Part 2 of this series covers Video in Organic Search.
Video in Organic Search
There is tremendous organic search value in obtaining high-ranking listings for a product’s site with a video result directly below it. This enhances the brand experience for the searcher. In many cases, the video content to be promoted would not need to be the latest available. Searchers are interested in historical content as well. If television commercials from many years back are available for addition online, consider promoting them.
In some cases, the entire persona of a product or service can be created online through the use of video. A company manufacturing kitchen blenders has created an entire identity for itself through creative use of online video and a supporting site. Blendtec’s Will it Blend site has successfully utilized online video to demonstrate how effective its blenders are at blending a variety of items ranging from cellular phones to golf balls to canned food. Although very tongue-in-cheek, their methods of marketing have created a name for a brand of high-end blenders that may have been difficult to promote and sell through other media.
Once video assets have been collected, the next step is online distribution. Start by adding videos to any existing site properties. If the ultimate goal is to convince searchers to visit a site after having viewed a video, then allowing them the opportunity to view the content directly on the site achieves this end. However, broad distribution allows for the greatest opportunity to establish videos in organic search results. Submission of videos to major video sharing sites helps kick-start the search engine distribution process. Establishing user profiles on sites like YouTube, Google Video Yahoo Video helps create a central location for these videos and a persona with which users can interact.
In addition to submission of content to video sites, sharing videos through social networking sites such as StumbleUpon and Digg enhances the exposure, reach and search influence. The benefit lies in distribution to an even broader audience and the creation of links back to the original content, which have tremendous positive impact on organic search. In addition to video listings within search results, text-based listings for the same video could also appear alongside them.
Optimizing Video for Organic Search
There are many things to consider when optimizing video. Not only should videos be promoted as listings in organic search results, they must also be designed to benefit the brand, product or service they intend to promote.
The video itself should prominently feature the product name and URL at the beginning and end of the video. This helps create a relationship on the part of the viewer between the video and the brand and will be repeated each time the video is played – no matter where it appears. A watermark throughout the video is also suggested to help reinforce this relationship. This helps identify ownership of the video despite the many locations from which it may be played.
When submitting video to sites such as YouTube and Google Video, offer a complete description of the video using targeted keywords. In some cases, links out to other sites can be added to description fields offering additional opportunity to drive viewers to sites of importance. Optimized tags and a descriptive keyword-targeted title should also be used to help establish search listings for desired terms.
The option to allow video embedding should also be activated so that videos can be published on other sites and blogs. This creates a viral aspect that broadens the videos’ reach even further. This also allows multiple listings of the same video to exist within the results of a single search term.
In addition to success placement within search results, several other key metrics can be explored in regards to video optimization. The number of times a video has been played can offer some insight into the video’s reach across the Internet. Keep track of referring traffic from videos hosted off-site; this can help confirm the video’s ability to drive traffic. Evaluation of visitor behavior should also be noted. These visitors may spend more time on-site, view more pages or even convert at a higher rate, all from an experience they had with a video.
Aside from obvious traffic and branding benefits, video can also aid reputation management efforts. If a brand is concerned with its online reputation, video can be used to address image issues. Public apologies or explanations can be release for public consumption online in order to regain trust or establish a position on a given issue. Additionally, the video content represents another listing opportunity in the search results, taking up valuable real estate in that may prevent a competitor or site from offering negative, false or misleading information on the brand at stake.
Video search is quickly becoming a vital piece of the search engine optimization (SEO) puzzle. More videos are added on a daily basis then even before, and more searchers are looking for this content. If properly optimized, videos can help drive site traffic and enhance perceptions through organic search.