By now, you’ve probably heard of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is the practice of creating and maintaining a website that attracts customers to your business through search engines for “Free.” Recently, the world has become demanding that websites be entertaining and informational. This has driven the growth of mediums like video. According to Smart Insights, this is so much that people will watch 100 minutes of video online daily by 2021.
As marketers, we must capture this growth. Since YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine (and second-most visited website), it makes sense to start there. So, enter Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO).
The Fundamentals of VSEO
A well-optimized video marketing campaign will have three key things in place:
Technically sound videos
Let’s start with the technical aspects of a video you want to optimize. First and foremost, you need to have a good-quality video. Poor sound quality or grainy visuals aren’t going to cut it. But that doesn’t mean you have to go full-throttle video production. Just make it professional!
In addition, you need to ensure your video is accessible to everyone. This means making sure that you use high-contrast colours where possible. It also means creating a closed caption file so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can engage with your content. As a bonus to creating closed-captioning text, you can use the content as a transcript on your website for added SEO benefit. A quick AI prompt will get you an article. Here’s one we use:
You are an SEO content developer. The team has created a video and they want you to develop a blog post to compliment the video. Make the post engaging and use a variety of formating like bulleted lists and paragraphs. Write like a human and avoid duplication. here is the transcript of the video
AI Prompt that turns a video transcript into a blog post.
Lastly, avoid copyright issues by licensing your own music. Be careful about songs in the background, as they can sometimes get caught in your audio, which can cause your video to be blocked. Sometimes, it’s unavoidable to use copyrighted material in your film. In that case, reach out to the copyright holder and negotiate a deal.
For more information on video accessibility, these 8 tips from Sitepoint will be helpful.
Using appropriate search terms
Similarly to optimizing your website, you want to develop content that is targeted to your customers’ searches. This is usually done by selecting keywords and topics that your customers put into search engines.
There are quite a few tools out there for keyword research; however, one of my favourites for VSEO is AHrefs. The main benefit of this tool is that it can get YouTube data. This is key because, as I already mentioned, YouTube is a massive search engine in itself. Not pulling data specific to that website is like using Yahoo data to understand how people search on Google.
The main thing here is to find keywords your audience will search for. It may be helpful to ask your customers what they are looking for when trying to find your product. You can also look at customer service data to see what questions people ask. Finally, you can put your customer hat on and pretend to go shopping for your product.
Create valuable content
Ok! You now know how to develop technically sound videos, you’ve created a great list of keywords, and you’re going to make your videos. This is a critical moment for you. Content that is well thought out and well produced will have a higher chance of succeeding.
Part of the reason it’s so important to create outstanding content is that YouTube uses engagement as a metric to determine which videos to rank in what order. Videos that have more engagement are more likely to have a higher ranking (which should mean more viewers for you).
Here are a few tips on how to make engaging video content:
Know your audience
48% of consumers want videos to reflect what they are interested in, so it makes sense for us to know what our audience wants. Sometimes this isn’t easy, but the best way to find out is to ask your customers about their needs. What questions do they have about your product? Do they hit roadblocks when using your business? How can you provide value to them?
Tell a story
Armed with knowledge about your customers, it’s time to turn that information into a story.
Stories help keep people engaged and remember the content. There are seven classic story plots that you can use. Pick one that makes the most sense to communicate your idea. For example, the rags-to-riches plot helps explain case studies.
Use visuals and motion
Use visuals and motion to your advantage. It’s okay to have a talking-head video, but add to it by using callouts, banners and other visuals to highlight critical points.
Keep the video short
This isn’t a hard and fast rule. Your story will dictate how long your video should be; however, aim to keep things compact. You can use analytics from videos you’ve produced in the past to get a better idea of what a good length is. Take a look at where people are dropping off. If you notice a trend, this might indicate how long your videos should be.
To wrap up, video SEO is a lot like website SEO. You need to do a few technical tasks, but your job is to understand your customers and provide value. If you can do those last two things well, you’ll be on your way to great success.
Need help with VSEO? Talk to a digital marketing consultant.