Why and how to bet on SEO for your videos
In 2021, individuals and professionals are more and more fond of videos. Videos need to be produced more and more and faster…! Indeed, a Wyzowl study indicates that 86% of consumers want to see more video content. This is great news for several reasons: it implies that this format is appreciated and especially beneficial in terms of SEO. In fact, SEO – or natural referencing – is important to be visible on the web. So, by combining the strengths of videos and SEO, everyone wins! In fact, the links between SEO and content are so important today, that we decided to do a mini-series of articles around this topic. So here we go for a zoom on videos! What are the advantages of videos, why should you use them and how to improve the SEO of your videos!
SEO, web and videos
SEO – Search Engine Optimization – is a vast topic, a field of expertise in itself! To begin with, let’s briefly present what natural referencing is… According to seo.fr, this term defines « all the techniques implemented to improve the position of a website on the results pages of search engines ». The aim of the professionals who work on the SEO of a website is to make it gain « ranking » places on the search engines – Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. By gaining rankings, companies increase their visibility since Internet users will be more likely to know about their products and services.
So, in addition to optimising the textual content of a website, company or brand, there are many other techniques and parameters… Notably the structure of the website itself, local SEO, or video. Therefore, video SEO – or VSEO – is a very specific part.
The importance of VSEO
VSEO is both more specific and « broader » … In concrete terms, according to topovideo.com, VSEO – for video search engine -, refers to « all the techniques used to optimise the positioning of your videos in search results, video distribution platforms and even on social networks ». VSEO takes into account different platforms, whereas traditional SEO focuses on similar platforms – only search engines.
In fact, there are several reasons to focus on VSEO:
1. To increase web traffic.
2. To improve your SEO.
3. Improve ROI – return on investment.
The popularity of videos is such that YouTube is the second most used search engine behind Google. Users are increasingly searching for information directly on the YouTube platform. By working directly on the VSEO, you will greatly improve the positioning of your videos.
For example, if your landing page – the page used for conversion – contains a video that is optimised for SEO, it is 53 times more likely to be positioned in the top results!
In addition, VSEO has the advantage of being technically more accessible than SEO. The techniques are often free to implement and not very complicated.
Videos, SEO and distribution on YouTube
Regarding the distribution of videos on YouTube, the secrets of good SEO are gradually being revealed.
As indicated by presse-citron.net, a recent study by Semrush – a specialist in SEO – provides a better understanding of how to properly reference your video on the YouTube broadcasting platform. Indeed, « how to make a video better referenced on YouTube? It’s a question that all content creators and brands ask themselves… Semrush has sifted through YouTube to find all the levers and tips that work:
- The number of views and length of the video – short format is preferred;
- The number of words in the description – at least 50;
- The similarity of the title with the keyword ratio.
In addition to these criteria, Andréa Bensaid, founder of the French SEO agency, Eskimoz, tells journaldunet.com that in order to properly reference one’s videos on YouTube, there is a « strong correlation between the number of views a piece of content receives and its positioning in the search results for a given query… The query, the words used for the search are crucial!
Making a success of your SEOV
The other parameters that come into play when referencing a video on YouTube are varied. The first is the importance of keywords. Indeed, as on the web, keywords and their synonyms are essential levers in SEO. The keywords for the videos must correspond to the subject matter but also to the queries of Internet users, the target audience.
Therefore, a good guarantee of success is to ensure a certain balance between a trend, its competition and the terms chosen in the tags, meta-description etc.
In addition, on YouTube, to succeed in the SEO part of video distribution, attention is also paid to interactions… Indeed, all the « likes », subscriptions, shares, are all actions that show that the videos are qualitative, appreciable, etc. The objective is therefore to encourage the public to interact. To do this, do not hesitate to disseminate « calls to action ». In other words, invite Internet users to carry out certain actions to show their commitment.
In addition, you can of course also rely on optimisation levers that are more external to YouTube. We recommend that you integrate your videos into your blog articles, or that you include them in a real backlinking strategy.
Subtitling and SEO of videos
One last major additional avenue here for improving the SEO of your videos is to add subtitles. Focusing on good subtitling for videos makes content more accessible and visible… And Google loves it! In concrete terms, by subtitling your video, you give the search engine more material to analyse – and to bring up! In addition, videos with good subtitles will now be watched and shared more on social networks too… Which is very powerful! A well done SEO is a virtuous circle.
At Authôt, we optimise your videos by making them even more accessible, thanks to our expertise in subtitles! We save you time, but we also go further by customising the subtitles according to your project, your entity and your graphic charter.
If you want professional subtitles for your videos, our synchronisation service is there! Our team manually works on the subtitles to correctly calibrate them to your videos. Furthermore, we can directly insert subtitles into your videos.
Finally, if you have a whole batch of videos to subtitle, you can opt for one of our subtitling packages.
All in all, we hope you’ve enjoyed this article! If you are a media company, a business or a content creator, it would be wrong to deprive yourself of this advice and our expertise! Don’t hesitate to contact us now to transcribe, subtitle and translate your content!
Authôt. You speak. We write.