Video SEO is a largely overlooked search marketing strategy. Even though videos continue to gain significant traction in natural search engine listings, most businesses ignore them or remain completely unaware of their power. That monitoring represents a valuable advantage your business can use to outperform your competitors in organic rankings.
The strategy combines traditional search optimization tactics with a relatively new platform. With the rise of YouTube, Revver, Blip and similar video sites, consumption patterns have led search engines to give these sites higher ranking authority. As long as your primary goal is clearly stated, an SEO video campaign can have a dramatic effect on your exposure on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
In this article, we’ll explain why you should integrate video SEO into your current search marketing strategy. We’ll also provide some key ingredients to help you avoid potential bumps along the way. Lastly, you’ll learn what to look for when choosing a video SEO company that can drive more traffic and higher conversions.
How Video SEO Improves Your Search Exposure
Before Google launched its Universal Search platform in May 2007, its natural listings were dominated by text-based pages. The videos were rare in the top positions. Universal Search changed the way Google displayed its main index. Google, Yahoo and Bing now include entries from their respective video search platforms. Additionally, popular video-sharing sites have been given higher ranking authority and link weight (we’ll cover that last point in a moment).
Video SEO gives you increased search engine exposure through two levers. First, it fits the algorithm used for universal search. By syndicating your videos to authorized video sharing sites, you will enjoy increased exposure through your higher ranking authority. In effect, those sites will rank higher, drawing more people to your videos.
Second, videos that are placed on your site (rather than syndicated) attract links, both directly and indirectly. As your videos gain popularity, direct links will naturally form and point to the pages on your site that host the videos. Indirect links will point from other sites whose owners have embedded their videos. As a result, your inbound link profile will continue to grow and strengthen, elevating your site higher within organic search engine listings.
3 Video SEO Tips to Capture Higher Search Positions
Your campaign can only be effective if you recognize the limitations of search engines. First, their algorithms can’t read lips. In order to rank for your target keywords, they must be available to search engine spiders in text form. If you’re putting videos on your site, streamline your titles and surrounding text, and include an edited transcript of the video. If you are syndicating them, optimize your external titles and tags.
Second, focus on incoming links. An effective video SEO campaign relies on contextually related links pointing from a wide variety of sites. Videos that generate a groundswell of attention, whether through entertainment, information, or controversy, can easily do just that.
Third, integrate a social sharing component. You want viewers to share your videos with their friends on Facebook. You want them to “tweet” about your videos on Twitter. You want your videos flagged on Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon. These social media sites can form the backbone of your video SEO campaign, driving waves of inbound links to your site.
Key Factors for Choosing a Video SEO Company
Traditional search optimization is a mature strategy. SEO specialists have been honing their craft for over a decade. In contrast, video SEO is still an evolving science. Although it takes advantage of the basic principles of a traditional optimization campaign, the rise of social networks and video sharing sites has given it enormous complexity. Hiring a video SEO company eliminates the need to keep up with the turbulent landscape. The key is to use the correct criteria to identify a competent company.
A professional video SEO company should have an established track record that shows a great understanding of organic search engine algorithms. That track record should also demonstrate the ability to evolve as algorithms change. Many search optimization experts were not prepared for the debut of Universal Search. By extension, so were his clients.
Leveraging video SEO. For more traffic and higher conversions
A carefully executed video SEO campaign can greatly increase your exposure within natural search engine listings. When implemented as a key component of a multi-pronged search marketing campaign, it can drive more targeted traffic to your site. Targeted traffic translates to higher conversions. If you’re not already taking advantage of video SEO for your site, your current organic ranking may be more vulnerable than you think.