Videos are becoming more and more popular amongst customers. They are one of the most engaging forms of online content that help people understand even the most complex topics in a fun and interesting manner. This is why 54% of consumers accept that they want to see more videos from their favorite brands. Further, 59% of marketers say that video is their preferred type of online content.

Thus, videos have clearly become a must-have in your online content strategy. However, simply creating and posting videos online will not yield the desired results. To boost your online marketing strategy and capture the attention of your target audience, you will need to optimize your videos for search engines.

Sounds confusing?

Well, it’s not difficult if you have the right trick up your sleeves.

And that’s what this blog post is all about. Today, we will walk you through some of the most effective video SEO tips that will help you optimize your video for search. Read on!

WHAT EXACTLY IS VIDEO SEO?

Before we talk about the best tips to optimize your video content for search, let’s clear the basics first. Simply put, Video SEO is all about optimizing your video content in such a way that it ranks in the highest spot on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for your targeted keywords.

With that said, let’s have a look at our top 5 tips to optimize your video for search.

OPTIMIZING YOUR VIDEOS FOR SEARCH ENGINES - 5 STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU GET STARTED

1. USE ATTRACTIVE TITLES AND THUMBNAILS

The first two things anyone notices about your video are its title and thumbnail. These two things are just like the cover of a book. They can make or break your video’s performance.

YouTube generally ranks videos based on how good the title is and how well the content matches the user’s query. Further, the videos that received the most watch-time and engagement for a partial keyword and query are given preference by search engines.

Moreover, videos with custom thumbnails receive a 30% more play rate than the ones without them. Thus, make sure to include a relevant and attractive title and thumbnail in all your video content.

In case you don’t know how to design attractive thumbnails for your videos, check out this video.

2. USE THE TARGETED KEYWORD IN YOUR VIDEO FILE’S NAME

This is one of the most important Video SEO tips that many people ignore. If you want your video content to rank on YouTube for a targeted query or keyword, you need to let the search engine know that your video content is relevant to that particular keyword.

Now, search engines cannot hit “Play” and watch your entire video to determine whether it is relevant or not. But they can read your video file’s name and the entire code accompanying it. So, when you are saving your video, make sure to replace the default file name with your targeted keyword.

For example, if your video is about the best cookie-baking tips, make sure to name it “best-cookie-baking-tips” followed by the file type.

3. MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE VIDEO TRANSCRIPTS

Video transcripts have become an important part of all kidneys of video content these days. Almost 69% of viewers prefer to watch videos with the sound off. Thus, transcripts make your videos more accessible to them and ensure you don’t lose any audience.

Another benefit of including video transcripts is that they make your video easy to scrape by search bots. You can include target keywords in your video transcript and increase your chances of ranking for more queries.

4. DO NOT IGNORE YOUR VIDEO DESCRIPTION

Your video’s description is another key element you optimize to improve your search engine rankings. So spend some time searching for the right keywords and optimizing your video description according to them.

However, don’t just craft video descriptions for the search bots or stuff keywords all over it. Make it helpful for the viewers. Include all the key links, a powerful CTA, and other necessary information in the description.

Check out this video to learn more about video descriptions.

5. USE HASHTAGS

Just like Instagram and Twitter, YouTube now allows creators to include hashtags in their video titles and descriptions. Including related hashtags can increase your video’s discoverability and make it easier for you to reach a larger audience base.

However, while using hashtags, make sure to only include the ones that are actually related to your video content. Don’t include random and unrelated hashtags just because they are trending. Further, avoid using too many hashtags in your descriptions, as it can negatively affect your rankings. Using two or three relevant and accurate hashtags is ideal.

WRAPPING UP

Today, videos have become incredibly powerful. They are informative, engaging, and fun to watch. The best thing is people can access them wherever and whenever they want from their smartphones.

More than 500 hours of video content are uploaded on YouTube every minute. So, having the right video SEO strategy is the key to standing out from the crowd and ensuring that your video doesn’t get lost in the ocean of online content.

In case you are looking for a creative partner that can enhance your video marketing strategy and help you optimize your videos for search and scale up your business, INDIRAP has you covered!