YouTube is second only to Google, when it comes to search. YouTube receives over 3-billion views every single day. When my 4-year old broke his arm, I went to YouTube, not Google or Bing, to watch a video on how to make a sling. When I was making a dinner for 6, and trying to nail a recipe, I went to YouTube to see how to do it right. And I’m not the only one. We’ve been hearing it for a while now how video, as a medium, dominates search… and that spells big payoffs for YouTube.
With this in mind, it’s high time to start thinking – not just how to make more videos – but how to get your video content and your general video presence seen! The good news is, you already know how. We’re talking about basic SEO practices like those for Google, or any search engine.
There are literally dozens of tips for optimizing content for YouTube. Here are a few easy ones to get you started.
Post content frequently. Activity begets activity. Active channels get more attention. Every time you post new content on YouTube, it indexes that content. So in essence, each time you post, it’s like poking YouTube and reminding it you’re there. Posting frequently can also foster loyalty in your audience, and if it’s good content, posting frequently will grow your audience.
Encourage comments and respond to them. Just like a blog, each video should provoke comments or questions from your audience. Following up on each and every comment will show your audience you’re listening, and will encourage further interaction. Furthermore, responding to comments gives you more opportunity to showcase your humor, or expertise.
Use meta tags. Once again, just like content on a website, using meta tags helps YouTube correctly categorize your content and serve it up to the right audience when they come searching. Learn more about that here.
Transcribe your video content. This step is often overlooked but can make a big difference in the optimization of your content. Transcribing video means writing out each word that is spoken. The resulting script is rich with keywords and essentially gives YouTube a roadmap for your content. You can read more about transcribing here.
Want more? Here are 10 more tips you should know about YouTube.
Have more tips not listed here? Share them in our comments section.
Erin
Tags: SEO, tips, video, youtube
