Video SEO is when you want your videos to appear on higher ranked pages of video hosting sites like youtube.com and also on regular search engines like Google or Bing.

SEO matters for every type of content you aim to promote, including videos. Universal search results for a video’s click through rate have yielded a result 41% higher than that for plain text. This gives you a basic idea of the level of leverage video SEO has in the world of search engines. Google SERPs displays video results in – two pack, three pack and four pack formations.

Let’s take an example of the search for the words tennis techniques…

In the image below you can see a three pack video result displayed on the universal search.

Video SEO can be performed with ease if a few guidelines are followed

• Video platform

The platform used to host your videos matters to a great extent in certain search engines. In the case of Google’s universal SERPs, it is youtube.com that dominates with 84% allocation, Google video, metacafe, and dailymotion take 1%, 2%, and 3% respectfully. The other 10% is given to various other sites.

• Ranking on platform site

The ranking of your video on the site on which it has been hosted is very crucial. If your video is hosted on YouTube and is not ranked high on the YouTube search, in such a case your video will most likely not show up in the universal search of any search engine.

Keyword usage

• Transitional keywords

Transitional words (buy, free, cheap, sale, etc) display poor performance in click rate. Such words may or may not attract users on normal text searches but have proven to lower page rank of a video as well as its appearance in the universal SERPs.

• Informational keywords

Informational keywords are those which are most sought after by the search engines and they make up majority of the clicks for videos on universal SERPs. They are words and phrases like – how to, what is, history of, something versus something, etc

• Navigational keywords

Phrases which include the names of brands and their descriptions, URLs etc are examples or Navigational keywords and phrases. The popularity of the keyword will depend on the popularity of the brand or URL being considered.

Tips

• Remember to place your video on a prominent platform, preferably YouTube. It is also wise to spread out to other video directories in order to maximize your SEO.
• If truly informative and sought after, make your video in two parts. Place one on a directory like YouTube along with a link in it for the second part which will be on your website.
• Focus on the title, captions and tags and avoid transitional phrases
• Always remember that in the end, the failure or success of your video is primarily based on its appeal to the targeted audience.