5 Steps to Driving Video Views from Organic Search
Video creation takes a lot of time and effort but bringing in views and engagement is even more difficult.
Having your video rank in organic Google search results is one of the best ways to ensure consistent and continuous views.
This article is mostly focusing on videos that are hosted on Youtube because it is the best option when it comes to organic visibility. There are two main reasons for that:
- Google loves Youtube and you will see mostly Youtube videos when searching Google
- There are not many alternatives. Vimeo has its own community mostly focusing on artistic videos, and uploading videos to WordPress is not a good idea.
Here are the steps to improving your video organic rankings:
1. Create an Optimized, Yet Clickable Video Title
The video title is the most important component of video optimization. Though video viewership can grow through word of mouth, Facebook sharing, and tweets, if you want your video to show up in Google’s search results, you need to come up with a well-optimized title
The best approach for good video titles is to use your primary keywords as well as related terms in combination with words like “how to” and “tutorial”. It is also a good idea to add the business name in the last part of the title. This is a great way to build brand recognizability.
Youtube limits video titles to 100 characters, to take some time to fit your keywords within this limited space. Make sure your video title sounds meaningful and invites a click. Simply listing your keywords there will not do.
2. Write a Detailed Video Description
Video description provides text context to a search crawler making it an essential SEO component. Craft your video description carefully to convey what it is your video is about. Include your primary and secondary keywords to help your video rank higher.
Youtube allows 5000 characters in the description field, so take full advantage of this space.
Text Optimizer will help you create a video description a search crawler will understand and match to searcher’s intent:
3. Include Timestamps
Another nice component to include in the video description is the clickable table of contents taking your viewers deeper into the video.
Google often uses that table of contents in its search results. This helps your video stand out in search:
Here’s a detailed guide on using Youtube timestamps to generate this kind of exposure.
Timestamps can increase your video’s deep views (i.e. people viewing more than the first few seconds of the video) – and that is a crucial ranking factor in Youtube search results. It is not a bad idea to include these in both your video description and the pinned comment.
4. Create a Thumbnail That Invites a Click
Video thumbnails are not so much a ranking factor, as they are a clickability factor. Video thumbnails show up in organic search results and they are likely to have a huge impact on whether your video will attract clicks:
Video thumbnails are crucial for clickability in both Google and Youtube searches, so spend some time creating a cool one. With tools like Creatopy, you can easily create your thumbnail template and customize it from video to video.
They have that cool feature allowing you to automate your visual marketing by allowing you to create in multiple sizes and dimensions. This way you will even be able to re-use your carefully designed thumbnail image on all kinds of platforms, from Twitter to Pinterest using their supported dimensions:
When creating your video thumbnails, make sure to:
- Keep your graphic design elements to a minimum. Remember that the thumbnail will be very small when showing up in search results. You want it to be clear and readable
- Add some slight branding (for example, keep it to your main brand colors)
5. Above All, Focus on Content Quality
Apart from any optimization efforts, the quality of the video content is paramount.
As search engines feel the need to maintain integrity in competitive markets, they have to ensure that their search results are of high quality and that people respond to them well. You can achieve some organic visibility with low-quality content but that success will be short-lived.
With that in mind, prior to implementing your video optimization strategy, make sure your video is worth it. Your content needs to be professional and helpful. This always comes first.
Bonus: Monitor Your Youtube-Driven Conversion Channel
If your goal is to drive traffic and conversions to your site from Your Youtube channel,don’t forget to set up your conversion funnels to monitor your progress. You can do that using Finteza which is very easy to use while providing detailed insights into your traffic sources and their performance:
Conclusion
Fundamentally, video optimization is not rocket science. Yet, the more time you spend on crafting the title of your video and working on its text context, the higher it is likely to rank in Google and Youtube search results.
Implementing video content may be just what your content team needs to take your initiatives to the next level. With some preparation, possibly some training in new-to-you technology, and some out-of-the-box thinking, video content can be not just a player for your content team, but perhaps the asset you didn’t know you needed.
Good luck!
