So you’ve taken the plunge and created some super awesome videos (that you know the whole world will want to see) to help drive traffic to your website. After all, you’ve been told that using video on your website will help your page rankings, and we all want more traffic!
All is great! You have embedded the videos in your website and shared them on social media with your existing fans, but you check out your video rankings and they are a bit dismal. Now didn’t you hear somewhere that YouTube is the second biggest search engine after Google? Shouldn’t your brand spanking new video have heaps of views and be sending more traffic to your website? Technically, yes, but with all the noise and competition out there, it is hard to stand out in the crowd and the results may not be as good as expected.
So what was the point in doing all that work creating awesome videos if no one can find and watch them?
Well, all the hard work is worth it, but you just need to follow through with a few more steps to give your videos the best chance of being found.
Optimising your video will increase your video rankings and drive traffic to your website. Yes, it all revolves around Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), but don’t fear – these tips are so easy that anyone can do it.
Five Simple Tips To Help Boost Your Video Rankings
First, ensure you have determined the appropriate keywords for your video. They will most likely be the same keywords that you are using on the webpage hosting the video. Once you know your keyword(s) you can get started.
Step 1. File Name
Before uploading your video to YouTube, you need to rename the file to match the title (see Step 2). So spend a little time determining the correct title, rename the video file to match, then upload the file to YouTube.
Step 2. Title
The title needs to be engaging and descriptive. Ensure it describes the video correctly and includes your keywords. Take the time on determining your title as this will help you be found among all the other videos out there.
Step 3. Description
Unknown to most people, the description allows 5,000 characters, so it is good practice to use this space to go into more detail about the video. You can discuss the relationship of the video with your website and/or business. You can also show the viewer how your product/service can help them. Ensure you use your keywords in the text and add links to your website and social media sites. You can provide your contact details like email address and phone number and even include call to actions.
Step 4. Tags and Categories
When you are uploading your video you have the opportunity to choose a category that your video relates to, so choose the most appropriate category from the list for your video. You can then add tags to your video. Ensure you do this as tags will help identify your video from all the other videos within the same category.
Step 5. Annotations
Annotations are notifications within the video that provide additional information to the viewer. They come in the form of a speech bubble, note, title or link to another video. You can use multiple annotations within the one video and you can determine the aesthetic as well as the length of time the annotation is visible. You can add information like your website and contact details, and use keywords in the title option. Using the video link option is really useful to help your viewer see other videos that they are likely to be interested in. This also helps increase the number of views of your videos.
There are several other ways to optimise your videos, however these options are either a little more complex or time consuming so we haven’t covered them here today.
If you’re using videos don’t forget to keep these simple tips handy and use them to help boost your video rankings. If you’re wondering whether or not video should be a part of your marketing strategy or you need some advice on your YouTube Channel, give Rodney a call on 1300 131 932 and he can point you in the right direction.
