9 Ways To Increase Your Video SEO Ranking To Drive Organic Traffic

After going through all the trouble of creating some great videos for your blog – it would be a shame if people didn’t actually see them, right? The fact of the matter is that as much as creating and publishing videos is important, making sure they rank well on search engines is crucial too. That is where video SEO comes in. Achieve higher ranking with these YouTube SEO tips.
Video SEO —
Video publishers used to search; how to improve YouTube SEO? Video optimization tips to rank higher in SERP? YouTube Optimization? How to rank YouTube videos? Best YouTube video SEO tools? And so on.

It is a common misunderstanding that video SEO involves optimizing the video itself when in actual fact it involves optimizing your blog, the post, and other related factors that will affect your video’s ranking on search engines.

Ultimately the goal of video SEO is to ensure that the videos you publish on your blog are able to rank as high as possible. If several factors line up, you may even be able to rank in the main search results.

In the previous page I was talking about; Top 12 Ways To Get 5x Website Traffic From YouTube | Video Traffic Sources

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How to Improve Video SEO To Drive Organic Traffic

Increase your video's SEO rankings:

1. SEO vs. Video SEO

Before jumping into video SEO, it should be noted that it is not the same thing as SEO in general – but rather is a subsection of it that relates specifically to videos. Admittedly you’ll probably notice certain similarities, but there are numerous differences as well.

The reason for this is simple: Normal SEO is carried for search engines to process the text-based content, and search engine bots can easily read the content and the HTML code and draw conclusions from it. However video SEO does not have that luxury – and search engine bots can only ‘see’ a video in a very limited form.

Because of this difference, a significant part of video SEO is geared towards helping search engines understand the video and contextualize it in ways that they can digest.

You can check; 101 SEO Tips and Tricks For Ranking Higher in Google Search Results

2. Keyword Research: The Basics

Keyword research is one of the similarities shared by SEO and video SEO – and it functions the same way: Find keywords that you can target with your videos.

When conducting keyword research, you should look at the popularity of the keyword (i.e. how many times it is searched for) and the competition. Highly-popular keywords tend to be ultra-competitive, which can make ranking on them more difficult.

That is why it is generally a good idea to target long-tailed keywords that have more words. The videos that you create can relate to them more specifically as well, providing greater relevance and increasing the chances that viewers will click on them.

Admittedly all this is just the basics of keyword research, and there are lots of resources that you can use to conduct more in-depth and comprehensive research if you want to.

You must read; 5 Reasons Keywords Are So Important for SEO Optimization

3. Use Structured Data or Video Sitemaps

There are two ways that you can provide search engines with a substantial amount of data about your videos: Structured data (i.e. Schema) or video sitemaps.

Both these options can be used interchangeably, or even in conjunction with one other – as long as they are consistent. The aim of both is to provide search engines with additional data regarding the video, such as its title, description, duration, thumbnail, expiration date, upload date, number of views, and so on.

If you want to add structured data to your videos a good starting point is Google’s guide for video markup. Similarly, for sitemaps, you can refer to Google’s guide to video sitemaps and alternatives.

Just remember that regardless of which option you choose you should make it a point to insert your keywords in the title and description – and possibly the filename of the video.

4. Add a Video Transcript to the Blog Post

Another important way to provide search engines with additional information about your video’s content is to include a transcript.

A video transcript is basically a text-based version of everything that is said in the video, and as such search engine, bots can read and parse its data. Ideally, it should be inserted into your blog posts right below the video – to clearly show its relevance.

While it is possible to create transcripts by manually listening and writing down everything that is said – there is software online that can help automate the process. However, you should be aware that these options aren’t entirely accurate at times so you will need to check the transcription carefully afterward.

If you are concerned that adding a long transcript just below the video won’t sit well with the aesthetics of your blog – place it in a collapsible element. That way it will be hidden to regular viewers until and unless they choose to click on the transcript because they want to read it.

5. Place the Video Prominently in the Blog Post

As far as possible you should ensure that your videos are placed in a prominent position within your blog posts.

When viewers see your video in search results and click on it, they arrive expecting a video. If you force them to scroll through a lengthy blog post to find that video, they are likely to simply leave – increasing the bounce rate.

Needless to say, that scenario is far from ideal and will affect both your ranking on search engines as well as the traffic that you’re able to get from it. That is why you should try to place your video right below the title of the blog post and above the fold – so that viewers see it immediately and can watch it at once.

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6. Find a Good Thumbnail

Previously it was noted that the video sitemaps and structured data will let you select a thumbnail to add to your video listing on search engines. That fact is actually more important than you may have realized.

A good thumbnail won’t directly affect your video SEO, but it will make a world of difference to the traffic that you’re able to acquire. Its impact will be felt via the number of clicks your video listing is able to rake in.

Ideally, the thumbnail you choose should be relevant to your keyword and the video’s topic. If possible, try to make sure there is a person in the thumbnail, as that has been proven to increase its effectiveness.

You may also like to read; 12 Most Effective Ways How To Earn Money From YouTube

7. Turn Off the Auto-Play

If any of your videos are set to auto-play – you should turn it off. Viewers generally don’t like it very much when videos start to play without their say so, and on top of that it will slow down the time it takes to load your webpage.

That second problem will have an impact on your video SEO – as Google takes page speed very seriously. If you’re forcing the video to start loading at the same time as the webpage, it will definitely slow it down quite a bit.

Overall, as a rule, you should steer clear of auto-play for all your videos unless there is a very specific reason why you need to use it. Instead use the standard click-to-play approach, just to be safe.

8. Publish One Video in One Blog Post

Publishing multiple videos in a single blog post is rarely ever advisable, and search engines will normally only list the first video in a post. In short, all the other videos will go unlisted, which will mean that if you publish 3 videos in a post instead of ranking on 3 different keywords you’ll just rank on 1.

Considering it is so important, you should split up your videos and publish each in their own blog post. If necessary you can then create an additional blog post that links to each of them individually so that your readers can use it as a reference.

Another common mistake people make is publishing the same video in multiple blog posts. All that does is create internal competition for your video within your own website, and search engines will be left trying to decide which version on which blog post to list.

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9. Create Videos for Viewers Not Search Engines

As you may have noticed most of the tips listed above are all about optimizing your blog and the manner in which you publish videos. That is because as far as your actual videos are concerned, you should focus on viewers – not search engines.

The aim of your videos should be to appeal to viewers, engage them, and encourage them to react. Indirectly that could help your video SEO, because if viewers find your video to be relevant and engaging they’re more likely to share and link to it – which will provide you with a nice SEO boost.

Check out; Top 10 Ways How To Make PROFESSIONAL YouTube Videos | YouTube Techniques

Bottom Line

Now that you’re fully aware of how to optimize video SEO for your blog – why not create some videos and try it out? That is the easy part nowadays, and you can record footage with a digital camera or smartphone then use an editor such as Movavi Video Editor to put it together based on the steps at https://www.movavi.com/support/how-to/how-to-join-videos.html.

If you take care of all the areas highlighted above, your video should get listed on search engines relatively quickly. In fact, it will probably rank quite well on the less-competitive keywords, and you can slowly start to rank up on the more competitive ones as well.