Why is YouTube important?
So you don’t
sell cute cats?
What use could you possibly have for YouTube?
Many people are
unaware that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. What’s
more, approximately 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Not
only does this show that marketers need to be engaging with YouTube, but it
also means that competition is fierce and you need to be engaging well, paying
close attention to the SEO of your videos.
Top Tips for YouTube SEO
The Basics
·
Give
your video a relevant headline, with proper keywords. Using a colon allows you
to ‘double name’ it and therefore to double your keywords. Give as much information
as possible in the title as this is the first thing looked at.
·
Maximise
use of the description box. Write a couple of paragraphs of good descriptive
copy. At the very least, fill it with keywords or put the script from the video
in. Don’t forget to add links to your website and social networks.
·
Optimise
the channel that you’re posting your videos from. Post regular high quality
videos on similar topics. Videos that come from a well-regarded channel will
rank higher. Create Playlists, fill in the ‘About’ page and start discussions
with your users.
·
HD
videos will rank higher than SD videos – So make sure you upload your best
quality versions.
·
Use
the YouTube Keyword Tool to find the areas of high volume.
Advanced
·
Use
the closed captioning as YouTube searches through the content of your captions
in order to rank videos. Since the introduction of speech recognition
technology, adding your own closed captions is no longer the laborious process
it once was.
·
Submit
a transcript of your video so that Google know what it’s about.
·
Make
sure you grab viewer attention within the first 3-5 seconds of the clip. YouTube
ranks videos based on how long they’re watched for on average.
·
Submit
a ‘Video Sitemap’ to
Google and use mark up to let Google know about videos on your website.
Other ideas to consider when marketing through
YouTube…
·
Use
Annotations to give
a call to action for liking your video or subscribing to your channel. This
helps to promote regular engagement.
·
Promote
your videos through all your other social media and email marketing channels.
·
Host
your videos on your website and make sure they are easy to browse and well
presented.
Want to know more, or would like some bespoke advice for your own business? Drop us an email or visit the MoneySpyder site.