The use of video has gained great popularity over the last 5 years on the web. The great advantages of videos are that they help simplify complicated topics, are very popular among digital users in general, and when done correctly, improve conversion rate.
The video is a powerful addition to the content marketing toolbox of any digital marketing specialist.
More than 60% of users report that they are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it.
The video also helps to create links since video pages get on average three times as many incoming links compared to direct text pages.
If you have decided to incorporate a video in WordPress, it is a wise decision that will probably pay good dividends, assuming, of course, that you optimize those videos for your search.
No matter where your videos are hosted, you want them to be found, so search optimization is crucial to your success. Here are the basics of video optimization for your WordPress site.
How to add videos to your WordPress site
You are developing your WordPress website and just touches you make a critical decision: Where the videos should be uploaded?
Of course, you can upload the video directly to your own site. However, we recommend you do not do it. Instead, host your videos on a site like YouTube or Vimeo.
Why? Well, on the one hand, video sites use multiple servers that are configured to handle the unique demands of streaming video, while your server may not be.
YouTube is probably the most popular option. It is the second-largest search engine after Google, and it’s free. It is also relatively simple to upload a video, even for a novice user.
What’s more, YouTube’s simple integration tools, like in the example above, make it easy to share your videos on your WordPress site, even though they’re hosted on YouTube servers.
It is also generally easier to rate videos highly on YouTube than videos hosted on your own site, in this way, you will get better positioning.
Basics of optimizing videos for your search
The basics of SEO for videos are not that different to the basics of SEO for heavy text web pages. It all depends on the keywords and intent of the user. Here, by “user”, we refer to the end user, the person who consumes your content, either text or video.
Like Google, YouTube sets certain factors in its search qualification algorithm, including:
- Number of views the video won
- The total average time the video runs (i.e., if a ten-minute video is normally turned off after the first thirty seconds, that will go against your rating).
- How often the video is added to the lists of reproduction of users.
- Positive reviews and comments (both in total and as a percentage of the total).
- How many subscribers you have on YouTube as creator.
- A number of times the video has been embedded in web pages.
In each of these factors, there is a single underlying factor that will help you to rate highly: a high-quality video. So the first and most important advice for doing SEO for videos is to create the highest quality video possible.
Keywords
Keywords are also important, as with text-based SEO. This is because, although the videos are primarily a graphic medium, there are still many aspects of the publication of a video that depend only on the text, mainly the title, description, and tags.
Do some keywords research before uploading your videos, preferably even before you create them. In this way, you will know with more certainty what kind of videos your users and prospects want to see.
You do not necessarily need to spend large amounts of money to hire a research service for the keywords. The Google AdWords keyword planning tool will suffice in most cases.
Above all, the keywords and the text surrounding them in those fields (title, tags, and description) should sound natural to the ear. Do not fill repeatedly with keywords text, or use words that your users use to describe or label things, ideas or brands.
Use keywords in all three places, but especially in the title and description. If it naturally flows, do try to put your key phrase at the beginning of the title. The second best place is at the end of the title. Avoid the middle if possible but, if so, do not sacrifice the flow of conversation.
Check with a quick Google search keywords selected before posting your video. Do videos appear on that first page of results for the keywords in question? If so, that’s a good thing. If not, adjust your keywords until you get a positive result.
Title Optimization
Spend a little more time on the title. It’s the first thing people will see about your video, especially if it’s hosted on YouTube, so it’s worth making sure your title gets people to click and watch.
Try to be a little more creative with your descriptions. Try to include keywords in this field in a thoughtful and strategic way, above all, your description should make your primary job, i.e., well describe the video itself.
One way to do this, although it is a method that is probably best suited for shorter videos, is to provide a transcript in the description. This helps you to include your keywords naturally and at the same time, it also helps viewers. It is particularly useful for videos about complex or confusing subjects.
Read descriptions and titles aloud before finalizing copy. It is the best way to identify any problem with your keywords. If the copy naturally flows into your ear, then you’ve probably found the “cooking point”.
Do not forget to promote your video once it is uploaded. The more views your video gets, the higher the ranking in search results (both YouTube and Google). So it’s like a self-powered loop that works to your advantage.host
There are some plugins that will help make the video SEO work much simpler. We recommend a plugin in particular Video SEO by Yoast plugin for Video because it belongs to the developer who created what is perhaps the most popular SEO plugin for all time: Yoast SEO for WordPress.
Video SEO by Yoast plugin costs $69 for a single site license and $129 for up to five sites. But it takes care of all the SEO work for the videos, whether that staying on your own site or one of the supported platforms (including YouTube, Vimeo, and others).
All licenses include a full year of upgrades and support. Yoast also provides a setup guide, frequently asked questions, and other supporting documentation to help you implement this add-on more easily.
