YouTube and the SEO Phenominon: Getting Your Videos Ranked
Yesterday, as I was having lunch with some friends, someone brought up the subject of a specific song. After asking about the title and finding out how I can watch it (of course I knew where I would start) they simply said: YouTube It.
Gone are the days of planning your entire day around going to the library: first, make sure they are open on a holiday, don’t go at lunch time because of the crowd…ohhh, and make sure your card is current.
We now live in the era of three syllable research. Need some information…? Google it. Gonna find a song….? YouTube it. Haven’t seen that classmate in 20 years…? Facebook it.
Now that I have you convinced (which probably wasn’t necessary)….as an Internet Marketer, you can take advantage of this 21st century wonder called YouTube.
Just like a web page, your You Tube videos are in dire need of some SEO Lovin.
Let’s take a look at some of the leading tricks to getting your videos found in the search engines:
- Title Matters: When uploading videos about products and services, more specifically for affiliate programs, be sure and do diligent keyword research. This is when you should focus on the Long Tail of search. As more videos are added (over 20 hours every minute), the competition will only increase. Keep your titles to 65 characters or less. Anything else will look cumbersome and result in low clickthroughs.
- Don’t Forget the URL: The information contained in your description, will determine the effectiveness of your video. Yes, once found it will probably be watched, but don’t forget the purpose. Keep in mind you’re not uploading another “This is why I hate my life” video…you want viewers to act. A good tip is to start the description with the URL of the landing page. This way, YouTube will create a hot link which will be included in search engines.
- The Description Manifesto: After you’ve added in the URL, you still have another 100 characters or so to make your point.Make this a home for rich keyword phrases and descriptive text. Remember, YouTube will only display 160 characters. So, to make sure none of it is truncated, I would keep it the length of a tweet (around 140 characters). Keep it short and straight to the point. This will give search engines something to crawl, and viewers a reason to click.
- The Power of Tagging: This has nothing to do with the game you played in elementary school, or anything else your mind can conjure up. It’s merely a simple but effective rule in getting YouTube videos ranked. Tags are one of the major elements used to rank your videos not only in search engines, but guaranteeing they show up in the related videos section. This is another good time to utilize your long tail keywords. Even though tags are important, don’t overdo it. Rule to remember: Under 10, but no less than 5.
- It’s All About Links: Here’s what most YouTubers (that’s right I said it) don’t realize: your videos are just like web pages. More links = higher rankings in YouTube and the search engines. Just like getting back links and having anSEO plan for websites, start collected back links for your videos. Take advantage of the embedding feature by adding them to multiple sites…(YouTube provides all of this code). This is one of the most underrated tactics to increasing video visibility.
When factoring in the above tips, keep in mind….the best thing you can do for your video marketing is to create a plan: research keywords, and see what your competition is doing. Remember, YouTube is not the only place your videos should be viewed. Spread the goods around!
As always, let me know what you think. If there’s anything you’d like to see discussed, or have something to say, LEAVE A COMMENT or CONTACT US!
