3 Linking Concerns to Consider in Your Video SEO Strategy

It’s no secret that video is becoming crucial to online marketing success because they’re so easy to digest. Video makes it easy for readers to learn about a specific task, keeps them interested and engaged, and helps the information stick in their memories. According to a HubSpot collection of statistics, using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19%, CTR by 65%, and reduces unsubscribes by 26%. In other words there really isn’t any reason not to get started with a video marketing strategy today, the only hesitation is likely where to begin.

Whether it be a step-by-step instruction video or an expert in your company talking about the latest industry news, it’s important to consider how you can optimize your video so it has the reach and the stickiness that will drive people to your website, keep them there, and hopefully lead to a conversion.

A Few Ways to Optimize Your Small Business Video

The idea and reasoning behind wanting to optimize a video for search is the same as optimizing a piece of traditional content. You still want this video to get to the top of search engines, YouTube being included as a search engine, and many of the tactics are very similar. Below are a few ways to make it happen:

Use keywords and related phrases in your title, description, and tags.

YouTube as well as Google bots can only tell what a video is about based upon the text that you put onto the page. Therefore, keywords are very important (which is slightly different than traditional text where Google is trying to make keywords less important). Use keywords in your title and description, and try to use your keywords as well as related words in the Meta tags of your video. YouTube finds similarities between tags when it comes to placing related videos on the side of the page, so this could help you earn more clicks.

Use video rich snippets to catch a reader’s attention.

Rich snippets are little snippets of your video that will appear on a Google search engine results page (SERP). This helps your video jump off the page to those using Google to search for information whether they were looking for a video or not. Below is a great screenshot example of the search query “how to dance”:

Don’t forget to include a transcription.

A transcription is a good way to first, help your readers follow along and understand the video better, and second, get more content onto that webpage. The bots for both Google and YouTube will be able to index your page best if they know exactly what is going on in the video, and a transcription makes this possible. Your video will get put in front of the eyes of more relevant readers and everyone wins.

Of course, before you can optimize a video you have to actually create and post a video. Videos are typically posted on a company webpage and/or that company’s YouTube channel. You can visit the YouTube Creator Hub to learn how to decide what type of video to make, how to actually make the video, and then how to put that video online.

So What are the Linking Considerations?

There are essentially two different ways that linking comes into play:

• Earn Backlinks. You can still earn backlinks for your video webpage the same way you earn backlinks for your traditional content. If you are ever writing a guest post and a video you’ve created is relevant, include that link. You an use a tool like Monitor Backlinks or Open Site Explorer to help keep track of your links and where you’re having the most success.

• Include On-Page Links. This refers to videos that are placed on YouTube. In the description section of the video you can put a link back to where the video originated. This oftentimes drives YouTube viewers to your website to learn more. After all, if they are watching your video on YouTube chances are they are serious about that particular topic and will go that extra mile (or extra click to be exact).

• Market Your Video on Social. As discussed above, you should still be trying to earn links around the web, but you can take matters into your own hands by including your video on your social media accounts. This can help you earn shares, which hopefully will help you earn natural links in the end.

The Takeaway and Extra Resources

In the end, optimizing your video isn’t too different than traditional content in respects to linking. You still want to build links naturally if you can, and you still want to include internal links through things like YouTube annotations when relevant. Check out some of our other videos on YouTube and video SEO below:

How to Use YouTube Remarketing to Generate More Quality Leads

Metrics to Watch for YouTube Marketing Success

YouTube Customization Options You’re Still Missing

Creating a Video Marketing Strategy for SEO

How to Create a Video Ad Campaign and Why It Matters

As you can see, there is quite a bit you can do with video marketing (particularly when dealing with YouTube). It’s best to start with the basics of optimization first and then start getting into some of the customization and more advanced optimization techniques referenced above.

Have you ever made a video to help get your readers interested in your website? What did you do to optimize this video? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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