How To Optimize Video Content for SEO and Maximize Visibility

Videos are an excellent tool for boosting brand visibility and increasing engagement. But with so many videos online, you need to make sure that yours show up at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). To do this, you must create your content with search engine optimization (SEO) as a prime consideration.

Video content is somewhat unique compared to pages of text because Google and other search engines can't search your video for specific phrases or keywords. However, by understanding how to optimize your video content for SEO, you can maximize visibility and increase engagement rates.

Understanding the Fundamentals of Video SEO

Search engine optimization means tailoring your content so that search engine algorithms are more likely to rank it higher in search results. Good visibility in search results is vital for customer engagement. 

Research by Backlinko found that:

• The top organic search on Google has an average click-through rate (CTR) of 27.6%.
• The top result is 10 times more likely to receive engagement than the tenth result.
• Moving up one spot in the search rankings can increase your CTR by 2.8% on average.
• Only .63% of users click on a link from the second SERP.

Many factors can influence SEO ranking visibility, including the quality of your content, keywords, and engagement rates. Understanding these different factors is important when optimizing video content for SEO, especially when determining how to use video content for SEO in small businesses.

Crafting Engaging Video Content

One of the most important things when considering video content for SEO is how engaging your content is. Engaging content increases dwell time, the amount of time a user spends on your page before returning to the search results. Dwell time is one of several factors that increase SEO.

Conversely, engaging content reduces bounce rate, another factor that SEO considers. Bounce rate is the number of users who return to the search results without clicking on additional pages on your site. A high bounce rate is bad for SEO and can lower your rankings.

In addition to engaging content overall, eye-catching titles, video descriptions, and tags can also help boost SEO.

Create Engaging Titles

Three different titles are important for SEO for video content: 

1. The post title, sometimes referred to as your headline or H1 heading, is the title people see when they land on your page.
2. The SEO title, or meta title, is the title you see in the search results. While the page title and SEO title may be similar, the goal of the SEO title is to capture attention and get people to click on the post.
3. The video title is especially important if you post on video or social media platforms. Because you often can’t set the page or SEO titles on these sites, your video title needs to stand out. 

Craft Compelling Video Descriptions

Video descriptions tell people what your video is about. These are often key to helping boost your SEO, as they add relevant text to the page. 

Your description should include:

• A summary of your video
• Relevant keywords
• A hook or tease to pique viewers' interest
• A call to action (CTA)

Because the first part of your video description is often visible in search results, you should put the most important information and keywords here. For longer descriptions, break the information into short, easy-to-read paragraphs or bullet points. 

Utilize Effective Metadata and Tags

There are two types of metadata:

1. Source metadata includes information like the file and time and date of recording. Your camera automatically adds this to your video files.
2. Added metadata is essential for SEO. This is all the information you add to the video file to help search engines understand what your video is about.  These include the title, description, video transcript, and tags. 

Tags are keywords that you input to help users find your content. Most algorithms put a higher priority on the first few tags you use, especially the very first. Use your most significant keywords as tags and organize them from the most to least relevant.

Conducting Keyword Research for Video SEO

To choose effective keywords for your metadata, you need to start with keyword research. Begin by creating a short list of broad topics relevant to your content and aligned with your customers’ interests. For example, a food website may include keywords like “recipe ideas,” “meal planning,” and “healthy eating.” 

Then, expand your list to include phrases your customers may use to find information. Using the food website example above, you could include phrases like “best gluten-free recipes” or “how to meal plan.”

Once you have your list, put these terms into Google or another search engine to see related keywords, the most popular results, and frequently asked questions related to that topic. This can help you expand your keyword list.

Many keyword tools can help you analyze the strength of your keywords. These tools can tell you how often people use those search terms, how much competition there is for that term, and related keywords you may have missed.

Optimizing Video Production and Presentation

We mentioned above that your videos must be engaging to increase dwell time and reduce bounce rate, but video quality must also be good. High-quality videos will keep your customers watching and help build trust with your audience.

High-quality thumbnails also help increase engagement. Thumbnails are the small images you click on to take you to the video, and the more visually interesting they are, the more likely you are to get clicks.

Improving Accessibility and Engagement

While videos are a great way to boost your brand and engagement rates, they aren’t accessible for everyone. Providing transcripts or closed captions of your videos allows those who are hard of hearing to engage with your content and also helps boost your video SEO.

Provide Transcripts for Accessibility

A video transcript is a written account of the spoken content in your video. Viewers can read through the transcript as the video progresses to understand what’s happening. Adding transcripts is a great way to boost SEO because it allows algorithms to read what your video is saying, helping improve searchability and revealing keywords.

Use Closed Captions for Improved Engagement

Closed captions take the audio transcript and sync the words within the video, making it easier for viewers to follow along. Closed captions require a text file that search engines can read, helping to boost SEO in the same way transcripts do. 

Promoting Your Videos and Boosting Visibility

Crafting high-quality, engaging content, conducting keyword research, and optimizing metadata can go a long way toward boosting video visibility and engagement. However, your content can still get lost in the crowd because so many videos are online. If you’re finding that your videos aren't receiving the engagement they should, promoting them is a great way to boost visibility.

Social media is an excellent tool for promoting content. You can do this organically by posting videos to your brand’s page or account. To expand your reach to an even wider audience, try creating targeted ads.

Additionally, embedding your video into an article or web page on your website can drive engagement, especially if you put it on a page that includes other helpful information for users.

Tracking Performance and Iterating

Once your video is published, you should track its performance to see how people are responding so you can adjust accordingly.

Monitor Analytics Tools for Performance Tracking

Several tools are available online to help you monitor your video’s analytics and metrics. Some are offered by video and social media platforms, and others are available to help you determine how well you’re ranking on SERPs.

Analytics tools can tell you how many views, clicks, and conversions your video generates. Analyzing these metrics can help you decide about your future content.

Analyze Viewer Engagement Metrics

By breaking down your metrics, you can determine where your video is struggling and where it’s succeeding. For example, if you’re getting a lot of views but not many clicks, you may be missing a compelling CTA. If you aren’t getting views at all, you may need to adjust your metadata.

Iterate on Content Based on Audience Feedback

Once you determine what’s working and what isn’t, you can use this information to improve your video marketing strategy. You can make smart moves to adjust metadata and thumbnails to increase visibility, repurpose content for maximum reach, and create new content that reaches the top of the search rankings every time.

Create Video Content That Ranks

Optimizing your video content for SEO through effective keywords and metadata, accessibility options, and promotion can ensure your videos reach a wide audience. Charter & Co can help you create video content that excels in search rankings and drives maximum engagement rates.

Contact us today to learn more about our services.