I have spent 1 hour (or maybe a bit more) searching stuff about Video SEO on Google – this article is a summary of the things I found interesting and these should be a good starting point for everyone who has a video.
1. Give your video a compelling title!
Like any other things in business, you need to grab someone’s attention. With an intriguing name for your video you may have a chance that someone will watch yours. YouTube is full of videos and chances are that your video will never be watched by someone if you have a boring title. Make sure that the title for your video is compelling.Before naming your video you may want to read this interesting comparison between Buzzfeed’s YouTube videos and Facebook’s videos. Link: http://www.reelseo.com/buzzfeed-video-titles/
2. Use Video to Solve Problems
Ok, you want a video for your Home Page that describes what your product does and how it can help others. But the reality is that it’s not enough for you to get to the people unless you are already a well-known brand with a built audience. So the solution is to constantly create content (video content) that can solve problems. You know your business like no other so you should know what people need from you. Don’t keep the secrets to yourself. Make videos explaining how to resolve certain problems people have: be generous, offer tips and free stuff – this will help you build your audience and sell your product in the future. They will see you as an authority and they will trust you.
3. Use Video Sitemaps
Google Video Sitemaps provide Google with metadata about video content on a website. The video site operated by Google is the largest video search entity on the Web. With a Video Sitemap, site owners can inform Google of the category, title, description, running time, and intended audience for each video contained on the site. This helps Google know about all the rich video content on the site, which should improve the listing of the site on video search results. (source: www.xml-sitemaps.com)Here’s a nice explanation about Video Sitemaps:
4. Rich Snippets?
Rich Snippets is definitely something it should be on your to-do lists. The good part is that it works with pictures and videos too. But what is a Rich Snippet?Simply said is that picture or video that Google shows when you’re looking for your favorite cheese pie recipe.
A more complex explanation of a Rich Snippet can be found at Google Developers page. We will cover how to create a Video Rich Snippet in a future article.
5. Before Video SEO is something more important: the planning
The best tip I could give to a prospect regarding VIDEO SEO is to actually put everything ‘humanly’ possible into it to make the best presentation possible. Ok, we do all these video optimization and technical stuff but if the video is not worth watching, not worth sharing then all the above means NADA. You have the chance to ‘pimp’ your business’s imagine with the video so make sure you add all of the following to your video:Humor – the truth is that is more probably that you will share a funny video with your friends rather than an informative video about something. Even if you have a serious brand you can still incorporate a sense of humor to it, people will like you more.Brevity – consider doing no introduction about who you are. Go directly to the problem and the solution. Get to the point as quick as possible and try to keep your video under less than 2 minutes. If you have more to say, do another video.Storyline – people relate more with stories. If your product allows you, try to add some characters that people can relate with. Present the problem through their eyes, tell the problems they confront and present the solution.Talk directly to your audience – a video presentation is considered something personal, even intimate because is just you and the video. That’s why consider to talk directly with your viewers, use first person and try to maintain their curiosity and attention during the whole video. Use questions, verbal hooks and add the Surprise element into the story.