Introducing Video SEO

Picking the right keywords

Right now we have over 250 videos in our SEO program, however I see a lot non-optimal use. We will give you some quick tips on how to select the right keywords to help you achieve better and faster results.

Title is often the best search keyphrase

When people search for video on YouTube they usually search by title of the video. Title in most of the times describes what video is about too. It is also most efficient for SEO ranking, as now you've got a combination of hard asset (title) and SEO that support the high search position.

Don't use generic keywords

We see this a lot and it is generally a bad idea as it cannot generate good search position nor target the audience. Here is a sample video we found in our SEO database using following search phrases: Patents, Apple, News

The truth is, the video won't rank in neither of these keywords as they are too generic, and completely unrelated to the video. What this person should have used is somethign like "Apple Patent War" or "Generic Apple Patents" and include such phrase in title, tags or at least description of the video and therefore benefit from people searching by this phrase. Make sure to use keyphrases that are actually relevant to your video.

Sometimes generic keywords are good

Not always should you avoid generic, short keywords. In the process of brand building using short phrases like name of music band, or company is actually useful. If you want to increase search position of your video for specific brand or name, go for it, as long as it makes sense.

Don't use too short or too long keyphrases

We've mentioned before that title is the best search keyphrase, but thats not completely true as title can be 1 word or 10 words long. What you want to do with SEO is make your video rank high for specific search terms that are related to your video. Sometimes using just part of the title is more efficient than the whole title.I would recommend that search keyprahses are 3-5 words long.

Take your time and use logic

Probably the best technique to find the right keywords for your SEO is to go on YouTube and try find your video by using nothing but search bar. See how you would try to find your own video and apply the logic to wider audience. Just a little research can mean huge difference.

Be patient

Ranking in search can take weeks or even months. However you should see first hits from YouTube search in video Analytics within the first week already.

Examples:

Here is how I would set search keyphrases on some of the videos. Note that these are not professional picks, but probably good enough.

1.) Product review:

youtube.com/watch?v=F3622f9h0es

"Nexus 7 Review", "Nexus 7", "Android 4.1 on Nexus 7" The gains from ranking on these keywords should get the video 100,000+ views and hundreeds of dollars in advertising revenues.

2.) Music Video:

youtube.com/watch?v=bQa3D5P_62Y

"Melodic Death Metal", "Melodic Death Metal Top 10", "Melodic Death Metal 2010 Top"

The first video for "Melodic Death Metal" search term has 1,300,000+ views, while this video that comes up as 4th has only 50,000. Having top search position in early stage would have meant a great difference.

3.) Tutorial:

youtube.com/watch?v=6W6GjcQ3-5s

"How to make rainbow cupcakes", "Rainbow cupcakes tutorial", "rainbow cupcakes" The top video currently has 4 million views. Inceasing search position on this video would probably generate thousands of free views from search exposure.

Conclusion

Hopefully this short guide will help you pick the right keyphrases and get you plenty of great results with our video SEO.

We wish you an awesome day!