Organic Video SEO

[Marie Ysais]

I am trying to pick up a new skill set and really move Youtube videos onto the first page of Google for a particular keyword. I have played around with it a bit but I would really love to open up a conversation about it and also talk with some serious video SEO gurus. Are there any video seo gurus that belong to the forum?

 

[Broland]

I don't know about gurus... but here are some tips that might help.

Create multiple videos on the same Youtube account, hopefully ones that are at least bearable to watch.

Name the videos with longtail keyword phrases, that might entice clicking and add descriptions including some of your target keywords, just don't over do it. Of course add a link back to the site as well.

Share your videos with as many people as you can via emails, instant messaging, social sites...forums? Ask people to watch the whole video, maybe incentivize a little bit - "Can you help me out and see if this video I made seems professional enough?" People like to give feedback and opinions. If you can get people to like and subscribe that's even better.

Be active and interact on your Youtube account. Fill out info on your profile and take advantage of all the site's features.

Find other videos in your niche and other high ranking videos and leave comments - this builds internal links on youtube back to your profile.

Share/Embed your videos on as many other sites as you can, there are thousands of sites that accept youtube embeds. If it's for a local business then there are many business listing sites (citation sites) that allow for youtube embeds. You can also embed in many blog/web 2.0 sites. Below is a small handful of sites to start with that you can embed youtube videos on. Then of course interacting on these sites will help as well.

about.me
spoke.com
agreatertown.com
buzznet.com
storeboard.com
lockerz.com
simfany.com
quora.com
jippidy.com
buzzfeed.com
myvidster.com

 

[jerry]

Following tips might help too

Include main keywords in Filename
Include different keyword variations in Tags
Include different keyword variations in Annotations/Captions

Also check for privacy/license settings which plays important role in attribution and visibility of videos/channel.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Of course I assume everyone knows to also put complete NAP in Youtube video descriptions then you'll get an important citation too.

I don't deal with video SEO but just found this hot tip.

YouTube now allows you to set the location for each video. To do this, just navigate to Video Manager > Advanced Setting > Video Location. You can the location to be the same as your local business address. Google then gets another important local signal.

 

[Marie Ysais]

Hot TIP Linda!! I didn't know that!! thanks for sharing!

 

[krowe]

I do Video SEO, however I only work through agencies. That said subscribe to ReelSEO - The Online Video Marketing Guide. A great resource for video SEO.

I have no affiliation with this news source but I have submitted an article for publication.

 

[Laustin1878]

May not be as related to the question but absolutely embed the video on your own site and add supporting content. Yes, YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google (lots of support from various sources if you search on Google). But you have more latitude with your own website and you can also plug your own channel from your site. Latitude meaning you can add more text than what is allowed in YouTube and even on a local level, you could potentially outrank YouTube.

I agree with all of the above sentiments, especially with regards to naming files and tagging.

 

[ARKlady ARKtechCo]

When you optimize a video, you need to cover all the on page elements similar to what you would do to a webpage.

If you are doing local seo, you want to include

• kw and city in the title,
• kw file name,
• tag as you would any online property,
• in the description:
  • you need to put the URL target,
  • include citation description,
  • iinclude nap,
  • put in the kw topic,
• make sure to put the long+lat in the advanced section,
• date it,
• syndicate it,
• bookmark it,

Lots you can do and there are a lot of resources on how to do it but basically follow the rules for SEO and you'll get it.

 

[Thaddaeus]

All good recommendations, I would only add that I would throw certain types of backlinks and social signals at the YouTube video. I don't worry about Google slaps because why would Google slap itself?

Now I know alot of people are worried about the wrong kinds of backlinks, but so far I have not had any problems getting my videos or my customers ranked and ranked well.

 

[Marie Ysais]

Do you add any back links to the channel itself? or just the video watch page?

 

[Thaddaeus]

Backlinks to the video - use the "watch" URL. That's the one that comes up in the search engines.

---------- Post Merged at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 10:34 PM ----------

Also, not a guru - I just play one on TV

 

[Laustin1878]

Thaddaeus, just curious as to what kind of "slaps" you are referring to? I'm guessing but are you talking about linking from sites other then your own to a YouTube channel or video? What is the benefit from doing this? Isn't this potentially wasting a link opportunity to you own site?? Please elaborate if you don't mind.

I always recommended linking from your site to your channel and individual videos. Video is not my forte but I am always up for learning something new. Hoping you can shed a little more light on this.

 

[Jason Kamara]

I'm currently playing around with YouTube and have had reasonable success thus far. In less competitive markets, it's quite easy to get the video ranked which really stands out against plain-text SERP results.

A few tips to add to the excellent ones already given:

1) Put your URL near or at the beginning of the description because it is clickable and definitely helps the target page to rank.
2) Upload your own video transcript (don't use the auto-generated one)
3) If you have several related videos, add links to them within your video via annotations
4) There have been a few really good Whiteboard Friday's on video SEO. This is one I have bookmarked: YouTube Ranking Factors - Whiteboard Friday - Moz
5) Head over to Wistia's learning center for tips on how to create great videos: Wistia Learning Center

You could also read some of Phil Nottingham's posts on the Distilled blog. He really knows his stuff. If you are looking for a cheap way to put together nice looking videos, I recommend using Video Scribe. Linda turned me on to it in the forum: http://localsearchforum.catalystema...scribing-amazing-new-local-business-idea.html

Good luck, Marie!

 

[Laustin1878]

2) Upload your own video transcript (don't use the auto-generated one)

Definitely forgot this one and I think this is great! Puts your video into text which search engines can actually read. Helps build support for the page the video is on as well. Excellent point Jason!

If video's are being posted to your blog, you may consider allowing comments (moderated of course). Allow visitors to add content to your site which will also strengthens the page.

 

[Thaddaeus]

I'm referring to the "slap" (forgive me I get Penguin and Panda mixed up) Google gave websites for getting backlinks from less than savory (in their opinion) websites. Think comments, forum profiles.

Let me put my grey hat on - when I do SEO for my YouTube videos I:

1. Purchase backlinks from Fiverr using between four and six keywords
2. Get/Purchase social signals (likes, +1s, retweets, stumbles, pinterest repins)
3. Maybe get backlinks via SeNuke (but I haven't done this in a while)
4. Then I would take all of these backlinks and get backlinks for them

This works for me. I am not suggesting that you do this, as some people are very against this sort of thing. But I would never, ever get these backlinks for a main/money website as the penalty would be too great to justify it (though I would do the social signals as these are normal signs of a good site and you can drip these over time).

 

[Dustybones]

Great Thread. Thanks for starting. I also use IFTTT.com to cross post the videos.