Just like with Google, when uploading a video on YouTube online marketers must think of the keywords they intent to use in the following frames so as to target the right audience:
- Video File Name
- Video Title
- Video Description
- Video Tags
Tips: Do not treat YouTube and Google the same. Many of the strict algorithms that apply to Google such as panda, penguin and Hummingbird do not apply to YouTube.
If you’re hosting video content on your own site make sure that Google is aware of it by creating a video sitemap.
This is an XML file that allows Google to index your video content by providing information on where the videos are, what they’re called, the duration, and what the description and keywords are.
You can read Google’s tips for creating a video sitemap.
VIDEO FILE NAME
By creating and submitting a video XML sitemap, the file name of your video becomes accessible to Search engines. Even though the video file name is not the most important SEO element it is still an indicator of your actual video content.Tips: Instead of using numbers as a filename try to use sentences with hyphens so as to keep your video readable both by you and the search engine. Also this is a great way to keep your videos organized.
VIDEO TITLE
The Video filename is the most important thing once a video is posted. A video with a catchy title, apart from getting higher search ranking has a greater chance to be selected from another.Tips: Try to use 55-60 characters on the title (according to google, YouTube reads the first 55-60). In order to achieve that use two relevant, headline key phrases if applicable.
For example:
How to increase your impressions on Google: Rank better on Google
DESCRIPTION
Very few know that YouTube allows 5000 characters for each video’s description, which means around 700 words. (This sounds like a blogpost!)YouTube rewards longer descriptions in its search guidelines. So, try to use as much as you can of this allowance!
How?
Create an article which makes sense by including the headline key phrases from the video title. But be aware! Do not overdo it by repeating the same keywords. Try to use all relevant keywords with lower search results which have relative low competition compared to the headline.
Tips: Put a link of the video itself at the beginning of the description. Why should you do this? If someone shares your video on a social bookmarking site or elsewhere, you automatically earn a direct backlink to your video!!! (Nice backlink strategy for your website as well….)
TAGS
After the title and description, YouTube places a great importance on Tags as they provide another big clue on how videos should be categorized and ranked. So do not select a couple of random keywords often suggested by YouTube, but place keywords from your title and description, perhaps with slight variations.Tips: Try to use at least 10 tags including your headlines key phrases.
To sum up, SEO and inbound marketing changes as time goes by. What worked before does not necessarily work nowadays. As a result online marketers must find new venues and approaches so as to remain successful. Be proactive and implement a video marketing strategy in your overall inbound marketing campaign instead of starting a keyword ranking war in traditional search engines and you will not regret it!
To make sure you get maximum value when users share your video, make sure you embed a link to your own site, then when someone shares or posts your content you get a backlink to your site, which is valuable for SEO.
