Google's Tried and Tested Best Video SEO Practices

Video made up 82% of all web traffic in 2021. As TikTok has shown, people are hungrier for video content than ever before.

The problem with this, however, is that as more and more videos come out, your audience’s attention gets increasingly divided.  

Following video SEO best practices in Florida allows you to find an audience and convert them into paying customers.

Why Is Video SEO Important?

The demand for video continues to rise. Google is responding to this change in user behavior with an algorithm update called “MUM”.

This update aims to provide people with search results in multiple formats, which is why you’re seeing videos featured on search more frequently these days!  

Without video SEO, your content will most likely get buried under the many other videos that are uploaded every day.  

If you want to boost your small business’ search rankings, increase click-through rates, and improve your backlink profile in the long run, then video SEO should be an integral part of your video marketing strategy.  

Video SEO Best Practices for Better Search Rankings

Did you know that 86% of marketers agree that video helped them generate more leads in 2021?

Here are the tried and tested video SEO best practices for better search rankings according to Google:

1. Make Your Videos Public

The first step to getting your videos discovered by your ideal customers is making sure that they’re publicly available for everyone to view on the web. That means your video should have a URL that Google can access. Or, if you uploaded it on social media, make sure that your account is public.  

Obviously, if your video is placed somewhere that’s not accessible, Google won’t be able to serve it as a search result for relevant queries.  

2. Use The Right Keywords

The right keywords will take people to your videos. You therefore need to figure out what terms your target audience type in search engines.  

You can do this through keyword research.  

When analyzing what search terms your ideal customers enter into a search box, remember that they tend to use different kinds of terms depending on which stage they’re at in the buyer’s journey.  

It’s helpful to plot the customer journey first, then research the keywords they will likely use at each stage.  

Once you know the right terms, you can incorporate them into your titles and descriptions.  

Aside from this, keyword research can also help you do the following:

• Prioritize the keywords you should optimize your video content for.
• Identify any missing content pieces around a specific keyword and produce more content that aims to fill those gaps.  

• Discover customer intent behind the keywords you want to rank for.
• Gain insights into current trends and get an idea of what your target audience is looking for.  

3. Use Video Schema Markup to Explain Your Video Content Thoroughly  

Video schema markup is one of the most effective ways you can assist search engines in understanding what you are offering in your video.  

Without schema video markup, you won’t be able to inform crawlers about your video’s duration, its video tile description, who’s in it, and you can’t even place a video transcript to further boost your Florida SEO efforts.  

Video markup optimizes your video content by giving it proper visibility in the search engine results pages. In fact, based on how you mark up your video, you can enable special search features like the following:

• Live badge: You can use this badge for your live stream videos.  
• Home activities: According to Google, a lot of people are searching for activities to do at home. When they look this stuff up online, videos and online events usually appear in the search results. Make sure your videos appear by adding schema markup in your content!
• Key moments: This feature allows users to navigate your video in parts, which can help users skip to parts they're deeply interested in and boost engagement.  

4. Create Keyword-Driven and Compelling Titles

To capture your customer’s attention and convince them to watch, you need to come up with strong titles that capture the essence of your videos.  

Here are the five qualities of a great video title:

• Short but descriptive – People skim more than they read on the web. It’s best to keep your video titles short, but they do need to be long enough to give your audience a hint of what to expect. You can also use subheaders to make your titles even more appealing.  
• Clear and honest – People are busy, so give them a good reason to watch your videos. Be direct about what they can expect from your content. When choosing a video title, avoid using vague or misleading titles.  
• Unique and appealing – If you want your videos to stand out, your titles need to be unique and appealing. We know it's hard to develop completely unique titles, so what you can do is add a few relevant details that will make your title different from others. For instance, instead of "How to Braid", you can go for something more detailed like "How to Braid for Beginners: An Easy Step by Step Guide". It's quite long, but it will generate more clicks than its generic counterpart.  

• Keyword-focused – It’s essential to optimize your video title for SEO in Florida by adding your keywords. This is how you’re going to get found.  
• Inspiring or intriguing – Good video titles offer a solution, promise a juicy secret, or engage a viewer's emotions.  

5. Help Your Videos Stand Out with Relevant Descriptions

Did you know that 720,000 hours of video are uploaded on YouTube each day? Help your videos stand out from a sea of content by creating powerful descriptions.  

When making your descriptions, you want to fit your main keyword, a call-to-action statement, and a reason why it's beneficial for them to watch your video in 157 characters.  

6. Use High-Quality Thumbnails

Another way to make your videos stand out and drive clicks is to use the right video thumbnails.  

First, make sure that your thumbnail URL isn't blocked with robots.txt so Google can access it. If your thumbnails aren't accessible to search engine bots, they won't appear in video features.

Once you’ve checked that your thumbnail URL is accessible, do the following optimization best practices:

• Use clear, high-quality images to make your videos look professional.
• Feature faces and emotions. This will give your viewers a hint of the emotions your video will evoke and might even influence their perspective.  
• Use bright colors to make your thumbnail pop.  
• Use a GIF or animation to catch the attention of your viewers and give them a hint of what your videos have to offer.  

• Add your logo to let your viewers know that the video belongs to you. The more they watch your video, the more they become familiar with your brand and build trust in the process.  
• Avoid using clickbait thumbnails. People hate them, and they can reduce people’s trust in your brand.

7. Help Google Find More Videos on Your Page with a Video Sitemap

Submitting a video sitemap help bots better understand your video content. This sitemap includes metadata about every video on your site, allowing crawlers to accurately present your videos in the search results.

8. Post or Embed Your Videos Only in Relevant Pages

You want everything on your page to be cohesive. This means making sure that you only embed videos on relevant pages.

Videos are great visual aids you can use to help your viewers better understand a topic and drive more engagement. But, if they’re completely irrelevant or only loosely related to the main topic of a page, they’ll look unprofessional, which can lead to a higher bounce rate.

9. Upload in High-Quality Resolution and Audio

Nothing is more off-putting than a blurry video with bad audio. When uploading your videos, never go below 1280px x 720 px resolution, and only use supported formats for your audio (MP3, AAC, and FLAC).

10. Make Your Videos More Accessible with Closed Captions

There are many reasons why you should include closed captions in your video:

• A lot of people watch videos on mute, especially on mobile. Adding closed captions provides flexibility, allowing users to watch the video regardless of whether they can turn on their sound.
• Not all of your viewers use English as their first language. Adding closed captions ensures that your message reaches a wider audience.  
• 48.9 million people in the States have a disability, and most of them use assistive technology to access the web. Closed captions help people with hearing or visual disabilities access and enjoy your videos.  
• Make your videos more SEO-friendly. Using closed captions as metadata can help make your video text searchable. This makes it easier to index your content for SEO in Florida.  

Make sure that your website and videos are inclusive and accessible for everyone to watch. This helps increase your reach and boosts SEO for better rankings!  

11. Use Video Analytics As Your Guide

The best way to optimize your videos for better search rankings is to use analytics.  

Video analytics provide valuable insights you can use to measure the performance of your video content, allowing you to see what works and what doesn't.  

For example, you'll get to know what type of videos get the most views or shares on social media. You'll also understand how long people watch your videos before exiting.

You can then use the data you gather to produce video content that’s better optimized for your audience.

Are Your Videos Optimized for SEO in Florida?

Optimizing your video content for SEO in Florida helps you get in front of potential customers. Need help making video content for your small business and optimizing them for SEO in Florida? Digital Resource can do it for you!  

Our team of digital marketing specialists and SEO experts will work with you to create video content that generates clicks and boosts conversions. Contact us today for a customized video marketing plan!

‍