Video content is one of the most popular forms of online content, so it’s in your best interest to include it in your digital marketing mix. To improve the visibility of your video content, you’ll want to follow the best practices for SEO. Google ranks videos using the same ranking factors as written content, including content quality, backlinks and keyword usage. 

Below are some of the best SEO practices you should take to improve your rankings and help your videos stand out in the search results. 

Transcribe Your Video Content 

Providing a video transcript of your video offers several benefits, including appealing to different reader preferences and making it more likely for your video to appear in Google searches. You can also optimize your video transcriptions as you would other text-based content by adding keyword-rich content and doing A/B testing. 

Optimize Video File Metadata 

Titles and descriptions appear in the search results, so you’ll want to optimize them with the correct information. Otherwise, Google will choose what to display if you don’t provide this information. 

For your video and descriptions, follow these tips: 

• Be compelling and relevant
• Include keywords that match user intent 
• Keep titles to 55 characters or less
• Keep meta descriptions to 155 characters or less 
• Choose a compelling thumbnail 

Choose the Right Video Hosting Platform 

Consider the reasons why you want your videos to rank. Are you looking to gain traffic and leads? Or are you hoping to boost brand awareness and authority? This will help you pick the best platform for your videos. 

YouTube and Vimeo are good for general brand awareness and site traffic. Wistia and Brightcove are great options for business entrepreneurs, while social media video platforms maximize shareability. 

Also Optimize for SEO 

In order for the search engines to crawl through your videos, you’ll need to optimize your video content for SEO. Do this by inserting your keyword into the title and meta description of your videos and by making sure your video content relates to the topic. The rankings will eventually come as long as you keep creating relevant, engaging content. 

Embed Your Video 

Google typically indexes only one video per page so you’ll want to highlight your best content. There are several benefits to embedding the videos you want to rank for. 

Services like YouTube do a great job of optimizing the video for online viewing, and people will have an easier time finding and sharing your content. YouTube also handles all the shortening and quick links to popular social networks. 

However, you don’t want to embed your video on multiple pages, otherwise you’ll be competing against yourself. 

Create Compelling Video Content Today 

These are just a few of the best practices you should follow for your video content. You won’t be able to rely on these strategies entirely, as SEO is hard to control and constantly changing. Look into paid strategies to promote some of your best content as well. To learn more about creating and promoting video content for your brand, contact GO Digital WSI today.