A few years ago, videos were these huge, cumbersome things that you could only share if you had special video players and broadband Internet. Video SEO was largely unnecessary, because people couldn’t watch videos very easily.
But, events now make video SEO necessary: more people have cheap broadband, videos have become smaller, and it’s now possible to stream videos on mobile devices. A video with your key search terms as its title is 50 times more likely to appear on Google page one that text or a still image.
80% of Internet users are watching online video around the world. Part of that is because Generation Y (people between the ages of 11 – 27) outnumbers Baby Boomers, 81 million to 78 million. So we’re starting to see more and more people use smart phones and mobile devices to watch online video.
There are several free video sharing sites around, all of which are excellent candidates for video SEO. Of course, there’s the big dog, YouTube. So many people are aware of YouTube, it’s a must-submit for any of your online videos. But smart search engine optimization pros also use other video sharing sites like Vimeo, Viddler, or PhotoBucket. There are dozens of video sharing sites that make video search engine optimization easy.
Just like the difference between Google and Yahoo/Bing, when it comes to video hosting, YouTube has the biggest audience, but it’s harder to get seen. If you host your video on a smaller site, like Vimeo and Viddler, you have a much better chance of being that big fish in the small pond.
Consider Specialized Sites for Video SEO, like VideoJug.com for how-to videos or ScienceStage.com for science, teaching, and research.
Video works today because it aims to provide users with an inside view into your site and what it has to offer. If structured properly, your video can be focused around your site’s unique value proposition. Video SEO can also help to promote the content, especially if the content includes those keywords most sought after by your potential customers in online searches. The title of the video is everything, but the content within the video speaks volumes!
Just remember to create videos that are short and easy to watch, fun and interesting for viewers, and hosted on one or more video sharing sites. You’ll see your efforts pay off time and again.
As videos become easier for marketers to produce, and easier for consumers to, consume, video SEO is becoming a necessary part of any online marketing campaign.
