7 Tips on How to Optimize Videos

Not many people understand the importance of optimizing videos. In fact, some do not even know the possibility of optimize videos.

You cannot neglect the power of videos, as seen in this video stats post. Videos are the future of marketing – you must know how to use them.

Since videos contain no text, many users assume they rank on their own. This is far from the truth. Videos can be ranked as well – how else do you think some videos appear on the first page of YouTube or Google?

It’s possible to rank videos, you only need to know how to.

Let’s have a look:

#1 Pick The Right Platform to Host Your Videos

You can pick from different options including YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and your own site.

The right platform depends on why you want to use videos. Video hosting platforms like YouTube can be a good choice if you want to build awareness and not necessarily bring more traffic to your own site.

YouTube is, after all, the second largest search engine, but it works since most YouTube users want to stick to it. They’d move from one video to another instead of jumping the site as YouTube’s suggested video feature keeps them hooked.

Of course, you can use the video to redirect users to your site but videos hosted on Vimeo and YouTube are essentially used to build brands.

On the other hand, if your aim is to improve SEO then go for options that allow JSON-LD, a trick used to encode linked data to help search engines identify your video.

#2 Use Captions or Transcripts

Captions are different from transcripts. A caption is basically a small introduction to the video. It can be SEO friendly with added keywords. It’s similar to meta descriptions.

On the other hand, a transcript is a word-to-word presentation of the material found in the video.

Transcripts offer two benefits:

• Allow users to read if they do not want to watch or hear
• Give you more text to rank

You may need someone to transcribe the video but if that’s not possible, you can also consider changing the video into a blog.

#3 Know About Keywords and Use Them Well

You can use keywords in different ways:

• Titles
• Descriptions
• Text

Keywords should always be relevant and used in the right manner throughout the text. Check out this video for best YouTub keyword tools.

#4 Use The Technique According to the Platform

The right way to market or Video Optimization depends largely on the platform it is hosted on.

YouTube: Pay special attention to categories, title, and description.

Instagram: Choose hashtags wisely.

Twitter: Title and hashtags can make a difference.

Facebook: You can include a lot of details such as transcripts here.

Your Page: The content in addition to on-page SEO.

#5 Choose an Engaging Thumbnail

A lot of users choose to watch or not watch a video based on the thumbnail. It should always be engaging as it does the same job as a book cover.

You can choose a scene a thumbnail from the video or customize it, if the platform allows you to. Videos with custom human thumbnails appear to be more popular.

In fact, it may be a good idea to create a customized video with a small text to use as a thumbnail.

#6 Take Care Of The Content in The Video

What you say in the video is also important. You will lose viewers if the content is not good or if the video is not of high quality. This is not a good sign as videos that have a high bounce rate or not enough view may not rank well.

The content itself will not help you rank well but if it is good, you may have other users sharing your videos, thus bringing you more traffic and improving your ranking.

You can, in fact, get backlinks to your own site, so put in some effort in making quality videos.

#7 Put The Video On Your Page

At the end of the day, you want your website to rank well so make it a point to share the video directly through your site.

Embed the video, add content, take care of SEO elements, and make sure everything is relevant. The video should be the focus of the page so that the page can rank well.

Also, remember not to use the same video on multiple pages. You will only compete against each other if you use the same video again and again.

Conclusion

While the abovementioned tricks are great, remember that SEO alone may not be enough to rank your videos. You can use other marketing options like Facebook Ads to generate steam.

Learn more about 7 tips on how to optimize video. Get-in-touch for a free consultation with one of our video marketing experts.