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7 Tips to Achieve Video Search Optimization

Martech Outlook | Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Videos have become an integral part of online marketing today. Despite the widespread recognition of the potentials video content holds, brands must optimize their video search paradigm to reap maximum benefits. Here is what leading brands do. 

FREMONT, CA: Video is one of the most influential communication media today. Video platforms like smartphones and other technology advancements are making it easier and more affordable for brands to create video content. Surveys predict that by the end of 2019, 80 per cent of web traffic will be video. So it is a no-brainer for brands to try and incorporate videos into their marketing strategies. If used properly, video can be a compelling form of a marketing strategy, and it can make a significant contribution to the brand’s overall Search Engine Optimization (SEO) roadmap. But, understanding a few best practices is fundamental to make video search optimization a success. Here is more to it.

• Choosing the Right Video Hosting Platform

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When selecting the video hosting platform, brands need to consider the reasons why they want their videos to rank. If brands are less concerned about getting traffic to their website and more focused on general brand awareness, there are leading video streaming platforms to choose from. If a brand is more focused on gaining on-site traffic to push leads towards conversion, then exploring alternative hosting platforms that support this capability is the way to go.

• Inserting a Video Transcript

As customers scroll through social media feed, they are likely to see several videos with captions alongside the video. The text that pairs with the video is known as video transcripts. Not only do video transcripts make brand’s videos more accessible to a broader audience, but they also make the brand’s videos more scrapable by search bots since there is additional text on-page. Transcripts act as page copy, and a more indexable text means brands can rank them for more queries. For brands, it is advisable to pay attention to transcripts when the video is long.

Making Thumbnail Images Engaging

The video thumbnail is what the searcher will see when the video is indexed; therefore, it plays a significant role in optimizing video search. Brands must relate thumbnail images to the cover of a book or the home page of their website. Thumbnail images need to be compelling, relevant, and all-around beautiful. Brands must make sure that thumbnail is also appropriate to what the brand is trying to rank for. It is always good for firms to remember that video thumbnail is more important than the title because it determines whether or not people will click. Depending on what the video is about, brands should try using the copy in their thumbnail as a visual cue that explains what viewers will take back when they watch that particular video. Also, when saving video files that will be uploaded to the brand’s website, one must use keyword-rich filenames, which will help both humans and bots understand what the video is about.

• Creating a Video Site Map and Sharing Video Across Channels

Today, brands are creating a large amount of video content and are publishing them on their website. But, they often find it challenging to rank them. Then brands may want to create a separate video site map. This site map will give the search engine a better idea of what pages have videos and the general content focus of the video.

Sharing video content across various marketing channels is often tried tactics. Also, uploading video content on social media platforms can bring enhanced results as it will help encourage social sharing, thus promoting a higher amount of backlinks that can make the brand website more authoritative in the search engine's eyes.

• Using Video Schema Markup

Video schema markup can be used to give search engines more information about the content of the video. Search bots cannot see the video and understand what it entails. So the only way the bots can know what the video is about is from schema markup. Adding schema markup enables the search engines to find the video and understand what the video is about. It can also lead to the video being displayed in the video results in the SERP for search queries related to the video.

• Optimizing for Speed

Not the least, optimizing videos for quicker website load times is always essential. This means that it is essential to have files in a small size without sacrificing quality. For that, brands need to compress the videos for faster loading while maintaining image quality. Brands can use data compression tools that reduce video file size without degrading quality.

• Not Relying Solely on SEO to Promote Video

Lastly, brands need to remember that SEO alone cannot do the entire job. Search engines are continually changing their algorithms, and video is evolving at lightning speed. In such a dynamic environment, relying solely on search bots to rank the videos will not be a consistent strategy to guarantee eyes on branding videos. SEO is continuously changing, so if a brand is genuinely looking to get more clicks, investing in marketing initiatives other than SEO will be a strategic route.

Video can be a potent marketing tool for brands if used in the right way. By keeping a few best practices in mind, along with maintaining a clear and concise outlook on the final objective, brands can be empowered to capture an ever-expanding group of customers with their video marketing.  

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