Search Engine Optimization Tips for Your YouTube Videos

You may be surprised to learn that YouTube is the second-largest search engine. It is bigger than Yahoo. It is bigger than Microsoft’s Bing, according to most sources (which kind of makes sense given the fact that YouTube is now owned by Google). That being said, you are really selling your search engine optimization efforts short if you do not include YouTube in your SEO and marketing efforts.

Many of our clients are intimidated when they look at the vast number of videos posted on YouTube on any given day. YouTube streams more than 1 billion videos a day. You may feel discouraged when trying to have your video stand out from the crowd. Truth is, the vast majority of YouTube videos aren’t worth watching but the content that IS good is RARELY optimized for search engines. With a few easy steps, you can easily set your videos apart from the competition and improve their search engine rankings in both YouTube and other organic internet searches:

• Create ONE unified account for your company to use to post videos under (as to having multiple YouTube accounts) Create a YouTube account that incorporates your company’s name. This makes it easier for people interested in your video content to subscribe to your YouTube Channel. When you post new video content to YouTube, your subscribers will automatically be notified.
• Remember that videos posted on YouTube are, for all practical purposes, invisible to search engines. Optimizing the surrounding content (text description, keywords, etc) is vital.
• Include appropriate keywords in the title of the video. The title is probably THE most important piece of information search engines have about your You Tube video. Since many web searches include the world “video” when searching for a video, adding the word “video” to your titles (while it may seem redundant to you) gives your videos an obvious but often-overlooked advantage.
• For each video, write a UNIQUE keyword-rich description that includes the FULL web address to your web site. Put this web address or URL close the beginning of your description so that the user will see this link even if the “more info” option is collapsed.
• Include links to your other social media profile pages such as Facebook or Twitter. This will not only extend the social media exposure but can also drive traffic to a website in general.
• Encourage participation. YouTube is a search engine, but it is also a social media channel. Open your video to commenting and embedding whenever possible, but keep in mind that you might have to weed out some inappropriate comments. On the other hand, some negative feedback is good because it makes the user experience more genuine.
• If your video clip has audio recording in a different language (i.e. Your company was showcased on a foreign language television program ) include YouTube Captions and Subtitles for your viewers.
• Make sure to use YouTube Insights, which can provide great information about demographics and view experiences. This data can help you improve your future videos.