Video SEO Adds Power To Traditional Search Engine Optimization
Video SEO Adds Power To Traditional Search Engine Optimization
Video SEO, when it is done properly, is 53 times more likely to generate a first page Google ranking than just relying on traditional search engine optimization techniques, said a 2009 study by Forrester Research. That is because video SEO takes advantage of Google’s efforts to push videos to the top of the search engines.
Thanks to the growth of mobile video and cheaper broadband prices, videos are becoming more popular as a form of communication and entertainment. Back in September 2009, 125.5 million Americans watched 10 billion YouTube videos. And in a recent survey by Google, not only did 71% of the respondents say they used mobile access as their primary way of watching online videos, YouTube Mobile was found to be the top mobile video viewing site in the US, with more than 7.1 million unique visits per month.
Search engines are taking advantage of video’s popularity, and are giving preference to websites that take advantage of good video SEO techniques. In fact, videos that are properly submitted to Google and other search engines using video SEO techniques can often appear at the top of the search results pages within a few days.
Video SEO has two advantages over traditional SEO:
Google is working to become a full-service search engine, finding results from blogs, websites, tweets, things that members of the searcher’s social network are saying about those search terms, and of course, videos. Other search engines are following suit as well, adding a mix of media and sources to their SERPs (search engine results pages).
While there were 10 billion videos viewed on YouTube in September 2009, there are not that many good videos that have been submitted using effective video SEO techniques. In fact, the percentage of properly-optimized videos is so small that any Internet marketer who wants to take advantage of video SEO for their clients can see some outstanding results.
It is important to remember that proper video SEO, at least right now, cannot be easily duplicated and automated. Each of the major search engines and video hosting sites have their own guidelines and procedures for effective video SEO. Some video hosting sites include captioning and keyword tags. Some search engines allow submission of content as an XML feed, properly optimized with appropriate attention paid to the metadata for that feed.
Some video sites, like YouTube, are also helping video marketers by creating new technologies around their text like allowing people to attach entire transcripts to a video’s timeline, and let viewers jump to specific portions of videos based on the keyword phrase. Since these keywords are also the ones a video should be indexed for, this allows search engines to properly index and rank videos and their pages. Keyword-rich transcripts combined with videos means a website can have a bigger impact than those sites that rely solely on text, or strictly on video placement.
This means that if video optimization looks like a viable marketing practice, it will be important to either do the research to see what each search engine requires, or work with a search engine optimization firm that has some expertise with video SEO tactics.
Finally, the growth of video search engine optimization does not mean marketers should forgo traditional SEO. Traditional SEO is still necessary for video SEO efforts to work. It is still important to practice good traditional SEO as the foundation for other search engine optimization strategies.
In other words, it does not do any good to have a high-speed turbo racing engine if it does not have any gas. But by adding video SEO to traditional SEO efforts, there can be some dramatic improvements to search engine placement and revenue generation.