It’s New Year already! Time to go back to the grind. As you prepare to ‘kill it’ this year, we hope to make the journey easier for you by supplying you with tips to actually ‘kill’ your SEO game. So lets jump right in, and find out how you can optimize your videos for SEO in 2020!
For starters, check out these pro tips:
- Don’t Push Away Keyword Research
- Always Add a Video Transcript and Description
- Add Keyword to File Name, Description and Transcript
- Custom Thumbnail is Your Best Bet
- Content is Still King
- Don’t Forget to Update Old Videos
Before we jump into details, let’s take a quick look at why you need to up your video SEO game. I mean, why go through all the troubles? Is video SEO different from ‘normal SEO’?
The answer is yes…!
While you may have all the ‘normal SEO’ tips at your fingertip, it is not uncommon to hear marketers lament that their videos do not attract much success SEO wise. Truth is, video SEO entails some different hacks and tweaks than the common blog SEO.
All in, let’s see why Video SEO is important
Once considered a minute part of the SEO game, video SEO has grown into a crucial part of any marketing strategy. With the amount of pull social media has, it is not much of a shocker to know that videos drive up to 157% increase in traffic from SERPs. Which would you rather do – watch a marketing video or read a blog on the same topic? 7 out of 10 people would happily pick an explainer video over blog posts.
No wonder video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year. Unfortunately, it takes more than just uploading a video content to get such leads. As we speak, about 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. Scary? Exactly!
Well, I guess you know that already as you are here to learn how to shoot your videos to the first page of search engines such as Google and YouTube. So, let’s get to it already. Shall we?!
How to Optimize Your Videos for SEO in 2020
1. Don’t Push Away Keyword Research
Conducting keyword research for your overall SEO game is a no-brainer. However, I can’t say the same about your video SEO. Marketers tend to believe the same keywords that ranked a blog would do the magic for a video. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Now, you understand why your videos are not ranking.
Unlike articles and blog posts, keywords that rank videos are derived from YouTube. Google fish out important videos based on what people are watching on YouTube. Therefore, the best place to start your keyword research is YouTube. What are people watching? What keywords rank best in your niche?
Insider tip:
You do not necessarily need an SEO tool for this. Simply input a keyword on YouTube and allow the auto-suggestion to do the work.
Just remember to always use the keywords that make sense to the topic the video is about! For sure there are suggestions that show up that are not topic related. Bombarding these misleading keywords into your video, will only annoy viewers and place you into the clickbait or spam section!
2. Always Add a Video Transcript and Description
Getting your video in front of the right audience is a lot easier with a transcript. Organic search engines like Google and YouTube look out for these transcripts to help rank videos. So, if you have been dumping your videos without a rich transcript, you are wrong. To optimize your videos for SEO means to accompany your videos with a transcript. As you create your next video content, take out time to create a quality transcript and description to go with it. You will be happy you did. Try it!
3. Add Keyword to File Name, Description and Transcript
Let me guess, the name of your video is ‘business_ad_001,’ right? Oh, well, we are all guilty of using quick titles to fill the name tag. But this practice is not healthy for your video SEO. YouTube cannot watch your video to decipher the keywords it ranks for. This is why it is essential to clearly state the keywords in the file name.
What keyword do you want your video to rank for? After a successful keyword search, it is advisable to add the keyword to the file name. Don’t be in a hurry to name your file. And even if you named it already, be sure to rename the file with the relevant keyword before posting it.
In the same vein, always add relevant keywords to your description and transcripts. If possible, tags too. Remember, YouTube won’t watch the video. Never forget!
4. Custom Thumbnail is Your Best Bet
While YouTube will spit out a ton of thumbnails for virtually every video you upload, I strongly recommend you stick with a custom thumbnail. Here is why. Besides your title and tag, the thumbnail is one of the first things your viewers see as they scroll through YouTube and Google.
I totally agree with you that the title and tag go a long way to convince them to click on your video.
Notwithstanding, my years of experience in the niche have revealed that a custom thumbnail also works the magic – in fact, works the magic better.
With a customized thumbnail your viewers are already excited to see what happened in that particular scene.
With that, you have successfully lured them into your nest. Now, it is up to you to keep them or not. How? The quality of the content. Check out the next tip!
5. Content is Still King
This is one critical tip that works for your overall SEO game. Whether you are doing video SEO or the general SEO, it is important to note that content is always king.
Sometimes, marketers focus too much on attracting leads, gaining huge traffic, and boosting their SEO game that they forget that the content is actually what keeps your viewers. You could have a catchy title and an intriguing thumbnail.
Oh, I can’t wait to see what you have in there. Alas, it is nothing worth my time when I click on it. Do you think I will waste an extra second there? No!
As you strive to kill your SEO game, it is essential to note that the content must be top-notch. Pay close attention to your content because content is still king.
6. Don’t Forget to Update Old Videos
Lastly, to optimize your videos for seo, I urge you to take a walk down memory lane and visit your old videos. How well did they perform? Which performed better? What keywords did such videos rank for? Are these keywords and tags still relevant?
This will help you clean up your site of irrelevant videos as well as revamping your videos for success. Don’t allow the dust to settle on them. Be proactive. Learn to update your videos from time to time.
Conclusion
Video SEO is not just making waves. It’s proved it is here to stay. Smart marketers are already leveraging this new marketing strategy to attract traffic and lead to their websites. Thankfully, it is no rocket science. I am sure you would ‘kill it’ with these few tips. Give it a try this year. Looking forward to your success story.
