New to video production? Creating engaging video content is one of the best ways to increase your chances of jumping into a top position in Google’s search results and following just a few simple tips and tactics can transform your digital marketing output without the need for more extensive, relatively traditional SEO.
That is because video is one of the most powerful tools for attracting and retaining the attention of visitors to your website – statistics show almost a fifth of people browsing the web spend less than four seconds on a website, but will happily watch video content for over two and a half minutes.
Digital marketing expert Varun Sharma highlighted several ways of boosting your video rankings for technology news website SiteProNews.
Quality above all else
Videos are much more likely to appear on the hotly-contested first page of search engine results, but the key to high rankings is high quality. Sharma says both poor visualisation and sound quality will fail to keep the audience engaged, so focus on production values as well as highlighting the benefits of your product or service. More engagement will lead to more likes, comments and shares, which will translate to a better ranking.
The next step to SEO success is the use of precise query phrases in the title and description. Sharma urges digital marketers to take a closer look at keyword tactics, and recommends selecting a keyword phrase for each video. This keyword will be used at the beginning of the video’s title and in any supporting written content, such as the description.
Transcripts, schemas and social media
Many newcomers to video production often underestimate the importance of a video transcript, which is basically the text version of the video. They also overlook the ranking of a video in YouTube itself; to help with this, embed the video on your own website by creating a rich media content page with additional images and text that describe and enhance the video.
Sharma adds that the use of a video sitemaps, which will give Google information about the videos on your site, schemas, which Google recommends as a way of defining videos on the web, backlinks – linking to your video from other pages, and syncing your YouTube account with your social media profiles so any video you upload is automatically shared will also enable your videos to drive traffic and improve your rankings.
