The aim of video SEO is simply to make it as easy
as possible for both YouTube and Google to understand all video content. And
why wouldn’t you? With Google being the largest search engine and
YouTube being the second, it is more and more important that companies now factor
online video optimisation into their marketing efforts.
Since Google can’t fully understand what your video is about without help (not yet, anyhow) optimising your clip currently means providing as much textual information about it. This is so that search engines can properly index it and then show it in their relevant search results.
My advice here is therefore:
Creating an optimized title is perhaps the most obvious thing to do, yet is probably one of the most overlooked. The clip title should be several words long (we tend to keep to the same 55 – 60 character range we recommend for web page title optimisation) and include the major keyword(s) you want to your video to rank for. Note: There are differing opinions on whether the keywords at the beginning of the title give more of a boost than those added subsequently… but I have found no definitive proof of this.
Description
Insert as much text as you realistically can into the description field of your clip. Add words about the video content, the people or characters, the situation or product it shows, and the usage or benefits being explained. In short… consider this a blog post and use several hundred words if possible. Obviously, any content placed in the description needs to include your targeted keywords from your SEO strategy, plus don’t be afraid to sometimes repeat keywords or derivative terms here
If your clip contains people speaking (e.g. a voice-over or some dialogue) strongly consider obtaining a transcript of the text and inserting this in the description too.
Don’t forget the transcript can also be:
- Used to correct or improve the closed captions, which you must consider - Sure, YouTube can auto-transcribe your audio content, but not any visual content than you may also want to describe
- Added as additional content into any web page that embeds this video clip (potentially providing some on-page SEO help too)
There is growing consensus in the SEO community that tags for YouTube clips have minimal optimisation benefits (but they do help with cross-linking between clips with the same tags). So still use them to describe your content in the same way you would a social media or blog post. However, remember to use those tags which highlight the uniqueness of your video (and therefore avoid very generic and therefore very competitive terms).
Title information
Remember to provide bespoke information about
each different clip uploaded. Don't upload the same clips with different
info title & descriptions.
(Although I have no personal proof that this
is "black hat" SEO activity... it does go against the very premise of
what Google is trying to do. Plus, if it was suddenly treated as such... it
could have a lasting negative effect.)
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