Quite often we get asked "how can I optimize my videos so that the search engines and users will find them?"  Until recently this is a topic that many webmasters and site owners didn't really worry about, but with the launch of Universal Search by Google, the video silo is another medium that you really do need to optimize so that the search engines and more importantly the user can access your video content.

There are many ways that you can optimize your videos.  In fact, before your even upload your video to the Web, you should edit it and ensure that it is of the best quality possible… but that's another topic for another day.  Let's discuss a different type of video optimization.  When we refer to video optimization, we are speaking from an SEO perspective.  We have compiled a list of best practices and tips for SEO video optimization that I have posted over at SEO-Space.  It's a pretty hot topic right now so I thought that I would post them here at ASK Enquiro in their entirety as well.  So here is a partial list of some tips and best practices that you should use when optimizing your videos for SEO.

Tips and Best Practices to Consider for Video Optimization

Video optimization as part of your search engine optimization efforts can be a great way for you to expose your brand to users who may have otherwise not been familar with your brand, your product(s) or your service(s). With the launch of Universal Search from Google, you can expect to see more and more video results occupying the search engine results that are served up by Google.

Marketers and site owners are continuing to experiment with video as a means of intercepting their target markets. As a result, we are seeing more video driven content surface on the Web. Just how popular is video content on the Web? Well depending on the study or data you review, the results vary.

The thing is, as is the case with a lot of the content on the Web, a lot of the video out there is useless and lacking in informative content. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of great "How To" video's out there, but there are a lot of video footage that is really just noise and an interuption to those of use looking for useful, relevant information. According to websiteoptimization.com, the growth of online video has been quite explosive.

With this type of growth, the need for online video optimization is a must. As a result, we have compiled a few best practices that you should consider when looking to optimize your online video.

Video Optimization Best Practices and Tips

1. Make sure that your video clips are relevant and informative - For starters, ensure that your video provides useful and informative information. Videos that demonstrate step by step procedures are great, videos that express an opinion about a specific topic can be useful too. Videos that have nothing to do with your brand or service offering or are general or vague in nature will just confuse your audience. Save the viewer the trouble and don't just upload a video for the sake of uploading a video.
2. SEO Video Optimization Fundamental Tip #1: Give your video a Catchy Title - Video can be used to bring visitors to your site. One way to get users to view your video is to give it a catchy title that contains a related key phrase that is relevant to your product, service or brand.
3. Use Video as a Portal to other Content on Your Site - Upload a couple of videos to portals like YouTube and provide links back to related content and other videos on your site.
4. SEO Video Optimization Fundamental Tip #2: Optimize your video for Important Key Phrases - You might want to optimize your video for terms users are likely to be searching for. Tag your video with these terms, consider naming the file name of the video with these terms in mind.
5. Provide Transcripts of your Videos - Good old HTML content is still a favorite with the search engines. If you want your video to rank well, you need to give the search engines something to index and rank. Surround your videos with onpage copy that can be indexed by the search engines.
6. Keep Your Videos to five minutes or less - there is nothing worse than a boring video that goes on an on. If you have video content that is of long duration, consider breaking it up into smaller pieces and tag each accordingly. Not only does this make for better viewing pleasure, it also keeps the user looking for more.
7. Make use of a Video Sitemap - For video that is native to your own website, make sure that users and search engine spiders can find your video content. The easiest way to do this is through the use of a video sitemap on your site. Use important keywords in the anchor text links to your videos featured on your video sitemap.
8. SEO Video Optimization Fundamental Tip #3: Tag Your Videos - tag your videos with key phrases that are reflective of the content.
9. Brand your Video with your Logo - Video is a great tool to generate brand awareness with your prospects. Take advantage of this by incorporating your brand in your videos.
10. SEO Video Optimization Fundamental Tip #4: Remember Inbound Linking Factors - Link to videos using important keywords in anchor text.
11. Offer the Option to Embed Your Video - allow other users access to the coding that will allow them to embed your video on their website or their blog. Think viral marketing
12. SEO Video Optimization Fundamental Tip #5: Add Descriptive Meta Data - optimize your video for relevant keywords and include a keyword rich description of your video content.
13. Allow Users to Rate your Video - videos that receive higher ratings from users are the ones that users tend to favorite and save. You can bet that the search engines will pay attention to this when ranking these videos.
14. Syndicate Your Video - Submit your video to RSS and syndicate your videos.

Video optimization is becoming more important as mainstream aspect to search engine optimization. The best way to optimize your video content is to think about the user and who you want to engage with your video. Be smart about it, don't just post a video for the sake of posting a video. Consider your audience, their language and their needs.

We love hearing from our audience.  Have an SEO or Analytics question?  Drop us a line and maybe we'll feature your question here on ASK Enquiro.