How to Optimize your Videos for Search Engines

By Mark Robertson
If you perform a simple search on video search or video SEO, you will be bombarded with numerous articles that try to explain this technique. Video search optimization, or Video SEO (VSEO) is a new bug that has bitten the world recently. Though it's a new technique, still many companies have started using it aggressively to earn high ranking and more business.

In order to successfully optimize your videos for search engines, it is important that you have some knowledge regarding the various aspects of search as well as the difference in techniques with regard to video.

Keyword research is important for Video search engine optimization. However, there are some key differences in terms of the methods that should be employed for keyword researching video terms. In order to know your target audience for seeing your videos, it is important to first conduct some research on keywords and compile a keyword list. This list can be obtained by doing some simple searches for a related product or service. There are not yet any keyword research tools specifically for video. Keep in mind that video searches at this point tend to be shorter keywords, not "long tail" searches. In addition, more than anything, your keyword list should have the word "video" in it. Examples - car videos, car video, racing video, automotive videos, etc....

So, after you have completed your keyword research, I would also suggest that you take an inventory of the various video search websites. In other words, take note of which sites have the highest traffic, which channels and categories are the most popular, etc... You will likely want to submit your video to as many sites as you can but it will certainly be important to get your video on the more popular search engines as well.

As a side note, pay attention to the audience that is already searching for the terms that you identified in your keyword research. Are there closely related terms that you did not include? Take a look at videos that are similar in terms of the keywords that you are targeting and view the comments and feedback from users to find related terms.

Make sure that when you add your video to the video search sites that you allow users to comment on your videos. Videos that enable users to comment tend to get much more traffic. In addition, those users that do comment and provide feedback are more often the users that will result in a conversion.

If you can do this, it is always better to pick a video theme that is not saturated in terms of competition out there. As an example, a video about Tom Cruise will likely be very hard to optimize for as there are thousands of results for that search.

Nobody is interested in watching long and boring videos. Shoot or create short clips from your longer version of the video. This will make your video more interesting and crispier. People usually like to watch short clips online ranging from 1-3 minutes, as they are short and takes less time to download.

With video SEO, it is also important to take advantage of the ability to brand your video using watermarks, logos, text, or any additional information that will get users back to your main destination. That is the beauty of video search engine optimization. It does and will drive traffic back to your website or business.

Therefore, in order to get more visibility for your business, website, etc... search engine optimization for video is an excellent, and fairly new concept that you can take advantage of right now, while the buzz is hot.
About the Author:
This post was written by Mark Robertson of ReelSEO - A site focused on providing tips for Video SEO and Video Search Engine Optimization. For more info about Search Engine Optimization, watch these SEO Videos