Video is powerful. But if a video plays and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Research shows nearly one in five people spend less than 4 seconds looking at a page on a website – but they spend an average of 2.7 minutes watching a video online.1 Keep in mind that the average television ad is 30 seconds long or less. Think of what you could do with the attention span eternity that is 2.7 minutes of user engagement gold!
Try these following tips to get more eyeballs on your videos – and keep them there for 2.7 minutes or more:
1. Start with high-quality content
As a video producer, I know it’s easy to get hung up in the technical aspects of posting videos and learning the tips and tricks of getting views. But, above all else, quality content matters. What’s the point of getting views if your video is bad and people click away after a few seconds? Remember, the video content you publish represents your brand. And people are savvy. They know the difference between good content and bad. So before you dive into the technical tips that follow, remember that the most important aspect of getting your video seen is making a video worth seeing!
2. Post it on YouTube
YouTube is an easy-to-use free space to host videos, and it also happens to be the second-largest search engine. If you want your video content to rank in Google or Bing, it makes sense you should also want to rank in YouTube, which now sees more than 1 billion unique users every month.2
3. Focus on getting likes, comments and shares
High-quality, benefit-driven video content encourages likes, comments and shares – otherwise known as engagement. More engagement means more people are seeing your content, not only through direct sharing, but also in the SERPs (search engine results page) as both YouTube and Google use engagement to help them identify and deliver quality content.3
4. Choose your keywords carefully – and use them!
Google reads words to figure out what video is about, so using exact search phrases to describe your content will go a long way in helping to get your content ranked on page one. Before you post, be sure to research keywords using a tool like the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Then choose one keyword phrase to target per video and put that phrase in your video Title, Description, and file name (ie: popular-keyword-name.mov).
5. Use YouTube Captions or – better yet – write a transcript
Google will read the transcript of your video, so make sure to write a script for your video – and be sure it actually says your keyword phrase. If you don’t have the resources to create a video transcript from scratch, YouTube can generate crawlable closed captioning for your videos. If you take advantage of this tool, just be sure you review the captions YouTube generates and make edits as needed.
6. Embed YouTube videos on your website
If you want to rank well for a video in Google or YouTube, it is definitely a good idea to create a rich-media content page on your website to support the embedded video. The content landing page should include your embedded video, as well as text and still images that describe or supplement it. Diverse, rich-media landing pages are engaging and offer a strong user experience. They also give search engines a lot of information that helps improve your SERP rank.
7. Create a video sitemap
Have you ever wondered how videos appear in Google search results along with normal site links? Well, this is it. Creating and submitting a sitemap for your video will make it easier for search engines to:
- Find and index your videos on your site
- Return SERP results that lead people to watch the video on your website, rather than YouTube
- Improve the visual presence of your SERP listing with the addition of a video thumbnail
The sitemap includes key information such as title, description and URLs. Creating a video sitemap requires a little bit of technical skill, but a video sitemap generator can make the process easier.
Now that you know the secret to getting more eyes on your video, the next step is to think about where video fits in your overall communication plan. If we can help, let us know.
For more information
- Get tips on keyword research:
http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/2013/05/how-to-do-keyword-research/ - Find out how to generate crawlable closed captioning for your videos:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2734796?hl=en - See how to create a video sitemap using Google Webmaster Tools: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/80472?hl=en
- Learn how to create a sitemap for an embedded YouTube or Vimeo video: http://moz.com/blog/video-sitemap-guide-for-vimeo-and-youtube
Sources
- http://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics
- http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2013/03/onebillionstrong.html
- http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2255957/Is-Human-Engagement-Googles-New-Ranking-Factor-for-2013
