As the video format of content is now more popular than ever, such content has become a powerful tool for content marketing. Businesses create engaging videos to attract more traffic, spread a brand message, and for many other purposes. But, the essential part is not just creating video content, but making more people see it.
Video SEO is just what helps you to achieve this goal. By optimizing your content to search engine algorithms it is possible to be placed in higher positions in search results. And thus it is likely that more people will see your videos and click on them.
But how do search engine algorithms rank your video content higher? In this article, we will share with you some video SEO practices that work for optimizing your video content to appear on Google search results pages. So, keep reading to learn how to boost your video SEO!
Create Custom Thumbnails
Do you know that you have about 8 seconds to capture people’s attention? The first impression really matters, so you need to pay attention to what your content looks like for your website’s visitors when they see it for the first time.
Speaking of video content, customizing thumbnails is a must for drawing attention and getting desired clicks. It is proven that people tend to choose content that looks better. Thus, even if you put a lot of effort into creating a quality video with engaging effects like texts, transitions, or PiP in a video editor, you still need to work on its thumbnail.
There are a lot of tools that can help you to create unique thumbnails. Or, you can always hire professionals in case you lack the skills to make it on your own.
Use Keywords in a Title and Description
As well as title and description work for articles, it works for videos too. A catchy title and compelling description can make people click on your video, as it is the first they see on the search results page.
And of course, it is essential to use keywords in the title and description. Keywords are one of the key factors by which search engines crawl and index your website. Thus, make sure you optimize the titles and descriptions of your videos to increase their SEO ranking.
Always Add Subtitles
Nowadays, people usually watch video content on their phones. And, as it is seen from surveys, about 54% of viewers prefer to watch videos with the sound off.
To make your video content more engaging, adding quality subtitles is essential. It will make your videos mobile-friendly and thus attract more viewers and indirectly impact your SEO ranking.
However, subtitles also have a direct impact on your website’s SEO. The reason is keywords that appear in subtitles also help search engines rank a page. So, by adding subtitles you also add more keywords and boost your positioning in search results.
Apply Schema Markup
Unfortunately, search engines don’t understand the content the way people see it. They use special language, a form of code, to look through your content, including videos, and understand its elements. Thus, to ensure search engines rank your page with content accordingly, you need to provide data in a language they understand — schema markup.
It is structured data that helps search engines understand key information about your page and classify its content. There is no need to set it manually, as special plugins and other automatic solutions can help you with it. Plus, Google has a guide on how to add schema markup so it won’t be a problem.
Upload Videos on YouTube
If you think that posting your video content only on your website is enough to drive more traffic and boost your SEO ranking , you are wrong. It is critical to post on different platforms, and we recommend you consider posting on YouTube. Why? The reasons are simple.
YouTube is owned by Google and it has a direct impact on the positions of YouTube content in search results. by searching anything on Google, you will see that there are always videos hosted on YouTube at the top of the search results page. So, by posting your content on this platform chances are your content will rank higher.
Also, YouTube is used by more than 2 billion people every month. It is the largest video-hosting platform, and you will definitely reach a new audience there.
Add Timestamps to Your Videos
Timestamps of video chapters are a great way to increase viewers’ engagement with your content. If you create videos that contain a lot of information, you need to give viewers a tool to navigate to different parts of your video. And timestamps are created just for this purpose.
Adding timestamps has a lot of benefits, as it will:
- Increase the audience engagement
- Give you the opportunity to insert more keywords ( in the titles of chapters)
- Help Google algorithm in crawling and indexing your content.
Thus, timestamps are great for boosting your videos’ SEO ranking.
To Sum Up
No one wants to hide the content they create for marketing purposes, and that’s why SEO is so important. By using the video SEO practices described above you can help search engine algorithms recognize your content for what it is and rank it higher on SERPs. Video content marketing is powerful for business, and in combination with the best video SEO practices, it will definitely provide positive outcomes.