5 Steps to Improve your Video SEO
Video is becoming an increasingly important element in the modern content marketer toolkit. When we understand that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, there is a breadth and scale for videos that marketers cannot ignore. ‘How-to’ videos, in particular, are very popular and are something that brands can leverage to appeal to their own prospects and customers.
Creating great content is essential by itself, it is equally important to ensure that the content is accessible to your target audience. Video Search engine optimization is one of the most effective ways to promote content discovery.
It is important to clarify why you are creating video content and how it aligns with your target audience. You can become an authority on a particular topic or enhance existing content, to enhance your brand.
1. Video: The quality of the content must be high, not only in terms of production values ​​but also subject and context so that it resonates with users. As with producing any other type of material, good quality starts with good research and an understanding of what people are really interested in seeing.
2. Audio: Sound is a powerful way to connect with your audience. Whenever most Facebook users watch videos with no sound, 95% of YouTube ads are viewed with sound. For watchers watching audio and video, there is a 20% lift in brand awareness and consideration, which is significantly higher than those watching audio or video alone.
3. Text: Despite advanced improvements to its algorithms, search engines are still better equipped with crawling and indexing text vs. images and sound. Therefore the text you include is important to support and promote your video content.
Keywords: The keyword research outlined in the first column above will uncover the keywords and phrases you use judiciously within the video's metadata and supporting text. With traditional SEO, there is nothing mistaken for keyword stuffing. Alternatively, apply your target keywords naturally and consider the use of keyword variations and synonyms.
4. People: Great video is ultimately determined by how the audience receives it. High levels of engagement, interest, and the watch will give search engines a strong indication that content is worth ranking and may also lead to a presence in 'suggested videos'. Activate your content within the channel that matters.
Social media: Your social channels can play an important role in your distribution / promotional plan, although it takes time to identify which channels are most relevant to the content you publish.
Advertising: Retargeting gives you a great opportunity to gain insights from your existing website audience and reach new customer segments with customized video content, which depends on the interests and behaviors they display.
# 5. Measurement: Performance is an important step to determine what did/did not work and to identify what existing content needed to be further optimized and what new content should be created and published in the future.
Video platform analytics: Make sure you are signed up and using the analytics of your video platform as these will provide a wealth of unique insights. Take a special interest in watch time and audience retention. This will give you an indication of how users are engaging with your video content and this can be avoided or expanded in the future.
Web Analytics: Your own web analytics is important to understand what impact your video is having in terms of visitors and conversions on your website. Google Analytics is probably the most common analytics platform and it will help you a lot.