Sunday, February 1, 2009

SEO Tips for Optimizing Online Videos - Video SEO 101

By Marcus Richard

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.

There is misconception that, keyword research for video content is same as standard organic search or other search verticals. This is not true and moreover, till now there aren't keyword research tools to determine and measure video search results. Before you begin with your actual video search optimization, put together your keyword list. The list can be based on standard search results; however, they should be supplemented with results from news search engine results pages for more appropriate content. At this early phase of online video revolution, video searches at this point tend to be shorter keywords as opposed to "long tail" searches. More than any other piece of advice, make sure you include the word "video" in your keyword list. Examples - car videos, car video, racing video, automotive videos, etc....

The next step after you have generated a keyword list is to take a good look at the video search platforms to see which channels and categories, tags, etc... tend to get the most views, as well as to look at which platforms have the highest performance in views, ratings, etc... You will certainly want to submit your video to multiple sites but you will want to make sure that at the least, you submit your video to the more popular engines.

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.

It is much easier to get your video optimized and seen on search engine results pages when you are choosing a theme that does not already exist in mass. Dont make the mistake of creating videos that repeat videos already out there. Instead, choose fresh ideas and find a "content space" for your theme/keyword.

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.

You can even put the actual branding inside the video, such as text or domain name or specific URL as a graphic in the video. Of course, getting users back to your website or business is one great result for doing video SEO in the first place.

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. - 17943

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