorithms, one aspect of SEO that remains relatively consistent is the need for proper keyword research. It is the foundation of any SEO strategy and plays an essential role in key elements such as titles, transcripts and descriptions.
As you work on your video production, try building a keyword bank. Keyword banks consist of short- and long-tail keywords, as well as primary and secondary keywords that are relevant to your industry.
Short tail keywords they are used for general search queries and usually consist of only one or two words. Long tail keywords are used for more specific search queries, consisting of three words or more. Primary keywords are those that closely describe your business, products or content, whereas secondary keywords they are not so specific.
There are many ways to do keyword research for your videos. You can use online keyword generators or watch your competitor’s high performing videos and see what keywords they used. You can also use the same search engines.
For example, if you go to the YouTube or Google search bar and type in a search query, you’ll see that the autocomplete feature offers a number of suggestions. These suggestions include phrases with the most popular keywords that your audience uses when searching for products, services, and information.
Optimizing Video for Discovery: What to Focus on?
While ranking your videos may seem intimidating at first, don’t be discouraged. It’s basically like going through a checklist. So let’s go over each component you’ll want to consider when optimizing your video’s viewability.
Which hosting platform works for you?
An online hosting platform allows users to upload, store or play videos online. There are many platforms to choose from, and the idea of which one is “right” for you depends largely on the purpose of your video and the needs of your strategy.
Some companies use videos as short ads and blackboard explainers simply to generate brand awareness or educate your audience. In such cases, social media sites like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook can serve as excellent video hosting platforms and distribution channels all in one.
Additionally, this hosting alternative has become a favorite for businesses that want to engage with their audience and participate in the conversations, thoughts, and opinions that people may have about their brand.
The downside to third-party platforms like YouTube or other social media channels is that viewers will have to go the extra mile to get to your website by clicking on a link in your video, bio, or description. Also, you have less control over your content and sometimes less information in the form of limited metrics reports.
So, if your goal is to drive traffic or generate conversions, the obvious choice would be to use a self-hosting platform, such as your own website servers, or use a hosting service that integrates with your site, like Wistia.
Optimizing your titles and descriptions
When you’re optimizing a website-hosted video to rank higher in Google, the title tag and meta descriptions on your landing page are two things you’ll need to work on and polish.
The title tag is the big blue text that appears in a SERP after you enter a search query. Ideally, it should be no longer than 60 characters or it will be truncated. Meta descriptions go directly under the title and are 150 characters. Think of it as a short, exciting sales pitch that convinces customers to click on your video. And make sure to include your primary and secondary keywords too!
Meta information is also important for videos hosted on YouTube and social networks.
The same keyword practices should be applied when optimizing your titles to rank higher in Google and YouTube search results. YouTube videos can make use of meta descriptions as mentioned above, as well as on-site descriptions. These descriptions differ in that they can be up to 5000 characters long, allowing you to add more detailed information such as links to websites or a more detailed look at your brand and its offerings.
That said, for social media and YouTube, you’ll want to keep vital information in your descriptions above the “more” button that expands what the viewer initially sees.
Great thumbnails = higher CTRs
The more clicks and views your video gets, the higher it will rank. So the main question is: How can you maximize those clicks?
One of the best answers is with an attractive thumbnail!
When it comes to YouTube and Google search results, visuals and graphics are what people pay the most attention to, so your thumbnail needs to stand out!
Views are just as important when it comes to gaining traction for social media videos and getting them featured as featured videos. So when your video appears on a user’s explore page, it should have a thumbnail (or an animated thumbnail) that draws them in and makes them curious to see what your content has to offer.
The advantages of transcripts
Transcripts serve two important optimization functions. First, they can be used to create subtitles so that your viewers can watch your videos without sound. This is becoming especially important for social media and website videos, as it allows brands to deliver accessible content even on muted devices.
Also, since transcripts are loaded with keywords (or at least they should be), it’s a good idea to add them to your video’s YouTube descriptions as well as your site’s video landing page web. This will help improve your search engine visibility on YouTube and can contribute to your website’s on-page optimization.
Another great optimization practice for video transcripts is to create subtitles known as video chapters.
Not only does this break up the information so it’s easy to read, but it also makes it easier to include top keywords and helps search engines discover and rank your content. Remember that when categorizing your content, search engines prefer listed/organized content over walls of text.
Have all your tags ready
Tags have become an important element on most social media platforms to help users easily locate relevant content that suits their viewing needs. It also helps brands expand their reach by making their video content more accessible to target audiences who may not yet be aware of their offerings. You can use the most relevant keywords you’ve researched to create both hashtags and YouTube tags.
Hashtags have become a staple on social networks like TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. They should be included next to your videos as you publish or upload them. When a user searches for that specific hashtag through the search bar, your video will be displayed as a relevant piece of content.
YouTube videos have a designated space for tags that have a similar function to tags and keywords. Below the description box, you’ll see a text box that allows you to add different tags related to the purpose of your video and/or industry trends. This will help increase your discoverability when people type relevant search queries into the YouTube search bar.
To finish
The rise of video marketing in the digital space has made SEO essential for businesses to get their videos to reach their target audience. Once you’ve created a high-quality video and researched relevant keywords, you can begin the optimization process.
This includes refining video elements such as titles and descriptions, thumbnails, transcripts, and tags to meet the requirements of the hosting platform the video is based on. When done correctly, adding these different elements will help you rank higher in the SERPs and position your video in reach of your audience.
Victor Blasco is an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert and founder/CEO of the explainer video production company Yum Yum Videos. In addition to running the company, he is a lifelong student of Chinese philosophy and a passionate geek for all things sci-fi.
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