Making Search Engine Friendly Videos
Videos are a popular marketing tool today. With the continual improvements in technology and access speed, your site can be full of interesting video content. No longer do web pages need to be static brochures in order to rank highly in the search engines. But be careful – search engines cannot read videos. Make sure your web pages continue to use keyword relevant copy and SEO best practices. And, make sure your videos are using SEO best practices as well. Without these best practices in place, videos alone will most definitely hurt your search rankings.
A few stats:
According to a recent report published on eMarketer, the U.S. online video audience is expected to grow to 190 million people by 2012. That’s 88% of the entire online audience. In 2008, 73.6% of the online audience was already watching videos, and 67.2% of the online audience was already watching video advertisements.
A report from comScore tells us that online retail videos are also working. From October 2007 to October 2008, the number of visitors to retail websites grew by 4%. However, the number of visitors to retail websites who watched videos on those sites grew by 40%.
In an October 2008 survey of U.S. online retailers by Knowledge Marketing, 43.3% responded saying they planned to increase the amount of video or streaming media available on their websites, making it the number one advanced site feature that online retailers plan to add to their sites in 2009.
Although search engines can’t read videos, they can read a number of elements that support the videos. When done right, your videos can rank in the search engines and drive relevant traffic to your web site.
Here are a few key elements you’ll want to leverage for making search engine friendly videos.
1. Title
This is a required area when posting a video. Don’t leave it blank! Create a title using strong keywords to support the topic of your video.
<title>Strong Keyword Title For Your Video</title>
2. Summary
You can include a short summary paragraph about the video. Again, use strong keywords within your summary to support the topic of your video.
<summary>Short summary with keywords for your video.</summary>
3. Thumbnail
This is the still photo of the video seen before the video starts. Take advantage of the thumbnail image name and use relevant keywords.
Keyword.jpg
4. Keywords
Just like with traditional web page SEO, keywords play an important part in describing your video. Choose 5 to 10 keywords or keyword phrases to describe your video. Remember to separate them with commas.
<media: keywords>Keyword Phrase 1, Keyword Phrase 2, Keyword Phrase 3, Keyword Phrase 4, Keyword Phrase 5.</media: keywords>
5. Video URL
Use your most relevant keyword within the URL of your video. The URL is a highly weighted element for the search engines.
By keeping these best practices in mind, your site can be full of interesting videos that drive relevant traffic to your site from the search engines.
This article was written by Sarah Schwitters, CMO of lodestar marketing group. If you have questions related to improving your natural search rankings, please contact Sarah Schwitters at sarah@lodestarmg.com.