Posting videos on YouTube is an important part of any inbound marketing strategy. Search engines such as Google and Bing can’t put videos in any type of searchable context because they are delivered via Flash so it’s up to you to do some search engine optimization so people can find your clips. The search engines take several factors into account when ranking videos including the title, description, and tags.
Here are six ways you can easily search engine optimize your YouTube videos to get better ranking in the search engines and increase your viewership.
- Use descriptive keywords in your title: Use descriptive keywords in your video’s title so people know what the video is about and help the video rank better in the search engines. The more factual and specific the title, the better.
- Write an informative description: Write a few descriptive sentences about your video and include all relevant information related to it such as names, topics, events, etc.
- Include a link to your website: Decide where you would like to funnel the traffic from your video to and include the URL, (including the http://), at the beginning of the video’s description so it’s always visible to the viewer even if the “more info” option is collapsed.
- List keywords for tags: Include several relevant keywords in your tags field to help people find your video. This will also associate your video with other videos which use the same tag. When people search for that topic, your video will come up as a related video.
- Add video annotation: Video annotations allow you to add interactive commentary to your video. Though this feature doesn’t necessarily help your video with regards to the search engines, it can be used to remind viewers to find you on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
- Create keyword rich links: Link to your YouTube clip from your website or blog using keyword rich anchor text. This will give your clip relevance with the search engines.
The most important thing to remember when posting videos to YouTube is to provide content that is valuable to your viewers. If your viewers like what they see they will comment, subscribe, rate, and share your videos which will help to build a community and attract quality traffic.
I design websites, blogs, and develop social media campaigns for creative professionals who want increase their online visibility, promote their latest projects, and attract new creative opportunities.