November 5th, Issue #295

Video SEO - A Neglected
Path To Higher Search Rankings

By Julie Ann Ross (c) 2009

Video SEO is an underutilized search engine marketing strategy. Even as videos continue to gain significant traction in the search engines' natural listings, most companies either ignore them, or remain completely unaware of their potency. That oversight represents a valuable edge your company can use to leapfrog your competitors in the organic rankings.

The strategy blends traditional search optimization tactics with a relatively new platform. With the rise of YouTube, Revver, Blip, and similar video sites, consumption patterns have driven the search engines to provide these sites with greater ranking authority. As long as your primary objective is clearly established, a video SEO campaign can have a dramatic effect on your exposure in Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

In this article, we'll explain why you should integrate video SEO into your current search marketing strategy. We will also provide a few ingredients that will help you avoid potential pitfalls along the way. Last, you will learn what to look out for when choosing a video SEO company that can drive traffic and conversions.

How Video SEO Improves Your Search Exposure

Before Google released their Universal Search platform in May 2007, their natural listings were dominated by text-based pages. Videos were rare in the top spots. Universal Search changed the way Google displayed their primary index. Google, Yahoo, and Bing now include entries from their respective video search platforms. What's more, popular video-sharing sites have been given higher ranking authority and increased link weight (we'll describe this latter point in a moment).

Video SEO gives you greater exposure in the search engines through two levers. First, it caters to the algorithm used for Universal Search. By allowing syndication of your videos to authoritative video-sharing sites, you will enjoy more exposure through their increased ranking authority. In effect, those sites will rank higher, drawing more people to your videos.

Second, videos that are placed on your site (as opposed to syndicating them) attract links - both directly and indirectly. As your videos gain popularity, direct links will naturally build, pointing to the pages on your site that host the videos. Indirect links will point from other sites whose owners have embedded your videos. As a result, your inbound link profile will continue to grow and strengthen, lifting your site higher within the search engines' organic listings.

3 SEO Video Tips To Capture Higher Search Positions

Your video SEO campaign can only be effective if you recognize the limitations of the search engines. First, their algorithms cannot read lips. In order to rank for your target keywords, they must be available to the search engines' spiders in text form. If you're placing videos on your site, optimize your titles and surrounding text, and include an edited transcript of the video. If you're syndicating them, optimize your external titles and tags.

Second, focus on inbound links. An effective video SEO campaign relies on contextually related links pointing from a wide breadth of sites. Videos that spark a groundswell of attention - whether through entertainment, information, or controversy - can achieve this easily.

Third, integrate a social media sharing component. You want viewers to share your videos with their friends on Facebook. You want them to "Tweet" about your videos on Twitter. You want them to bookmark your videos on StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious. These social media sites can form the backbone of your video SEO campaign, driving waves of inbound links to your site.

Key Factors In Choosing A Video SEO Company

Traditional search optimization is a mature strategy. SEO specialists have honed their craft for more than a decade. By contrast, video SEO is still an evolving science. Even though it leverages the core tenets of a traditional SEO campaign, the rise of social media and video-sharing sites have infused video SEO with enormous complexity. Hiring a video SEO company removes the need to keep up with the roiling landscape. The key is using the right criteria to identify a proficient firm.

A professional video SEO company should have an established track record that shows a keen grasp of the search engines' organic algorithms. That track record should also demonstrate an ability to evolve as the algorithms change. Many search optimization experts were completely unprepared for the debut of Universal Search. By extension, so too, were their clients.

Leveraging Video SEO For More Traffic And Higher Conversions

A carefully executed video SEO campaign can sharply increase your exposure within the search engine's natural listings. When implemented as a component of a multi-pronged search engine marketing campaign, it can drive more targeted traffic to your site. Targeted traffic translates into higher conversions. If you are not yet utilizing video SEO for your site, your current organic rankings may be more vulnerable than you realize.

About The Author
With 20 years in marketing, advertising and 10 years in internet marketing, Rostin Reagor Smith has refined the SEM SEO Expert Formula. Hundreds of internet marketing case studies have combined to build the formula that drives search engine ranking through Social Media Optimization, Online Reputation Management, Social Marketing and web 2.0 communities and resources. www.rostinreagorsmith.com

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