Online video and video search is HOT! You have surely seen all the buzz on the internet about sites like youtube, blinkx, etc… With this, bloggers have been writing posts about how to shoot video, how to upload videos to these sites, etc… However, few have provided information on how to get these videos seen and discovered. Here enters Video SEO.
To ensure that your video gets seen and discovered on these search engines, it is important to first learn some of the technical aspects that are important to online video as well as search.
Keyword research is important for Video search engine optimization. However, there are some key differences in terms of the methods that should be employed for keyword researching video terms. In order to know your target audience for seeing your videos, it is important to first conduct some research on keywords and compile a keyword list. This list can be obtained by doing some simple searches for a related product or service. There are not yet any keyword research tools specifically for video. Keep in mind that video searches at this point tend to be shorter keywords, not “long tail” searches. In addition, more than anything, your keyword list should have the word “video” in it. Examples - car videos, car video, racing video, automotive videos, etc….
The next step after you have generated a keyword list is to take a good look at the video search platforms to see which channels and categories, tags, etc… tend to get the most views, as well as to look at which platforms have the highest performance in views, ratings, etc… You will certainly want to submit your video to multiple sites but you will want to make sure that at the least, you submit your video to the more popular engines.
As a side note, pay attention to the audience that is already searching for the terms that you identified in your keyword research. Are there closely related terms that you did not include? Take a look at videos that are similar in terms of the keywords that you are targeting and view the comments and feedback from users to find related terms.
You will want to encourage readers to submit feedback as studies show that users who provide feedback tend to be more active and easier to convert. In other words, those users that provide feedback, typically are more likely to call, email, visit your site, etc…
If you can do this, it is always better to pick a video theme that is not saturated in terms of competition out there. As an example, a video about Tom Cruise will likely be very hard to optimize for as there are thousands of results for that search.
Studies have shown as well that users who watch videos are less interested in watching videos that are more than a few minutes in length. Try to target your videos to be less than 3 minutes in total length. If you have a very long video, perhaps try to create multiple segments or clips from the video targeting videos with 1-3 minutes in duration.
Finally, make sure that you take advantage of the fact that you can brand your video with a watermark logo, text for your URL, and additional information to get users back to your website or business. One of the main points for doing video SEO is to get users back to your destination.
So, if you want to get your video discovered, view, and consumed by more and more users, video search engine optimization is the way to go. This is a great new technique for getting maximum exposure to your business, and currently, this is such a new topic, that you can be one of the first to capture your keyword or theme with a video search result.
