As users rely more on video to process information and educate themselves on what they are interested in, including the right video content in your website has quickly become a dependable way to shoot past your competitors on the Google ranking page.
Google knows users want video content, so including the right video in your SEO strategy pays off. According to Oberlo, 54% of all consumers want to see more video content from businesses they support.
Why? Video content is a thousand times easier to digest than text-based content because it can take information and make it easy to interpret quickly. This is probably why videos get 1200% more shares than text and pictures combined.
7 SEO Video Marketing Tips You Should Keep In Mind
Now that we have established that a good video marketing strategy is excellent for your brand let us dive into a few ways to create a good one.
#1 Insert Video Transcripts
Search engines are always looking for ways to understand your content better, and including a video transcript is an excellent way to help make their job easier. In addition, search engines will not automatically know what your video is about, so a transcript can help them understand which audience it is catering to.
Including captions on your video can boost conversions, increase overall views, and help your business make more money online. Think about the college student watching videos next to his roommate or the mom on her phone while her baby sleeps- not everyone wants their video to make a ton of noise.
Dell reportedly saw a 20% increase in customers after adding captions to their videos, which is a cheap investment to make as well.
Image Source: 3playmedia.com
You can add a transcript to your video in a couple of ways. There are a few automatic transcription services, but many give you an end product full of errors. Freelance transcription is your best bet, or you can try doing it manually.
A couple of ways to transcribe your video would be-
- Use A Company– A company like 3Play Media has paid-as-you-go plans or a monthly subscription for regular users. They can help you create a video transcription, add captions, and more for an affordable monthly cost.
- Automatic Speech Recognition Technology– The only downside with this cheap and affordable transcription option is that it can come back with some errors. The best in the game must be Speechmatics if you want to try it.
- Hire A Freelancer– Websites like transcribe connect companies with freelance transcriptionists looking for work. If you are on a budget, want to work directly with the transcriptionist, or on a solo project- this is a good option.
- DIY It– If you do not want to invest money in service, but free automated options are not doing the trick, you could always sit down and spend a few hours transcribing the content.
Transcribing audio to text does not just apply to videos. For example, transcribing could be a good idea if you create a podcast, create content for your first-course launch, or want to repurpose some form of audio content.
Justin from Primal Video has some great tips and tricks if you want to learn more about transcribing content.
#2 Create Content That Resonates With Your Audience
Getting caught up in SEO video marketing is pretty straightforward, but it is essential to remember that the final user will be a real live human being.
SEO can only get your video on the screen of your target audience, but it is up to you to keep them engaged and watching by creating good content.
The better your video content is, the less time you have to invest in SEO. Don’t get me wrong- I truly love SEO and video marketing, but I see this more often than not which is why I am mentioning it here- If your video content blows your target audience away, it WILL get watched and therefore promoted. – Burkhard Berger awesomex.com
To further prove my point, look at one of my favorite examples – Jon Olsson. He rarely does video SEO, but because his content resonates with his target audience, he gets hundreds of thousands of views for every video (from true fans).
Creating target personas, asking your audience what they want from you regarding content (you can use a survey maker to get the job done), and figuring out what level of expertise your audience has are all essential steps to take when deciding what sort of content you should be creating.
Of course, creating high-quality video content is easier said than done. Don’t listen to people saying it’s enough to have your smartphone to shoot a great video – you’ll need more than that. Free stock footage is available, but original and fresh content in SEO is a great start. First and foremost, learn how to write a good script. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a mess of a video that does not appeal to your audience and carries no value. Secondly, you’ll need to invest in editing software. It can also be an online video editor, such as Fastreel, with hundreds of templates and filters to boost engagement. Lastly, the hardware also matters a lot. An iPhone can make a good video, but you’ll still need a good mic since the audio quality is as essential as the quality of the visuals
#3 Use The Right Keywords
As I mentioned, Google cannot ‘read’ your videos, so using the right keywords in the text that supports your video or in the transcripts will be helpful when you are trying to rank. Let us look at a few examples-
Infinite Recovery, a drug rehab center in Austin, Texas, has a page full of client testimonials allowing website visitors to look. At the top of this page, they have a paragraph explaining what the videos are about, which uses some of their target keywords like Recovery, recovery stories, and more.
As you can see, including the right keywords in your content isn’t hard. But, a lot of the time, it just happens naturally.
The same rule applies when you are creating video titles and descriptions. To select the right keywords, keyword research is a must. You can use a keyword research tool like Google Keywords, Keywords Everywhere, etc., or invest in a done-for-you keyword research service perfect for people strapped for time.
Now that you know what keywords you want to target, you need to take the time to create a description and title that can organically include those keywords. Make sure it looks as natural as possible. So, if you want the keyword’ summer jobs,’ consider using a title like- ‘7 Summer Jobs That Are Perfect For Moms’.
The key is to balance pleasing your audience and search engines.
Need help with video keyword research? Check out our video keyword research services.
#4 Create An Eye-Catching Thumbnail
A great thumbnail can shoot up your video conversions since this is the first thing people see. iNECTA, a cloud ERP software, does a great job of including the right video thumbnails in their YouTube videos as on their website.
They have a great screenshot of their software in action as the main thumbnail in one of their videos-
This gives people who have not even started the video a glance at their software. In addition, it helps get viewers invested in the video before it starts, which is the primary aim of any good thumbnail.
Kurzgesagt is another excellent example of a YouTube channel that knows how to create an awesome thumbnail. The colors are vibrant, they have their keyword in the thumbnail preview, and they have eye-catching animated images that draw attention. If you would like to use this for your channel, you can use graphic design software to get it done.
Some would argue that your thumbnail is even more important than your title because it convinces people to click on the video. Think of it like a book cover- people use it to judge what comes next.
#5 Optimize For One Video
No matter how many videos you have on your page, Google will only feature one, so optimizing for the first video you choose to include would be wise. The video you want Google to index must come first for this reason.
This is what you should consider only including one video per page since Google will typically ignore any videos that come after that.
Optimizing for the most relevant video will ensure it gets the attention it deserves.
#6 Measuring Performance
You can measure the performance of each video you put out for your audience in numerous ways, and you must do so. Looking at the right metrics can help you and your company judge whether a video has been successful.
This will help you figure out which topics get the highest views, conversions, and engagement which will help you figure out what your future video creation plans will look like or should look like.
Google Analytics is the most common way to track what videos bring traffic to your website. In addition, you can see which pages get in the most conversions and traffic once you sign up for an account.
Similarly, once you sign up as a creator and start posting videos on YouTube, you can take advantage of the analytics available in the YouTube Creator Studio. Once there, you can look into information such as watch time, subscriber count, demographic, duration of time watched, etc. All of these analytics can prove to be invaluable in the long run.
#7 Promote Your Video And Get More Views
Once you have created a great video, you must promote it whenever possible. For example, you can embed it in relevant blog posts, include it on social media, or even update your email subscribers when it goes live.
You can also promote your videos on forums like Reddit or Quora when you are answering relevant questions. Do not randomly add links to your videos because you will be flagged as spam. Instead, add them when you think the information will be helpful to users.
Promoting your videos in the right places at the right time can make users desperate for good information. This could eventually lead to you having one more loyal subscriber who loves what you do.
Wrapping it up
Video marketing is no longer just an additional income stream or an excellent way to bring in new website visitors; it is a need. As the internet gets more competitive, you want to ensure you please Google and your audience in every way possible.
Multiple forms of media also allow your audience to digest your content in whatever way they wish, which is always appreciated.
According to the Cisco Annual Internet Report, more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic will be made up of online videos, 15 times more than in 2017. A good SEO strategy ensures you get your slice of the SEO pie.